Chapter 23: Chapter 23

"I am not going to answer that yet," I said.

"Then, you must answer this question. Why are you at Sonia's house?" he asked again.

"I came there to apologize for what we have done." I pointed in the direction where the mansion is.

"We did? It was only your plan. I am willing to court you alone, but you still pushed me to her. I already told you that you are the one I like but you still made me court her. My conscience is eating me, Aliyah. I decided to tell her the truth once I came back from the training. I told her the truth, but here you are, still pushing me to her. What's wrong with you? Right now, you are acting like a jealous girlfriend. Later on, you will push me again as if I am just nothing to you. You are hurting me, I don't how can I understand you." He massaged his forehead.

I heard Cristel cleared her throat. "Can we speak about your problem somewhere else? If you don't want to make a scene here," she said.

I rolled my eyes at Henry then turned my back to him. I grabbed Cristel's arm then walked away from him.

"Aliyah, don't turn you back at me. We still have to talk."

I can feel he is following us. I don't care, if I talk to him more, I might say the truth. It is not yet the time, I need more courage. And I am not very sure if they are going to believe what will I say, they might accuse me of being crazy.

"There's nothing we need to talk about," I said while still walking pretty fast.

"Aliyah, you are dragging me. I was trained to walk like a lady, not a man," Cristel whispered.

I stopped walking. I faced Henry who is smiling widely. "Where do you want to talk?" I asked him.

"You know where," he answered.

I nodded. "I will just send Cristel home, wait for me there."

He nodded. We turned our back to him. I bit my lower lip. I am going crazy. He's making me crazy.

"I thought you don't want him, so why are you smiling?" Cristel teased me.

"I like him, but he is not for me. Can't I be happy?" I looked at her.

"Whatever your reason for pushing him away, I am sure it is very heavy and big. And I don't think it is a possible war between our families is the reason. Tell me when you are ready, I will believe you." She tapped my shoulder then smiled at me before she went inside their house.

I breathe heavily. She will believe, I don't think so...

I went to 'our place' and then I saw Henry, waiting for me. He smiled when he saw me, I didn't. Should I end this? Should I end whatever is going between us? Should I kill his hope? Because he is expecting nothing from me.

"I love you, Aliyah," he said. I lowered my eyes to the ground.

"You can't love me, you know. You are just hurting yourself," I said.

"I don't care, I just want to say it. I love you, Aliyah." He comes near me. He put his both hands on my shoulder then slide them down to my waist. He pulled me closer to him.

"H-Henry..." I stuttered.

"Aliyah, can you say you love me too?" His nose is touching mine, he is too near. I can already smell his minty breath.

"I-I can't." I tried to push him, but he is too strong.

"Please, just this time, forget what stopping you from accepting me. Forget it, tell me what you feel whenever I am holding you this close. Tell me, Aliyah." He pulled me more.

If I forget everything, if the situation is just normal, if I can love him freely. If only....

I closed my eyes then make my way to his soft lips. I kissed him softly. I hope I can make him feel what I cannot say. We kissed passionately, I cupped his face, pulling him closer. I love him, I really love him. I don't want this to end, I only want him for myself. Cristel is right, I am in love with this man.

I tried to end the kiss many times, but he won't let me. We kissed until we ran out of breath. He leaned his forehead to mine; he keeps on giving me tiny kisses on the lips.

"I love you, Aliyah. No one can change my mind. You are for me and I am yours," he said, almost a whisper.

"Can we just be like this for a while?" I asked, pertaining to our set-up. Not having a relationship or a commitment to each other, just mutual understanding.

He nodded. "Sure," then pulled me more.

I playfully slapped his chest. "Silly, not our position, our set-up. We are not yet in a relationship; we don't have any commitments but we have mutual feelings."

He smiled. "So, you love me too?"

"I didn't say that." I pushed him.

I sat on the bench and watched the clouds. I cannot hide my smile so as he. We are not talking yet we are smiling, as if we have our own secret and we can understand each other by only smiling.

I played on the ring on my finger. When I went here, I thought I was going to return it to him but now, I want to keep it forever. I wish I could bring it to my time.

"Do you like your ring?" he asked, breaking the silence.

I nodded. "How come you know the size of my ring finger?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I just know, they have this saying that if you love someone, you know their size." He laughed.

I laughed too. Where did he get that saying? I thought it was just applicable for partners who already made love or sex because they touched each other.

"Or maybe, your instinct is just good and accurate." I raised my eyebrow.

He grinned. "Yeah, and now I am sensing that we will get married and build our own family soon."

My smile faded. He noticed it, he came near me but before he can touch me, we heard a loud laugh.

"You are really a slut, aren't you?" It was Sonia, she was alone, and her eyes have tears.

"Sonia, don't make a scene." Henry approached her.

"No! She's taking you away from me! She was just using you for your money. She was deceiving you. I investigated her! Look!" She handed Henry a pile of papers. My eyes went wide.

"She is one of those syndicates who are you using their beauty to deceive man and then after they seduced them, they will do their job! You are not only a whore! You are a fake!" Sonia shouted while pointing at me.

I can't say anything, I don't want to deny it because I don't know if that was really me on the paper.

"This is not Aliyah, Sonia." Henry returned the papers to Sonia.

Sonia can't believe what just Henry said. "What? I gave information, legit data, yet you are still defending that girl? What happened to you, Henry? What did she do to you?"

Henry sighed. "It doesn't mean that you are mad at her, you will make fake information about her. Where is your class, Sonia? What happened to you, too?"

Sonia was shocked. Tears began to fall again from her eyes. "Papa will hear this. I will never let you happy. Did you hear me, Henry? You will be happy unless you marry me!" She rolled her eyes at me then left.