Chapter 35

Chapter 35

-MILLIE

“Candice!” Lhissed, glowering at her as she strutted away.

Traitor! 1 helplessly screamed in my head. After everything I confessed. I was hoping to have her on my side and not leave me alone with Danman.

The pretty little witch winked at me, grinning smugly. I want to wipe that cun ningly sweet smile off her face.

“Have a nice evening, Millie she sang.

“I hate you” 1 mouthed at her, pushing away this drumming in my chest cavity.

My pulse ran wild as Damian removed the distance between us. With his long legs, it’ll only take him ten seconds to cross the street. I had ten seconds to make a decision. Run or face my fear.

1 fidgeted where I stood. This felt like the first day of school where the teacher made me stand in front of the class to do a self introduction.

I don’t even know why I’m freaking nervous. Maybe it’s the way he’s looking at me. Those green pools have always been intense, but this time, it was as if he was trying to read me.

While I was contemplating, trying to assess my situation. I lost those ten seconds. Damian stood before me. He was so beautiful I found it hard to breathe.

“Millicent, his voice was rougher than sand. Dark bags circled his eyes, and his hair was a mess, as though he’d raked his fingers through it repeatedly.

“Hey I stiffened when he leaned down and k*ssed me on the cheek. His soft l*ps lingered on the side of my mouth.

“Ready?” he asked, his tenor dropping a few octaves,

I blinked at him in dazed. “For what?”

“To go” his brows creased, the edge of his l*ps curling up in an amused smirk.

“Oh Damian, we already talked about this”

“Shh, he placed a finger over my l*ps “And I already told you. I’m doing this because I want to.” He stole my messenge from my shoulder, his long fingers sliding underneath the leather strap in a move so smooth and casual, he threw an a over my shoulder and whisked me away from the building towards his car. “Just let me take care of you, alright?”

He opened the passenger side, and on the seat sat a beautiful bouquet of red roses. My mouth goes dry. Damian picked and handed the flowers to me.

“Thank you.” I meekly said, my head going in circles with what this could mean When I signed up for this deal, sweet gestures like this weren’t on my list. I mean, we were faking everything.

1 cradled the flowers on my lap as Damian stepped on the gas; the car wheeled away from our office building. He turned the radio on and Elvis’ voice filled the car. I was lost in my head while Damian’s lingers drummed on the steering wheel. tapping to the tune of Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

“You mused the turn.” I reminded him when he kept driving past the intersection to my house

“We’re having dinner,” he replied.

“Dinner?” I parroted, questioning eyes glued on lam

Chapter 35

“Uh, yeah? The meal you have at night?” he seemed genuinely confused that I didn’t know what dinner was.

Annoyed, I said. “I know what dinner is. What I meant was, why are we having dinner? What for?”

A mischievous smile ghosted his l*ps. “I didn’t know a single word, and a question mark could mean such an intricate question.

I bite down on my l*p, my checks burning as I try hard to suppress my smile, Damian chuckled and explained. “My bad, Millicent. I should’ve asked you first. So, would my girlfriend like to join me for dinner?” he used a tone that was so deep. that it made me giddy inside.

1

I couldn’t help but giggle. Damian laughed with me, and just like that, I felt at ease again. I don’t know how he does that, but this feels so natural. No matter how hard I try to ignore it, I am comfortable around Damian, like we’d been doing this for a long time. Like we were meant to be in this situation.

G od. I wanted to crase that last thought. That was the little girl in me fangirling over Damian all over again.

“Only if you’re taking me some place I’ve never been to before, babe,” I punched back, putting on a sly smile.

Damian frowned. His eyes were glued to the street, deep in his thoughts. “I might know a place, but we have to make a detour first.”

My brows arched. I was only teasing him. I grew up in this town, and I’m pretty sure I’ve explored all the corners of Roslin City. But then again, I haven’t resided here for the last decade, so maybe Damian really knew a place I hadn’t seen before.

The detour he was talking about was at Simply Thai, a Thai restaurant in the city. He left me in the car and returned with bags of takeouts. I was itching to tell him it was okay for us to have dinner at that restaurant. I haven’t eaten Thai food in a while, and I want to check out their menu.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Damian murmured, securing his seatbelt. I could smell the spices from the takeouts permeating the air in his car. My stomach was knotting in anticipation, my mouth salivating to taste what he ordered for us.

“Like what?” I played coy, blinking at him innocently.

“Like you had a change of heart. I’m one hundred percent sure you’ll love this place where I’m taking you,” he shoulder- checked and backed out of the parking lot.

My shoulder fell. I threw my facade out of the window and admated what I truly felt. “I was only teasing you earlier, and I haven’t eaten Simply Thai in like… forever.”

“I’ll take you there again,” he murmured, pinning me with a sideways glance. “I want to explore Roslin City with you.”

Fire kindled under my cheeks. I looked out the window, hiding how his words affected me. The way he said it felt like this was a long-term thing. I had to remind my heart to get too excited because, again; we are only on this deal for a year. But what came out of my mouth was something my mind didn’t agree with, but I think my heart did. “I think I’d like that too. Damian.”

