Chapter 106

It wasn't until the following morning that I remembered something urgent. Something I had somehow managed to completely forget about because Layla had that bloody effect on me. It came to my mind while I had been seated at the counter watching her prepare food. I was going through some designs on my phone but my attention hadn't been there. I had been admiring how silky Layla's skin was..then it hit me. 

" Bloody fucking hell!" I immediately cursed, standing and fisting my hands in my hair, my eyes wide in horror as I stared at Layla. She stopped in the middle of cracking an egg, looking at me in total confusion. 

It also didn't help that she was dressed in nothing but my grey dress shirt, or that the devious little minx had left more half half the buttons undone. A very intentional action aimed at driving me even more insane. And boy was she succeeding.

" What?" She asked, her brows raised and an inquisitive look on her face. She looked a little worried, but mostly she was just weary because her mind was warning her that what I was about to say was something crazy. But it wasn't, for once I could honestly say that I was being as serious about an issue as I possibly could be. 

" Are you okay? You look pale, " she lightly commented, then she went ahead with her cooking, her shock had worn off. 

I cursed again and she hugged out a breath, searching for the whisk and ignoring me completely. 

" What is it Gabriel?" 

" How could I forget?" I asked, she asked me what I was talking about but I didn't respond. Instead I rushed out o there and headed straight to our bedroom, rushing to the walk in where I looked around until I spotted what I was searching for. But seriously, how could I forget? Despite how preoccupied with Layla I had been, I shouldn't have forgotten. Picking up the item, I headed straight for the kitchen. Then I took a glass and filled it halfway with water. 

" What is wrong with you?" Layla asked, her hand on her waist, leaning against the counter with her hip and the whisk in her hand. She looked too sexy. And I could clearly see the space between her breast, the smooth skin that was tempting me to just walk over there and reveal-- No! Those are exactly the types of thoughts thar made me forget in the first place. I walked over to her and placed the glass of water on the counter behind her. Then I stated opening up the box in my hands as fast as I possibly could. Her attention fell to it, and I could tell that she was beginning to understand what it was. 

" Here, take this, " I handed her the pill, she didn't take it from me but rather kept on staring. Then she slowly glanced up at me before once again staring at the pill.

" Well go ahead, take the bloody thing!" 

She slowly reached for it, then she began studying it keenly like it was some interesting and foreign thing. 

" Take it Layla, "

She looked up at me. I didn't know that look, never before had I seen it on her, so it was impossible for me to know what it meant. It wasn't confusion, neither was it curiosity. It also wasn't fear...what the hell was it. 

" Layla?" 

She turned to face the counter, then I watched as she took in a deep breath before she tossed the pill into her mouth and drank the entire glass of water to accompany it. I could finally breathe again. I had bought those pills about two weeks prior, and while packing I had realized that I had completely forgotten about them, and then I forgot again. But the good thing was that I had remembered and the bullet had been luckily dodged. 

" I'll keep this over here, " I took the box and placed it in one of the kitchen drawers, and I turned to find her watching me intently, her hands on the counters surface and that same unreadable look on her face. 

" I have another one, I'll place it in the washroom, make sure you take them every morning. Okay?" She gave me a curt nod. Then she resumed her cooking normally. The very last thing I needed was for her to get pregnant. I think that could actually be the worst thing to happen to me, I wasn't ready for such responsibilities and neither did I want them. And no child deserved that, I mean, I was sure I'd make one hell of a fantastic father in my next life...but even then it would probably because I got careless. Children were nowhere in my future. ANY future!

" I think they're better up here, this way you'll see them easier, " I said as I took the pills out of the drawer and placed them on the granite countertops. She glanced at me over her shoulder, at least she looked more like herself. Maybe she had also realized that our actions did have consequences and was blaming herself for having ignored the fact. Walking over to her, I wrapped my hands around her waist and placed my chin on her head. She had fallen asleep last night while I had been watching the fourth episode of Flavor Island. My painting had still been in her hand, she had stared at it too much, more than the screen itself, and when she woke up she had made sure to ask me where I had placed it. What would she do if she saw the many more paintings of her I had stashed away somewhere. If that was her reaction when she saw that one simple painting I had made in frustration. 

" Can we go to the beach today too?" She asked and I told her we could. 

" Will you help me collect those colourful pebbles we saw?" 

" You were serious about collecting those?" 

" Of course I was, I wanna take them back home with me."

" Oh, a memoir of sorts?"

