Rise of the Billionaire actress

Esther watched Daniel reach over for a spoon, dip it into the batter, then into his mouth. She felt stupefied as he made an open show of how thoroughly he enjoyed licking the batter, forbidden thoughts flashed into her mind-frame.

” oomph..” He groaned and she just might have gone nuts. ” Still my favourite, so fucking perfect.” He cooed, staring her dead in the eye.

Was he still talking about the cake? Scratch that, the batter. She blinked and watched him take a couple spoonfuls- THE BATTER!

Esther’s eyes widened and she smacked his hands away mid way into the bowl, “Get your filthy hands off my cake!”

Daniel stopped for a second, wore a mock-thinking pose, looked her over, then said, ” No.”

He took up the bowl from her unsuspecting figure and in one second, took another large spoon of the sweet batter.

” Hey! Drop that!” She yelled, getting offended.

” You know the drill. Come get it.” He responded with a grin.

Esther let out an exasperated huff. ” We’re too old for this. Give it back.” She said, enunciating every word.

” No.”

” Give it.”

” You can do better than that, I know you can.” His words held hope, then faith, like he was trying to convince her, or himself.

” Daniel!” Esther yelled, having reached for it but got dribbled. ” I don’t have time for this, I’m a grown ass woman for crying out loud, give it back.”

” Nope.” He returned to his stool, holding back a smile. Esther’s face morphed into one of intense irritation, then anger. She stomped towards him and he could see the steam coming off her head.

” I allowed you into my home, let you spend the night and this is the first thing you do?”

” Enjoy something I’ve been craving for God knows how long? Yeah.”

His words caught her by surprise, rendering her momentarily speechless. Her oven goes off and she snagged the batter with steaming eyes, muttering something of how impossible he could be.

*****

After breakfast, it became evident there was an elephant in the room. She wasn’t sure how they’d managed to avoid the topic and hoped they’d just part ways without revisiting the past.

Apparently, that was a request too big to be granted.

” We need to talk.” Daniel spoke first, his eyes conveyed his seriousness.

” There’s nothing to talk about. It’s best we part ways here.” Esther got up from the dining, making to clear the table when a strong palm covered her wrist.

” You know that’s a lie.”

” Let me go, Daniel. I have nothing to say to you, what happened, happened. Move on already.” She struggled to free her wrist, already frustrated.

” I can’t.”

” That sounds like a ‘you’ problem,” she pointed out, ” Let me go, matter-of-fact, you’ve overstayed your welcome. I can’t be kinder than this.”

Daniel wasn’t prepared for the amount of spite laced on her words; his hand slackened and she got out of his hold. ” What’s going on with you? We have something good going on. Why are you so desperate to sabotage us? Is there something I need to know?”

His tone was both confusing and accusatory, each of which didn’t sit well with her, ” We HAD something, Daniel.” She fumed, ” and unless you realize that it’s all in the past, I don’t want to see you again.”

” We HAVE something.” He asserted, already on his feet and in her face. ” See? See this? You can deny all you want but you can’t hide the truth. This electricity, this chemistry, this spark, you only get them with me.” He muttered in the most sensual tone, not touching her but close enough that he was all she could breathe and think of.

Esther’s heart accelerated, painfully aware of the presence that shook her to the marrow every single time. ” I-I don’t have time for this, Leave.”

A frustrated sound escaped his throat, he reached for her face, desperate to close the gap but stopped mid-way when he saw her flinch.

Was she repulsed by him? Did he read things wrongly? Has he been mistaken?

” Why are you doing this?” Daniel lost his confidence, ” What went wrong?” He asked, physically in pain that he’d somehow adjusted to the fact that something might have gone wrong.

Esther’s eyes opened, and she felt a bit embarrassed to have expected something, everything washed down the drain when she heard his words. ” I gave you a choice. You picked wrong.”

The hostility in her tone affirmed his nightmare. Something was terribly wrong, at that instant, he remembered a news he was told the day before. His face lost colour. ” Tell me? Is it because of him?”

Esther stilled, shocked to the core, ” W-what do you mean by that?”

” It’s true… Isn’t it?” Daniel asked, writhing in pain as he already got her answer from her reactions. ” Tell me, Where is he? You must have really seen me as a nuisance.” He said, beyond ashamed.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

” He?” Esther felt confused, she gauged him with a double take. What on earth was he talking about?

