Chapter 39
Zenovia
I froze in my tracks, my heart pounding in my chest. I had assumed Callahan hadn’t noticed my presence, but his voice shattered that illusion. Slowly, I turned around, my eyes meeting his intense gaze.
Callahan’s expression was stern, but there was a flicker of curiosity in his eyes. My mind raced, desperately searching for something to say, a plausible reason for my presence in his office. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words escaped.
I gulped when I heard the voice of King Callahan. My heart began to beat so fast that it was galloping at the speed of a thousand horses.
I feared it would fall out of my mouth at this rate. Slowly, very slowly, I turned around to see Callahan looking at me.
He still had the marker in his hand and gave me a small smile before returning his attention to his file.
“Come here.” He said and went back to sit on his chair, the file in his hand.
I gulped nervously as I slowly made my way towards him. I reluctantly approached Callahan’s desk, my eyes darting nervously around the room.
As I reached his side, he motioned for me to take a seat in the chair opposite him.
He pushed the chair in my direction without looking up and highlighted something with his marker.
“Are you going to speak at all?” He asked without looking at me. I sank into the plush chair and hoped that it would just swallow me whole.
“I…I am sorry…” I muttered weakly. He flipped the page, took a pen, and scribbled something on the paper.
Callahan did not say anything and kept reading intently for the next five minutes that felt like an eternity to me.
There were a few files scattered along the table and a huge map of the kingdom strewn across the length of the desk.
There were a few stains of teacups, showing that he had been really working hard on it, and a few pins that marked certain important spots.
“Do you not know that it is a bad habit to eavesdrop on someone?” Callahan asked as he pulled the cap off a pen with his mouth and threw it on the table as he took another pen to write something.
I thought of what to answer and could not come up with an answer. Luckily, I was spared of answering him when there was a knock on the door.
The servant I had met on my way to Callahan’s office had returned with another round of tea.
“Yeah, come in,” Callahan muttered as he began pacing through the room while reading the file.
He flipped a few more pages and was done with the file as he tossed it on the table and picked another one.
The file had landed on the edge of the table and it was going to fall down, so I stopped its fall. A few loose pages came out of the file, which I began picking up.
As I collected all the papers and put them in a stack, Callahan’s voice reached me.
But it was not directed at me. “Zenovia will prepare the tea. You can leave.”
He said to the servant who had just poured black tea into the cup and reached for the sugar. He did not say that to me, felt like it was an order directed at me, nonetheless.
Callahan was very absorbed in work and it did not look like last night had affected him in any way.
but I
I had already been stupidly fantasizing about him, but he had been working all day and was still reading the files instead of lunging at me the second I showed up.
At least, that was what I secretly hoped he would do upon seeing me again. Either that, or just leave the room if he did not want me around.
Surprisingly, he did neither, and that was confusing me.
The servant bowed and promptly left, glad to not be around the Lycan King anymore.
I gulped nervously and walked towards the tray. Placing the papers I had collected on the table, I asked,
“Sugar?”
“One.” He curtly answered, and I put one cube of sugar.
“Milk?”
I asked, and he only grunted again. I took the cue and poured the milk while reaching for a spoon to mix it all.
11.01
Chapter 39
The soft clinks of the spoon against the ceramic cup were the only noise in the big office. I would have argued with him that I am not his maid to serve him tea/coffee, but he had found me eavesdropping on him so I could not yell at him at the
moment.
Plus, he had marked me. So technically, I was supposed to obey him because his mark meant I was under his protection. I meekly handed him the cup, which he took from me without even looking at me, leaving the saucer in my hand. Callahan took a sip, and I watched his face for a change in expression, but there wasn’t any. He only placed the saucer again, but I had been looking elsewhere, so the cup slipped.
Hot tea fell on the table, spilling it all over the files he had been religiously studying.
“What the-” He cursed as I let out a startled cry and hastily pulled some tissues to dab it off the pages.
cup on the
However, most of them had stained and the marker ink was spreading through the white pages, making them look very weird.