She nodded, turning around and wrapping her arms around my neck. Standing on her tiptoes and trailing light kisses along my jawline. Then she dug her hands into my hair and angled me for a kiss, my hand dipped into the shirt and she moaned, but then she chuckled and took a step back, shaking her head. 

" Breakfast first, " she seriously stated, picking up the whisk and using it to point at me with feigned seriousness. I groaned, throwing my head back and walking back around to sit where I had been. I would have insisted we eat something that took a shorter period to make but I didn't. She loved cooking, her face seemed a hundred times brighter when she was doing so. And I also knew that she must have been hungry, and there was also another very important reason. As I had already told her, I loved her cooking. 

Actually these days I craved it, each time I went to a restaurant and tasted the food I automatically found flaws, of course I had always found flaws but these days unless the food was made by Layla I didn't think of it as good. And I feared that Dahlia's would become my permanent restaurant going forward. 

" Why don't you just take it all the way off?" 

I gestured to the shirt and she looked down at herself, I saw the sly smile, then she glanced at me from under her lashes  and chuckled lightly. 

" I'm not that evil. " 

But she was, somehow seeing her in the shirt was tormenting me more than if she were completely nude. Because now I had to use my mind to picture her, and in doing so I was becoming affected. 

" Fine, at least unbuttoned it completely then. "

" Nope. "

" Please?" 

" Don't you have work to do?" 

She gestured to my laptop. I half-heartedly went back to work because I needed to finish it up in the next hour or so. Despite my wishes it was impossible to escape my work entirely. She finished making breakfast and served two plates. Blueberry pancakes, a bowl of mixed berries with some sort of yoghurt and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. I watched as she poured syrup over the pancakes before she placed the plate Infront of me and walked over to sit next to me. I was still not done with my work, but I was really close.

" What you doing?" She glanced over at my screen, narrowing her eyes because she clearly didn't understand whatever i was typing. 

" Working, " I told her, then I looked at the plate and smiled, kissing her cheek before I went back to work. Five or so minutes later she asked me to eat first, that I could always finish up with work later on. 

" I'm almost done, just a sec. "

It wasn't really a second though, it turned out to be longer than that. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and realized she was taking small bites while staring at me. 

" Still not done?" She asked five minutes later. I shook my head. 

" Can't you do it later?"

" Yeah but it's better if I just finish it now. "

" But--" she cut herself off and decided to concentrate more on her food. She reached over and combed her fingers through my hair, then she started fixing the short sleeve of my t-shirt before she refocused on her meal. I could sense her disappointment from where I was, but I was having too good of a time to stop. She clearly wanted my attention, I wanted to drag out my pretence for as long as I could. A while later she sighed, placing down her cutlery and crossing her arms on the counters' surface, looking bored. I withheld my smirk.

" Come on beib--" her eyes widened and she gasped, her hand going up to cover her mouth. Sitting up and staring straight ahead. I stopped whatever I was doing and slowly turned to her. She picked up her fork and reached for her bowl of fruit, eating them as she pretended I wasn't even there. Assuming she hadn't been about to say what we both knew she had. I had actually never expected her to be the type to use endearments, it just didn't seem like something she would ever do. And I never minded because I liked it whenever she called me by my name. 

" What was that?" I teased but she went ahead with pretending. And when I held her hand to prevent her from biting her food, she turned to me with the most flustered look. Her entire face was crimson coated and she looked like she was about to flee. 

I'd never fully understand her. We had done so many things one would think that we were past the point of her feeling any sort of discomfort over such things. But Layla did, she looked embarrassed and uncomfortable. The same girl that had danced for me in the most exotic manner, the same one that had just the previous night left marks on my back. She now seemed shy because she had been about to call me 'baby'. 

I actually liked the sound of that, wouldn't mind if she kept calling me that from that point onwards. 

" Just eat, will you?" Her voice was a little shaky, she couldn't handle my stare and ended up looking away. 

" As you wish. " I said while smiling, shutting off my laptop and placing it aside. 

" My tongue slipped, okay?!"

" I literally haven't said a word. "

" Well I'm just telling you!"

" Calm down...baby, " I teased. She rolled her eyes and brought her hair over her shoulder to shield her face from view. 

That girl had no clue about the level of affection I harboured for her. It was enough to scare her if she ever found out. I was certain there was nothing lurking on the earth strong enough to take her away from me. And even if there was I didn't care because I'd still find a way to keep her by me.