Seducing His Fiancée

Chapter Eight: Trust

Rose begrudgingly grabbed her suitcase out of Eli's hands.

He sighed, "Rose, don't be like this."

"I can handle my own baggage, just like you're willing to carry yours all by yourself." She spat back.

No matter how much she tried persuading him to tell her his backstory with Vincent, he refused.

"This is between me and him. I don't want you to get involved with my baggage, it's too risky. Just do me a favor and don't contact him again. No, better yet, pretend you never even knew him." He said the night before.

Eli huffed and followed her to the car. She didn't even wait for him to open the door for her. He ran his fingers through his dirty blonde hair, his hazel eyes focused on Rose with concern.

"Rose," he reached for her hand, "Just trust me on this one, okay?"

She didn't look to him while speaking, "Eli, a strong relationship is built on trust. How do you expect me to trust you when you're shutting me out?"

"I'm trying to protect you!" He struggled to keep his voice low.

"You don't think I'm capable of protecting myself?"

He griped, "I do, but I'd rather not have it come to that."

"I just don't understand why it's so hard for you to tell me what happened, unless you're trying to hide something from me."

Eli's eyes widened at the Rose's suspicion, "I thought you were different from other women, Rose. You're acting like a jealous school girl, not an adult."

He knew he shouldn't have said that, especially knowing her past history. 

"Are you really the man I got engaged to?" She asked, her voice as cold as ice.

He groaned, laying his face in his hands, "Rose, I'm sorry. Really. We're both not acting like ourselves—"

"I've always been straightforward with you, Eli. It's you that's lacking transparency. How am I supposed to know who the real you is when you're showing me these new colors?"

He punched the seat next to him before swearing, "F*cking Vincent just can't live his own damn life."

His outburst seriously startled Rose. She was grateful when the driver buzzed through the intercom, notifying them of their arrival at her home. 

She gave him one last look, face contorted with disgust, "It's not me that's different from your expectations, Eli. You're the one that I judged wrongly."

With that, she shut the door of his car and walked off, soon disappearing into her house. He didn't bother to follow her out. He drove off after she shut the door behind her.

"You're in some deep sh*t, Vincent." He muttered under his breath, vowing to pay him a visit as soon as he could.

As soon as Rose stepped foot in the house, her mother over enthusiastically welcomed her with a hug.

"Rose dear, the dress you chose is just precious, darling! In fact, I firmly believe that it was made just for you—"

"Not now, mom." Rose interrupted, not even bothering to return her hug.

"Oh, what's wrong dear?" Her mother asked, backing up to take in her daughter's worn expression.

When there was no answer, she looked behind her daughter's shoulder, "Did Eli not come inside?"

"It's best that he didn't." Rose remarked, making a beeline to her room.

"What? Did you two fight? Rose, answer—" The door shut, effectively cutting her mother off.

Rose couldn't help but fling her outerwear all over the room. Her jacket landed on a lamp while her hat landed on the floor and scarf somewhere else. She felt like such a teenager, but couldn't help it. Eli and her never fought before. She never heard him curse or be so ignorantly worked up before. He always gave off such calm vibes around her, but his sudden change at the mention of Vincent seriously scared her. The fact that he refused to share his personal story, yet commanded her to trust his judgment... it made her livid. She wasn't going to blindly trust him, she'd already learned from that mistake once. After all, it's not like she has any feelings to cloud her own judgment. She couldn't help but think back to her conversation with Freya. If she truly loved Eli, then would she have given into his request? She scoffed.

"So much for 'love'."

Curiosity was driving her crazy. To her, Vincent came off as anything but a threat. Perhaps he was a womanizer, at least from what she saw at the park, but she wasn't the type to give into people like him anyway. Other than that... what danger could he possibly bring? Obviously, he wasn't going to be her new best friend, but there was nothing wrong with treating him as an acquaintance. One thing she did like about him was his candor. He didn't seem like the type who would dodge or avoid questions. She grabbed her phone; her thumb hovered over his name. If Eli wasn't going to give her answers, then she'd just have to find them elsewhere. Ignoring Eli's warnings, she called him.