Bound by Tension
23

This just happened to be the most boring dinner with anyone. He hadn't said a word but was only eating and glancing at me at short intervals, nothing else. Well, it wasn't like I was expecting us to exchange words. It wasn't a date. "Oh, I'm supposed to be nice." He said randomly, sitting up straight. So he remembered now? He needed to stop deceiving himself. He could never be a nice person.

"I guess you forgot that." I forced a smile.

"Yes, I did." He chuckled. Oh goodness, he just chuckled?

Once again, silence occurred. I hated it as hell, but I wasn't going to start a discussion with him. Heavens knew how much I hated keeping my mouth shut for such a long time. We finished our meal, still dwelling in that silence.

"We should leave now," I said, realizing we were both done with our meal and I badly needed to get some rest.

"Yes, but I'd be going on a walk."

"A walk?"

"Yes, a long walk. I need to exercise my legs, not just sit around all day long. You can either tag along or sit in the car till I'll return after about an hour."

"An hour?! I can't stay in this unfamiliar area for an hour, in a car."

"Okay, you can come along."

"I hate walking." I lifted and curved my eyebrows, trying to look pitiful.

"Well, it's your choice. You either stay or come with me." He replied indifferently, rose to his feet and turned around to leave.

"Guess I'll have to go on a walk with him." I groaned. "Wait, Mr. Hendri

Hames!" I called.

***

The chilly evening breeze grazed my skin unremittingly, sending a unique feeling of warmth to spring through me. The sky had orange, blue and little shades of pink in it as the sun was setting.

Walking down the pavement with Hames by my side, both our hands slightly brushing each other as they swung. It felt as though we were about to reach the bottom of the sky as we kept walking in total silence, letting the breeze throw my hair upwards dramatically.

The walk was relaxing and cool but nevertheless, I was frustrated at this boring man's silence. I had remembered going on a walk with Kade a couple of months ago but he wasn't this boring. He was very fun to be with. We joked, laughed, talked about business and non-business related things, but Hames, so annoying.

I really wondered how frustrated his girlfriend was going to be from his boringness and frigid demeanor. Oh wait, I forgot he was a hater of romance, he couldn't have a girlfriend. He probably had one and she died from how boring, annoying, and frustrating he was.

I couldn't take this frustrating silence anymore. "Do you even talk?!" I was forced to ask.

He stared more like, glared at me with those frigid brown eyes of his, making my intervals squirm and everything in me made me regret asking him that.

"I'm sorry." I sheepishly apologized, averting my gaze from him and began walking faster so he was behind me.

"Miss Mark," he called. I halted my steps and pivoted to him. "I also don't like it when I walk behind people I'm walking with. Stay beside me, not in front of me." He had got to be kidding me? He locked his hands behind him, moved a few steps further so he could be right in front of me.

Obviously, he was way taller than me so I had to raise my head a bit to lock my eyes with his.

"And yes, I talk. I don't start discussions," he arched his back with his hands still behind him, lowered his face till his lips were only a few inches away from my ear.

My breath seized in an instant, I also felt my heart freeze from his closeness.

His lips grazed my earlobe, permitting a dramatic gasp to leave me. My entire body froze. I could tell I looked like frozen fish at the moment.

"Why don't you start a discussion? I prefer whispering to people's ears if I intend to start one." His voice was deep in a charming way that made my eyes roll all the way to their back.

He stepped away from me, alerting my proper thinking capacity to return.

"Okay? Start a discussion," he raised his eyebrows.

"Uh..." I started, scratching my forearm.

"Miss Mark, I really don't like it when I wan't something to happen and people do otherwise. Start speaking." He wasn't yelling or speaking with authority but his voice was scary. "Okay," I nodded, rubbing my palms together and exhaled.

"Resume walking." He said quietly, like he was going to be arrested if he talked any louder.

He started walking away and I kept up with his pace.

I wondered what to say but there was nothing good. The only things I wanted to start with were asking him why the hell he was so cold? If he had ever made someone die from his glares? If he intended to make his employees overwork to death.

I didn't want to blurt things that could cost me my job so I remained silent. We continued walking side by side, the breeze was once again playing with my hair which I was constantly brushing away from my face.

"You still haven't started talking." He brought that to my knowledge.

"Do you only work?" I started, feeling glad I didn't utter the crazy questions reeling in my head but I wasn't certain if my question was considered sensible.

"Good question." Judging from his tone, my question didn't seem to piss him off. I sighed in relief at that.

He locked his hands behind him again, making his strutting look more stunning. I should've asked if he was from the royal family or something similar because he walked like royalty.

"In a way, yes." He answered my question.

"In a way?" I quirked an eyebrow at him, brushing my hair away from my face for the umpteenth time.

He glanced at me with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Working is like an escape from the problems of this world, mostly those associated with family."

"So you don't like dealing with family issues?"

