The Tale Of Roman's Obsession

AELLA

Smack!!!

The sound of skin hitting against skin reverberates around the thin walls of the kitchen.

I clutch my aching cheek, willing myself not to cry, I can't let them win.

"I'm not the enemy you ungrateful bitch." Kate hisses at me.

I look at my dad who glares at me as if it's a strange thing that I don't want to marry a man twice my age.

"This man has enough money to take care of you and whatever bastard children you might have," Kate says staring daggers at me.

"If he's so good, why doesn't Mia marry him?" I ask in a condescending tone.

"Mia is a child you bitch." Kate says while taking a threatening step towards me.

I stumble back a little not willing to be slapped again. "Mia is my age!"

"But at least she's not a slut like you." Kate says dismissively.

"Look, Aella, the last thing we want to do is hurt you." my father says in a tone I'm sure is supposed to be placating.

"Oh you've hurt me already, you hurt me when you threw my mother's things out after she died, you hurt me when you refused to honour her memory, you hurt me when you blamed me for her death and when you let your wife turn me into a slave for her children." I say while furiously wiping away the tears rolling down my cheek.

"Enough! You will marry him, or you won't be leaving this house for college any longer." my father says thunderously.

"In case you forgot I already have my first degree, and law as a second one was never my choice." I say to him.

"Look, Aella, you're getting older every day, and soon you will be a very old spinster with only her cats to keep her company." Kate butt's in.

"I'm just 22 years old." I say with a scoff.

"Unless you have a way to give us the money promised by your suitor, you're getting married whether you like it or not." my father says with an air of finality.

Already hating myself for what I'm about to say, "What if there was a way I could give you the money?"

Kate scoffs under her breath, "And how are you going to get that much money?"

I look at my father and seeing the greedy interest in his eyes, I forge forward, "I still have the money given to me for my upkeep by the scholarship board, I'm sure that would be enough."

My father looks at me with beady eyes already considering my offer.

"Even if you have the money, you still have to get married, What would people say if I couldn't get my oldest daughter settled in her own home." Kate says with a glare, showing her intentions of wanting to get rid of me.

"This is the twenty-first-century mother. Nobody cares." I say to Kate, who merely huffs at me.

"If you will let me, I will transfer the money right now and be on my way back to school." I say to my father.

I look at him, with my heart in my throat, hoping he wouldn't go through with his evil plans, and I barely hold in a sight of relief when he finally gives in to me.

I take out my phone and do the necessary transfer while wondering how I would survive for the next few weeks in school without cash.

I don't wait for them to thank me, knowing they never will, I make my way out of the house and into the car. I had been in the middle of a class when I had received a call from my stepmother that my dad was dying, now I know it was just a ploy to get me out here to marry me off.

I make a promise to myself not to return here unless the only other option is death.

I drive myself back to school, and seeing as the day is already gone, I go straight to my hostel, planning to rest my eyes for a few minutes but end up sleeping till the next day.

*** *** ***

I walk the short distance to the only restaurant on the college grounds. With the help of my roommate and best friend, I got a job there as a waiter.

I know it's not ideal, seeing as the only people I will be serving are my colleagues, but right now, I can't afford to care. My pride doesn't make enough money to feed me.

"Hey, good afternoon." I say to my co-worker, Grace, who is also a scholarship student.

"Afternoon." she says in a cold tone.

I never expected us to become best friends, so I don't take her cold tone to heart.

I quickly change into my work uniform in the staff lockers before making my way back into the large customer area with my clipboard.

"Good afternoon. What can I get for you?" I say to my first customer of the day.

"Oh look!, it's the school's slut." Kylie says loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear. She looks at her friends for validation and joins them in laughing at her dumb joke.

My polite smile remains on my lips and I don't bother turning to answer her, seeing as she wasn't even sitting in my section.

I thought bullying was something peculiar to high school students, but apparently some people didn't grow up enough.

I wait for the customer in front of me to order, but she gives me a hesitant look, looking between me and Kylie, the self-proclaimed queen of the school.

