Chapter 96

96 iv. Breakfast

He took her to the rooftop where a buffet breakfast table laden with all types of food awaits them. He has obviously prepared well for this, she couldn’t help but appreciate the unspoken thoughtfulness behind his actions.

He sat with her as the servants started placing the appetizer on their table. Some fresh fruits and bowls of soup were likewise placed.

He took a knife and fork and started cutting off the fruits in tiny bite sizes, a silly preference of hers that has raised even her best friend’s eyebrow.

One servant poured coffee for her. She took a sip and realized it was exactly how she liked her coffee when she orders them at the cafe.

“Have you been stalking me for a long time?” she couldn’t help but ask him.

He stopped cutting the fruits and looked at her, “No, my queen, I have not been stalking. As much as I would have wanted that, this time around we just met for the first time yet again.”

“Then how do you know how I wanted my fruits and how I wanted my coffee?” she looked straight into his eyes, hoping to see some lies.

“That has always been how you wanted them. Smaller cuts for fruits instead of the usual bite-size, and your coffee with hardly any caffeine on it,” he pointed out.

“Yes, but those are confidential information. Those are very private things, unless you have stalked me, then there is no way for you to know,” she argued.

.....

“I have known you for several lifetimes and fell in love with you in each of them. Do you think basic things like that are something I will forget so easily?” his eyes were intent, his voice honest and sincere.

“Do you really expect me to believe that? To believe that is to mean that I have turned insane! To believe that means I have lost all my brain’s capacity to think,” she reasoned, raising her voice a bit.

He continued to slice through the fruits which just happened to be her favorites. Raising his fork on her lips he waited for her to accept the food.

She blushed as she accepted the food he offered. This is insanity, dining with her captor and allowing him to feed her!

As his golden eyes bored through hers and a lazy smile adorned his face, she wondered if she really has turned insane. She felt a warm feeling envelope her as her heart fluttered in her chest.

“This kind of grapes,” she mused after tasting it. She has never tasted this variety before, but she somehow felt like she has done so in the past.

“From the vineyards of Italy, I have repurchased the same one with the very same villa. One day we might visit it again and pick up grapes as we used to do,” he smiled fondly at her as if reminiscing good memories that she knew for certain weren’t real.

“What do you mean? I have never been to Italy,” she clutched at her heart. It has always been a dream of her to step foot in that place, a certain feeling of wanting to bask in the night air as she enjoyed a peaceful gondola ride with a lover.

He smiled patiently at her and took a bowl of soup, blowing on it as he handed it to her. “You have been there. Both of us have. At least not yet in this lifetime.”

“You are talking cryptic,” she lowered her gaze. She couldn’t stop the frantic beating of her heart as he scooped the bowl with a spoon and fed her again.

“Aye, cryptic. Crazy, insane, and mad. These are all the many insults you have hurled on my way since we have met again, my love. It is a good thing I have learned patience and self-control over the multitude of reincarnations,” there was humor in his voice as he gazed lovingly at her, admiring the way her cheeks turned red over everything he just said.

“Those adjectives fit you, only a madman will do everything you have done until now,” she took another sip of the soup he offered. The creamy texture of the soup was again exactly as to her taste.

He smiled and ignored her as the servants served some steak. He took the knife and fork and started slicing through the meat.

“I don’t really care about the adjectives you use to insult me. They do not hurt me even a bit. It may be the truth, that I have long succumbed to insanity ever since I first lost you,” he stopped, his eyes suddenly filled with indescribable pain as he lost his focus.

She didn’t know what has overtaken her but she placed her hand on top of his and squeezed it hard, making him come back from whatever tragic event was in his mind.

“Forgive me,” he smiled and placed the fork in front of her lips.

She took a bite and looked at him, he had replaced his frown with a smile, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. Whatever it was that he has thought of momentarily must be a very hard memory for him.

