#DS7Unbalanced #InoCent #SMCouple #DaggerSeries

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: PERFECT

TIARA'S POV

I couldn't look away from the paper. It feels like it would disappear if I blinked. For a moment, I wasn't even sure if this was reality. Everything seems to be in a blur, surrounding me with a heavy haze. The air feels strangely thick that breathing is becoming harder for me at the same time that my heart is beating erratically inside my chest.

I traced the paper with a shaking finger, and I stopped and stared at my name on the paper and the word below it. Milli¢ent. Anak.

Napatayo ako at naramdaman ko ang kaagad na pagsunod ni Domino sa akin. I couldn't think. I couldn't hear anything. But I did feel his hand on me. He didn't try to stop me. Instead, I could feel him moving with me, not minding that even I didn't know where I wanted to go.

I found myself in a hallway, my heart thudding hard and fast. The weight of the realization from that one word that was written on the paper I'm still gripping tightly with my hand bore down on my shoulders.

I can't believe that I forgot...

"Doll." Domino leaned down so that our eyes were on the same level, and he rubbed my arms comfortingly. "Talk to me, please."

"He called me that before," I whispered. "Anak."

I rarely think about him. Memories of him are too painful to remember. Aside from that, it feels like I shouldn't. I shouldn't wonder where he is or what he thinks about me. Hindi dapat ako maghanap kasi wala kaming karapatan.

"It wasn't often. I was a lot younger when he used to call me that. At that time, I didn't know that many Tagalog words. Then... then he was out of our lives, and I forgot. I forgot a lot of things about him. I don't even remember his face clearly or the sound of his voice."

"Tiara—"

"That word.... he's Filipino, Domino."

Babusya was right, even though I doubt she knew more than I did. She used to say that I have more Filipino in me, even though I don't look like one. She said that I have the heart of her people more than some people who were born in the country. Who would have thought that I literally have it in me through my blood?

"We can't say for sure yet, doll. What if this is just a ploy—"

I cut him off again with a shake of my head. "I may not remember a lot of things when it comes to him, but I do remember this one." Itinuro ko ang pangalan ko na nakasulat sa papel. "He used to write my name with the currency symbol of cent. No one knows about it because I haven't told anyone."

My gaze dropped to the paper again. Thinking about him hurts. I was sure that there's no way that I would ever see him again. Ang laki masyado ng mundo para magkita kami ulit. I don't know his name, the image of his face is blurry in my memory, but the conversations he had with my mother are all clear, as if I just heard them yesterday.

"You're insane! Do you realize what you have done?!"

"I can't live like this! I won't! I don't want to just have you from time to time. You promised me that you would tell her! That you will leave her for us!"

"I promised you that I would tell her about the child one day when the time was right. I didn't promise that I would leave her."

"You'll never see your daughter again—"

"Do you think I want to? I don't want to see the both of you. You won't get anything from me again. If you had kept your mouth shut, I would have tried to at least find a way to still be in her life. But maybe it's a good thing that you showed me that you can't be trusted. Things have changed, Yuliya. You're just going to ruin everything for me! You and that child will ruin me! From the very start, this was all a mistake!"

"I'm a love child. My mother had an affair with a married man. He used to visit me and spend time with me. He gave us gifts and money. Mother hates when he does. She didn't want his money. She didn't want him to give me anything. What she wanted was for him to stay." I swallowed the lump in my throat, and I looked away. "Of course he didn't. Eventually he went back to his family, and we never saw him again."

I can't lie and tell myself that I don't wish things weren't the way I knew and experienced. There were times that I couldn't help but wonder if life would have been happier if I had a father who could stay with us without it feeling wrong. Would my mother be different? Could we be different? Kung sakali na pwede. Kung sakali na hindi kami nakikihati lang. Iyong hindi ako isang pagkakamali.

"I don't know why he's trying to reach out now. He made it clear that he didn't want anything to do with us. With me. I was his..." Mapait na ngumiti ako. "I was a mistake."

Domino took a step forward so abruptly that I automatically moved back. I felt the hard, cold wall behind me at the same time that he leaned over and put a hand on it. "You are not a mistake. What they did was a mistake. Their affair was a mistake. But you were not. Hindi mo kasalanan ang pagkakamali ng mga magulang mo." Gamit ng malaya niyang kamay ay sinapo niya ang pisngi ko. "Don't ever call yourself that again. Not when you're the best thing that has ever come into my life."

