3

Chapter 3

The car ride was silent. None of us spoke. After Silas opened the door for me, like the gentleman he is, and made me sit inside his car, he turned silent. Maybe he was giving me time and peace to think of an excuse to keep my secret safe.

But knowing Silas, he won't stop until he reaches the truth. And once he does, I don't know what he will do.

Rubbing my arms, I stared out of the window. It was cold here. And the clothes I was wearing were barely preventing me from the cold wind that was blowing outside. But the friction of my palms against my arms was barely giving me any warmth.

My body turned still, like an ice cap, when Silas leaned close to me, draping his warm, soft coat around my shoulders. Like someone squeezed my throat and caged my chest, his presence made it hard for me to breathe normally.

"You still don't know how to take care of yourself? You haven't really changed in the past seven years, Bella. You're still so careless with yourself." Silas' strong voice made me shiver.

When I convinced myself that it was the low temperature and cold breeze that made me shiver, I knew the reason was not the temperature but a giant man sitting beside me, who was staring at me so intently that he made the air surrounding me stiff.

The way his midnight eyes, darker than the forests, was imprinting my image in his soul made me shiver.

"I am not cold. And I don't need your coat and charity, Mr. Kingsley." I said, my calculative tone made him smile.

I-know-you kind of smile.

His fingers gripped my hands when I raised my hands to remove his coat and dump it back at him. My eyes met his midnight gaze with annoyance but the way his eyes dared me to disobey him froze me dead on track.

"First thing first, when it comes to you, it's never charity, Bella. And Silas Kingsley doesn't believe in charity. Have you ever seen the devil behaving like an angel?" He asked me, and I stared at him in silence.

"Then you don't need to act like an angel when you are anything but it." I said, fisting my hands around his coat but before I could have removed it from my body, Silas turned his grip firm around my palms.

"Don't remove the coat, Bella. You're shivering." Silas tried again. The way his voice turned low, and pleasurably a little intimidating, I felt a weird kind of butterflies soaring in my stomach.

"I said—"

"What will you take for listening to me for once, Bella? It's not like lending you my coat has a hidden agenda. You're cold. You're shivering. If you want to torture yourself with cold and cough, be my guest, sweetheart, remove the coat! And trust me, I will be the one watching you when you fall sick then." Silas' voice was shadowed by the clouds of anger and frustration.

"Excuse me?" I stared at him in disbelief.

The Silas Kingsley I grew up knowing was so soft. He would have pleaded with me to wear his coat and not be stubborn. He would have never taken the tone with me, the one he was currently using with me.

When did he change so much?

And why? Why did he change so much?

"You loathe my presence, don't you, Bella? Now imagine what will happen when you fall sick. And you know me. If you fall sick, leaving you alone will be the last thing I would do. I'll take care of you and for that, I would have to touch you. And that might revive your dead feelings for me. So much hassle for refusing to wear my coat, no?" He said, tugging the coat closer to my body.

Like thunder before the storm, his voice made me shiver. My hair on the back of my neck stood up when he let the back of his fingers caress my cheeks. My fingers fisted the soft material of his coat as my mind registered his touch, remembering the pleasant moments that always followed his touches.

"So, keep wearing my coat, Bella. You will hate me taking care of you, no? But mind me, I would enjoy it the most. After all, I would get a free chance to be near you." He said, smiling at me, like a predator.

I let my tongue swipe over my upper lip and teeth, letting out a shuddered breath as Silas moved away from me, leaving me cold and vulnerable.

"Don't— don't come near me! I am wearing your coat. I'll wear the coat! Just— just stay away from me!" I squeaked out, and Silas arched his eyebrows and then shrugged his shoulders, leaning back on his comfortable seat.

"As you wish, Murphy." My cheeks burned a rosy hue when he called me Murphy. My last name. The name he often called me with when we would engage in an argument.

I decided on being silent when I realized winning an argument from this new version of Silas Kingsley is nearly impossible.

And hunger was not helping me at all. My head was pounding, revolting for some food and good sleep. I pressed my forearms against my belly, staring out of the window again. The coat Silas forced me to wear provided me warmth I didn't know I needed so much after running away from my house.

