"What about this one?" Claire places her hands on her waist turning to her side as she angles her body to show the back of the baby blue plunging cowl neck with a low cut-back dress. The dress hugged her waist followed by a flowy skirt that reached just above her knees.

She tilts her head to see a look of disapproval in Marcellus' eyes as he stands up from the red leather sofa he was sitting on in one of the sumptuous apparel stores, pocketing his phone he saunters towards her while she stood on her place scowling. His eyes dragged from her neck to the plunge of the dress, stopping in front of her his eyes swept back to hers as he briefly held eye contact with her, raising his right hand he hooked his forefinger into the plunge and then tugged it a little low till her stomach, his finger gracing her exposed skin ever so slowly leaving a trail of burning sensation behind.

Her skin heated up with the contact igniting the flames to simmer underneath her skin, something she was fighting hard to resist, she straightened up her spine in a feeble attempt to appear unaffected while ghosts of goosebumps appeared all over her skin, all her thoughts anything but sane at the moment. Her eyes flutter to his lips which were now trapped between his teeth as he chewed on his bottom lip, trapping the smile threatening to escape.

He knew what he was doing which infuriated her, blood rushed from her neck to her cheeks. She slapped his hand, swatting it away as she narrowed her eyes in slit glaring at him. She needs to be away from him can't let him be aware of the effects he can bring into vigour, a body can deceive but a mind won't. The body needs to be restrained to work with her mind, stay calculated and not flow with any sort of exterior temptations.

"tsk," he clicks his tongue a soft chuckle rumbling through his chest while he releases the dress as it falls back to its place, shaking his head. Claire rolls her eyes at his disapproval "This is the third time you are shaking your head off to a dress" Shuddering she turns to head inside the changing cubicle to try on the fourth dress or more precisely to be isolated for a moment as her thoughts seems to be encapsulated by the fog of hasty introspections.

Sighing she got out of the dress and picked up a bodycon red ruched dress that reached below her knee, the dress had a sweetheart neckline and two straps that further turned to a criss-cross design at the back. Smoothing her dress with her palms she steps out, upon hearing the clicks of heels Marcellus raises his head from his phone and looks at her with an expression swirling in his eyes which she could not specify because they disappeared as soon as they appeared, got devoured by the stormy grey clouds leaving those grey orbs void of emotions.

"This is the last dress I am trying, I will not try after this" Declaring this she stands looking dead in his eyes.

"Alright"

"Alright! That's it? Aren't you going to check this dress with those eagle eyes of yours and reject it?" her eyebrows frowning and nose scrunching up in aggravation.

"No" he shakes his head "This is it".

"Finally" she raised her hand in exasperation before turning to change back into her previous dress.

Stepping out she politely handed over all four dresses to the woman standing in a crisp black shirt along with a black elegant-length pencil skirt, her hair held up in a sleek bun, outside the cubicle "This red one" she informed her before walking over to Marcellus.

"Are we done?" he asks while she nods "Keep moving I will be right behind you" he gestures to her to move ahead.

Instead of moving towards the exit, she walked to the billing counter where the woman brought all four dresses she tried on and started placing them in a bag "Excuse me, I believe there's been some misunderstanding" she pointed at the bag "I told you only about the red one".

The woman glances at her and then beside her where Marcellus stands, turning her head Claire looks at him perplexed "I told her, the red one".

"Pack them all"

"Wait, why?" she stares at him bewildered "I can't pay for all of them!" she gestures towards the clothes lying on the counter.

"Who is asking you to pay?" nodding at the cashier he took out his card, Claire quickly placed her hand over his card "What are you doing? I was supposed to pay and why would you ask them to pack all four" Shaking her head she passed a strained smile at the cashier whose eyes were just dancing back and forth between the two probably only waiting for payment to be made, product to be sold and get done with her day. Least interested in who is going to pay.

"Perhaps you should try practising not speaking sometimes for you do nothing but spew idiocy" He passed the card to the cashier while Claire looked at him in disbelief unable to configure words, her disbelief switching to rage as she breaths through her nostrils to reign her serenity so as not to create a scene in her.

Marcellus' eyes peered at her before fixing on the cashier where she was done with everything and passed the bag to him with a polite smile, grabbing the bags he held Claire's arms and strolled out of the store while she tried breaking his grip which only gotten tighter with each attempt "Can you hold your stubbornness down for a day?"

"No! Can you?" She scoffs walking beside him "I didn't ask you to join so that you can pay".

His jaw ticks as he clenches and unclenches it, he turns his head ceasing his steps looking at her through his lashes, his lips forming a thin line before his hold gets tightened on her arm. Dragging her to a scheduled corner his body encloses hers and traps her between the wall and himself.

Her eyes wrinkled in the corner as she matched his cold glare, dropping the bags down near their legs his left travelled from her arm, sliding up to her shoulder reaching the back of her neck and grabbing her nape he pulled her forward, his adam apple bobs as he looked down at her grey orbs glaring back at him fiercely whilst his other hand placed next to her head on the wall, his tongue slides across his lower lip before the corner of his lips turned up "Only I get to do the honours of my wife's maintenance" His thumb runs along her jaw caressing the side of her cheekbones, she swallow while her mind absorbs his words and rummaging through different words to form a sentence and come up with a witty answer which wasn't possible in his presence.

