STRONGER

        Faith woke up and found out she had slept off by Ethan's bedside. She was seating on a stool and her head was placed on the bed. She raised her head and saw him watching her, she frowned a little. 

       "Hey," she said and made to leave, but he held her back. 

      "Hey, don't go please." 

      "Y..y…you must be hungry, I need to go and make breakfast." 

       "I know." He sat up.  "I'm sorry for inconveniencing you last night." 

      Faith smiled and looked down.  "I am sure I have inconvenienced you more times than I can imagine. " She looked up at him. Staring into that pool of green just makes her abdomen whirl. 

      "I'm sorry," he said.  "I never intended to hurt you, I never intended to hurt anyone with my decision."  She nodded and said nothing, just staring at him. He continued.  "I have never for once used you, I waited for you and I'm still ready to wait if you feel I am just here because of my company. I was perceived to be gay, yes, but I have never been attracted to a man and I have dated a lot of women, just that I never took them home."

      "It's alright," she whispered. 

      "Are you still mad at me?" 

      "I wasn't mad, I felt betrayed, it was like the whole world knew about you except me." 

       "I had planned to tell you about it once I got back, but things turned out this way. I'm sorry." 

       "I know you are. Promise you won't hide things like that from me anymore." 

       "I promise. Come here." He spread his arms, and she climbed into bed and fell into them. He held her tight.  "Oh, I missed you," he said rubbing her back. 

    She raised her head.  "I missed you too. So, how is mom's health?" 

     He paused his lips and there was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. Faith tilted her head and looked at him in askance.  "Act…ually…mom is healthy like she was never sick. I just made up that lie so you won't get suspicious." 

         "What the... And you say this to my face?" She grabbed the pillow. 

       "But I promised not to hide anything from you again!"

       "You know what? No sinner would go unpunished." She got away from his body and hit him with the pillow. 

    He fell back on the bed and used his arms as defence as the pillow hit him. They were giggling as she hit and teased him. After a while, he drew her down and she went crashing on his body. Their eyes locked for a while and he reached up and kissed her. Her heart started to beat. Every kiss, every hug, every touch of his was a heartbeat to her. He pulled away and looked right into her eyes. 

       "Are you still mad at me?" 

       "The audacity. You dare bribe me with a kiss?" 

      That twinkle of mischief returned. "Do you want more bribes? I'm good at bribes. What would you rather I bribe you with?" 

      She tried to stand up from his body.  "You randy fellow!" 

      He pulled her down again and she crashed on his strong body again, he wreathed his arms around her.  "Let's stay like this for a while." 

     She shifted her body to fit with his, she placed her head on his chiselled chest. They stayed like that, hugging each other for a moment.  "I would like you to go to the police station with me," she said after a while, her head still on his chest. 

        "Done." 

        "So, what about your company? What happened?" 

       "It's my uncles, they want the company. My father was not the first son of the family, he was the third son." 

       "How many uncles do you have?" 

       "They are four of them, my father making them five boys and a girl, my aunt is happily married and is living in Iowa." 

        "So, your uncles are fighting to take the company from you?" 

        "Kind of."  He sat up and leaned on the headboard and she climbed into his arms.  "My late grandfather felt my dad was the most capable of them all and he willed it to my dad. Growing up, my dad never depended on the company, he went ahead and built a firm from scratch, while his brothers clamoured for the company. My grandfather saw my dad as a capable and ready man to oversee his company, so he willed everything to my dad."

      "Wow." 

      "Yes. You know that Bible verse about the parable of talents. To everyone who has, more will be given and he will have abundance." 

      Faith remembered that Bible verse very well. She might not believe in God, but her father did and he had imprinted Bible verses into their heads. They were still there, no matter how long she had stopped looking at a Bible talk much of opening it. 

       "So, your grandfather believed in God?" she asked. 

       "We are Catholics. My grandfather and father were not fanatics though." 

       "It was only my dad who was assisting Jesus here on earth." They chuckled. 

