" He grew himself! I was busy building this empire I thought you would take care of him, but I am such a bad father who couldn't even satisfy his son's emotional needs. All his life he longed for love and care. All we could give is money and that he never asked a penny after 15. Now tell me what right do you have in his life? " He yelled in despair.
Felicia was silent not knowing how to defend herself, it angered her.
" Do you know this? Ryan and Vivaan were high school enemies!" He asked and that shocked Felicia.
She never knew they were enemies.
" You don't know! Do you know what is his favorite food, color, thing? Or at least do you know under what stress he is?" There was no answer from her.
" You don't know anything. ANYTHING! So makes you think you have rights in his life? First, remember this, he is not a property or a toy that you could do whatever you want. He is a human with feelings and emotions. Vivaan I want to have a word with you, in my office now!" He said and went upstairs towards his office.
Felicia was left to think, but it was beyond her wisdom.
She was not a bad neither good person as she is just too selfish and her sharp tongue hurt the people around her. She was not intelligent enough to think about all he said.
On the other hand, Peter was a good man who realized his mistakes in later life. But that didn't make him very lovely, he cared for him but he never showed it.
He always thought Ryan has the responsibility to maintain his image as he is a public figure, but Ryan never cared about this. And this makes the disagreement between them.
" Vivaan, even though I know you would take care of him. Still, as a father, I want to know about the girl. He is a grown child!" There was love and care in his voice.
Peter always longed for a good father-son relationship, but he himself thought he was not eligible for that.
" It has been taken care of, I knew her. She is...."
Vivaan said half of the things that Peter needed to knew and avoided some things.
" As Felicia said, is there anything between them?" Peter asked concerned.
" For now, I don't know sir, but Ryan does have some attraction towards her. All his life even though he has gone through many problems he is still childish.
She doesn't behave as we behave to him, she smacks him, scolds him, and mainly stomps on his ego! It grabbed his attention and she does care about people! Even though I know she is not an attention seeker, I will keep an eye on her. You don't have to worry about this!" Vivaan said with a smile.
" Thank you, Vivaan! Without you, he would have been miserable! I don't know how we will pay you back!" He said sadly.
" I do everything for my friend sir, I don't do it because you will pay it back!" Vivaan said.
" But still, I feel like we suck you and your energy..." He trailed off in guilt.
" There are three types of people in the world one loves to receive, one loves to give and the other likes give and take policy. I love to give, pamper, care, to love! But he does reciprocate my actions, I have a good friend who cares a lot about me. And that's what I need!" Vivaan said with a smile.
" Thank you, Vivaan!" Peter hugged him.
RYAN'S PENTHOUSE,
The curtains were closed that blocked the sunlight from entering the room.
Ryan's sleep was disturbed by the beep sound of the alarm clock. He groaned as he felt his head throbbing with pain. But he does realize a body's warmth and the same fragrance that made him flutter open his eyes.
At first, he panicked, but later realized he didn't do anything but just sleep. He closed his eyes to recollect, he did get collected.
She was lying next to him very closely. He fluttered open his eyes recollecting everything, he knew that he thought of her as Mel but he didn't remember what she spoke or what he spoke.
This time, he noticed the small red patch above her right eyebrows. He touched it with his fingers, his eyes just staring at her.
An unknown emotion enveloped him, when he took her hand he noticed the other scratch. The wounds were cleaned or treated.
He caressed her cheeks with his hands staring at her with guilt and some new-formed unknown emotion.
" You could have just shrugged my hands, but you didn't! Why?
Do you care about me?" He asked her sleeping figure as tears pooled, he didn't know why they formed.
He tugged her closer, kissed her forehead, and hugged her tightly burying her head in a bare chest.
" I am sorry I could only hurt people! But it was never intentional!" He closed his eyes as the tears escaped. He said as he ran his fingers in her hair, as the other secured her into himself.
" I am sorry!" He murmured.
They stayed like this for minutes.
" Ryan! Ryan!" She called as she struggled to breathe. His embrace was tightening minute by minute.
" Ryan, I couldn't breathe," She said as she tried to get out of the grip.
He loosened, she woke up and sat.
He didn't open his eyes as he was embarrassed, she thought he is still asleep.
So she thought to wake him up after preparing a hangover drink.
When she was about to stand from the bed he caught her hand.
She turned towards him to see him staring at her. Their eyes connected, they just stared at each other for minutes it seemed like decades.
" I am sorry!" He muttered not taking his eyes off her.
She didn't speak anything she was still staring at him.
" I am sorry!" He mumbled again as she didn't respond to him.