"If I were you, I wouldn't let her bring my food for me, anything to stop myself from being infected by chlamydia," she says while snickering loudly.

"Boss says you're on dishwashing duties." Grace whispers when she gets close enough.

I don't bother hiding my exasperated sigh as I make my way to the kitchen area. I tell myself not to respond as I hear them laughing at me, but when I get close enough to them, I just couldn't help it.

"Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease you dumb twat." I can't help but smile as I watch the smile fall off Kylie's face.

I know she will eventually get back at me but nothing will stop me from enjoying my small win.

I work till 7 pm, and soon enough, I bid my boss goodbye, and I walk the short distance back to my hostel.

I fall flat on my bed the moment I step inside the room, "Hey Ash."

Ashley looks up from her pile of books, "You look like a cat pissed in your food."

"Well, you can say that again, I had a run-in with Kylie." I say with an eye roll.

Ashley grimaces, "I can just imagine."

"Right now, I just want to sleep till next week, I'm so tired." I say while burying my face in my pillow.

"That's not happening, we already have plans to party all night." Ashley says while closing up her books and rearranging her stuff.

"I love you, Ash, but I'm not moving an inch from this bed, I need rest." I say to her.

"No, what you need is to get laid." she says while moving to her cupboard to get changed.

I groan and force myself to stand up from my bed, "you forget that all this, is not my scene."

"Well yeah, we are only young once." Ashley says to me.

I change into a black short dress that, although old, was still good enough for a night party. I don't bother with makeup, and I let my hair down, too tired to stress about it. I pair my dress with my vans sneakers and I make my way out of the bathroom to where Ashley is waiting for me.

"Damn, you look good." Ashley says while looking at me appreciatively.

"I wish I looked half as good as you do." I respond.

I ensure my phone, id card and my wallet are all in my bag before I turn to follow Ashley, "where is this party taking place?"

"At the frat house obviously." Ashley responds like she couldn't understand why I was asking.

I take note of the road, so in case I had to come back alone, which was most likely, I wouldn't get lost.

I don't need to be told we had reached the party, when I see both boys and girls roaming the front yard of a very massive building with the signature red cup in their hands.

"We need to get drinks." Ashley says loudly over the loud bass of the music as we make our way into the building.

"Okay, I will wait here for you, just don't get me any vodka." I say with an almost gag at the thought of my most hated alcohol.

"Alright, please stand here so I don't have to look for you." Ashley says to me before heading off.

I look around the place and I take note of the football photos hanging all over the sitting room and I know for sure this building was the football house where all the players roomed.

I feel out of my element until I spot Ashley heading in my direction.

"You look like you would rather be part of the wall." she says while handing over my drink.

My answer is interrupted by the vibration of my phone and when I take it out of my purse, I see it's Kate calling. I had just settled them yesterday, I wonder what she wants with me again.

I switch off my phone and at the thought of what had gone down yesterday, I down my drink in one go.

"Step-witch?" Ashley asks, using the name we had given to my father's wife.

I nod and grab her drink, also drinking it as fast as I did mine. Good thing it's beer, at least I have a high tolerance for it.

"Take it easy on the alcohol, aye?" Ashley says wincing.

"You know what?" I pause for effect but I don't let her answer, "let's go dance."

"Hell yeah." Ashley says while grinding her body against mine.

We head off towards the center and I throw my head back while moving my body in tandem with the beats.

I dance for a while and after turning down the advances of more than two guys, I get bored and I head off in the direction of the drinks. I don't bother telling Ashley as I see she has found her beau for the night.

I sip my water as I lean on the wall just outside the building, I had taken a detour and had gotten water instead of beer, I realised I was more drunk than I would have liked.

I spot a black wrangler jeep roll to a stop at the edge of the side walk that leads to the fraternity house. Some guys step out of the car, and although there are all good looking, I can't take my eyes off the one that drops from the drivers seat.

I spot Kylie making her way towards him and I almost do a complete cheer dance when he ignores her.

Kylie stomps back to the house, and when she passes by me, she snarks at me, "What are you looking at?"

