THIRTEEN

Diane gasped has he kissed her roughly. He slid his arm around her waist and cupped the back of her neck with his other hand. Unconsciously, she hooked her hands around his neck and tilted her head to deepen the kiss. Nicholas slid his hand to her ass and squeezed it. She gasped at the action, opening her mouth in the process and his tongue thrust into hers, demanding and possessing. She moaned into his mouth. Nicholas traced his hand down her body, lingering at her ass and cupping her breasts a few times. He slipped his hands into the blouse she was wearing and brushed her nipple through the thin and lacy bra she was wearing. He held one of her breasts in his hand and squeezed it roughly.

Diane senses jolted from the action and she suddenly became aware of the action. Her eyes widened as she broke the kiss and frantically pushed him aside. “What the hell?!” she spat out, wiping her mouth and trying really hard to adjust her now dishevelled hair.

Nicholas glanced at her, shocked. “What?”

“What the hell do you think you are doing?!” she whisper-yelled, her hands combing through her hair frantically.

“What?” Nicholas asked, feigning nonchalance. Meanwhile, his heart was pounding loudly in his chest and he could feel the unexplainable ache in his loins.

Diane glared at him. How dare he try to kiss her like that? Not that she didn’t like it but it was so obvious that he was playing her, toying with her emotions like he did some days ago. “Bastard,” she said and shoved him aside. “Get the fuck out of my way,” she said angrily and walked out of the toilet. She halted at the door step and looked back. “Wipe the lipstick off your mouth. You wouldn’t want your girlfriend to know what you were doing would you?” She asked, tauntingly reminding him that Ashley was not far away. She spared him one last glare and walked away.

“Bitch,” Nicholas muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his palm. But he could not deny that he enjoyed the kiss. Her scent and the taste of her mouth were certainly addictive. He could not help but want more. He wanted more. And he was certainly going to get as much as he wanted till he was tired of it.

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Diane's hair was wrapped in a messy bun. She was wearing an apron as she busied herself in the kitchen, cooking. Rachel had taken the night off to go and see her grand daughter and Diane had decided to cook dinner with Mina helping her out. As she stirred the food, her mind suddenly went back to the kiss she had with Nicholas in the restaurant's toilet. She didn’t know if she was to smile or frown. The kiss was mind blowing and arousing and she couldn’t deny that she had not wanted him to stop. But she couldn’t seem to place her finger on the reason why Nicholas kissed her even when he knew his girlfriend was in the restaurant. Did he enjoy the kiss as much as she did? Did he think she was some form of toy he could play around with and mess up her feelings and emotions? If so, then he was in for shock. She wasn’t that kind of girl and she intended to tell him that as soon as she got the chance.

“Ma’am?” Mina called.

“Uhn?” Diane replied absent-mindedly, still stirring the food in the pot.

“Is everything okay ma?” Mina asked concernedly.

“Yeah, sure. Why do you ask?” Diane asked, a little bit surprised.

“You’ve been staring at the pot for a while,” Mina informed her with an amused smile.

“Oh,” Diane sighed. “Let’s serve dinner before they all come downstairs.”

“Yes ma’am,” Mina replied.

About one hour later, Natasha and Malvika walked downstairs. “I can’t believe there is a specific time for breakfast, lunch and dinner in this house,” Natasha groaned. “Can’t I just eat at anytime I like?”

“No, suck it up and deal with it,” Malvika replied, noisily pulling out a chair to sit down. A frown was formed on her face as she looked around.

“What’s wrong Malvi?” Diane asked, noticing her foul mood.

“Nothing,” Malvika replied with a shrug.

Ashley walked downstairs, holding on to Nicholas’ arm. Diane stared at them, a pang of jealousy and sadness hitting her. What would she not give to be in Ashley’s position, she thought to herself. Her gaze met Nicholas’ and he gave her a knowing smirk. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment. He discreetly gave her a flirty wink.

Although her heartbeat doubled and her legs felt like jelly at the gesture, she managed to give him a glare and slid into her chair. Nicholas walked to the chair beside her and sat down. She looked at him in shock.

Ashley frowned. “Nick baby, why are you sitting there?”

“Nothing,” Nicholas replied smoothly. Ashley shrugged and sat beside him. Diane frowned at that.

“Well, let’s start eating,” Diane said.

“Where is Rachel?” Nicholas asked.

“Umm…..she isn’t around.”

Nicholas frowned. “So who cooked?”

“I did,” Diane croaked sheepishly.

“What?!” Ashley yelled. “Why would you even think of cooking? I’m sure you’ve contaminated every goddamn thing in the kitchen!”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Take a chill pill. You are such a drama queen.”

“Let’s just eat,” Nicholas said, opening his plate. “Where is Jenny?”

“She said she isn’t hungry,” Mina replied.