"I am not your wife" There it was the wittiest she could come up with, if you can't reply smart then reply provocatively both have equal chances of getting on the nerve of the other person and she could see the reaction building up, he grunts pushing himself on her his grip on her nape getting strong, tipping his head to side his mouth drops low she could feel his warm breath on her ear shell as he nuzzels his nose in the crook of her neck trailing his lips upwards, his shaved beard prickling her soft skin from the friction, bringing his lips near her ear he whispers "Don't make me say or do things I don't want to Claire" his lips brushing the corner of her lips causing the hair at the back of her nape to raise. She breathed, no she wasn't here for this, she wouldn't let her hormones react and give the satisfaction of what he was trying to induce. Bringing her hands up she pushed her palms on his chest but to no avail, his frame did not budge which was pretty obvious so she stomped her heels on his shoes and then elbowed him right on his jaw catching him off guard his face turned to his right as he groans, his hold on her arm slacken taking the opportunity she pushed his chest hard scurrying out of his cage but he was fast enough to catch her by her wrist and pulling her back, air whooshed her lungs as soon as her back collided the wall again peering at him with wide eyes.

Trial of blood oozes from where she hit him near the jaw corner of his lips, her eyes narrowed at him when he ran his tongue along his upper teeth before a grin formed on his pink plum lips causing the dimple on his right cheek to pop, the tuff of hair falling on his forehead covering half of his eyes. Bringing his thumb up he swatched it near his lips wiping the blood then brought the thumb to her lips, pressing it down on her bottom lip he slowly smeared his blood over it all time without breaking eye contact, after smearing he takes his thump and lick on the remnants, his eyes not wavering from her silently prompting her to do something which she did, her tongue instinctively peeked out licking her bottom lip she pulled her lip in seeing him suck his blood off his thumb tasting the tart, bitter taste of blood as she swallowed it, a smile forms on his lip.

His left arm gradually raises bringing it up to her face he traces his knuckles along the side of her face from her forehead to her flushed cheeks then down her jaw gingerly a small sigh escaped his lips before he retreated from the wall and her, veering around he picked up the bag and grabbed her hand but when she didn't move he raised his perfectly arched eyebrow at her, she contemplated before pushing herself from the wall and proceeds to stand next to him.

"You are sick and disgusting" Her face morphed in disgust, scrunching her nose as she scowled.

"You taste what you sow" he replied nonchalantly.

"But" he speaks after a pause "if you would like then you can buy me lunch" he looks at her over his shoulder while she tips her head to the side, her lashes fluttering as she peers up at him with knitted eyebrows still processing his words when he continues again "I buy your dress you buy me lunch, sounds like a truce to me. What do you think?"

"Why did you buy all four dresses, you didn't even like them" she frowns.

He shrugs lifting his shoulder without answering, her movements slow down.

"Then why did you make me try all of them?" No answer, it was as if she was speaking to herself.

Reaching the parking lot he placed those bags in the back seat before getting behind the wheel while Claire sat in the passenger seat. Her mind was unable to accommodate everything transpiring, still blurry with the sensations back in store which was hard to shake off, slowly seizing the fraction of her mind nestling its way in to make a permanent possession which she couldn't act upon even though we are natured to perform by hormones yet they must be tamed before they make you act wildly on primal wants which we try hard to resist but deep know in bones know we can't.

But for how long?

Not till she gets what she was here for in the first place-

The roaring of the engine got her out of her thoughts as the engine came to life, she gazed at his side profile, the sharp angular jaw, pointed nose, thick lashes, and grey eyes materializing akin to glass under the light of the sun but sharp with broken edges. She knew that he was concealing those emotions he always had up his sleeve now suppressed under the weight of retaliation, that's what he thinks will help him with his sentiments. He is indeed the most beautiful man she ever came across years ago and still stands on that pedestal.

Can she let him know this? No, she can't, few things are better off unrevealed hence oblivion and imprudence are indisputably bliss.

She remembers everything, everything that took place years ago till the last three months. The day she memorized everything, views scrolled past her eyes like a photo roll in a projector chanting a gruesome tale of perfidiousness. Visions gut-wrenching to her taking every bit of her breath, she had to rush to the washroom to puke. She wanted to tell someone but couldn't holding her head in her hand, all she could see was blurry red after crying her eyes out the only thought left was annihilation.

And that's exactly what she plans on executing, after days of being plagued by trauma that's still nestling in her head. It was not easy when all the things came scampering to her, drowning her in the abysm from where she was still trying to emerge.

Grabbing her dress on her knee she took a deep breath her adrenaline started rushing causing her heart to beat faster, she could hear the blood rushing in her ear, her visions getting blurry. Exhaling through her mouth she turned her face towards the window to distract herself from her thoughts, the more you think about them the more they fester, decaying your mind and your energy.