Chapter 7

“You shouldn’t have come here.”

 I shrugged off the pain I felt when he said that and concentrated on peeling the orange fruit. It’s a good thing that I was standing on my back so it is easier to hide the pain from which I should be bulletproof from given how countless of times he has made me feel that excruciating emotion from the day we had agreed to enter this kind of relationship. 

“I was dead worried of you. I can’t sleep at night thinking how you must be suffering.” I faced him while wearing that familiar smile on my face and handed him the platter full of assorted fruits. “Here. Have some.” 

“Thank you,” he said but did not even take a single glance on the fruits I laid down on his desk.

“Why are you already working? You should take a rest, Von. You just got out from the hospital.” I walked behind him and started massaging his shoulders. 

“Don’t be a nagger. It’s just a stomach upset. I’ve had more worst cases in the past.”

“But still, a rest is still a rest,” I protested. 

“Shut it up, Jill,” he hissed. “I’ve had enough of Sandy to persistently nag me for today. Don’t be like her, please.”

My hands froze mid-air at the mention of the name of the woman I secretly considered to be the thorn along my way into claiming Von’s heart. 

“Okay, I’ll stop. Sheez!  Are you always like this? Working tirelessly? I will not be surprised if your death wish would be still about your company. Come on, Von. Get loose sometimes. Have fun. You like to hang out on my place tonight?” I ran a finger through his silk hair and planted soft kisses on his ear.

“Stop it, Jill,” he warned.

I rolled my eyes at his rejection. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I scanned through the paper on his desk and try to read some letters but I let go of them the moment I read the first line. “So boring! That’s why I never liked running a business. It bores me to death. I mean, even the letters are so boring, formulaic, and devoid of any emotion.” I placed the paper back into the stacks of tons of white and black stuff on his neat desk. 

“Just the way it should be. You cannot put flowery words there. It’s not a love letter, it’s a proposal about projects or ideas that I have to deal with in order to properly led the company. Grow up, Jill.”

I waved my hands in a dismissing manner. “Whatever! Good thing I have my mom who can handle the nerd stuff I despised. I swear, I will never see myself behind a desk all day long! The mere thought of it bores me to death. How much more when I’m really doing it.”

“Which is one of the reasons why you can’t be like your mother. Strong, decisive, and powerful.”

He stood up from his chair and walked into his bed like he has not been confined in a hospital yesterday. Laurie called me first thing in the morning to tell me that Von went home. That is when I flew right into his house. 

“Who says I want to be like my mom? What she has achieved, I am more than proud of it like so proud and I never intend to follow her footsteps. I just can’t and never will I. It’s my mother we’re talking about. She’s incomparable.”

He sat down on his bed and removed his cardigan. Moving closer, I picked it up from him and put it in the romper. When I returned, Trevor is already on his back on the bed.

“Von, about that contract you were talking a while ago, how important is that to you?”

He sighed and turned to look at me. “It will be a dream come true. The project I have in mind will benefit hundreds and even thousands of employees once the start of construction kicks in.”

“And you need mom for what?”

“I need her signature. Once her name is associated with the project, many will take interest and vigor on it. You’re lucky to have such a powerful mother, Jill.”

I focused my gaze on his delectable lips that’s been inviting me ever since I walked inside the room. 

“You never thought about using me? Perhaps ask me for some help? It didn’t go through you that you’re dating the heiress of the Buenaventura Group of Companies?”

Von smirked and pulled me to him. I ended on top of him almost just an inch to his face where his eyes immediately landed on my lips. 

“How could I use you if you’re not being useful enough? Even your mother doesn’t trust her own daughter. I could see the disappointment in her eyes every time someone asks her about you. But it’s okay. I treat it as an advantage. I wouldn’t want to face you as an enemy one day.”

I tentatively skipped the part when he shoved on my face that I’m useless.

“People will cry if I became useful, Von. I’ll snatch spotlights away from them. Every woman in the world will envy me because if I start to become productive in the company, then god must have loved me very very much to give me everything in the world. Beauty, money, body and even intellect. How unfair is that huh? So I say no, I’m not going to be the kind of use they all wanted me to be. I still have my conscience and a little dash of humility in me.”

I bit my lips when his hands trailed on my back creating tiny ripples of electricity on my sensitive skin. 

“Hmm,” I murmured. “And me? Your enemy? No chance, Von. The thrill I get from being this close to you is enough for me to never draw the line. So please, keep me as your friend forever, will you?”

