Vicious Love; Nathaniel's Captive

XV

P A S T  T I M E

Stay away from him.

For Delilah, it wasn't really hard to get away from her naive crush, her next-door neighbor, also known as her father's boss, because it was just the beginning of it.

Her liking towards him hadn't started growing roots so she very easily could pull off the very small bud it started becoming.

After the small conversation between her father and her about his boss, they had dinner and the day ended like that. However, the next morning, she was prepared to react the way her father wanted her to.

Delilah wasn't a robot to do as her father said. It was just her love for her father that made her see the concern in his eyes and she obeyed him. She knew he could find better for him and she knew if he was warning her, it wasn't for nothing

She got ready for her college, wearing a white top and black jeans. She did her hair as usual and grabbed her jacket and knapsack to leave.

Her father greeted her lovingly like every time she left him in the care of their servants and a nurse.

Throwing the knapsack over her shoulder, she walked out of the main gates of her house. Her car was in service so she called her friend to pick her up out of the society gates. She was leaving for it.

On the way, she glanced at her neighbor's house door. It was her habit. She couldn't stop it so easily after getting used to it.

At the same moment, the gray-painted door opened and her crush stepped out, dressed in business attire. First his shiny oxford shoes and then his majestic body.

He looked taller in those clothes, Delilah couldn't deny, and hotter. He looked as if he owned the world. The grim look on his face told her he owned a throne to justify his authority and his eyes could shut anyone.

Like every time, her inner self complimented him but she knew she had to look away before he could look in her direction which he hadn't done until now.

Trying to act clueless about his presence, she walked ahead, passing right before his eyes.

She was glad that the man was mature and not clingy like the guys in her college who would shamelessly flirt with her. However, the man she liked always remained silent, not willing to be with her but that morning, he did what she wasn't even expecting.

"Delilah?"

She stopped, wondering if she heard him right or if it was just an illusion of her mind, created out of the wishes buried deep inside.

She wanted him to call her name.

But she was doubtful if even her mind could contain the sweetness of his honeyed voice and the authority it rang with. She knew it wasn't an illusion.

She turned to face him, as he walked through the stoned pavement of his house.

"Mr Vincent?"

"Where's your car?" he asked straight, not hiding the fact he was noticing her every morning all the while. He didn't need to hide it. He wasn't afraid of anything.

Delilah, however, didn't consider it abnormal though it was. He wasn't someone to take note of things that profited him nothing. But in her case, he did.

"In service." She kept more words to herself, keeping in mind her words to her father.

He kept his eyes on her face, holding eye contact with her, silently playing thoughts in his head. That was his interest. He was always a confident man, leaving anyone flushed before himself who dared to look him in the eyes.