That aside, how did she sleep that long? Did she drool? Her hands dabbed lightly on her face, searching for any form of a slip-up, but she found none. Wait, did she snore? Was her mouth hanging half-open as she slept? Did she look ridiculous in front of him? She couldn't help those thoughts as they bombarded her from all directions.
"Why didn't you wake me?" She asked quietly. He turned to stare at her for a good couple of seconds before saying, "Are you offended that I let you sleep for that long or that you didn't get to eat the food?"
"No, i-" She tried defending herself.
"I didn't get to eat too, trust me, the food here sucks."
"That's no-" She tried again, but he cut her off.
"I'm into quality food, not trash. Sometimes I wonder how the food gets finished so quickly. That just shows how poor some people's tastes are."
Bella stared with eyes wide in surprise at him. She had not been in the least expected of his outburst. Was he really holding a conversation with her? I mean, even if he didn't let her talk, he still talked to her. Could that even be considered a conversation? Although he was condemning the poor condition of the food on the plane, he still was talking to her.
"Maybe some people don't get to eat something even half as tasty as the food here." She imputed, staring straight ahead, not wanting to meet his probing and intense gaze.
"I doubt that. Anyone wealthy enough to fly on a plane, let's not talk of the first class and business class occupants, should be buoyant enough to eat whatever the hell they want." He countered.
"I didn't say they could be poor. I mean, not everyone can cook. Not every food in a restaurant or eatery tastes nice. Nma Emily's food house back in the village is where the real deal is, while Chi Amanda's food house back in the village is avoided by the lot that has tasted Nma Emily's food. Some people are used to eating food with poor taste because that's what they get to eat all the time, and they've not been opportune to taste something better. Chi Amanda cannot cook tasty food, but her children and husband eat it that way, they're used to it."
Bella shrugged for added effect. Not everyone had the license to good cooking no matter how wealthy they were. Some were subjected to food with poor taste. Chi Amanda's husband would dare not stop eating his wife's food else trouble would ensue.
"Or maybe some people are just good at eating whatever they get without complaint. I mean, there's not much of a choice here, is there?" She reasoned out.
He stared at her for a long time, while her eyes darted all over his face before settling on his neat looking dreadlocks which looked so long and as black as night. He had it tied behind his head, but some fell down his face.
Just then, Ashley arrived with a pie on a plate and a glass of chilled water on a tray.
"Here you go." She smiled, but her gaze was on the prince, not Ella whom she gave the tray to. Ella was too busy imagining how she would devour the snack to notice Ashley's flirtatious gaze on her husband.
"Thank you." She smiled gleefully before starting to munch on the goody. It was surprisingly good tasting. She only realized that Ashley was still there when Jackson grumbled out:
"Don't you have other people to attend to?" and that had Ashley rushing off with a feeling of embarrassment coating her.
Fifteen minutes later.....
"Did you attend school?" He asked while her eyes darted to meet his. Ashley had come and gone a while ago after retrieving the used plate and cup.
"Yes." She bit down on her lip absentmindedly, and his eyes followed the movement and lingered, before he shifted on his seat, and turned his gaze to looked straight ahead.
When she realized what she was doing, she released her lip immediately, and looked straight ahead, deeply embarrassed. She was embarrassed mostly because she thought that he would think she was doing it intentionally. As for Jackson, that little moment was a moment he would never acknowledge happened. Ella on the other hand was too embarrassed to say anything.
"To what level?"
"Uh?"
"To what level, I said." He repeated.
"To what level?" She reiterated dumbly. She had no clue what he was going on about.
He bent his head from side to side, and a crack sound was heard before he turned to stare tiredly at her with his full lips pressed in a thin line.
"Are you usually this dumb?" He asked rhetorically, successfully bringing a frown to her face.
"To what level did you school?" He added.
"Oh?" Her eyes widened in realization..they were still on that topic?
"Secondary level."
"Why didn't you continue?" He questioned in genuine curiosity as he rubbed slowly on the arm if the seat with one slender and long finger.
"I didn't feel the need to. Sooner or later, I was going to be married off to you apparently, so, why go study something I might not even work with or finish studying? Besides, Papa doesn't really like the schooling part when it comes to women. He said it was a complete waste of time, and that women are supposed to be full-time housewives, and not take the position of the man in wanting to work or provide for the family."
She shrugged her slender shoulders.
"Well, that's a brutal and barbaric way of life, such shallow reasoning." He grumbled in distaste.
"My father means no harm, he means well." She defended. She never gave any thought to the reasoning of most men in the village, but now she realized just how wrong they were. But, she still had to defend her father.
He turned to stare at her from between his fingers which were now splayed across his face, before letting out a scoff and turning away. He shouldn't and wouldn't expect much from her, she was just as shallow-minded.
After a few minutes in the uncomfortable silence that had grown between them because of how the discussion had ended, Ella cleared her throat and spoke up.
"Did you live in Paris all those fifteen years of being away from the village?"
"No." He answered simply in an uninterested tone, without turning to her.
"Where did you live?" Trying to make a conversation and the air around them less awkward, she couldn't help but pry.
