Astrid didn't know what to feel—anger, fear, maybe even nothing at all. Darius was standing right there. He now knew that she had heard him and Ashlee in the library.
"Oh, I didn't know you were back." What a useless lie, she scolded herself in her head. He literally just got out of there with another woman. And she was going out of there minutes later. He wasn't that stupid.
"You saw?" He raised his eyebrow at her.
"Heard, thankfully." Now, she allowed her disappointment show.
"I didn't know you were in there." He shrugged, looking quite nonchalant.
"You said you wouldn't bring anyone else in here as long as my parents were here." She reminded him.
"I did, huh? Must have slipped my mind." He rubbed his face and sighed. Astrid wanted to ask why he took her to the library, but she decided not to.
"Do you have any idea how disrespectful that was?" She crossed her arms, staring up at the man that she, for some reason, was expecting to be back soon enough.
"Let's not talk about this right now." Darius waved it off, starting to leave. Astrid knew better than to not talk about it right then and there. If she didn't, he'd brush it off the next day and the day after.
"I'm not against you having whatever it is you have with other ladies, Darius. I would just appreciate it if you don't bring them here." She followed him down the hallway.
"You can't tell me what to do." He mumbled, never stopping or looking back at her.
"The next time you do this, I'll just up and tell your mother about everything." This drew his attention. He stopped in his tracks. Astrid gulped, thinking that maybe she should not have made that threat.
"Fine." He shrugged and left her confused. What did fine mean? Was it a 'fine, I won't bring anyone here' or a 'fine, tell her. I don't care.'?
Astrid just walked to her room, replaying the night's events in her head. Was he ever going to ask her how she had been that night? Was he going to even check on her, even? And why was she bothered about it?
She retreated to bed and balled herself into a fetal position before falling asleep.
.
Breakfast was quite normal. Maybe it was because Darius didn't join Astrid and her parents for it. A part of her felt relieved that he wasn't there, the rest of her wanted to talk to him.
She felt like some of the rules were not made clear between them, so after breakfast, she headed to his room. It was quite weird for her to walk to his room like that, but it was necessary.
She spent the first two minutes in front of the door fidgetting and telling herself that she was stupid.
Soon, developing courage, she knocked on the mahogany door. There was no response. She raised her hand to knock again, but the door opened before she could.
Darius stood there, his hands in the pockets of his black trousers and a white shirt that looked like it was holding on for dear life against his muscles.
He frowned when he saw her standing in front of him, wondering what she was doing there. He could smell the lavender perfume she always used. That was how he knew that she was in that library last night.
That damn lavender, he cursed in his head.
"Just to be clear, you won't be bringing in any other woman in here until this is all over, right?" Astrid asked, her eyes sometimes darting in the direction of the room behind him.
"Didn't I make myself clear enough last night?" He asked, confused.
"I don't think you did. You never make yourself clear." She stared directly at him now.
He couldn't place what he saw in her eyes, but he couldn't hold her gaze for much longer. He looked away instantly. He sometimes wondered how and why his confidence crumbled in front of her.
"I won't bring any woman in here anymore." He muttered, sounding like he had rehearsed the line over and over.
Astrid nodded once, relieved to hear what he had just said. "Good." She smiled and left.
Darius walked downstairs to have breakfast, where he met Rose and Caleb. Caleb suggested that they drank in the garden. He couldn't refuse the offer. The man was hard to say no to, just like his daughter.
Two glasses of non-alcoholic grape wine in and they were already laughing and talking like they were drunk.
"What are your plans for my daughter, Darius?" Darius stiffened suddenly. That was a question he had expected to hear, but not soon. And definitely not from Caleb.
"You didn't think I wouldn't ask you this some day, did you?" Caleb chuckled, staring hard at Darius.
"My plans... I thought you knew." Darius didn't want to jump straight at the fact that he had no real plans for Astrid. They would soon be separated and she would be one hundred million dollars richer. That was the plan.
"So, you're telling me that you're serious about this? You'll spend money on a façade? You couldn't just beg your mum to come back to you?" Caleb's voice now had a hint of annoyance. Had he been hiding how angry he was about the situation the whole time?
"I mean, she's basically wasting her time with you. It'll definitely ruin her image if anyone were to find out about this." Caleb shook his head.
What could Darius possibly say that would make sense right now? His actions wouldn't sound justifiable. He just stood up.
"I'm really sorry." He said and retreated into the house.
.
Astrid sat in her room, watching the ceiling like it was suddenly interesting to look at. It was, but it wasn't interesting enough. She was bored. Where could she go? What could she do?
A knock on the door drew her out of her bed and she walked to open it. "Oh, good morning!" She grinned as she found Nikoleta in front of her with a bright smile on her face.
"Good morning. Come on!" Nikoleta took her by the hand, leading her downstairs.
"Where are we going?" Astrid questioned.
"To a bridal shop. You have absolutely no excuses." Astrid almost stopped walking, but Nikoleta kept pulling her towards the front door.
"I don't think I want to do that today." Astrid said.
"Oh, you don't?" Nikoleta finally stopped walking and turned to her with a frown.
"Then why don't you tell me what's really happening between you and Darius? Are you two even in love at all?" Astrid could feel her heart rate skyrocket.
"Mum?" They both looked into the hallway leading to the living room and found Darius there with a confused look.
"Oh, it's good that you're here, Darius. Now," Nikoleta crossed her arms against her chest, "somebody explain what's really going on here."