His answer came in a form of hot wild kiss that got us reeling in desire later on. I miss him so bad it's torturing me.

“Stop,” he groaned when my hand went down even further.

“Why?” I asked, my eyes already hooded with want.

“Sandy and Brad are coming over. I wouldn’t want them to think anything about us.” He helped me settled on his side and then he stood up 

 I sank on the bed unable to grasp what he said. “And why is that? There’s literally nothing wrong with what we’re doing. I’m single and you are very much available. Tell me what the fuck is wrong with that?” A knot formed on my forehead.

He looked at me from his shoulder while he’s busy on his phone. “They know about the project I’m working on and why I need your mother to be a part of it. They might get the wrong idea that I’m using you for my gains. I wouldn’t want that. Respect for my hard work is my number legacy, Jill.”

 I closed my eyes and buried my face on his pillow to successfully hide the sting of pain that crossed my face. How did I come to this point? Why did I love such a selfish person? He didn’t even dare try to say that he’s also protecting me and my name. 

I chuckled. “No one is stopping you from using me. Just ask me and I am more than ready to help you.”

He stood frozen on his feet for a while. And then he sighed. “Tell me, Jill. Are we still on the same page? You know this is only temporary. This whole relationship with you. If you keep acting this way, I’ll have to end our agreement.”

I smiled bitterly. This is what I’m really good at, smiling and hiding my pain for everybody not to see. I wish that one day, Von could finally see me beneath all this but wanting that to happen is like finding that one tiny needle in a stack of hay. Impossible.

“You’re overanalyzing things. I just want to help you, no more strings attached. Let’s say that I was just so thankful to the man for giving me multiple orgasms every time we have sex that I can’t help but sympathize with him especially now that he’s having troubles with his company. Besides, think of it this way. You want my mother to co-finance the project but you can’t seem to convince her while here is her daughter, offering you her help. No businessman in his own mind would refuse my offer. How about that, huh? Seems acceptable enough?”

I sat on the bed and fixed my hair. Von is still on his phone but I know he heard everything I said.

“They’ll be here at any moment now. You should go,” he coldly said.

“Okay, lover boy. Your slave is gonna go now.” I tiptoed to kiss his ears. “Call me anytime if you’ve thought about my offer to you.”

“It’s hardly an offer, Jill. What do you get from helping me?”

For a moment, I was lost in words. I can’t tell him that his love is what I want in exchange, can I? Of course, I can’t, my logical brain answered my own question. He’ll be scrambling away from me the second he gets hold of my real reasons.

“Nah, treat it as a genuine help coming from a friend. And what do I want from you in return? What does someone like you can give to a woman like me? I have everything I want, Von. Money, power, and fame.”

Except you.

“Think harder. My offer still stands until next week.”

I walked out of the door and closed the room behind me. Clutching my designer bag on my side, I wore my shades and turned around the corner of the hallway in the second floor of Von’s mansion. The art pieces hanging on the walls are exquisite. They caught my eyes the first instant I saw them.

“Hmm, maybe I could ask for this beauty,” I murmured while looking at an impressionistic painting. “You would look good in my room.”

I was so engrossed with peering at every art piece on the wall that I didn’t realize someone is standing behind me. The hair on my back stood up.

“Hi, Ms. Buenaventura.”

I turned my head and came face to face with a handsome face that quite resembles that of Von’s. The tall man is leaning on the other side of the wall, his hands on his pockets and his dark eyes were on mine.

“Hey, Brad.” I acknowledged him.

“I thought I am only imagining things. The heiress is really here in my brother’s house. What a pleasure to have you here.” He peered at me. “You got any business here, princess?”

I didn’t like the way he hinted something indecent in his tone. And I definitely did not like the way he looks at me as if I had done something awful.

“Why do you care? Last time I checked, it was none of your business, Mr. Scott.”

I nodded my head at him and started walking away.

“I’m still talking to you.” He caught my arm and pulled me towards him. “I do not like it when people turned their backs on me when I’m still talking to them.”

I raised my brow and looked at him condescendingly. “Well, I am not just another people. I am Jill Buenaventura. Now, if you don’t want to have a problem with the word ‘bother’ then release me. If you want to spend some considerable time in jail, then by all means touch me more. Let’s see if you could still hide by your brother’s shadow by then."

Anger flashed across his eyes but he slowly released his grip on mine. He put his hands in the air. “Chill, Jill. I’m sorry.”

I smirked. “It’s good that you know your place on earth, Bratty boy.”

I gave him one final warning look before descending the stairs.