His Camelia [Completed]

Chapter 23-Risks

The car ride was accompanied with silence.   

They barely spoke since that night and it's been nearly two weeks. 

Kent pulls into the parking space and turns off the ignition.  Camelia's gaze centered on the dashboard but for a moment feeling him look at her as if he wanted to say something.  Determined not to make the situation worse and blast him with everything she was thinking, she abruptly opens the passenger door, climbs out and slams it shut.

Kent does the same and locked the car. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the way his mouth tightened with grim displeasure.

Tense moments passed before he slowly leads her into the shopping center in silence.

Lately, Camelia felt too imprisoned, deciding it was time to go out and do some therapy shopping. It's often stated, 'shopping is a girl's best medicine'. She demanded rather than asked like she was accustomed to do. Kent didn't try to hide his reluctance in his expression but she was surprised when he didn't hold up a argument.

She stared hard at his wide back and shook her head in irritation.   The unbearable tension whenever he was near made her weary. It's was excruciating to stand in the same open space lately when privately everything between them teetered on the edge of a sharp knife. Spending part of the afternoon with Kent was going to be difficult enough.

Camelia decided to avoid Kent as much as possible and only speak to him unless absolutely necessary. She resented his words that night. They were a absolute confidence deflater. They hit where it hurt. It was more than obvious what his views of her were. She didn't deserve it. She deserved a lot of things but she didn't deserve that kind of humiliation.

Verbal abuse was harder to forget than physical pain. It lingered. It hurt. It made her feel super insecure and unhappy beyond words. She was never at peace and always conscious that her thoughts never strayed from his wounding words.

A teenage kid going through a phase. 

It made her teeth grind. 

Ever since their 'argument' she began to feel self-conscious. Always wondering if she indeed not just 'acted' like an immature twenty-one year old but looked like that to him as well.  It was eating her insides alive to be left stripped and exposed. Her emotions were as fragile as walking on eggshells. It grew into a need to be accepted, a fear deep inside that made her uncomfortable in her own skin.

There was one thing she could change however, and it was her appearance. She needed to feel appreciated, wanted. She hoped to elevate some of her insecurities and deemed shopping the first step.

Camelia sighed heavily and pursed her lips, quickly lowering her gaze when Kent opened the door to the entrance of the mall and stood aside, inviting her to enter first. She couldn't stand the tension bunched up in her muscles as she strode forward, the smell of the strong manly cologne emitted from his skin.  Scrunching her nose in disgust, Camelia twisted her head away and clenched her teeth. 

Recently, she had grown accustomed to wearing her hair lose and close to her face, allowing her a brief shield from his prying stare.  Now, she could feel those stormy ice blue eyes upon her like a laser, searing her skin, making it sizzle and crackle underneath his scrutiny. 

Intensely aware of the heat emitting off his body, she  turned her face and walked past him as though he did not exist. She heard the scuffling of his shoes behind her as she began scanning the crowds in the busy mall.