22. Someone to talk to.

Hayford went upstairs to Derek's room. Esther wanted to follow him, but she was scared so she stayed waiting just at the foot of the stairs, her eyes never leaving the other end. She was still slightly panicking. She dreaded the outcome.

Hayford, got to the door and raised his fisted palm to knock, but he paused midway. What if the blonde girl wasn't there? He didn't want to unnecessarily disturb the boss without any reasonable cause.

Ugh.. this girl was definitely trouble.

------

"I'm not afraid of you, sir." Rory tried to sound firm with her wild beating heart. His closeness was blocking her sense of reasoning and his musky scent was messing with her brain cells.

She wanted to take a step back, right from when he took a step towards her, but her legs were not listening to her. They seem glued to the ground. She was now looking into those mesmerising grey eyes that held some emotions she couldn't quite figure out well.

Derek removed his hand from her face and stepped back, and Rory almost cursed at the coldness that replaced his warm touch. She remembered when his hand first touched her face, she nearly closed her eyes to savour the feeling. But she scolded herself to stay sane. And now she almost cursed when he moved his hand. She must be sick somewhere.

He nodded at her reply, and went over to the tray. Picking it up, he made his way towards the side of his bed where there stood a small table and two chairs.

She figured it was his mini dining table. He placed the food down and turned back to her. Rory's attention was drawn to the midnight blue curtains behind the bed, and she remembered the floor-to-ceiling glass wall in her room. With the size of the curtains and the surface area it covered, she guessed there was a glass wall behind it, just like her room.

She wanted to ask but it looked like he was going to say something so she decided to let him go first. But before he could say anything, a knock interrupted them.

They both turned towards the door and then back to their faces. Derek then motioned with his chin for her to get the door. Rory hesitated for some few seconds before walking to the door.

She opened it and came face to face with Hayford whose look turned questionable with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Hayford looked at her with contempt. What was this lady trying to do? From the first day, the day they went to supposedly kill them, to kill the family of the betrayer, he had been doing the exact opposite of the plan.

First, they were supposed to kill them! That man fucking sold them to their arch nemesis. That gang he sold them to had been on their wanted list for so many years, even before Derek joined the army.

That gang was one of the main focus of Edward, Derek's dad, when he was alive. So when they found out the betrayer was part of that gang and just came to fool them to get hold of their secrets and every move, they were dejected. So killing his family should have been something they didn't have to think twice before doing so.

And then they got to the place and all he said was to get the girl.

The hell!!! That was highly unexpected.

And then he refused for them being tortured. Hayford himself even got severely punished for just slapping her. Just a mere slap. Just one slap!!

He almost lost his teeth when Derek slapped him and sternly warned him never, ever, to touch her when he hadn't said so.

And then he was there one day when Derek told him to arrange the last room on his side of the mansion and move the girl there. Another part that almost popped his eyes out of their sockets. In fact, it shocked him to the core. He actually allowed the daughter of a betrayer to his side??? He almost didn't believe it was reality.

And now she was allowed into his room!

Great!

Now there was something wrong somewhere. This couldn't be normal, could it?

No!

Hayford's head was about to explode with all these thoughts. He thought of the possibility of the girl trying to seduce or manipulate Derek.

Because... How??

And as if the punishment wasn't enough, he was assigned to be her driver. He had laughed at his misfortune that day. Now he was supposed to act nice to someone he wished was dead.

He had so many times avoided looking her way just to stop him from strangling and choking the life out of her. His blood boiled just seeing someone who should be dead, living and now trying to find her way into the boss' territory.

No! He needed to do something. He would have to talk to Derek. Draw his attention to that deception. If he would not kill them then he should let them go. That would be simple.

As soon as this evil girl left the room he was going to try and talk some sense into Derek's brain, he thought as he walked past her and walked into the room.

Derek was standing by his dining table, one hand dipped into his pocket with his chest bare and sweaty. Hayford quickly gazed back at the girl who was standing by the door. She looked flustered and a bit uncomfortable. His eyes slowly travelled back to Derek.

Wait, hold on! What happened? Someone should please explain!

Derek shot him a displeasing look.

Oh no! Did he interrupt something?

"Esther told me the girl brought your food and she's not back yet so I came to check on her... if everything is okay."

"Everything is okay." Derek replied after some time. He looked over to Rory, who was already standing by the door, as if she was waiting for a sign to just run away from there. But Derek spoke again. "Bring her food here."

Both Hayford and Rory snapped their eyes towards him. Shocked.

Rory blinked a few times. She was the one who said she wasn't afraid of him but right now she was about to take back her words. How was she supposed to eat here??

"W...what?" Hayford stuttered. He must be having hearing issues now for hearing that. But the look on Derek's face meant he was not ready to repeat himself and he knew he heard him. "O..okay boss."

Hayford turned and walked towards the door. He saw the girl standing there with a surprised look.

'Pretending to be shocked, huh? I will not let you have your way!' He thought, giving her a hard glare before walking out, his blood boiling with rage.

-----

Derek nonchalantly walked over to the table, ignoring the shock on Rory's face. He had shocked himself too.

"Come and sit with me. He'll bring the food soon." His deep voice resounded, bringing Rory back to earth. She wasn't expecting this turn of event at all.

She stiffly moved her lips towards him and sat on the chair opposite where he sat. She looked around one more time and when her gaze landed on the curtain again, she couldn't stop the question.

"Is there a glass wall behind these curtains?" She gauged his expression, but he showed none, he was just laid back, relaxed on his seat and staring ahead to nothing in particular.

His eyes turned to her after the question and then to the curtain. And then he nodded and turned back to her.

"You... you don't open the curtains?" She was curious.

Derek was not one who liked interrogation. He didn't want to talk about certain things he did. He stopped doing all he loved when he lost all the things he loved.

His balcony was his favourite place. He would stand there every morning and look over to the beautiful garden where his mother and sisters worked and ran and played in the midst of the flowers.

The pavilion was his father's beat place. He usually sat there and drank his morning tea while watching his beautiful family. So now that all these were no more, why would he open the curtains? To look at what in particular?

He sighed audible. He didn't mean to, but Rory heard it and felt like she was asking too much.

"I'm sorry, sir. you... you don't have to answer." She said in a low tone. Derek met her gaze and shook his head lightly.

"I used to." He said, replying her previous question. "But it's not fun anymore so I stopped."

Rory remembered what happened to him and her heart clenched. She wanted to ask why it was not fun anymore, but she stopped. If he wanted to talk about it, then he would.

But just as she had planned, she would help him get out of that shell. She was now certain that she wasn't afraid of him, and that he would not harm her.

Even if it was just to be there as someone he could talk to, she would be there for him from now on.