"D-Dom... you can't say things like that. We're not... we're—"

"I can." He tugged my chin up so that I wouldn't escape his gaze. "I don't care what we are. I don't care if I'm just your bodyguard, if I'm just a fuck buddy you haven't fucked, a friend, or someone who could be more if you will just let me. It doesn't matter. It doesn't change the fact that meeting you was the greatest thing that happened to me."

My lips quivered, and I felt my eyes clouded. He let out a sigh before moving closer. My own body moved as if it had a mind of its own. I found myself clinging to him with my face buried in his chest as I let a river of tears escape from my eyes.

"Sometimes I wish you could see yourself through my eyes," he whispered softly. "So then maybe you'll understand that even if one day people started calling you names, even if they created stories about you to tarnish your reputation, even if you decided one day that you wanted to burn the world down... none of it could ever change my mind about you. None of it could make me want you less."

Kinulong niya ang mukha ko sa mga palad niya at pilit na inangat niya ang mukha ko. He wiped the wetness on my cheeks with his thumb. "We'll get to the bottom of this. We'll look for him. If you want to see him, I will be there with you. No matter what happens, I will never leave your side."

"What if... what if I make you?"

"You won't be able to," he answered confidently.

"But what if—"

With eyes filled with promise, he put a finger on top of my lips to stop me from speaking. "You'll find out what will happen when that time comes. I just hope when it does, you're ready to the extent of what I would do to bring you back by my side."

I WOKE UP with cold seeping through the thin layers of my blanket. Sa kabila ng antok na bumabalot pa rin sa akin ay pilit na iminulat ko ang mga mata ko.

I looked around the unfamiliar room. For a moment, I couldn't understand where I was. Umupo ako habang pilit pa ring kinikilala ang mga bagay sa paligid ko. With my mind still foggy from sleep, I tried to recall the events of the previous night.

It wasn't hard to remember. Not when the weight of what happened at the party drained me so much that Domino got a room for us so we wouldn't need to travel back to Cavite.

I remember how my manager, Naomi, tried to talk to me. She told me that my mother was angry at me, and she had already left. I remember her asking Domino to leave us so that we could talk about my "attitude".

Then I remember not seeing or hearing her anymore because I was swept away by Domino and the other Dawson men. Naomi was left with Thorn and Gun. Then I was hugged one by one by the Dawson women and the rest of the men until they were all gone too, and I was left enveloped by Domino's arms.

And then there was nothing else. It was like my mind forcibly tried to put me to sleep so that I wouldn't need to think of anything else anymore.

Napapabuntong-hininga na hinila ko ang kumot palayo sa katawan ko. I looked down, and I saw that I was wearing a plain white shirt that was far too big for me. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and I stood up.

Ilang sandaling nakatayo lang ako sa gitna ng kuwarto. The room is big, and aside from the king-size bed, there's also a sofa set on the other side of the room. Namataan ko na may mga nakatakip na pagkain sa coffee table.

Siguro lumabas lang si Domino. Hindi na ako magtataka kung bubuksan ko ang pintuan at may makikita ako sa labas na isa o dalawang empleyado ng Dagger. Hindi ako hinahayaan ni Domino na mag-isa.

I decided to just go to the bathroom first instead of looking at what's under the covered tray. I'm sure Domino intended for me to eat it, but I don't think I can at the moment. I'll take a bath first so that maybe I'll be able to wake up and restart my brain.

Kampante na walang ibang tao sa kuwarto ay pinihit ko ang doorknob ng bathroom. The sound of water crashing on the floor instantly attacked my ears, but it wasn't the reason why I stopped dead in my tracks the moment I opened the door; it was Domino, who was under the shower... naked.

He has one arm pressed against the tiled wall, and his eyes are closed. A surge of fire ignited inside me when I saw where his other hand was and what it was doing.

I watch him as he fists his own hardness with powerful strokes. I was so transfixed by him pleasuring himself that I would have stayed there until he's done. I couldn't move. I couldn't look away, though it was the right thing to do.

Napapitlag ako sa kinatatayuan ko at binalot ng init ang mukha ko. The moment I looked up from his hand, which had now stopped moving, I already knew that he had caught me. His eyes were glazed over, but I could see the fire blazing more behind them as he looked at me.

Those times I had the chance to be brought climax after climax by Domino, he showed me nothing but control. I might have felt his hardness straining his pants, I might have seen glimpses of his need for me, but he never once let himself go.

But right now, I caught him in a moment where I could see the great hunger he's been hiding for me. What he's trying to slow down because he doesn't want to rush me.

The smart thing to do was back out of the room. To let him do what needs to be done and to just pretend that I didn't see anything. But I guess at this point I should just admit that when it comes to him, there are a lot of things I should have turned into things I could not.

