37

HOPE WELLINGTON

I could feel his breath near my cheeks, uneven yet calm. He wasn't sleeping but he was relaxed. He said we are not leaving this mattress before we sort out ourselves. And to say, I have already tried about ten times. Now I was tightly grasped in his hold, not tight but definitely firm. His finger was making patterns on the back of my palm, and despite my protestant attitude, I was starting to feel calmer.

He knows well how to calm me down, clutch me hard, pass two three inappropriate comments to catch me off-guard and if all this doesn't work, talk something that makes sense and force me to think. Something I was doing right now.

My eyes again and again drifted to the bangle in my other hand. I was never a fan of jewellery, and he has gifted me only those. He said jwellery denote permanence and that he used jwellery more as an expression than a gift.

But love has scarred me bad. All because of my mistakes. I know. And so even when right now, everything may look perfect for me, i still have that ounce of apprehensions that is not letting me turn in his arms, and hide myself in his embrace. I am scared one day he'd change his mind. Probably find us not suitable for each other. Or may be he'll stop seeing this sense of security with me.

I heaved a long sigh, and heard him snicker.

"You are thinking too hard. Just share with me whatever you feel. I am sure we will be able to make it better together."

I turned my head, and my face came just a mere centimetres from his.

"How do you plan to make it better?"

He smiled lightly, "Probably kiss it all away."

I rolled my eyes, "I wish you had better solutions."

"Hopeless!", he grabbed my palm and kissed the back of it, "How do I tell you...that I intend to stay? I know living with me is not easy especially because you lo...are my friend and there is a lot more than just the marital commitment involved. And just because of that, we'd have to be more considerate of each other, more now that we have one vote about how we intend to make it work."

This time, I fully turn to face him, and rest my head on his arm. Atleast he realises it's not easy for me, even though for all the more different reasons.

"You think there can ever be more to us than this marriage and our friendship?"

I never thought I'd ask him that, but he seems like he's willing to answer it. How do people make marriages work? Yes, we have a major plus point. We have a bond, and that automatically generates an understanding between us. We coparent Oliver just fine. But is that enough?

All the important questions always ever stop at the concerns of the foolish heart. Like mine do. Despite having everything I love, I can't help but feel bothered about how I wouldn't ever be loved back. Some days, when I am not feeling very kind, I call myself greedy. Some other days, I think it's natural to think that way.

"There 'is' a lot more to us than just this marriage and our friendship. And I am not very happy that you have a doubt."

I shook my head, "I am not asking you to think of my so perceived sacrifices. They weren't that. I was only..."

He keeps a finger on my lips, "Let me complete Hot Stuff! I thought nothing of that. Not of Oliver or of your actions. I am just concerned with your presence and how it grounds me. You...you keep me calm. Like right now, i don't care if the world got hit by an asteroid. My problems seem small. And i felt so after a long time of wandering around in chaos. That is why this is so precious to me, and I can't let you go. The restlessness I feel when you aren't around isn't normal. You keep me breathing. And this has nothing to do with what you have done for me. This is something I feel for you spontaneously. You are getting me... are you?"

He was explaining me like it was some science equation. Somehow, it was. But David and science were never good together. He was more into creativity.

"I got you...", my voice came out more like a whisper.

"But?"

"But I am upset!"

"Hmm?"

"You hurt me! You said i betrayed you but I was only protecting you from all the unnecessary worries. Then you said you wanted fresh air! You couldn't breath around me! I hate you David! And then you cancelled the dinner! You know how much time and energy I wasted to select that one dress, and how anxious I was the whole day! I hate you so much!", i ended my monologue by smacking him on his chest to which he hissed.

I turned away from him, not wanting to look at his face and forget the reasonable resentment I hold. I was going to say I love him that day. It took me so much courage to even think of doing that. That whole day was so nerve wrecking for me.

His warmth behind me, shifted a little and moments later, I saw him sitting near my legs, and taking hold of both my feet, and keeping them on his lap. I was still confused.

For some twisted part of me, this was funny. I was loving the attention. The man who had women falling on their knees for him, was sitting at my legs. I was feeling like a queen but I had to supress my smugness.