I merely shrug, not willing to put a target on my back with a mocking reply.

I return my attention back to the guy, I can't help but envy his easy gait and pose, he acts like he's the king and everyone else is his subject. I don't blame him though, if I had a face and height like that I would feel like that too.

I turn away from him when he moves in the direction of the house, not willing to be caught staring.

Like moth to flames, all the guys and girls outside move to enter the house, I'm guessing to be in the presence of their king, I wonder who he is.

I remain outside sipping my water, but soon enough I start to feel uncomfortable. I feel the eyes of someone staring at me, I look around at the semi dark lawn and when I find no-one, with a shiver I go back inside to the party.

I still don't feel any better, as the feeling of being watched becomes ten times worse. I look around for Ashley and I eventually find her and some dude sucking their faces off.

I try to push my way through the sea of bodies but they refuse to let up.

"Sorry." I say to the blonde haired girl I mistakenly pushed.

After some time, I give up trying to get across to Ashley and I move in the direction of the kitchen which seems almost deserted.

At the sight of the fridge, I feel my stomach growl with hunger and without much thought I pull it open and take out a PB&J sandwich.

I take a bite of the sandwich and moan throatily while throwing my head back with careless abandon, I spot a shadow leaning on the wooden banister staring down at the crowd and looking directly at me.

I try to act as inconspicuous as possible in order not to alert the shadow of my awareness of his presence.

I move to the side and watch as the shadow also turns with me. I move into the main foyer of the house where most people are partying and I get a full view of the shadow who happens to be the guy who drove the wrangler jeep.

He stares at me with an intensity I wouldn't touch with a nine and a half foot pole.

AELLA

"Roman Montgomery, 25 year old masters student, and the star in every females fantasy and nightmare." a voice startles me out of the staring contest I has with the shadow.

"Huh?" I ask, while turning towards the owner of the voice.

"I'm just offering helpful information." she says while nodding at the wrangler jeep guy.

"Oh, uhhh..... I didn't really need to know that." I say more than self-conscious, not willing to come off as desperate for his attention.

"I don't think you have a choice in that." she says drily while staring pointed behind me.

I turn to see who she is staring at, and I gasp lightly. Roman, as she had called him, had come out of the shadows and now stood in front of me.

I couldn't help but marvel at his beauty, at 6'4 with dark haired and a chiselled face, he was by far the sexiest male in the room, and he stood with the confidence of one who knew it.

"Gossiping me, I see." he says in a raspy voice that would make millions if he ever decided to go into audio book recording.

"You wish." the girl says with a steady blush rising up her cheeks.

'Hmmmm', definitely history there.

She turns around and leaves me standing there, not knowing what the hell I'm to do with this god's attention.

"How about I get you a drink?" He words in the form of a question but grabs my hand and leads me towards the area that was sectioned as the bar without waiting for a response.

I look around the party and see that almost everyone's eyes were on me. Those that didn't have the gall to stare openly, stared from beneath their lashes and when my eyes meets with those of Ashley, I almost rip my hands out of his grasp, but couldn't as he made his fist tighter around my wrist.

We don't seem to encounter the same trouble of too many people and no space to pass. The students clear the road for him like he was their king. He picks up a red cup and hands it over to me, and out of compulsion, I receive the cup and take a sip in order to avoid saying anything.

However, before I could take another sip, someone pushes me from behind, and the drinks pours on my chest, ruining my dress and flashing my breasts to the whole student body.

The music gets turned off, and everyone starts staring, some with pity and some with malice.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." a shrill voice says behind me, and when I turn around, I realise it's Kylie that had pushed me.

I notice the evil intentions in her eyes and hear the sarcasm in her tone when she continues to apologise.

Ashley pushes her way through the crows in order to get to me but I couldn't focus on her, all my attention was on Roman who was currently clenching his teeth and not doing anything to help me.

To be fair, it was all his fault, if he had left me alone for the remainder of the night, I wouldn't be on the receiving end of Kylie's wrath, she would never had seen me as a competition in clamoring for his attention.