“Wait” Callahan ordered, but I was busy tidying the desk and I felt scared of his anger at my clumsiness.
I mumbled, “L.I am sorry, I did not mean to…”
But he only grabbed my wrist and held it in front of me. My hair was askew as 1 tried to grab the papers, but Callahan’s grip
on me was firm.
“I said stop moving
I stilled when my gaze met his and I quickly looked down, not wanting to see the rage directed at me.
“I am sorry, I didn’t do it purposely…” I cried, but he simply plucked me away from the table and pushed me on a chair a bit farther away.
I was too startled at the way he had grabbed me and then placed me on the chair and my body had not even gotten time to react to his touch before he had dropped me again, letting go of me.
“Stay still,” Callahan ordered, and 1 gulped nervously. When he saw that I was not moving, he went to the cupboard and rummaged through it to bring out a plastic box.
“Never knew I would need this,” He mumbled to himself before taking off the lid. I peered intently and realized it was a first–aid box.
Was he going to disinfect the papers??
I stared in bewilderment as he placed the box beside me and squatted down. Without saying a word, he took my hand in his and pulled out some cotton.
I wondered what he was doing before he wiped away some of the dried bits off my hand and I saw redness spreading through my arm.
It was only now that I realized that I had spilled most of the tea in my hands. He wiped it off and then grabbed an ointment from the box and began applying it on my reddened skin.
His head was bent low, and his hair fell on his face, covering it partially. He was being so tender; it was heartwarming to watch that.
His touch was doing things to me, and he was not even the least bothered. How could this man stay so calm and composed?
Had I just become another plaything for him after last night?
Somehow, I felt a lump rise in my throat, but I quickly swallowed it. The silence was too much to bear and seeing him not yell at me made me feel as if he was simply holding it back in.
I just wanted him to shout at me and be done with it so I don’t live in this dread forever.
My gaze flicked to the papers that were lying all over the place, the ink of the marker and pens spreading through even more papers, making it look like a big mess.
“I am sorry,” I muttered softly.
Callahan applied a generous amount of the ointment on my arms and I tried not to gasp when his hands softly caressed me, his fingers trailing down my skin.
His hand was twice the size of mine, and he could squash it in an instant if he wanted to. After he was done, he got up from the floor and went back to his table.
I sat there, holding my burned hand with another as he began salvaging the documents.
“You did not answer me.” He said, while gathering the documents.
“Hmm?”
“Why did you sneak into my office?” He asked as he looked at the papers one last time and simply began tearing them into
Chapter 39 pieces.
My eyes went wide as he began tearing them and putting them in a shredder.
“Luh…I wanted to tell you to not drink so much of caffeine,” 1 answered meekly.
He raised an eyebrow at that. “Definitely not the answer I was expecting.” He mumbled to himself and picked another bunch and put them in the shredder.
He seemed angry about something. Maybe I should thank him for his help yesterday and leave. Though calling his act of sucking me dry was definitely not ‘help‘
“LI
am sorry for..”
“Stop apologizing!” He said sternly and the rest of the words dried in my throat.
“Make me another cup.” He said while clearing the mess. Maybe he did not want to talk about last night at all as it was a terrible memory for him, but was fine with anything else.
I scooted further and walked towards the table. “How many cups have you had?”
Callahan thought about it for a while. “Ten or maybe twenty, not sure”
“Counting the one I made…it is definitely in the range of forty”
His
eyes went wide. “You have been counting the cups?”
I shrugged. “The servant gave me a rough estimate.”
Callahan nodded as he put the last set of documents in the shredder, “I am sorry”
I added guiltily, as he put the last set of papers inside.
“I heard you the first time. And I have all of that data in here,” Callahan said, tapping his temple.
“So, for the love of your moon Goddess, stop it. Besides, if I ever need it in print, I have the soft copies on my computer.”
He added, and I relaxed. “That is great, I guess”
Callahan nodded and went back to take the first aid box and keep it back in the cupboard.
And then I blurted something that made me wish the earth would swallow me whole.
“What qualities do you want in a mate?”
