CHAPTER 16.
Maya stared at the teddy bear for unhealthy and long minutes, tears filled her eyes and they dropped.
"Little Eric," Maya said and a laugh escaped her lips. "That's the best name he could come up with, he still has to make it about himself, he's so selfish but this is the most beautiful thing he has ever done." She muttered.
Maya dropped the card and held her new teddy bear properly, this was the first teddy anyone had given her. Johnny never gave her one, he only bought flowers and other things but never a teddy.
"So cute." She smiled broadly and hugged it to her chest.
She was feeling so overwhelmed like this was the first gift ever given to her. It was kind of what she needed.
She needed something or someone who would listen to her talk without saying anything in opposition to her words. Sometimes, she needed a hug but Johnny couldn't be there every second for her.
Eric wasn't the best choice either, she wanted to stay for him but he still refused to leave her alone. Now, he sent a gift that she couldn't resist.
"He has a way of doing things, always wanting to get his way." Maya sniffed and wiped her tears away.
She was so confused about her choices. Each time Eric did something, it felt sincere but then she would recall Johnny, her prince charming as she assumed him to be.
Johnny was important to her but recently she has been doubting herself and her feelings. Was she truly in love with him or merely feeling gratitude?
Did she still have feelings for Eric? She already knew the answer to that question. She was still in love with Eric, she foolishly never stopped loving that toxic bastard.
"Eric…" she called his name softly. "Should I call him Eric or Big Eric?" Maya muttered and chuckled.
She stretched the big toy away from her body and it was too cute. She kissed it like she was pouring her affection on it.
"Such a silly card." she chuckled and didn't feel like dropping the teddy bear aside.
Maya simply called the maids to take care of the wrapper and box, they assumed that the gift was from Johnny and even complimented on how kind his gesture was.
'I kind of wish that it's from him.' Maya thought.
There were a lot of reasons why she kept pushing Eric away. He lied to her once, cheated on her, humiliated her then sent an assassin to end it all. How could he do those things and still claim that he loved her?
It was unrealistic.
Maya sighed frantically and was about to stand when her phone rang. Without checking the caller, she answered the call and sat back.
'Hello.' Maya mumbled.
'Did you like my gift? It came from my heart.' Eric said over the phone, he was smiling.
Maya stared at the teddy bear one more time and a smile appeared on her lips, she couldn't prevent it.
'Maya…'
'I didn't receive anything.' Maya lied.
'You're bad at lying even through the phone, anyways. I know you like it because you've always liked anything soft. Well, I would have gotten you a real bear but…err…that might not end too well.' Eric said, funnily.
Maya laughed but quickly took the phone from her ear. She didn't want him to hear her laughing.
She brought the phone back and took a deep big breath before controlling herself.
Clearing her throat, she responded coldly;' Fine, I received it but didn't like it. It looks so cheap, is this the best you could do?'
She didn't know how much her words always hurt.
'Okay, since you didn't like that then I will get you a pet next. What kind of pet do you want? Well, I recall when you told me about your love for cats, you used to watch the videos a lot.' Eric said, hiding his hurt.
Maya wondered how he still remembered that, he didn't show any interest when she watched those things or talked about them.
'I'll take your silence as a yes, I'll adopt a cat for you, which kind do you want, would you like ragdolls, they are quite cute but very lazy?' He asked, sounding serious.
'I don't want anything from you' Maya replied.
That was the opposite of what she wanted to say, she wanted a cat, specifically a rag doll. She thought of them as being too cute, such fluffiness and beautiful eyes couldn't be ignored.
'Okay, I'll respect your decision but if you ever need one. I'm one call away. I used my real number to call you, save it.' Eric said but there was still silence on Maya's end.
Maya heard him sigh over the phone.
'I'll see you soon. Bye.'
He waited for her to bid him farewell but she still kept quiet. He had to hang up.
Maya looked at her phone and saw his number in her call log.
"Why are you making things harder for me? Go back to your normal toxic self, you are making it harder to reject you."
Maya sighed and decided to save his number, she saved it as 'Toxic jerk and bastard.'
She read it in her mind and laughed. She had laughed quite several times because of him.
Standing up, she took the teddy bear to her room and dropped it on her bed.
"Don't move little Eric, I'll be back. I think I'm famished, so let me make some food for myself. Something Chinese or…" Maya trailed off, thinking of what to cook. "I'll be back."
She rushed to the kitchen light-heartedly, she was so excited for no reason. She researched what to eat and chose a Chinese dish to prepare, something easy.