I push through the thrum of bodies, not caring who I hit on my journey to the bathroom. When I get inside, I shut the door behind me and lean on it.

I close my eyes for a while trying to stay in control of my emotions, I've been through worse in the hands of Kate, my stepmother and her children so I couldn't and wouldn't let this get to me.

I cut a large amount of tissue from the tissue roll, and I dab stiffly at the front of my dress, but I know full well that I was wasting my time.

While after I had finished dabbing, the dress might not be as wet, the color stain will still be there, and unless I planned on walking straight out of the party right now with my breast on display the only other option was waiting till the party was over, before sneaking out and taking my chance with the football players.

I groan while closing my eyes, trying to gather up enough courage to walk out of the party right now as that was my best option.

I pull open the door with determination and stop short when I come face to face with Roman.

I never got to ask the girl what she meant when she said he was the star in most females' nightmares, but now I think I understand what she meant.

I move to the side, trying to side step him, but he holds out a Blackwood letter jacket at me successfully blocking my path.

"Thought you might need this." he says in a way of explanation.

"No, thank you, you can give it to Kylie, I think she needs it more than I do." I say sarcastically.

"Let me rephrase that, 'take the jacket cause I don't want you flashing my goods to the entire student body.'" He says with an almost glare.

My eyes almost fall out of my face with how wide they are in shock."You know what, this is all your fault. If you had left me alone in the party, Kylie wouldn't have thought to come at me."

"And that wouldn't happen again. She's out of the party and wouldn't be attending any in the near future." he says to me.

"Look, I don't care that you think you're defending my honour, but I want to be left alone. Please leave me alone." I say while folding my arms under my breast, and when I see it draws his attention there, I quickly put my hands down.

"That's going yo be a tough request considering the fact that I intend to see you a whole lot." he says while eyeing me.

"You know what?, I don't have the strength for this." I say as I snatch the jacket out of his hands, and I put it on, hoping this would get him off my back.

I put my phone into the pocket of the jacket before staring at him again, "Now, I've done what you said. If you will, please excuse me, I would be on my way."

"I don't think you understand me. We are hanging our tonight, either in the party or any place of your choice." he says while taking a threatening step towards me. It doesn't help my cause that he is way taller than me, I barely come up to his shoulder.

"Is everything okay here?" A hesitant voice says from the end of the hallway.

When Roman turns to the direction of the voice, I see that as my cue to leave, and I almost escape unless I don't bargain for Roman to be reflexively quick. He grabs me by the neck of the jacket and pulls me back towards him.

"Everything is good, James," he says snarkily to the big guy, I'm sure, is also a football player.

James nods and turns to leave not sparing me a glance, however a door bangs shot at the other end of the hallway and this time when Roman let's go of my jacket to turn to see what had caused the noise, I don't wait for any cue, I bolt down the stairs not caring if I pushed James out of the way or not.

I barge into the party and I'm almost out the door when I get this irresistible feeling to look behind and when I do, I spot Roman standing in the exact same spot he had been standing in earlier that night, the only difference was that he had a sinister look which obviously didn't bode well for me.

I don't wait to tell Ashley I was done with the party, I rush out of the frat house, and soon enough, I'm on my way back to my dorm.

When I get to my room, I spend the rest of the night googling Roman Montgomery and while I couldn't get any kind of ammunition against him, I rest easier knowing I know a lot about my newest enemy.

-–------––-

I yawn for the fiftieth time, as I try to write what the professor is saying. I had worked all through the day yesterday, and when I wasn't working, I was worrying about when the other shoe would drop and Roman would come for my head.

"Had a long night, it seems." a voice says from my right, and I nod indulgently.

However, I almost fall out of my chair when I see the owner of the voice who just sits down smirking at me.

I look around, half expecting people to pop up with their phones and cameras ready to video whatever evil prank this god had in store for me.

When I find no one watching, I become a little bolstered, and I say to him, "I thought I told you I wanted you to leave me alone?"

"Yeah, I never asked what you wanted." he says with that devilish smirk he's always wearing.