"You saying you hate me twice in half a minute is a huge concern. I can't let this go.", with that, he took a deep breath, "I am extremely sorry Hope. Like really really sorry. I am even ashamed to say sorry because I made you feel any of that you mentioned. You can punish me anyhow you want. I am ready for anything."

He was sorry, actually sorry. Well, he has been sorry since the moment he came back after he left cancelling our dinner. I know it. His face is always the mirror of his feelings. And i saw it way before. I was just protecting myself. But is it okay to do so when he's so hell bent on breaking the walls I create?

I sighed, and looked at him, "How do I punish you?"

He looked here and there, thinking of the punishment, and then his eyes stopped on the pillow beside me.

"I hurt you by saying that I was feeling suffocated. So now you can suffocate me with that pillow. I'll know the real feeling and stop it using as a metaphor."

He was so serious about it, that I wanted to laugh on his face. His idea was as ridiculous as his double meaning jokes.

I looked away to control my laughter and sat up. When I was sure i wouldn't break the character, I said, "I think it's a wonderful idea. I should suffocate you."

He looked a bit worried about himself but nodded, "But I am getting your forgiveness after that."

I nodded my head affirmatively, "Ofcourse you are."

He looked at that pillow again, "I should lie down no? But...Hope don't prolong it too much okay...you know I don't like even a bit congestion so much that I don't even ever wear a shirt at night. But since this is a punishment..."

"Hmm hmm...I get it...now lie down..."

He was hesitant but eager to be forgiven.

He laid down, his previous position, "Be a bit kind Hope...I am your husband."

"Don't be scared. Close your eyes if that helps."

To my extreme amusement, he closed his eyes. I was laughing internally and prepared to suffocate him.

Lying down beside him, I guess this was the first time in my life I was truly admiring him from so close. His prince hair, always properly styled in the day, that one strand falling on his forehead, they were all unruly now. Not the kind that seemed messed up, but the kind when you want to run your hands through them. His eyes were squeezed closed, with lots of effort. And his lips, he was biting his lips, worried about getting 'suffocated'.

I had a million things to worry about, a million unconfessed feelings, and not to forget a million insecurities. But with him by my side, asking me to stay by his side, all of them start looking small. As if my worries have no base because my love for him is unceasing and consuming. And now that I've finally got the chance to have him.

I have never been this impulsive, but my impulse took over me, like it was some expensive but addictive vine.

To 'suffocate' him, I leaned down on him and then placed my lips on his. I left him freeze beneath me. Ofcourse he did not expect it. But I did not care. I may have failed to say it out loud that day that I love him, but I guess actions speak louder than words. Both my palms cup his cheeks and put all my fervour and energy into taking his breath away. I could feel his gaze on me. His eyes were no more closed, but neither were his lips. He was equally into it. Some hope that I would hold onto.

I felt his arms circle around my waist and then in a swift motion, I was completely on top of him. Our kiss didn't cease though. How could it? It was a challenge after all! And I don't back away from one. I had to suffocate him.

His hand, sneaked under my top, and i felt goosebumps all-over. His touches ignited a desire in me, an insatiable desire that felt like a dry forest set aflame. And I loved it. My own fingers made their way behind his ear, and that was the moment one of us, i don't know who, had enough. Not the kiss, but the lack of oxygen.

The desire in his eyes mirrored the one in my heart, but we didn't look away.

"Did I suffocate you enough?"

My question broke his daze and a chuckle left his lips, You're something else Hope."

I shrugged and kissed the tip of his nose, looking too tempting at this moment.

"Am I forgiven?"

"Under consideration.."

His lips curved in an amused smile, and not to forget, his wandering hand had made a home under my top. He pulled me closer, if that was possible, considering I was already on top of him.

"I can seduce you if you want...or you can try suffocating me more...I am sure I have still not learnt my lesson."

I hummed, "You were always a slow learner."

"And you were always a great teacher."

The second time our lips met, it was more like a war, an electric war. He was in search of control, and I was not backing away. If I remember correctly, I was the one with higher stakes here. I smacked his side, making him chuckle, but the kiss didn't stop.