        "I'm sure, he knew nothing about Christianity." 

        "That's by the way. He is gone now. Tell me, why are your uncles after the company now, because your dad is dead?" 

         "Not really. My grandfather's will stated that my father would only hand over the company if he has no heir to take over from him or if the heir is not as capable as he is. At that time, my parents had just gotten married and it was their wedding present. My uncles were disappointed when my mom gave birth to a boy first. The security level around me was very high even until I came here. I have bodyguards all over my place and all that."

         "Really?" 

     He nodded.  "But my father was worried as I grew up, he never saw me with girls, only business partners and he was worried that I would never get married or I was even gay. So, for me to get the company, I have to get a wife first if not my uncles will overthrow me. My mother has been on my neck for that. Since she is the acting CEO, after three months if I don't assume my position, another election would be conducted and I am very sure my mother won't win because my uncles are ready for the fight. I went back because they rumoured that I was dead and that my mom is hiding it from them."

        "What?" 

       "I had to go show my face and tell them that I am on a three months holiday and would come back to assume my position soon." 

         "This is serious." 

        "Of course, it is. I have dated a lot of women though but I don't know why they think I am not into women. I even dated one that almost killed me with a gun." 

        "What?" Faith chuckled. 

    Still chuckling he answered, "Yes. It's hilarious now but it wasn't then. Most of the women I dated knew who I was and they were so obedient, you know like they don't want to provoke me so they could be the future Mrs Floyd. One thing or the other made me know these women are not really into me, so I decided to change to a different city and stay low and find a woman who would love me for me, not only that, a woman I would love too, the one that would make my heart flutter and here you are as my room hate. "

      She poked his chest. "We are roommates, not room hate." 

        He snickered.  "A month ago, you wouldn't say that." 

        "Change is always constant." 

         "It was always about Noah this, Noah that." 

     She snickered.  "He wasn't a complete jerk you know. We had our issues but we still had good times together, splendid times, actually. We had memories together, although Nora never liked him for me, she said he was too arrogant and full of shit." 

     Ethan chuckled.  "Danny is another lucky man I know." 

       "I concur. Nora is all shades of crazy and amazing and her instincts are always right. She used to tell me that Noah seems suspicious. She never liked him from the start but she had to pretend for me like it was always funny because she couldn't even pretend and I adored Noah then, so I didn't even care about Nora and her views."

       "The man is quite good looking, lots of women would adore him." 

      "It was all sugar and cream at the beginning until we got to know each other and he started turning into an alpha male, you know, feeling he was too good for me." 

       "It's always very exciting at first, you feel the butterflies, the jitters, everything, but then you get to find out who your partner really is. Those promises, will all go to waste." 

     "So..." She drew a circle around his nipple with her forefinger.  "Are you saying that you won't make any promises? That one day, we would stop being like this?" 

      "Promises are made to be broken, my darling." 

       "Oh, I see. So you are going to keep hiding things from me then." 

      Ethan looked confused.  "What?" 

        "You just made a promise a few minutes ago that you will never hide anything from me anymore!" 

  Ethan guffawed.  "Alright, I will rephrase. Some promises are made to be kept while some are made to be broken." 

       "So what about being this close?" 

        "Listen, beautiful, I don't know what the future holds and I can't make you those promises of  'I can never leave you, I can never this, I can never that' those are the promises that are made to be broken.  My mother and my father were in love until my dad passed away. They had a beautiful thing going on then. That is how I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I can only try, but I can't even predict the future. In the case of my mother and father, it was the death that separated them, you understand what I'm saying?"

     She nodded and smiled at him. "Let's work together then and make it last forever." 

     He planted a kiss on her forehead. "Let's make it last forever." 

       She got down from his body and out of bed.  "Get up, get up, we need to hurry, I have a statement to give." 

          "Yes, ma'am!" he said and got down from the bed. 

      "Follow me," she said and started towards the bathroom.