I found myself taking a step that took me closer to him. His eyes flashed as he watched me take step after step, crossing the distance left between us. Huminto ako sa tapat niya. Tanging ang salamin na pintuan ng shower ang natitirang nakaharang sa aming dalawa. At the same time that I reached out to the door's handle, Domino pushed open it from the other side, and I found myself being dragged inside the cubicle.

The warm water from the shower instantly soaked me, making the thin fabric of the shirt see through as it clung to my skin. A rumble echoed from Domino's chest, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself being pinned to the glass wall of the shower. His lips crashed into mine in a way that was so hard that it hurt a little. But I didn't care. I want it. I want him like this. I want him to give it to me the way he needs to.

I gasped when his lips traveled down my neck at the same time that he tore the triangular undergarment under the shirt off of me.

"Dom..."

"I'm sorry, doll," he murmured as he pulled the shirt up. My nails dug into his shoulders when I felt his teeth graze my hardened nipple. "I can't help being selfish this time."

A small cry fell from my lips when he pulled my peak a little as he let go. Domino straightened and met my eyes. He touched my thoroughly kissed lips with his thumb, parting them a little. "I need to feel this wrapped around me."

His words have such an effect on my body that even the water falling on us couldn't be extinguished. I could have sworn that I got nearer the edge just by the implication of his words.

Domino leaned down until our lips were almost touching. "Kneel."

My heart quickened, and heat pooled in the area between my legs. Sa kabila ng panginginig ng kalamnan na siyang epekto ng isang salita niya na iyon ay kaagad akong kumilos para sundin siya. I lowered myself to the floor, but Domino had one hand on my arm to stop me from dropping hard or slipping accidentally.

He cupped my cheeks tenderly. "I don't know how," I whispered, deciding to be honest.

"Do what feels right," he said, his voice hoarse. "I don't mind a little teeth but be careful not to use too much and damage it in a way that I wouldn't be able to use them for you someday."

My legs quivered at the promise in his words.

Inabot ni Domino ang kamay ko at ipinalibot niya iyon sa kahandaan niya. I bit my lower lip at the feel of his cock around my hand. My fingers barely touched each other as I wrapped my hands around his hot, hard flesh.

I looked at him under my lashes, and almost shyly, I leaned down and gave him a tentative lick. His head fell back a little, and the fire in his eyes ignited more with need. I repeated the action, growing bolder.

I started licking around the base, up to the mushroom head. I felt his fingers tangle through my hair when I finally took him inside my parted lips, enveloping him with the warmth of my mouth. I decided to copy what his hand was doing earlier, and I stroked the length of him that I couldn't reach while I tried to bob my head up and down his hardness.

A moan sounded from me when I felt his fingers tighten on my hair, stopping me from moving. "Keep your mouth open and don't move," he commanded. When I did as he told me to do, not even giving him a yes so that I wouldn't move an inch, a smile teased the corner of his lips in appreciation. "Good job, sweet doll."

I thought watching him pleasure himself was the hottest thing I ever got to witness in my life. I realized that I was wrong when he started thrusting shallowly into my mouth. Him using me to pleasure himself pushed off what I witnessed moments ago from the number one spot.

He continued the movement of his hips, his eyes never leaving mine. Not once did he try to give me too much. He didn't try to force me to take all of him, which would be an impossibility.

"Fuck," he rasped out. "You feel too good."

I let out a sound of complaint when he pulled his length completely out of me. My dissatisfaction didn't last long when he carried me out of the shower cubicle.

Ibinaba niya rin ako nang makalabas kami ng glass partition. Domino took off my shirt with one quick move, and then he made me lean on the white marble counter, my front on its cold surface. We both could see our reflection on the huge mirror in front of us.

I cried out his name and my back arch when his finger slipped inside my now already dripping wet center. He drove his digit in and out of me, and he groaned when my passage clamped down on his finger.

"So fucking tight," he murmured.

I watched him stroke his cock in the mirror while his other hand was busy on me. I stretched my hands in front of me, wanting to hold on to something, except there was none. All I could do was put them in the mirror as my legs started to quiver.

I have never seen something so sensual as the one I'm looking at now—our reflection that shows two people swimming in a pool of passion.

Our eyes met, and it was the last push that we both needed. I screamed out his name as I reached my climax, while a rough roar tore from him as he erupted. He painted my skin with his release, coating my backside with his seed.

My legs would have given out if he hadn't supported my body with his arms. He leaned down on me, his front on my back. Hinawi niya ang buhok ko at inilapat niya ang mga labi niya sa balikat ko.

He grazed my earlobe with his teeth before he whispered, "Perfect."