"What generation are you from?" I ask in a very shocked tone.

He rolls his eyes at me and doesn't bother responding.

"Is this a game to you?" I ask angrily.

He gives me a dark look, and I have this weird notion that I had touched a sore spot.

ROMAN

She doesn't know how right she is. While it was a dare to get her to fall in love with me, I didn't count on the fact that I would enjoy every second of it.

These days, nothing could get to me, and feeling the thrill of a pursuit was a feeling I would happily drown in.

When I continue to stare at her, she starts to squirm in her seat, and I almost laugh out loud.

It's funny that I'm the one she makes nervous, but yet she's squirming.

"What time does your class end?" I ask her.

"Why are you asking?" She says, looking at me like I had grown two heads.

"I want to take you somewhere." I respond

"Well, I don't want to go anywhere with you." she says with a huff.

I've never had to work this hard for a females attention, and to be fair, I wasn't actually working for it, just demanding.

"I wasn't asking." I say while leaning back on the chair.

She closes her book before she turns back to me. "Are you always this insufferable?"

I don't bother answering as her class was over, and I saw this as an opportunity to have her alone with me.

She packs her things and makes a beeline for the door, probably hoping to lose me in the crowd, but I don't give her that opportunity.

I drag her back to me and make her wait for the crowd to clear out before I move us out the building and towards my car.

She digs her foot into the ground and refuses to move forward, making me to physically move her. "People already staring Roman."

The sound of my name on her lips gives me a shiver which goes straight to my groin and I almost groan out loud.

"Let them stare." I say to her.

"This must be so convenient for you, I mean with your popularity and all" she says with a bite in her tone.

I don't bother responding as she climbs into my jeep.

I go round to the driver's side and soon I'm pulling out of the parking lot.

AELLA

We drive around the city in an uncomfortable silence. At least it was uncomfortable for me. I make it my mission to take note of the major roads we pass in case I need to make a run for it.

"Relax...., I don't bite." Roman says with a smirk, "at least not hard enough." he completes under his breath.

"That's not helping. What if you want to kill me?" I say, shaking slightly.

"Don't stress, I bury most of my bodies deep in the woods." he says with a pokerface.

If there was a way for me to turn whiter than I already was, then I would have.

I clasp my hands together and close my eyes and pray to whatever God there is, that if he were to save me, I wouldn't enter cars with strangers again. It's not like I had a choice this time.

We get to a deserted dirt road, and he makes a turn for it, and then we are descending a little hill. He parks the car on the corner of the road and steps out to my side, and soon he's leading me out of the car.

He still doesn't say a word to me as he starts to move forward, and I have no other option but to follow him down the small path.

"Oh my God." I say breathlessly as we finally get to our destination.

The lake before me was so breathtaking that I might cry.

Roman walked forward towards the deck, and I couldn't help but take notice of him.

He looked otherworldly for a lack of better description. The rays of the sun on his hair made it look like it was a dark blue, which was a stark contrast to his fair skin, his strong jawline and well cut features made him look like a royalty.

"Are you a prince?" I blurt out without thinking, and then I flush a complete red when he turns back to smirk at me.

"Come on." He says while holding out his hands to me.

I refuse to take his hands but still move forward nonetheless. I sit down on the deck with him, dangling my feet above the water and enjoying the silence.

I didn't like how I got here, but I refused to let that stop me from enjoying the beauty of nature. I take a good look at the water before me, and I almost give in to the urge to leap into the water due to its beauty.

The visage of the lake was veneer-clear and tranquil, flanked by an avenue of cedar trees. There was feng-shui perfection to the scene, while the water was gilded with moonlight-pale lilies. Plip-plopping fish caused concentric rings to puff out and disappear as the air hummed all around us.

I turn back to Roman and see that he had taken out what looked like a sketch book and was dutifully sketching.

"I thought you were doing a masters in business." I ask him a little shocked he could draw.

"Yes, I am, but that doesn't stop me from doing what I enjoy." He says in a defensive tone.