Our eyes locked for a beat. His were round with surprise while mine were wide with this unnerving feeling I’ve ignored since New York.

“Good,” Damian said, shifting gears. I was startled when he reached for my hand and laced our fingers together. And when he lifted my hand to his l*ps for a k*ss, I nearly melted into a puddle in my chair.

“Is this the part where you confess your deepest darkest sins?” I said, ridges deepening on the space of my eyebrows. I hesitantly took in the wrecked cars lining the junkyard from left to right.

“What?” Damian chuckled, the car slowing to a crawl.

This was, in fact, the first time I’ve been to Tobby’s Salvage Yard. I’ve heard of this place from Dad a few times when I was still in school. He was friends with Tobias Watson, the owner of the yard.

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Chapter 35

“I’ve seen a lot of movies where they dump the dead bodies inside a car and let the salvage yard do the disposal. This is the last place the authorities would look for a missing person.”

Damian’s laughter filled the confines of his car. “Don’t give me ideas, Millicent.”

I laughed with him. The smell of oil and old metal spread through the air, but it didn’t give off that unpleasant junkyard smell. The cars lining each side of the dirt path we took were surprisingly organized. Big machines and trailers were on the far end of the yard, motorcycles and smaller vehicles were on our left, and SUVs and trucks were on the right.

Damian drove through the yard until we reached a metal arch with a buff guy manning the trailer on the left.

“D!”The guy beamed at Damian, offering his hand for one of those handshakes where they pat each other’s shoulder. The guy had to reach over the trailer and Damian’s jeep

“Jackie.” Damian replied with the same enthusiasm. “How have you been, bro?”

Jackie spread his arms, gesturing towards the inside of his trailer turned office and over the entire yard. “Business is doing good, so I’m good. You? I heard you’ve taken over your old man’s company.”

Damian shook his head. “Aren’t we all destined to take over our old man’s businesses,” he said. Both of them looked back at the pilling cars behind us. “Let’s have a drink at Lukes on the weekend.”

“Sure, sure.” Jackie’s gaze slid to mine. Then he flashed Damian a knowing smile. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d visit my yard with a chick”

“Come on. I’m trying to make an impression here.” Damian retorted.

Jackie hollered, throwing his head back. “You go ahead, man, this one’s on the house.”

Through the rearview mirror, another car parked on the one behind us, and I saw a few coming in our direction, too.

“Thanks, man. See you at Luke’s. Damian continued driving through the path.

Behind the junkyard was a huge parking space. Vehicles were already parked in the lor, facing a wide screen with movie credits rolling.

I was surprised that a place like this existed in Roslin City. The salvage yard was located on the outskirts of the city. Mt. Malyons famous sunset can be witnessed here from a different angle.

Once Damian found a spot for us, he reached for the bags of takeouts on the back seat and took out the foo by one. Som tam, s pic y chili, basil fried rice, tom yum soup, chicken satay, Bangkok-style drunken noodles rice pudding for dessert.

“That’s a lot of food,” I commented, eyes skimming over the sc at tered food containers on the dashboard and

“I’m freaking starving” Damian said, handing over a box of fried rice to me along with a spoon and fork. He the chicken and laid them on top of my rice. “Eat up.”

The food looked delicious, and the aroma was mouthwatering, so I dug in, moaning as the spices exploded on my my first bite. “This is really good. Go d. I can’t believe I went away from this town for so long,” I said with a mouth ful food as a new movie started to play on the widescreen.

The parking lot started to fill out, too, but we had a little privacy inside Damian’s car.

s one

ricky

“Me too,” Damian admitted, busying himself with filling his rice box with more food. “When I was in school, all I wanted wa to get away from this place… and I did. I was happy for a while, but since I came back, I appreciated the peace and quiet of this place compared to the big cities I’ve resided for…” he searched for words, “almost fifteen years.”

I lift my shoulder in a lazy shrug, enjoying my shrimp. “It’s cliche, but we only understand the value of things until we lose

IL”

Damian lifted his intense eyes from his food to my face. “Are we still talking about food?”

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Chapter 35

I pinned him with a sideways glance. “Are we?”

The air suddenly thickened, the temperature rose even if the air conditioning was on full blast.

His eyes dropped to my l*ps, intense green pools dilating as he reached over and swiped his thumb over my lower l*p. The satay sauce stained his thumb. A pulse kicked in my lower region as I watched him lift it to his l*ps, gently sucking on it. The movie on the screen faded. The cars parked around us became inconsequential. All that I could think of was how those l*ps felt sucking my own.

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move. I don’t know if I was leaning toward Damian or if he was the one leaning toward me, but our faces were inching closer.

I swallowed hard, licking my l*ps. He eyed the movement of my tongue over my l*ps. We both got started when a car behind us blew its horn. I swear I heard Damian growl a curse. In my nervous state, I giggled and flattened my back on my seat, resting my head on the headrest.

“What’s funny?” Damina asked, stabbing the food in his box.

1 sighed, still giggling to myself. “I thought you’re gonna k*ss me

“I was…” he murmured.