Love’n’Lust

Zina stood still till Ben left for the room to meet Belle, that was when she could finally be at ease. She heaved a sigh of relief and ran her fingers through her hair, thanking her stars that he didn’t find out she was feeling something for Belle.

She immediately went and shoved down some of the flowers that hadn’t completely entered the bin. She had seen the flowers while she was in the cab coming home with Belle, and had remembered Belle mentioning how she loved pink roses so she stopped the cab back then to go get her some but was met with Ben’s surprising visit when she made it home.

She sat on the couch, cursing herself inwards at how she had forgotten that Belle was in some tangled situation with Ben, and how she was only there to look after her and make sure she was safe.

She knew she would lose so much more than her job if Ben got to find out that she was beginning to like Belle so she decided to erase every growing feeling that was in her concerning Belle.

*****

Late Morning.

Belle opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling aimlessly, then she turned in bed to continue sleeping but saw Ben sitting beside her on the bed. She quickly sat up.

Although she had seen him earlier after returning from the club, she had fallen asleep and thought it was just a mere dream but seeing him sitting next to her surprised her all over again.

“Ben?” She called to make sure she wasn’t just imagining his presence again like some days. He smiled at her and she knew it wasn’t her imagination, he was there but how?! She asked herself.

“You finally woke up,” his smile didn’t leave his lips.

“How are you here?” She asked, her chest going up and down as she breathed loudly.”How did you know I was here, how did you find me?” She asked again and heard him chuckle lightly before letting it return to a smile.

“Find you? Were you in some sort of hiding?” He caressed her face as he asked rhetorically.

“You can’t be here,” Belle told him, wondering where the hell Zina was.”I don’t stay here all by myself. Zina’s going to be back soon, probably, and she can’t see you here, she might recognize you. I don’t want to have to explain to her, how I know you and…”

“Relax,” Ben lifted the blanket separating their bodies, and came closer to her on the bed.”She won’t be a problem, she won’t disturb us.”Property © NôvelDrama.Org.

“No, you don’t understand…” Belle wanted to explain further but Ben stopped her when he brought her into his cuddle.

“Come here,” he put his arms around her, making her rest her head on his chest. Belle didn’t know how much she missed him doing that till he did it. She got to smell him like she used to; she inhaled the scent of him and it somehow made her calm as she resolved to enjoy his fingers playing with her hair.

“Zina is just one of my securities whom I picked to keep you safe while you stay here.” Ben disclosed to her and saw her lift her head to look at him.”She works for me. You see, Belle, I understood that you needed some time to clear your head of some things and that was why you left City S, so I designated her to come over here and help you be comfortable and safe while you stayed here but then, every time she reports to me, it’s always the same; you don’t ever mention that you want to return to city S.”

“It’s been a month and it’s been crazily unusual without you around. I had a bad day yesterday and all I wanted to do was to come back to you and feel all that weight come off of me like always because you give me this… this peace and I can’t explain it. I planned to do just that but I remembered that you weren’t there so I started on the road to come here; at least seeing you would calm me down and it did.” He finished.

“So, Zina isn’t a girl who doesn’t have any friends and lost her family?” Belle asked, shocking Ben with the question.

“Is that all you care about in all I just said to you?” Ben was somewhat hurt by it but decided to answer the question.”She had no family or friends when I employed her.”

Ben didn’t want to go into details about Zina and how he met her when he went to visit his birth mother at the slump of a place he had spent some years of his life in.

“Belle, I just want to take you back with me, do you not understand that I really missed you?”

“I’m not going back to City S.” She voiced her decision.

“You are still angry about him?” Ben could get annoyed.

“It’s not just him, you know, he had a family, and friends too, you didn’t even consider how those people would feel. What did you even do to him?” She questioned because she still followed up on the news since she left and knew he still hadn’t been seen or heard from by anyone.

“If you had stayed away from him like I told you, none of this would have had to happen. He deserves everything I did to him, that bastard drugged you into spending the night with him; he told me that himself, and was unremorseful about it. He had the guts to tell me that it was the best time he had ever had with any woman; I was going to spare him because of how you felt about it all but not at that point, Belle.”

“If I could bring him back and inflict more pain on him, I swear I will.” Belle could hear the anger in his voice.

She stopped for a moment and thought it through. She now remembered telling him that she didn’t drink and so would get a non-alcoholic wine. She became speechless when it all came to her.

‘He drugged me,’ she spoke in her mind, ‘he actually drugged me,’ Anger arose from within her, and then it became a feeling she couldn’t express; it was one where she didn’t know if to still be mad at Ben or not.

“Even if he did drug me, who are you to play god, huh?” Tears formed in her eyes.”You just decide what to do, and go ahead to do it like it’s all nothing.” She wiped a rolling tear on her right cheek with the back of her palm.

It went silent between them for a while, with both still sitting side by side on the bed. Belle felt two of Ben’s fingers climb up her arm. She turned her teary eyes to him when he took her right hand in his.

“Come back with me to city S,” he kissed her hand after he spoke.

Belle chuckled. She knew he didn’t just request her to return with him, it was just him telling her what he wanted her to do. She had gotten too used to his sometimes autocratic self.

“Like if I refuse, you are not going to put me in a car and take me there anyways.” She looked away.