Chương 20: 20. Wild imagination

Rory nearly toppled over. Her heart lept into her mouth and she swallowed that hard lump back into her butterfly-filled belly. Her face kept heating up and deepening to a darker shade of red, from embarrassment. Shutting her eyes tightly, she bowed her head, her chin almost touching her chest as she fidgited with her fingers nervously.

Derek badly wanted to laugh, and so did Esther. She had pursed her lips tightly, trying as much as she could to stifle her laughter. Derek tried to keep a straight face but couldn't stop the corner of his lips turning up slightly at that cute reaction. And that was when Rory lifted her eyes to his face. She caught a glimpse of the smile right on time, and so did Esther. Derek came out of his daze and quickly slapped that silly smile out of his face mentally and put on a straight face.

"Bring my dinner upstairs." He curtly said to Esther before turning around and leaving.

Esther blinked several times, she couldn't believe her eyes. She turned to Rory and she saw a similar expression.

"Did he just smile?" They both said together and that made them both gasp in surprise and burst into laughter.

----

Derek skipped some stairs as he made his way to his room. He needed to get away from the mess he had created. How could he smile like that? And now the ladies were looking at him like they had never seen him before. He impatiently undid the buttons on his shirt and roughly pulled it from his body, exposing his perfectly shaped abs and firm torso. Suddenly feeling frustrated, he felt unusually hot so he quickly went to shower.

Standing under a spray of cold water, he closed his eyes as he allowed the cold water to wash all the heat from his body. He felt like peeling off his skin so the water could cool his insides as well.

Trying not to think about anything else, he quickly poured some soap in his hand and began to wash his hair and entire body. It had been another busy day, not hectic, thankfully, so he wasn't so stressed. He seemed more relaxed. Maybe that was why he was feeling this way. He should just tire himself. With that, he rinsed himself and walked out of the shower. After drying himself, he rubbed the towel in his wet hair till it became dump, then he put on something comfortable and went to his gym. He needed some distractions to clear his mind.

In the kitchen...

"Holy moly!" Esther exclaimed with wide eyes. "No, seriously, was that a smile? Like he just smiled right now, right? I wasn't imagining things, right, Rory?"

Rory chuckled.

"Why do you look so surprised? Don't tell me you've never seen him smile before." She kept laughing at the look on Esther's face. What was wrong with him smiling? He looked...

"Would you believe me if I tell you I've never seen him smile, ever since I saw him?"

"No way!!" Rory's eyes bulged. Really? How was she supposed to believe that? Is nobody at least funny in this mansion?

Putting that aside, Rory helped Esther finish up the dinner. They brought up the earlier incidence and they had a good laugh about how flustered Rory was when she saw Derek.

"I nearly peed in my pants, I swear." Rory said and joined Esther who already had tears in her eyes for laughing so hard.

When they finished, Esther was now worried about sending the food upstairs. Usually when he gave such orders it was Hayford who sent it to him, but the last time he sent it upstairs himself, which came as a surprise.

"I'll go find Hayford now. He'll send the food to the boss."

"But why? He asked you to bring it. Does that not mean you should do it?"

"No, it means Hayford should bring it. Not me. I've never sent food to his room before. It was only when he was in rehab that I used to do that. But at home, Hayford and your father were the only people who were allowed in his room." Esther said and headed for the door.

Her father? The boss must have trusted him a lot. Why did he have to steal money from him?

"Can I send it?" Rory suddenly blurted and Esther stopped abruptly and snapped her head towards her with wide eyes.

"Send it where? To his room?"

"I've been there before." Rory shrugged. "And besides, I've been allowed on that side already. And I want to apologise for my silly reaction today."

Esther sauntered back to her with a worried expression.

"Rory you don't have to. The boss is very scary when he's mad. And you don't want to see that, do you?"

"He smiled today. He's in a good mood." Rory stubbornly said and Esther laughed.

"What you did was funny. Anyone would have laughed. Now wait here while I find Hayford..."

"Don't worry, I'll bring it to him. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

Esther shook her head at her stubbornness. The worst that could happen? This lady had no idea what she was in for.

"Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you." Esther sighed and pointed the tray which had his food. "God, I could end up in trouble too." She muttered as she saw Rory make her way out with the food.

-----

Derek, after about 30 minutes workout, came back into his room. He took off his sweaty shirt and headed for the bathroom, thinking of getting a shower again when a gentle knock came in.

He turned to the door and frowned. Only Hayford would come up here, but that wasn't his way of knocking. Who could it be? Oh well, he was the only person he could think of so he made his way to the door and opened it slightly, not bothering to fully open it. He turned away from the door and headed for the bathroom but a mellow voice stopped him on his tracks.

"I brought your food, sir." Rory managed to say, trying to hide her flushed face with her long hair with her head bowed.

She didn't expect to meet him half naked. When she entered and saw his broad back dripping with sweat, her face instantly heated up and she knew she was a blushing mess. His body was drool-worthy. For a moment she imagined her hands on those muscles on his back. It looked firm, she wished to feel it with her fingers.

When he finally turned after she had spoken, her face almost bled from blushing too hard, she quickly looked down and let her long brown hair fall over the sides of her face to hide it. Her hands shook, she nearly dropped the tray. She slowly peeked through her long lashes to see if he was looking, and yes, there he was, looking at her with scrutiny.

"Where should I put it, sir?" Rory asked, but after what seemed like forever, there came no response from him. She fully exposed her face now and looked at him. He seemed... in a daze. Like he was lost deep in thoughts and had not even noticed her presence yet.

Rory looked away and scanned the room. She needed to free her hands or she might just drop the tray. She saw a coffee table and carefully walked towards it and lowered the tray on it.

"Where's Hayford?"

Oh no! Was he mad?

"Um... sir, I'm sorry. I... I thought of bringing it here since I was going to my room to get something." She lied, her head bowed to avoid looking at his face.

Derek was surprised he wasn't angry. In fact, he was trying to be, but he couldn't. No one, not even Esther, had come up to even knock on his door before. But this girl did not just knock, but was actually inside. He saw her raise her head slowly to look at his face, and for the first time, his heart skipped a beat. When he saw her blue-green eyes, his body started behaving in a strange way he couldn't put his hands on. His hand itched to remove the strand of hair that had stuck on her beautiful slightly sweaty face. Her face was flushed, and her pink pillowy lips were slightly parted, looking very tempting. She wore a skinny leggings and a simple tunic over it, making her look cute and adorable. He imagined her petite figure in his arms...

Wait, why was his imagination going so wild? No! He tried to take a deep breath to calm himself without being obvious. Those wild imaginations were not helping, and the cutie in front of him was not even making it possible not think that way. And why was she still there?

"You can leave now." He tried to sound curt, his jaw clenched.

Rory nodded. "I'm sorry for... my silly reaction earlier in the kitchen, sir. I didn't see you, I swear. I... I would have been quiet."

There was something in her voice that always seemed to calm him down. What was happening to him?