Taming Mr. Cold And Arrogant

"Do you know what I wanted to be when I was young?"

I furrowed my eyebrows as he suddenly brought up such question. His eyes were filled with unreadable emotions that I had never seen before. 

"I wanted to be an engineer. I wanted to build houses, buildings, tall and huge buildings, schools, bridges and every structure you see around you. That was really my dream then." He sighed and gave me a sad smile. 

"If so, why didn't you pursue your dream?"

"Because I took business."

He stopped and looked at the buildings located near the beach. They had lights that seemed to dance and glimmer in the vast, noisy and non-sleeping city of Los Angeles. And as if showing and reminding him of his childhood dream. 

"I am the eldest child, and although I have become the youngest, I am sure that I will still take care of the company, since I am the man between us."

"Does your sister knows about it?" I asked, also looking at the huge buildings he was looking at, which seemed to talk and compete which of them is the highest and which is not. 

"I think so." He shrugged. "So even though I wanted to be an engineer back then, I had no choice but to take a business course because that was what my parents wanted for me."

A sad smile crept on my lips as I heard the word 'parents. 

"But you're still lucky because you have parents while growing up. You also have Nanay Emily and Tatay Berto." I sighed and uttered the next words silently... -'Unlike me.'-

"Well, you had a point there." He smiled. "Let's go."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Relax, we will get there."

We continued to walk until we reached a small cabin. At first, I thought it was just an ordinary cabin with one room and a small sitting area inside, but my mouth hung open the moment he turned on the lights. 

It was a fully furnished modern house inside, with a complete set of furniture, a mini kitchen, two bedrooms, and a secret underground room. 

"Whoa! This place is nice and cosy."

"I have something to show you." Then he took my hand again as he pulled me towards the kitchen. 

"Where are we going?"

He suddenly stopped and to my surprise, he gave me a peck on my lips. 

"From now on, I will also kiss you when you ask me again that question." He said grinning and opened the small door we found in the back of the house. 

"Are you sure you're not sick?" I asked rolling my eyes. 

"I'm not sick, sweetheart, because you were my best nurse."

"Really? Then what happened to Daniel Kelley I met a few months ago?"

"Don't worry, he's still here and I'm going to show you the real Daniel later."