When it did, he asked me one question, "Do we get further than this?"

And I was so into it, I nodded without any second thoughts. Ofcourse we get further than this.

"You trust me Hope?"

The question, it was like a current of water over the fire burning between us. He wasn't asking this to put out our passion. He was asking this so as to make sure I was free of apprehensions. And to be real, I was. Right now, I had no questions swirling in my mind. There was just one thought and it was him.

I nodded.

"Use words."

I nodded, and said, "Yes.."

A smile formed on his face, my hair, falling on his shoulder. His finger trailed down my neck and then reached to hold the spaghetti strap of my top. I didn't let my mind think how serious it would be unless the strap left the curve of my shoulder. The warm air of his breath was fanning my cheeks, and I was considering calling myself courageous because I was still staring back into those intense eyes I so much loved.

He dipped my face to kiss at the side of my lips and then leaned and placed a kiss on my shoulder. I had let out a breathy whimper, because all my experience in getting physical with men was down the drain as soon as I was touched by the man who i loved.

I held onto him, tight and firm as he continued his minstrations on me. It didn't really matter to me anymore if it was wrong or right. The years long chaos has finally subsided in his arms and I was willing to bask in it.

Our moment engrossed us too much. I was sure about myself and he didn't seem to care about the surroundings too. But our hands on each other halt the moment we hear a whimper, not belonging to me.

I look up immediately, and see Oliver kicking his pillow, "Mumma!"

This time, it was a splash of cold water on my face, because I detached myself from David immediately. He sat up too, and saw our son was wide awake, agitated by the wall of pillows around him.

David picked up the duvet beside us and covered me in it, "I'll look at him."

His calm voice was a contrast to my racing heart, and somehow it managed to calm me too. I looked at Oliver being picked up by his dad.

"Why is my little shit being so fussy in the middle of the night? You know this is ghosts time to wake up?"

Oliver made a face at him, "Monstaaa!"

"No monster! Even monsters are scared of ghosts."

I looked at the frown forming on his face, and immediately came to rescue, "Don't scare him."

At my voice, Oliver looked at me, and immediately jumped from his father's arms and landed in mine.

"Mumma!!"

"Yes baby?", i cradled him in my arms and hide him in the duvet, "You had a bad dream?"

His round face was the only out of the duvet, and he nodded.

"Ofcourse he'd have a bad dream at the very right moment!", David commented making my lips curve up.

I moved back and forth, and Oliver calmed down a little.

David sighed loudly and laid down beside us, "I can't fathom the thought that how swiftly he can switch places with me when it comes to you."

I passed him a glance and rubbed my nose with Oliver's making him smile.

"Your dadda is just jealous of you."

"Ofcourse he is! This gooseberry won't even let me have my share of time with my own wife. You know he was there with you for the whole day!"

I laughed at his antics, "Okay...then from tomorrow...I will take you also to my office. And then I can babysit both you and him. Right Oliver? Do we take Dadda with us?"

Oliver shook his head profusely, "No! Dadda bad boi!"

I chuckled, "I am sorry. Your son doesn't allow you in our private time."

He rolled his eyes and then I remi. Since we were not on the bed, there was no risk of him falling.

"You want to sleep with Mumma and Dadda?"

He nodded eagerly and got off my lap.

Grinning at David as if challenging him, he settled beside him and kept his leg on his Dad's stomach.

"Ofcourse! Now the mattress is not enough for you!"

Oliver giggled in reply and turned to look at me, "Mumma! Come!"

Shaking my head at their antics, i laid down beside them, "Now both of you...it's past midnight and all the good people are sleeping. Only Oliver and his dad are wide awake."

"Yeah! And Oliver's Mumma was sleeping like a good girl before he woke up to disturb her beautiful sleep. Right Oliver?"

Oliver nodded because he heard 'good girl' and 'mumma' in the same line. I rolled my eyes at his taunt, and closed my eyes, also lightly patting Oliver so he sleeps.

Thankfully, the two of them did seem to calm down after a few minutes of bickering and after i finally stopped replying to their nonsense. The happenings of this night, clouding my mind. What would have happened if Oli didn't wake up?