"In the US. Although, I traveled around. I visited most cities in France for business purposes, but the city of Paris is a place I visited mainly for pleasure, the sight in Paris is a pleasant one, I tell you. Now, stop asking questions, I'm trying to sleep." He leaned his chair back a little and closed his eyes, leaving Ella to stare at his face, and she did so; staring unashamedly at his sharp and handsome features.
He was a beauty, too fine for his own good. With his eyes closed, his thick long lashes almost touched his high and defined cheekbones. His stubbles added to his smoking hot looks. Of course, Ella had been licensed to some romance books.
Nneka's older sister had always brought them whenever she visited from the city, and before Nneka had gotten married, they would both hid away and read them together, fangirling whenever they came across a hot male character.
Oh, how she missed those days when they were just two naughty teenagers who had absolutely nothing to worry about. Adulthood wasn't so bad though, but she could no longer be ignorant. Despite being just twenty, it felt like she had so much to think about. Jackson was a perfect example of what she had wished for her dream man to look like, he was even more. Smoking hot, brooding, and all that, but she didn't wish for him to ever look at her in distaste.
Jackson was so warm, yet so cold, so close, yet so distant.
*
Bella didn't know for how long they had been on the plane, and she didn't care to. All she knew was that she was tired and bored, sitting for so long wasn't something she enjoyed. All the channels she could find on the mini TV were super boring. She should have taken her novels from her luggage, that way, she would have had something to do. Or perhaps her knitting wool and pin to keep her hands busy. Jackson on the other hand avoided any form of conversation which had her wondering if she had imagined their earlier discussion. She liked when he talked to her and treated her like a person, and she wished he'd always treat her nice, but it was all but a wish.
Jackson had sworn to make her life a living hell, and it seemed like he hadn't even started.
*
Paris....finally.
Ella took in the beauty of the place as the car they were in drove them to God knows where. She didn't even bother asking, because she knew what the answer would be..... Silence. Plus, she knew not even a place in Paris, seeing as she had never been there before then, so what was the need to ask?
Paris was beautiful, she could attest to that. It was so beautiful that she couldn't contain her emotions, and she squealed in delight, giving the driver one hell of a shock. The fanciful car jerked as the driver stepped on the break out of shock. Ella after regaining her balance from the sudden forceful halt of the car, stared from one man to the other. They looked really pissed as they both glared at her. Like freaking PISSED! The driver who looked to be in his early twenties, glared her way, before continuing with his driving, seeing that other drivers behind had started horning their cars in impatience and anger at the sudden commotion.
"What the hell, Bella?" Jackson gritted out. His grip around his phone tightened to show how annoyed he really was. Ella on the other hand felt ashamed and stupid and embarrassed, the list could go on and on.
"I'm sorry." She choked out. She felt like crying, and she was sure she would, as she felt the back of her eyelids prickle with unshed tears.
"You almost made multiple people have an accident! Are you okay!?" He snapped, making Ella jump in fright. Where was all this anger coming from? She thought. He just made her feel ten times more horrible than before.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She chanted, trying to hold back tears. Why was she feeling so emotional? Maybe being in a strange place, feeling like shit, almost causing multiple accidents, Jackson's continuous yelling, and his guilt-tripping technique, was just too much for her. Remembering how the driver had glared at her with those grey eyes, sent a chill down her spine. She stared at her hands on her jean-clad thighs, trying to keep the tears in. It would be more embarrassing to cry in front of Jackson.
"Please, do not embarrass me like that ever again!" He snapped.
"I said I'm sorry!" She screamed, tired of enduring the embarrassing situation he was putting her through. He just had to scold her and show his hate for her, in the presence of the driver. Jackson's eyes widened in shock, and Ella was too embarrassed and angry to care what his reaction would be like. Her mother never raised her voice at her father no matter what. She wasn't trained to do so, but she couldn't just sit back and watch him insult her.
"Do not raise your voice on me!" Jackson glared with too much intensity at her.
"You raised your voice on me first! I'm only human, stop hurting me!" Her shrill voice rose a few octaves higher.
Jackson pulled on his ears with a deep frown on his handsome facial features.
"Stop yelling!" He gritted out.
Ella stared at him through her teary eyes, not saying anything. The driver on the other hand wished to drop the trouble couple off soon. He wasn't cut out for the drama.
"Put on your seat belt. If this car should jerk so violently one more time, you might end up out the window, unlike the last time, not that I care." He shrugged.
Ella didn't even bother to show how horror-filled she was. Did he hate her that much? She struggled with the seat belt, not knowing the left from the right. She couldn't remember how he had done it back in the village when they set off to the airport in the main city.
Before she could even say anything, Jackson leaned close to her to help her with it. Her breath hitched at the proximity, and his manly cologne harassed her senses.
"You better not forget how to do it, I wouldn't do it for you a third time." He murmured in her ear after putting pinning the seat belt in place, while she remained as still as a statue. Her heartbeat and breath seemed to have stopped all at once, and they only started functioning again after he moved away from her to his initial position.