Why do I feel like he meant something else? 

~~~~~~~°~~~~~~~°~~~~~~~°~~~~~~~

"This is my favorite place when I was in college, when I wanted to be alone and when I was stressed thinking about how I will manage the company. And there's only one person who knew about this, and that is Rian."

"How about your parents?"

"No, they didn't know about this."

"Until now?"

He nodded. 

"Then why did you bring me here? Why do you want to show me your secret room?"

"Because you're part of my life now, you're my wife."

I gulped upon hearing those words. And thank God, he didn't notice my reaction as turned around to find the switch. 

I was shocked when he opened the lights and many oil paintings of different sizes came to my sight. 

"Wow! They are so beautiful and they seem real." I said in awe as I walked towards the painting of a mother drying her daughter's tears. "Who painted them all?"

I felt him stood behind me. 

"I was the one who pointed them."

My head snapped at him. "Really?"

"Yup, it was my hobby since I was in high school, but as I told you, I can't even pursue painting because of our business."

"Have you tried to talk to your parents about this?"

"No. If they don't want me to study Engineering, what else of painting?" He sighed and picked up the painting of a father dancing with his daughter and he gave it to me.

"Is this Rian?"

"Yes, it was when he married to Alex. I just copied that on one of their wedding picture."

"You're good at painting. I wish I also have that talent." I smiled as I glanced at him, then turned to the first painting I saw earlier. 

"But you were also good is some aspects, like dancing and singing."

I ignored him as I started at the piece of art in front of me. It was just a painting but it brought so many emotions inside me. I raised my hand to touch the mother's face in the picture. 

"How does it feel about having a mother on your side while growing up?" I asked, tracing my fingers on the painting. 

I haven't received any reply from him, he has just mentioned my name in which I don't understand why. 

"Sophia..."

"I didn't experience that as I was growing up because my mom left us when I was young, when I was only 10 years old."

I don't know why I suddenly felt like I was ready to tell him about my mother. 

I sighed and shook my head as I continued. Maybe there's nothing wrong with sharing with him a little information about my childhood as he shared his childhood dream with me, and this place where he only trusted me and his sister, Rian, to know about it. 

"You know what, when I was young, I couldn't help but be jealous of my friends who had a complete family and had a mother on their side." I said walking towards the other paintings hanging on the wall. "Until now I'm still wondering why she did it. And believe me, when I was growing up, there wasn't a day that I wished for her to come back and explain her reason to me."

He followed behind me and stopped when I stopped in front of a painting of a little girl with a doll in her hand. 

"This is so beautiful."

I glanced at him and smiled. But he didn't reciprocate it as he just stood there, staring at me with his hands in his pockets. 

"Then I saw her again after 16 years in Amador City."

"You mean you saw her in Amador when you went there?"

I nodded but didn't look at him. 

"But I ran and didn't talk to her. Until recently, we met again at the mall. No, she saw me at the mall and tried to talk to me. Then suddenly I remembered what she had done and thought I wasn't ready to listen to what she had to say. Because for me, whatever she says, whatever she does, she can't bring the past back."

"Why didn't you ask her or give her the chance to explain everything? I'm sure she has a reason why she did that and why she left you."

"Because I felt afraid at that time."

"You were afraid of what?"

"I was afraid of knowing her reason and because I missed her, I was afraid to forgive her. I ran again without hearing any of her words." I immediately wipe the lone tear that flow down my cheek. 

He took my hand from behind as he stood next to me. 

"I saw you at the mall at that time."

My head snapped at him, confused at what he said. 

"What do you mean you saw me?"

"The day your mother saw you at the mall, I happened to be there with Andrew. We had a lunch meeting with one of our clients at the restaurant when you and Nanay Emily came. And when you turned around, a woman suddenly chased you outside the restaurant. So we immediately followed you and----"

"And you witnessed our conversation." I was the one who continued what he was about to say. 

He nodded while I just closed my eyes and sighed. 

"You should talk to her, Sophia. You wouldn't know why she left you if you didn't talk to her." He said holding me by my shoulders and turned me to him. 

"I can't. Because for whatever reason she had, it was still wrong that she left her daughter!"

"I know what she did was wrong but isn't it time for you to listen to her?  I mean, it's been 16 years like you said, and I've seen how she regrets what she did."

"It's not that easy, Daniel---"

"I know. I know, sweetheart, and I'm not telling you to forgive her in that instant." He cupped my face and made me look at him. "I can go with you if you want."

-'I can go with you if you want.'-

His words marked in my head, but instead of crying and tearing my heart out because of what we talked about, I don't know but I found myself smiling and I bit my lip when he asked me. 

"Why?"

I shook my head and looked straight into his eyes. 

"I just can't believe we're talking right now without arguing and you're not raising your voice at me."

His lips were slowly curled up into a grin as he took a step back and avoided my gaze. 

"I don't know what you did to me, but I'm glad we can formally talk like this."

He shrugged and I chuckled. 

"What do you mean, you don't know what I did to you?" I raised my eyebrow and stood in front of him. "Why, Mr. Kelley, are you now falling in love with me?"

He looked at me and sneered. "I really like how you repeatedly mentioned my name, sweetheart."

My eyes widened and I gasped as he neared a step but I immediately took a step back. 

"I was just distracted, that shouldn't be counted!"

"No, what did I tell you while we're still travelling here? I will just count them and ask you to pay when we get here. And as I remembered, you mentioned my name more than 10 times, oh no, it's fifteen!"

"Huh! You're exaggerated! I only mentioned it twice!" I said, my eyes double its size. 

"Well, I'm sorry to say that it has interest, sweetheart." He continued to chase me and I just walked around the mini table. 

"Interest? Are you crazy? Mentioning your name was not a kind of loan!"

He just laughed at me. "Whatever you call it, sweetheart. It's now paying time!"

And that's what we did for almost five minutes, I was running away from him but he continued to chase me. 

And when I thought he already stopped, I was surprised when he suddenly grabbed me from behind. 

"Gotcha!"

I screamed in shock and he immediately put me down, turning me to face him. 

"Daniel..!"

"Shhh!"

My breath hitched when he put his index finger on my lips. 

"You really wanted me to kiss you, huh?" He smirked. 

"Of course, not-----." And that's it! 

My words died in my throat when he cupped my face and kissed me. I felt my stomach churning because of the sudden sensation he brought me through his kiss. 

At first, it was a soft kiss, not a demanding one, it's like he was testing if I am going to stop him, but when I didn't, he deepened it slowly. And it took me a few seconds to realize that I am now returning his kiss. 

I close my eyes and feel the intensity of his kiss. I felt his hand around my waist and he pulled me closer to him. I don't understand exactly how I feel, it's hard to explain. But there is one thing I'm sure of at this moment... 

I am falling in love with him.