"I didn't mean to offend you, I just didn't know you were good at drawing." I say to him, wondering why I cared if he was offended.

"Yeah, nobody knows, or they choose not to know, only taking notice of the aspect of me they choose to see." He says while staring off into the lake.

I have a distinct feeling he wasn't talking about drawing anymore.

I don't know what to say to that and I'm saved by the ringing of my phone.

I pull it out of my pocket, almost offended at the device for ruining the peaceful atmosphere.

I swallow thickly when I find out it's Kate calling and I'm almost tempted to ignore it but I remember I had ignored her last call and I couldn't afford the trouble that would definitely come if I was to do it again.

"Hello, mother." I say the moment I pick the call.

"Hey love, how are you doing?" Kate says in a saccharine sweet tone that leaves a bad after taste.

"Is there a problem, Kate?" I ask, nit bothering with the honorific's.

"What do you mean, is there a problem?" She repeats in an accusing tone.

When I don't bother replying, she sighs heavily and says, "I sent a package for you. Did you receive it?"

"What package are you talking about?" I ask in a very tense tone.

The last time she had sent a package for me, it contained post mortem photographs of my mom. They were very gory, disturbing and traumatising. Ever since then, when I think of my mom, those photos are all I see.

"Just some pills, you know I'm always looking out for you." she responds.

'Yeah right,' I say to myself before asking, "What are the pills for?"

"How dense can you be?" She asks indignantly, "for weight loss obviously."

Now I get why she was calling. These last few weeks, she had come up with a new way to torture me, and that was to force me to cut down my weight. In her words, I was too fat for my age. Meanwhile, I didn't weigh nearly as half as her daughter.

"I didn't get the package, mother." I respond while pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Well, it will be arriving soon. You know you will soon be married, surely, you wouldn't want to be a fat cow in your husbands house, would you?" She asks in an annoying tone.

"No, mother, I don't, but how about I call you later? I'm about to have a class right now." I say, trying to get her off my back, at least for the time being.

It was rare, so whenever she found something to trouble me with, she was like a dog with a bone.

"Alright love, I wouldn't disturb you, after all you need to study so you will make tons of money for the family." She says

I end the call, wondering what I had done in my last life to deserve such an evil stepmother. I know my whole situation was cliché, but what could I do?.

I turn back to the scene before me, and I'm most grateful for Roman beside me because I'm seriously contemplating hurling myself into the water and ending it all.

"Didn't know you were getting married." Roman says with a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, well, my father and stepmother think it's the best idea." I respond with a sigh.

He merely hums in response, not looking a bit surprised.

"You don't seem surprised." I say.

"Trust me, I've seen worse than an arranged marriage." He says with a dark chuckle.

"What are we even doing here?" I ask, more than a little peeved at his lack of pity for my situation.

"I wanted to spend time with you away from the prying eyes, and the only place that came to mind was this place." He responds.

"What is this place?" I ask while looking around, "are we even allowed to be here?"

"You don't see any restriction signs, do you?" He asks in return while staring at me sideways.

He closes his book and looks at me before saying, "This is my sanctuary, my own special place where I come to think clearly without any influence."

"Well, thanks for bringing me here." I say to him, more than a little touched that he would bring me to a place so dear to him.

"It seemed like a very bright idea, seeing that I plan on spending a lot of time with you." He says while leaning back.

"You don't even know me." I say sceptically while rolling my eyes.

"Aella Raleigh, 22 years old, 5'4 in height, first degree in archaeology, best friends with Ashley Reynolds, lost your mom at a young age, and your dad blames you for it." He drones on as if reciting it from a book.

"Well, those are basic things anyone could guess by themselves." I say shocked he knew that much about me when up until the party last Friday, I knew nothing about him.

"Favourite colour is blue, light blue to be specific, the main reason why you studied archaeology was to have an opportunity to travel around the world." He doesn't stop there but keeps going, ignoring my death glare.

"And no matter what your father might say or do to you, you still feel you owe him something because you also feel guilty for your mother's death." He says, finally stopping.

