Restless days and sleepless night

Anna did not know how to answer him. She blinked her eyes in confusion and frantically nodded her head in a 'no'.

Regan again wanted to laugh hard on her reaction but somehow he controlled himself. She thought that he was not convinced with her gesture. As she could not hold his scrutinizing gaze anymore, she said, "I..... I have not cried. Why would I?"

She lowered her gaze again while speaking. The way she whispered, he could not have heard it if he was not so attentive towards her. Her actions made it clear that indeed she was crying.

'She cannot even lie properly.' He thought. He so badly wanted to know the reason that made her cry. Earlier, he noticed her red nose and faint red, puffy eyes. He wanted to ask her about it but somehow ignored it. But now, when she was so close to him, he wanted to know. He already felt uneasy with the mere thought of her being crying. When he could not hold on his anxiety, he decided to ask her but she denied.

He simply asked her again as he didn't want to let this go. "Really?"

"Hmmm..."

He was still staring her intensely waiting for her answer. After a moment, he said, "Then why are your eyes and nose red? It generally happens when a person cry."

She instantly withdrew her hands from his shoulder. He was not ready to let her go, so he held her hand and swirled her around the dance floor. As she could not take it anymore, she spoke in a low but firm voice.

"So what if I cried? It's just that I was upset about something and some tears slipped from my eyes."

"And what was that something?"

"Why do you want to know? It's nothing related to you or for you to show any concern. " She replied bitterly as she was exasperated over his repetitive questions. She immediately wanted to get away from him but knowing the fact that they were surrounded by so many people, she could not just leave him in the middle of their dance.

Regan was taken aback by her little explosion. They both remained silent until the song finished. She just wanted to run away from there. But somehow she stayed calm and as soon as the song finished, she walked away without a word.

Once again, she left him. But this time, it was not anger or annoyance that he felt. It was replaced by hurt and... pain.

Soon the party came to an end. Because Anna felt extremely exhausted, she dozed off immediately after going back to her suite, while Regan spent his first sleepless night thinking about the ocean blue orbs that haunted him throughout the night.

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The next morning, he woke up with a heavy head. He sighed and said to himself, "What would I do with you Miss Prescott? First, you gave me restless days and now, this sleepless night. Regan, you seriously need to get a grip over things man."

He then went down to the kitchen and prepared himself a coffee. Some time later, he was joined by Nathan who seemed to be surprised seeing him so early in the morning as he was not an early riser. As Regan was unable to spend enough time with Grace and Nathan, he stayed back at their mansion for the weekend.

"Are you okay Regan?"

"I am fine dad."

"Then why are you up so early?"

"Nothing dad..... I was unable to sleep so I woke up early."

"And what's the reason for your unsleepiness? Because as far as I know you only love two things in your life. First your work and second your beauty sleep."

He rolled his eyes at his father's theory and said, "Dad..... It's just work or may be I think I got way too exhausted due to the party."

"Or you were way too exhausted by continuously dancing with a certain someone, you know? I mean you have never did that before." Nathan mimicked his tone and said cheekily.

Regan choked on his coffee and glared him furiously. "Don't tell me that you also counted the number of songs on which I danced.

Nathan simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Of course I did."

"Really dad.....? Why would you do that? That's so gross. It was just a dance and.....

Nathan interrupted in between and said, "Yeah it was just a dance in which you were so engrossed that you didn't even realized that everyone around you stopped but you still kept on dancing like there was no tomorrow. If it was not me and your mom, you would have embarrassed yourself and my poor Anna."

Regan frowned and said, "My poor Anna? Like really dad?"

"So what? She's a darling. I have never met such a lovely child before. In fact, your mom already dots on her. And young man... Out of all what I said, did you only hear those three words? Nathan cocked his brows in amusement.

Regan gasped, "Ummm.... It's not like that..... I was just wondering that how and when did she get so close to you both. You see... you both are not easy to get attached to someone like this. And about the dance... Yes, we did lost the count but we were just talking about business and I forgot..... I mean we forgot everyone and everything. It's nothing like you said okay."

"You know what son? Get yourself treated by a good doctor. May be a heart specialist. I mean look at youself... You are doing things that you never did before. You are giving explanations and..."

"Dad please.... don't draw any conclusions from what you saw because there's nothing."

"I know it's still nothing." Nathan whispered to himself and chuckled. Then after deliberating for a while, he said something unexpected to him being all serious. "Regan... I will not beat around the bush. However much you deny, I can see your growing attraction towards her. If there's something, don't forbid yourself to pursue your happiness. Take your time but never hurt her because she indeed have a special place in our hearts. And don't you dare consider her as your previous casual flings because she is someone to hold for a lifetime not to play with."

He was definitely shocked to hear such words from Nathan and also his observations. 'Am I too obvious that everyone around me knows about my state of mind so easily?' He thought.

"I don't know about everyone but I do know about you more than yourself as I am your father son." He said and smiled.

"Dad.... Honestly speaking I still don't know what I want from her. But I would not deny it anymore. I indeed feel something... something very different when she's around me. I don't understand what's that but I want to figure it out by myself. And I know she is not like others whom I can play with. You can trust your son for that. But..... but I don't know why it seems difficult to get with her. Whenever I try to initiate a conversation with her or care about her.... she rejects me. She runs away from me. I..... I don't understand why it's so hard to understand her..... to get her?" When this topic was opened by his father, Regan did not hold himself this time. He spoke his heart out to Nathan as he wanted to get the answers which were tormenting him since the day he met her.

Nathan was taken aback by all that he said. He did have an idea about his feelings for Anna but he never thought it to be so intense. He could see how he was confused and overwhelmed with everything due to the battle between his mind and heart. He stood up from his chair and went to Regan. He held his shoulders firmly and said,

"Regan, sometimes you have to fight with yourself to know and understand your heart..... about what it wants. If the person you are fighting for, is worth for the battle and pain... never hold back and fight because even if you receive pain in return, it will for the one you desire, you love. And she is all worth it. So if you want, just go ahead without any hesitation."

Regan was surprised after the short speech of his father. He never expected him to discuss such things with him. But he really felt better after talking to him. He simply nodded his head in a 'yes' and said nothing. Yet it was understandable for both of them to get the unspoken words between them.

"By the way.... you will be getting an another opportunity to know your heart better as Anna is coming here in the evening for dinner." He said and winked.

"What?" Regan was shocked to know this as he had no idea about it.

"Actually, it was meant to be a surprise for you but looking at your condition, I informed you earlier. Don't get shocked if your mom kills me for this. In fact it was her idea to invite her."

"And she accepted?"

"Who can say no to your mom? She has her ways." He shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

No matter how sleepless his night was, the thought of meeting her again subsided his uneasiness and his heart once again fluttered with happiness.