บท 8: Temper

Even if I tried, I was certain my exhaustion had taken a back seat to my anger. Not wanting to think about Jalen or even the artist who I had ambiguously thought about earlier, I got up from the bed.

I first moved towards the window on the eastern front of the room where I tossed my phone.

I looked out the window and observed Kiera out in the garden having a conversation with two men, one of which I recognized as Kale, the other man was a stranger to me.

The former, Kale had both his arms wrapped around Kiera's waist as he spoke something into her ear causing her to break into a smile all while the other man appeared as the obvious third wheel on their left side.

Finally, after some time they followed the back entrance into the kitchen.

I picked up my phone and went downstairs. Meeting the group in the kitchen, and the couple still chatting away, I greeted them with a nod. Kale glanced at me with a warm welcoming smile that lasted as long as the time it takes to snap a finger before turning back to Kiera.

I scoffed at the both of them before gazing askance at the stranger. Upon a closer look, his build was quite fit. His height stood at about 6ft+ inches as far as I could tell and his shoulder was exceptionally broad. As for his face, he had pleasant features but nothing noteworthy. He resembled your average good looking male in a way that seemed familiar and reliable.

"Hey," he greeted first.

Kiera shuffled away from Kale's grasp and turned to us. "This is Kale's new friend that I told you about, Calvin this is Fiona, my sort of best friend." Her introductory tone was nonchalant, she quickly ended her words short and whispered something into Kale's ear. The latter nodded his head in response.

"Hi Calvin," I answered his greeting, then, moved to a top open shelf, stood on my tiptoes, and grabbed a loaf of bread.

"You're the princess of the Rifien family right?" Calvin inputted as I dropped the loaf on the center counter, opposite him. I nodded and grabbed some jam.

"To be honest, you're not what I expected. You're a lot more casual." His tone was friendly. I lifted my head to meet him eye to eye with a weak smile plastered on my lips. "I'll take that as a compliment."

He attempted to make small talk with me but my mind was not in the right place. It was still fuzzy and the hot air from earlier had yet to dissipate.

My attention drifted towards Kiera, "I'll probably leave tomorrow. He might be back soon." I said, she turned to me with a soft pitiful gaze and nodded in understanding.

I took a bite of the bread I jammed and let the sweet taste cheer me up. I spread jam on two slices of bread and offered the second one to my new acquaintance.

"What do you do for a living?" I asked, suddenly getting curious.

He shrugged avoiding eye contact, "I do consultations."

I accepted his reply and walked back to my room.

◇ ◇ ◇

Sure enough, the next day I was out of Kiera's house and back to my humble home. Apart from Maria and my driver, Nicholas, the rest of the helpers in the house were all Jalen's people. I needn't have wonder which one exactly informed Jalen of my absence when all of them could've been guilty. If a certain one was guilty this time, then another one would snitch the next chance.

Thinking about that now, the decision I made back then to head to Kiera's house instead was the right choice, otherwise, it would be gossip amongst them on how their mistress had spent the night out and came home in a hungover mess.

Jalen also came back a day afterward and spent the entire one and a half day cooped up in his room doing god knows what.

In the evening he knocked on my door, "Come have dinner with me?" his word delivery was suggestive yes, however, I couldn't help but noticed how he never added please when requesting something of me.

I stayed silent in agreement. Within a few minutes, I went downstairs and sat beside him at the dining table.

The meal had already been laid out and the wine poured. Remembering my embarrassment from a few days ago, I almost jerked at the sight of it.

Jalen stayed silent and waited until I started eating to follow suit.

Taking a break from chewing I dropped my fork on the plate and asked to be polite. The awkward silence dragged on between us for too long. "How was your trip?"

"Like any other." He responded casually.

"Any excitement?" I continued.

"Just the usual, met up with some friends from my city and had some entertainment." He mused, I scoffed visibly in response.

Don't do it.

Let it go.

Provoking a fight can do no good.

My mind spewed out thoughts to reason with me but a tiny spark had already been ignited.

"I'm happy you can have all the entertainments that you like without a care in the world. I wonder what it must be like to do trample other people's self-respect." I said as calm a tone as I did my previous sentences.

Yet, my heart was raging in regret. All for momentary satisfaction I poked, he would not let it slide. Not the man with a temper that I knew all too well.

As per my thoughts, Jalen slammed his fist on the table, however, remaining some composure. "I did not think it would matter to you. Why? Is the little princess' ego bruised?"

I glared at him, not backing down. "Do you think that your mere shamelessness screwing around can bruise my ego? Don't think too highly of yourself. I assure you I'm fine." I held unto the fork on the plate under a strong grip.

"If you are fine then don't mention it, it is that simple. Continue playing that fake composed princess role of yours like the proper self-righteous bitch you are." His voice was raised and his eyes were burning with anger.

I stood up straight at his words, my finger still tightened around the fork. Letting it go, I took a step back from the table and I looked at Jalen from the corner of my eyes.

"I don't care! I wouldn't care! But you must be so desperate for attention since you decided to call me while fucking God knows who." I spat out with a waveless composure and turned to leave his presence.

Jalen caught me by the wrist, also getting up on his feet and, stopped me from moving any further. "Yes, I called you while some random bitch was sucking me off. So what? It was just a little fun." His voice was bitter, his hands cold.

"Maybe I should go off having fun the way you do, I wonder if you would like that." I laid out a false threat with my back turned to him.

"How do I know you haven't already?" He questioned, spinning me to meet him face to face. Jalen was strong and had a solid body structure, his muscles were prominent and could be seen in almost anything he wore. Using his strength, it was not a task to spin me around.

"You know what they say, children take after their parents." He continued, knowing exactly what to say to push all my buttons.

If he was willing to go low, then I also would abandon my restraints.

"Yes! It's always about my parents! Why? Yes, they aren't innocent but neither am I, nor you, or anyone else. They have their flaws and I'm okay with that. They are not your ammunition in a fight against me!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

I struggled out of his grasp and scoffed with a pitiful foreboding.

"You! You even called me while doing that? Aren't you just seeking attention from me? Probably because mommy didn't give you enough attention as a kid! What? Want me to spoon feed you too." I held nothing back.

Jalen grabbed both of my arms forcefully until I winced from the pain. He pushed me up against the wall, holding me in place, and said nothing in reply. His eyes held daggers and they cut into mine with the intent to kill.

"Let go of me," I uttered, the pain from my hands getting unbearable.

A devilish smirk appeared on his face as he softens his grip without letting me go.

"Sweetheart. My dear fiance, do you know why I haven't fucked you yet?" His dark whisper next to my ear sent a shiver to my spine. He let go of one of my arms and used that free hand to caress my cheek.

"Because I don't want you to," I replied honestly, shifting my face away from his rubs.

"No. It's because I'd let you have such a good time but you don't even deserve that." His tone this time was calm. Yet, it was those soft-spoken words that were the ones piercing through my heart.