I don't bother dignifying his outburst with a response, I rather keep my mouth shut and stew in uncomfortable silence.

"I know this is off, but I've known you for far longer than you've known me." He says in a light tone.

"I doubt that is possible." I say with a huff.

"Well, it is true, and I'm tired of pining from a distance, so buckle up cause I'm saddled with you for a very long while." He says to me.

"Yeah, till you get tired of me." I say to him.

"Trust me, I wouldn't come this far to back off in the middle." He says with a snort.

He discards his boots haphazardly on the deck and moves to take off his shirt.

"Woah, hold on, dude, what are you doing?" I ask him while holding my hands in front of my eyes.

"Taking a swim." He says while discarding the rest of his clothes, "You can join me if you like."

His request startles me into peeking between my fingers, and I almost faint at the magnificent view before me. His clear-cut abs and well-defined muscles were more than a sight to behold.

"Like what you see, love?" Roman asks while laughing.

I blush furiously while ducking my head low.

"Join me." Roman orders.

"No, thank you." I say, scoffing at his tone.

"I'm giving you the option to choose me, do not force my hand." He says in a hard voice.

"Is it an option if I'm allowed to choose only you?" I say in a tone laced with sarcasm.

"There would always be an option, albeit hard options, but options nevertheless." He says with a shrug.

I get up from the deck and angrily take off my shoes, wishing to get this whole ordeal over with.

When I'm down to only my tights and bra, I turn to him with anger flowing through me like a venom.

I stop short and immediately start to feel self-conscious when I take note of the heated look in his eyes.

"God, you're perfect." He says with a groan.

I flush red from head to toe, and I'm almost tempted to step back into my clothes. Years and years of complex and insecurities rise to the surface, I could hardly breathe. After all the times I listened to my stepmother insult my body and looks, I had started to believe her, and I couldn't help but look at the person in front of me with distrust.

"Well, yeah, you're just saying that to get into my pants." I say brushing him off.

"Oh, I'm going to be in your pants. It's just a matter of when." He says confidently.

I sputter, choking on my saliva, "Don't say that to me, it's inappropriate."

"Not when I'm saying it to my girlfriend." He says.

"Well, I'm the only one here, so if you're talking about me, you are sorely mistaken because I'm not your girlfriend." I tell him.

He stares at me long and hard before saying, "What would it take you to agree?"

"It would take nothing because I'm not interested, I know that's hard to believe, but it's the truth." I say.

"Well, what kind of guy would you prefer?" He asks indulgently.

I tip my head back and pinch the bridge of my nose, not believing I was having this kind of conversation half naked. "One that wouldn't force me to do things I don't want to do, and one that wouldn't put a target on my back merely by his association with me."

"What do you mean?, I would never willingly put you in harms way." He says, frowning.

"Well, I have been the victim of various taunts and pranks since you spoke to me at that party on Friday." I say with a pause, "Oh, and let's not forget, the girl you threw out of the party has been passing out stories saying I'm a slut."

"Fuck!" He says violently while running his hands through his head, "I will handle it, don't bother about it."

I don't bother arguing with him, after all, it was his problem so if anyone was to handle it, it was going to be him.

"Is that all?" He asks me and when I frown in confusion, he continues, "all your problems and inhibitions with me?"

"Oh no, they are plenty and if I wanted to list them, we would sleep here." I say with a scoff.

"I have time." He says while looking at me expectantly.

I rack my brain, trying to think up reasons why whatever he was proposing was not a good idea, "Well, I don't know you."

"Roman Montgomery, 25 years old, I love all kinds of sports but I play football as you already know, my new favourite colour is Hazel cause of your eyes, and I guess you must already know about my father." He says.

I don't bother confirming his statement for various reasons, one was because I indeed knew about his father who was the CEO of Montgomery enterprises, and two because i was reeling from his compliment, I couldn't believe that he had taken notice of the colour of my eyes.

"Since that is out of the way, I believe we can swim now." He says

I don't bother arguing with him, knowing fully well I would lose if I do. "Yeah let's do that...... let's swim."