"Not exactly. I'm not interested. Just my mother. I care about her, but don't need to worry about her financial need since she's stable in that aspect. Every other person related to us are counterfeits. I have goals and dreams to achieve in life, and I'm not at the point of my success yet.

"I never liked being around family members since I was a child, so I was involved in the family business at 15, 11 years ago. It's now a part of me.".

"Wow..." I smiled. "I, on the other hand, have always wished to have family members around. My parents died on the mission to make our lives better. My best friend's mother accepted me but she didn't have a stable family as well." I sighed. "I never experienced enough love from family members, except Lila and her Mom."

"I know, you lived a terrible life." He said but looked lost in his world of thoughts.

I squinted my eyes at him. "You know what? My story?"

He only seemed to realize he had just said something. "Oh," he muttered.

"How do you know? What do you know?"

"It's nothing." He averted his gaze from me, increasing his pace.

"Weird man." I said, audible enough for only me to hear, then sprinted to catch up with his pace, stopping to walk beside him.

He cast me a sideways glance, fixing his gaze in front of him again.

We resumed walking in silence for a while.

"Do you think some emotions are pointless?" He asked randomly, breaking the silence.

"Uh?" I brushed my hair away from my face again.

"I was wondering-" he was cut off by his phone that began ringing from his pants pocket.

He took his phone out of the pocket, held it up to his face and his usual stern frown returned. "Wait a minute,"

He placed the phone to his ear. "What do you want?" was his first words to whoever was on the other end of the line.

My hair came in front of my face again. I stopped myself from groaning but pivoted, moved two steps forward and began rolling my hair into a rough bun.

"Imogen!" Hames exclaimed all of a sudden, startling me. Before I could turn back to him, I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist from behind me, pulled me backwards to rest against his chest, causing his phone to drop from his hand. Immediately he did that, a motorcycle passed with the craziest speed I had ever seen anyone ride with. It was like those in bike races, crushing Hames' phone.

The action was too quick but my heart was throbbing really harsh against my ribcage. What sort of stupid rider could be riding his bike on the pavement? He could've had me killed. That was definitely illegal.

I glanced towards the direction the bike had left. The speed at which he rode was too high. With one blink, he was out of his sight. Was he trying to commit suicide? Where on Earth did he come from? Hames' panting reminded me of the fact that his arms were still around my waist.

"Gosh, Imogen..." he said while panting.

"Uh... I'm fine now." I made that known to him, tried to leave his embrace but couldn't escape it, it was too tight.

He rested his head against my shoulder, still panting.

Finally, he loosened his grip around my waist, turning me around to face him.

"Are you okay?" His eyes were tear-filled, his hands were shaky as he cupped my face, brushing my hair away for me. He held my shoulders, turning me to my sides to inspect my body. "I'm fine, really." I assured him.

"Oh my God." He exhaled, pulling me into a tight hug. "You're fine," He brushed my hair with his fingers.

"Hames, I'm fine." Wasn't I sounding convincing enough? Why was he overreacting to this?

"I'm glad you are." He tightened the hug, resting his head against my shoulder.

I raised my hands a bit, unsure of what action to take. He didn't pull away from the hug for a while and I didn't either, bewildered by his reaction to this. It was kinda creepy, but mostly confusing. "Uhm... Mr. Hendrix- Hames," I called, hoping to draw him out of this awkward moment, but he didn't respond.

After a few more seconds, he pulled apart, scanning me with his eyes.

"You seem even more worried than me." I needed to make that known to him, if he wasn't aware.

"What sort of crazy rider is that? He appeared out of nowhere and I thought he was going to hit you. Gosh... terrible people everywhere." He threaded his fingers through his hair. "So you care?" I was amused to know that.

"Why wouldn't I? I'm human." His frigid face returned. Oh, not again.

"Let's leave, before any crazy thing happens again." He scanned me once more before turning around to the direction we were coming from.

I didn't budge, I was lost in the thoughts of the fact that he was worried. Was it simply because he was going to be at loss for the injury or death of an employee while he was with her?

"Miss Mark," he hollered, jerking me out of my pool of thoughts. He glanced at me over his shoulders. "Don't walk behind me."

"I'm sorry." I apologized.

He rolled his eyes, returning to me. I flinched when his hand made contact with mine. He grasped it. "I don't trust you'll be fine now if you walk behind or beside me. You've just proven to lack the sense of alertness." Hey, that was very rude, Mister.

I wore a straight face, trying to hide any other emotion.

"We're returning to the hotel." He gently pulled me, turned around again, still holding my hand in a refreshingly discomforting way.

I was still so perplexed and befuddled at his weird reaction to me almost being killed by a person that was clearly demented. Wait... something strange happened earlier; Hames called me 'Imogen'. So he knew my first name?

"There'll be no work tonight. We'll postpone everything until tomorrow. All you have to do is return to the hotel and go to bed." "Okay," I muttered. Weird man...