She is not ready to accept his version of things, but she can at least accept that there were traumatic events in his life that may have been too much for him to bear. Maybe as he pointed it so bluntly, those were the very reason he seemed to have lost his mind.

“How was your business?” she inquired, referring to what he told her about. The reason for leaving her alone the past few days.

“They’re doing okay. I am still managing everything from here, remotely. I just had to meet with the board of directors and some investors. Moments like that will be far in between, lest you starve yourself again from waiting,” he caressed her cheek.

It shocked her that she did not feel the need to correct him. Has she really been starving herself to get his attention? She looked away, now even she felt like she didn’t know the answer.

“Eat some more, you have gotten so skinny,” he pointed out and placed another slice of meat in front of her.

It was cooked as she wanted her steak, well done, with no blood in sight. She has always been a bit overly scared of blood and didn’t want to see them especially anywhere near her food.

She wanted to ask how even that is known to him, but she didn’t even dare. She felt like she already knew his explanation. An explanation she simply can not accept.

“I worry about my parents. I still wish to contact them at least, and my sibling,” her voice trembled. It was true, while she couldn’t find herself hating her abductor, she worry for her family outside these walls.

“Then, we might go see them, someday,” he frowned, not wanting to share her but contemplating about some things, he think he might allow it if it means so much to her.

“You jest! How can you show me to them without facing any consequence over what you did?” she pouted.

She couldn’t understand herself either. Why does she care about him facing the law?

What he did was wrong. Abducting her and burning her apartment to the ground. Those things have consequences. But for some reason, she dint want him to face them.

“You might think of me as a fool to leave any evidence,” he smiled at her, making her feel at ease once again.

“You really can play with the whole world. The cops, the justice system, the entire business world. What else is not under your control?” she spoke the words bitterly, hating that he seemed to have no regard for law and order.

“You,” he said it casually and yet it made her world stop. The sadness in his voice as he spoke the word made her heart tighten, trembling like some furniture would in an earthquake.

“What do you mean?” her lips trembled as his golden eyes turned their shade into murky gold, his emotions swimming in his eyes.

“It is you I don’t have control over. The one thing I have always desired and yet still feel so out of my reach. You are the only one I needed to hold, but even now that we are sitting side by side, it still feels like you are so far away,” her eyelids fluttered as she heard him say the words, trying to reign herself from crying.

She felt sad over the words he said, it was as if she can feel every bit of his suffering. That was when she realized, she didn’t want him getting hurt. His pain affects her morbidly so.

She took a fork and a knife and sliced through the steak on her plate as well. She placed the fork in front of his lips as she mumbled, “It is called having breakfast together. Then it means you should at least eat.”

He happily obliged as he looked at her, “As long as you feed me, my queen, then I shall.”

“Shut up and be grateful,” she said, pouting at him.

He chuckled, “Aye, my queen. I’ll shut my mouth and eat what you offer.”

She felt a sudden jolt of electricity after hearing his words. It really is insane, how visions of carnally explicit moments just crossed her mind.

She wondered if in reality she is more lascivious than he is, finding even his normal words thrilling. He smiled at her with an evil glint in his eyes, as if he just heard her say out loud her thoughts.

She blushed and feed him again, which he readily accepted. She wondered how this can be, how this normal scene between couples can happen so easily between them- her who is his captive, and him who is her tormentor.

He continued to feed her throughout the meal, and so did she return the favor and fed him as well. He took care of her like she was some royalty. The irony of it all shocks her but still makes her feel thankful.

Some things never make any sense when she is around him. But surprisingly, even that felt acceptable. This place beside him... felt like home.

Like a welcomed chaos she has been longing for all her life... he came. She smiled as he continued to tell her about the businesses he has all over the world and the things he wish for them to see together.

It is a given that he was the one she has been pining for all those years, but this level of calm she felt while still being held captive and before her abductor is something even her obsession with him cannot possibly explain.

She is scared of her own emotions, but more importantly... she fears that her own sanity might simply be slipping away.