Tears of helplessness stung my eyes. I pressed my lips together, swallowing the bitter taste of hunger and poverty. And when I thought I would pass out from hunger and lack of sleep, the car screeched to halt.

Silas stepped out of the car and opened the door for me. No matter how much I tried to remind myself that Silas left me, or that I have moved on, his one gesture would make me forget everything else. It was embarrassing how he affected me the same way he did seven years back.

"Come on, Bella." Silas whispered softly, pressing his hand on my lower back, making me walk forward.

I wanted to protest. I wanted to tell him to leave me alone. But his gentle voice broke my composure. I let him guide me inside. And I walked inside his house for the second time in the last four hours.

"Good evening, Sir. What do you want me to cook for you and Madame today? I can cook some Lebanese—" the cook in the kitchen started speaking as soon as he saw us walking inside.

"I want you all to leave the kitchen and retire for the day. I will cook today. And make sure no one disturbs us." Silas ordered his staff, and I watched the staff and cook getting a heart attack dramatically.

It was like Silas wanting to cook himself made them all stare at him as if he belonged to a different planet. But after they recoiled from their shock, they hurriedly rushed out of the kitchen, obeying their Boss's command.

Did Silas quit cooking after we broke up? So many questions were running in my mind but I had no answer to any of those questions.

"How does some pasta and mushroom risotto sound? You used to love the risotto I would cook for you in highschool." Silas said, removing the vegetables from the basket and started washing them.

"I am not hungry." I muttered under my breath, lying miserably, and Silas stared at me silently before shrugging his shoulders and continued dicing the vegetables after placing a pot of water with salt on the stove to boil the pasta in them.

"Of course, you are not hungry. I am hungry. And some pasta and mushroom risotto sounds absolutely appetizing to me right now. You can sit there and watch me cook." Silas teased me, and I rolled my eyes.

He looked so different yet so same. The way he was cooking food for me reminded me of our old days. But never did Silas look so charming while cooking before. He was making a simple act of cooking very appealing to my eyes.

I quickly shifted my sight when Silas found my eyes. I felt heat rising up my neck when his lips pulled up in a half-smile. My stomach rumbled as he started cooking, the aroma of food filled the air making my mouth water.

"It's a shame, Bella, that you're not hungry. I swear this is looking so appetizing. And the aroma—" Silas said, closing his eyes, leaning close to the pot to take a long whiff, making me glare at him.

"— the aroma. I am feeling on cloud nine. Can you smell the aroma? It smells delicious, no?" Silas asked me, smiling innocently, and my hunger increased painfully when I closed my eyes to smell the food he was cooking.

It smells so good. Curse him for being such a good cook.

"And the taste, my goodness! It tastes so— spicy. But poor you, you're not hungry." Silas said, taking a spoonful of the pasta sauce in his mouth.

"Silas." I glared at him, and he looked at me, masking his smugness with innocence.

"Yes?"

"I will kill you!" I grumbled under my breath and Silas burst out laughing, throwing his head back. My body stilled when he started laughing, the loud rumble making me feel warm from within.

Like an oasis, Silas' laugh was quenching my parched soul. I don't know after how long I was hearing the melodious chuckle that dissipated my worry in the past. I swallowed the urge to grab his face and kiss him until my heart permitted, and looked away.

Standing up from the chair, I walked inside the kitchen, glaring at him. Much to his amusement, I grabbed the spoon from his hand and took a spoonful of pasta, coated with creamy cheese and spicy sauce inside my mouth, and my eyes closed as soon as the flavors exploded inside my mouth.

And I was correct, nobody can ever match Silas' cooking. The man could make delicious food even out of rocks, these were still pasta and risotto.

"I thought you weren't hungry." Silas said, and I glared at him with a murderous look, and he raised his hands up in surrender.

"I wasn't! But you kept provoking me. And it doesn't taste that good. I have had better pasta than this." I said and he stared at me, feeling challenged.

"I'm wondering, Bella, whose pasta did you like better than mine." He said, and my eyes widened comically when he took a step near me.

Since when did he become so possessive as well?