I kept wondering, his touches clouding my thoughts more often than I liked, his sincere apology, his promise, they all force me to break my walls. I feel like I want to tell him everything, may be cry a little about all what I went through since years. But yet again, i can't subject him to that guilt. He is a man with a golden heart. He'll feel guilty because he didn't love me and i loved him for years. He'll feel guilty because I spent years of thoughts on him.

My thoughts halt, when I feel movements, and open my eyes to see David moving away from Oliver, covering him a little and then coming behind me to lie down. He snaked his hand around my waist and held Oliver under the duvet.

I turned to him and whispered, "He'll be upset if he wakes up again and finds you absent."

He chuckled, "He'll be upset I am hugging his mumma and he can't be a gooseberry anymore."

I rolled my eyes but nonetheless, got comfortable in his arms. And that was when the chaos of thoughts finally ceased in my mind, and I fell in a beautiful sleep.

*

DAVID WELLINGTON

"Carter is caught. And before I could think what to do, Eric left to interrogate him. The security team is with him, but it'd be better if you are there."

I agreed with Stephan and came back in the dining room. Both Hope and Oliver were busy in their own works. She was doing something on her laptop, and Oliver was busy looking at the fishes and calling them, like they could hear him.

"Hope? I need to go. There's an emergency."

I picked up my blazer and started wearing it.

"All okay?"

I nodded, "Just something related to investigation of attack on Erica. I'll tell you in detail once I am back."

She nodded and I went forward and placed a kiss on her lips.

Oliver was already looking in our direction and frowned upon seeing that.

"Dadda!", he screeched as if reprimanding him.

I chuckled and went ahead and placed a kiss on his head, "Fight with Dadda when he comes back. Right now he's going for an important work. Okay?"

He nodded and then waved his hand to bid me a bye.

I left the penthouse and Stephan was waiting at the reception area. With a few instructions, and updates, I got into the car. The driver started and a million thoughts start running in my mind. Eric is no more the impulsive guy he used to be, but when it comes to Erica, he becomes totally unpredictable. Well, he was unpredictable even in my own case. I didn't think he'll take his manipulation skills to such a high level only to 'teach me a lesson'.

My eyes then drifted to the bite mark near my thumb, making me chuckle to myself. It wasn't paining anymore.

When Oliver woke up today, he was lying a little further, because I had completely occupied his mother's personal space. And so he tried alot to move me away from her. He tried to loosen my hold, kicked me alot, and even tickled me.  Midway his effort, both me and Hope were wide awake, but we were loving his antics, unless he decided to take a final call and bite my thumb.

No matter how smily and cute round faced baby he is, whenever things don't go his way, he shows his true colour and reveals with who he has lived for one year.

I shrieked when his sharp teeth marked my skin, making Hope concerned. She sat up immediately, and looked at my thumb turning red with the bite mark and covered in his drool.

But the guy was having no shame, unless Hope claimed he is a bad boy. The whole morning he followed her like a puppy wherever she went, even in the washroom, convincing her that he was not a bad boy. He sat outside the shower cubicle sulking as she bathed. Then seeing his face fallen, she kept a condition that she will only call him a good boy if he comes to me, apologizes properly, which surprisingly he immediately did.

"Dadda! Sowwy!", he held both his ears and sat down beside my legs as I was sitting on a chair. I picked him up immediately, not wanting to see my baby sad. He then, kissed and blew over my thumb for a good fifteen minutes before he was convinced that the 'boo boo' is gone.

I stop smiling when I hear my phone ringing. It was Stephan.

"David! Eric has reached in the warehouse but we have not allowed him to enter."

"Yes... don't do that unless I come. If things go out of hand, we'll have more mess to wipe than now."

"Okay!"

On the way, I called the lawyer, Jeffrey, who was on this case, and informed him that Carter was in hold of our security team. He said that the documents projecting him as the accused are prepared and we can hand him over to the police any moment.