After picking what to eat, she checked the kitchen but all the ingredients weren't complete. She had to get a few of them.
The maids offered to go on her behalf but she refused. She had been locked away for too long, it was time for her to see the sunlight and feel it on her skin.
Leaving the kitchen, she went to her room and changed into something more beautiful and free. She took her purse and left the mansion.
***
She decided not to go into one of the cars because people might see the brand and recognize her. Though not everyone knew her or so she thought.
Walking on the side of the road and receiving fresh air, she felt at peace. She had the happiness swelling in her, it felt good finally coming out.
Inside her mansion was quite suffocating, she never knew it could be that bad. Yikes!.
Reaching the food store where she was supposed to buy something, she entered inside and went to take a shopping basket.
She went to the section where Chinese food ingredients were sold, there were a lot of sections for different countries. She started picking the things she needed and luckily no one had noticed her.
Her identity was finally exposed when she went to pay for the ingredients she had bought.
"You! Aren't you that CEO that owns a car brand being accused of being fake? You killed your employee, it's you!" She said loudly.
"Stop saying that, I didn't kill anyone." Maya tried defending herself but the woman kept drawing attention.
"Ma'am please, stop creating a scene. I didn't kill—" Maya's words were cut short with an unexpected slap that made her drop to the floor.
Maya held her cheek, looking at the woman in shock.
"You're a murderer but you still have the guts to say that I'm creating a scene. Isn't your wickedness worth jail time but I'm sure that you won't end up in jail because you're rich!" the woman yelled and threw a tomato at her.
Maya gasped and covered her face. Before she could say anything else in her defense; she and other women started throwing stuff at her, like vegetables, and even plastic bottles.
Some started videoing everything, it was so humiliating.
Tears filled Maya's eyes and she tried standing up but one of them threw a can of drink that hit her, straight on her eyebrow.
Falling to the floor, Maya cried out in pain. She was a werewolf but still an omega, she wasn't that strong.
"Bitch!"
"Murderer!"
"Killer!"
They made more and more derogatory remarks at her and they continued throwing stuff. One of them, with so much envy, tried throwing a pocket knife that she had in her defense.
The pocket knife was about to get to Maya but someone caught it, it was Eric.
"Stop!" Eric growled at them and there was instant silence. "Why would you do this to her? What right do you have to judge her? If any of you throw a single thing at her again I'll put the cops on you and you'll spend a long time there."
Eric threw the knife on the floor and looked at them coldly.
The women were frightened by his threat, it wouldn't be so good to have a police record or serve jail time for something that wasn't their business.
"Who are you to tell us that?" the woman who started the uproar spoke.
Eric had the urge to tear them to shreds but he had to remain calm and civil.
"You think I'm joking?" Eric frowned and brought out his phone.
Most of the women scurried away and even the salesperson hid. Soon, almost everyone was gone from there.
Eric turned back to Maya who was still on the floor with tears on her face. He went to her and raised her from the floor.
She groaned a bit but didn't feel any pain around her body, an advantage for at least being a werewolf.
He pulled her into a hug and she hugged him back, gripping his shirt. After hugging for a while, He took her away from there, to his car.
They entered inside and he brought a handkerchief, using it to wipe her face and body.
"Did you get injured anywhere?" Eric asked softly but she shook her head.
"No." She replied and looked at him with traces of tears in her eyes.
"I followed you here, I wanted to make sure that you received the gift and you were fine. I didn't want to harass you that's why I didn't make myself noticeable to you." Eric explained.
His thumb reached for her face to wipe her tears that fell.
"I love you, do you know that?" He asked and received a little glare from her. "I didn't reject you because I wanted to. Father wouldn't accept you, we might have been dating but he thought it would end there. I didn't want him to hurt you, he wouldn't give a shit about my feelings or yours."
"The only way I could push you away was by rejecting you and berating you. I sincerely wanted you to hate me because I thought that was the best thing for us. I didn't want you to suffer so much for me, you might even get killed and I'm not worth your life, like you said before, I don't deserve you. "
His words shocked her, she didn't know any of those things.
"You tried killing me?" Maya raised her eyebrows at him.
"I didn't, I think it was Eunice who sent someone to hurt you. More reason why I pushed away but now I realize I can't stay away from you, I love you too much." He muttered.
Maya looked at him and he was more sincere than ever. Her heart fluttered, probably believing him.
"Maya, give me a chance. Please." Eric pleaded. "Will you give me a chance?"
"I…" Maya opened my mouth to speak.