” Don’t give me that shit!” He bellowed, losing his mind. ” I heard you might have someone warming your bed, but for some sick reason I was ready to overlook that..” Daniel chuckled, he couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been to assume she’d take him back the moment he showed up, it’s clear how mistaken he was, how replaceable he’d been.

Esther didn’t let him finish before her palm connected with his face in a thunderous slap. ” How dare you?” She asked, seething. ” Who do you think you are, insulting me like that?”

Daniel felt dumbfounded.

” I’ve had enough of your nonsense and insults! Get out!”

For some reason, despite the amount of hate hurled at him, Daniel remained, carefully sorting out his thoughts on everything. Why did he feel like he’d hurt the one he cherished the most with the truth?

Was it the truth?

Esther wasn’t having it, so she resorted to extreme measures, roughly pushing him out of her dining area and towards the door while he let her. Her reaction felt familiar. Oddly familiar. When was it?

Just halfway towards the door, by the couch, Esther missed a step which destabilized her momentum and sent her crashing down the floor – Except it didn’t happen – a strong arm held her by the waist.

” I’m sorry.” He spoke so softly that she almost didn’t hear it. Their lower half remained connected as he stabilized her, hours flew by in seconds while the moment dragged out.

” For what?”

” Everything.” He replied, surprised that she hadn’t left him like one burned by a scalding hot iron. ” Let’s start afresh. Put everything behind us.” He proposed, holding her eyes with a pleading look.

Esther didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, she didn’t have an answer and when their connection was broken by the sound of a ringing tone, she felt relieved. Daniel, on the other hand, was far from relieved. He shook his head, refusing to give attention to anything else.

Noticing he wasn’t letting go anytime soon, she cleared her throat and stepped out of his hold. ” Thanks.”

” Answer me. I need to kno-” The ringtone of his phone blared into the air once again. He groaned at the sound, still refusing to pick it up.

” Go on. Answer it. It might be important.” Esther gave her one cent, urging him to pick it up.

” This conversation is far from over.” He said, flickering between her and his phone. Finally, he let out a frustrated sigh and stepped aside to answer his phone.

Esther heaved a sigh when he finally got out of sight. Being around him felt intense and sometimes, not the good kind. Her heart didn’t need all of that and the farther she was away from him, the faster her breathing slowed and eventually evened.

Knowing his persistent nature, she knew it was only a matter of time before he returned, demanding a response, or worse- an explanation. It was hard to remain grounded around him so she seized the opportunity to properly articulate what their starting over meant.

At least for her.

She knew he needed to remain at arms length and with time, totally out of her life. Her heart pricked at the thought but she pushed that reaction at the back of her mind- occasionally reminding herself the reason why it couldn’t be otherwise.

Daniel wasn’t a person she could brush off. She thought of the best and most restricting way she could kick off their supposed new beginning but found none. How could they build up something away from such history? They’d be deceiving themselves.

She allowed herself to return to the very beginning. When they’d just met and how they interacted. They’d kicked things off being acquaintances.

Esther didn’t need a vision to tell her the impossibility of starting at such a point so she went for the next best thing, while having a ploy in her sleeve.

Daniel returned, looking disgruntled. Whatever that was didn’t seem to be good news. He struggled to regain his composure as he spoke.

” How do we fix this?” He asked, certain that she’d come to a decision from the glint in her eyes. ” What do I have to do?”

” Nothing. You don’t have to do anything. We are going to be friends.” She said, assertively.

His face scrunched in disapproval, with a bitter taste in his mouth, he asked, ” F-friends?”

Esther nearly smiled at his abrasiveness towards the word but maintained her posture. ” That’s all I can give. Nothing more, and nothing else.”

” We can’t be friends, Esther. You should know that by now.” He stated and she remained silent. ” I can’t just be your friend. I’m physically incapable of being just -that- to you.” He ascertained, frustrated by the resolute look she held.

” That would be all.” She turned to leave and he held her back with a mad look on his face.

His phone chooses at that moment to ring and he becomes more aggravated. She continued on her way and he felt distraught. Noting her resolution, he accepted with an icy look on.

” Friendship, huh? Fine. I’ll be your best fucking friend.”

Esther didn’t know if she should be grateful or disappointed. An odd feeling washed over her and she could feel a build-up in her guts. What in the world did she get herself into?