“Thank God for that,” Malvika muttered.

They ate in silence. The only thing that could be heard was the scraping of spoon on plates.

Diane ate her food slowly. The scent coming from Nicholas was intoxicating and was affecting every of her sense organs. She tried her best not to gaze at him and she was really doing well. Suddenly, she felt a palm squeeze her thighs. She whipped her head back and looked at Nicholas. He was staring at his food, his face was expressionless but she knew for a fact that he was the one doing that.

“Nick,” she whispered.

He didn’t reply. Instead he movies his hands higher, skimming her thighs through her sweatpants. Diane’s breath hitched as he brushed his hand across her thighs teasingly. Her breath came in short gasps as he continued his assault and put his hand into her sweatpants.

No, no, no, this is seriously getting out of hand, she thought. She panted lowly as his fingers skimmed across her pants. Seriously, is this guy sick or something, she thought. She couldn’t believe he was doing this at the dining table with his girlfriend sitting right next to him.

“Diane,” Malvika called.

Diane quickly raised her head. “Ye…yes?” she replied, stifling a moan.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, are you okay?” Nicholas echoed. She could see the smirk that threatened to appear on his lips.

“Hmmm,” she replied. Malvika shrugged and turned away.

“Get your dirty hands off me,” Diane harshly whispered to him.

He withdrew his hand slowly and Diane suddenly felt empty and lonely, wishing she hadn’t said that. She frowned at herself, confused about her feelings. She hated this; hated this stupid feeling that made her vulnerable. Tired and frustrated, she pushed her chair back and announced, “I’m no longer hungry.”

“What? Why?” Natasha asked.

“I’ve eaten quite a lot today,” she said. “Don’t worry about me,” she stated, forcing out a smile. She nodded in Natasha’s direction before turning and walking briskly towards the stairs.

As Diane’s figure slowly disappeared at the top of the stairs, Natasha turned to Malvika, “Do you know what’s wrong with Diane?” she asked lowly, making herself audible to only Malvika.

“No!” Malvika snapped loudly.

Natasha looked at her strangely. “Wow, sorry,” she said, scoffing and rolling her eyes.

No one knew why Malvika was in such a foul mood. She kept a frown on her face all through dinner, hitting her plates and spoons together, dragging chairs around noisily. She was frustrated but she had no idea who or where to pour her frustration on.

After dinner, when everyone left for their rooms, Malvika stayed behind in the living room, pacing up and down agitatedly and waiting for Jenny. Earlier today, Jenny had told her that she wanted to talk to her. Malvika could clearly remember Jenny exact words which were: “I know about it. Wait for me in the living room so we can talk.” Those words had left Malvika confused and agitated. Know about what exactly? What did Jenny want to talk about?

Malvika waited for thirty minutes before Jenny finally came downstairs and when she did, she walked leisurely like she did not just come late to their “meeting” and denied Malvika of her sleep.

“What do you want to talk about?” Malvika snapped at Jenny, gritting her teeth. She wasted no time in asking her straight out what she wanted.

 Jenny just gave her a smirk and walked to the table to pour herself a glass of water. She kept her gaze on Malvika as she slowly poured the water from the jug into the cup. Her aim was to make Malvika extremely angry and so far it was working.

Malvika’s face was red with anger. She could never stand Jenny and her stupid attitude. “Cut the crap out and tell me what the fuck you want!” Malvika said heatedly, her chest heaving.

Jenny smirked. “Easy there, tigress,” she replied with an amused chuckle. She walked closer to Malvika as slowly as she could. A satisfied grin twitching on her lips as she saw Malvika shuffling around with impatience. “I have something you will love to hear.”

She brought out her phone and played a recording. Jenny stared into Malvika’s face, observing every change in her expression - from the shock on her face when she heard Mina's tearful voice recounting every single prank they played to amusement.

When the recording stopped, the look of shock elapsed from Malvika’s face. She gave Jenny a bored look. “You found out, so what?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“Still unrepentant, I see,” Jenny said, with a slight smile on the edge of her lips.

“There is nothing to be repentant about. You found out, duuuh. What’s the big deal? It was just an harmless prank. You all need to lighten up in this house.”

“I bet you wouldn’t be saying that when Mina loses her job.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, wouldn’t I?” Jenny grinned to herself. “You don’t want to try me.”

“You know Mina is really depending on this job right? You know it is this job she’s using to pay her mother’s hospital bills, right?”

“The more reason why I should do this, don’t you think?”

“You are so heartless,” Malvika gritted out. “You would risk an innocent person’s health for your selfish purposes.”

“Me, heartless? I wasn’t the one who drugged an innocent man just to clear some footages,” Jenny replied with a shrug.

“What do you want?” Malvika finally asked.

Jenny's lips slowly stretched into a smile. “Great question.”