I wouldn't lie, but like Eric, I too wanted to punch the shit out of his face. This guy thought it would be fine to attack my sister, especially when she was with her daughter. What was he intending to do? Was it just because he lost a case and couldn't digest that fact?

I reached there, and i could hear yelling. I fastened my steps and reached there to find Eric lashing at the guards.

"....I'll make sure there's nothing remaining of you if you don't open the door right now. I don't know how Stephan ever got the guts to order you to defy me!"

"It wasn't Stephan. It was me.", I went forward and the guards scurried away immediately, looking visibly relieved. This man was like a ticking bomb. I wonder how he changes colours before my sister and niece, so damn fast.

"Don't you think you are over estimating yourself David! You are the same guy who couldn't wipe his own mess a few months ago! Now you are here taking charge??"

I nodded, his words sharp and piercing as always. But even I was David Wellington, an utterly shameless man when it came to his friend.

"Yeah...when I couldn't wipe my mess, you were there to take over the diaper duty. I am just returning the favour.", he was about to retort when I showed him my hand to stop, "Calm your tits! If Erica ever got the wind that you have a secluded warehouse where your security men torture the people who piss you off, she will give you a divorce. So before you go in and plan to thrash Carter in there, know it, that she hates dirty clothes and the one spare set in your car is already burning as I talk to you right now. So stay calm and poised. Don't touch filth with your own hands. The guards can do good enough and Jeffery is already on his way with the police."

I didn't want him to have blood on his hands. We were not the men of that kind. Yes, we dealt with people in a certain way, but it was never necessary to get in the dirt inorder to clean it.

Carter was waiting for us when we entered the warehouse. The guards were already giving him a special treatment. I could see red and blue marks on his face. I gave a side glance to Eric who looked considerably calm now.

Henry, followed by some guards were interrogating him.

"What has he told yet Henry?", I asked.

"Sir? He say he attacked Mrs. Ashton because he wanted a revenge on both you and Mr. Ashton."

"Yeah because he couldn't digest he lost the case?"

The guards hesitated, "that's not all sir..."

"Then what it is?", Eric spoke up for the first time. Thankfully very calm as compared to how he was outside.

I then observed Carter who was already viciously staring at me. The guards were hesitating and he smirked as saw them searching words.

"Can't deal with your boss' dirt? Wait let me tell him myself..."

"I planned to kill his wife because he humiliated me by making me loose my first case. And I wanted to kill your sister because you felt no ounce of remorse in sleeping with my girlfriend!"

My eyes narrowed at him, "Your girlfriend!? Look at yourself man! You are probably my dead father's age!"

He looked offended and a dark look clouded over his face, "My girlfriend was young! You bastard! You took advantage of her innocence and then she left me because she wanted to run behind you!"

His reasoning was ridiculous! I was an adventurous man but I only ever slept with women who were near my age. Not grandmothers or kids!

"Can you stop making riddles and he straight forward instead!"

"Ofcourse I can! Remember Sierra? She was in your legal team??"

The name clicked something and then I was reminded of a woman who worked as my legal advisor in Italy. She was ready to travel as I wasn't stable in this location for one year after Venus. And then, things must have escalated beyond control. I fired her later on, because she wanted to date me, and was pestering me about it. At that time, she must be twenty eight or twenty nine...

"So you, a fifty eight years old man, mean to say...i, a thirty three year old man, took advantage of your twenty eight years old girlfriend because she was too innocent?", with that, I laughed, "Carter! She must be waiting for you to die as soon as possible so she could take your firm. And how nice of you dating a woman thirty years younger. And then taking revenge because you couldn't keep her."

"I will kill...."

"For that you need to be spared. Just wait and watch! I'll use all the laws ever formed on this land to make sure you rot behind the jail for even thinking of attacking my sister."

I was about to leave, but then I saw Eric go to a corner and pick up a baseball bat.

Before I could stop him, he had already smacked it on Carter, who yelled in misery. That must have broken some bone, for sure.

I glared at Eric, who dropped the bat and then turned to me shrugging, "My clothes are still clean."

*

Hush! Finally updated the chapter after a lot of effort. Please make it worth it. The next update will be soon. I learnt how to crack the Wattpad code;)