Night of Eden 98

Chapter 98

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Dana suddenly turned to Theodore, then reached out and put her hand to his ear, then to his face. His eyes widened and his upper body tilted as if he were trying to avoid her.

She could tell he was panicking. But she'd gotten her posture too perfect, and there was no turning back now.

Dana blinked and whispered in his ear.

"He's a master craftsman from Andaluca. He's been drinking and gambling his way through life, but his workmanship is superb."

As soon as she finished, she spun on her heel.

...it’s crazy.

She had her reasons. She was worried that the heir to the Macmilan family would criticize the cheap and crude stuff in front of the proud old man. Besides, the old man had a temper. She was afraid that he might raise his voice.

But she went too far.

They weren't friends, much less whisperers. Dana felt a twinge in her back circuit.

"..."

She could feel him standing right next to her, still stiff and rigid.

Dana could think of only one thing.

Her teahouse, Porche.

"Pick one."

Theodore jerked his head around. She could feel the air currents shifting between them, so dry and harsh.

"A souvenir, a gift."

Theodore's eyes narrowed as if he were hearing a completely different language in a completely different country.

"I want to give you something before you leave, a memento, since after all this time we've been reunited...."

She knew they weren't meant to be casual gift-givers. And that Theodore's last name wasn't even on her radar.

Still, she knew this conversation had a purpose other than to find out if he was interested in investing.

He’s leaving soon.

Whether or not Olivia Digby would make him stay longer, Dana had to assume he would leave on schedule.

She wanted to work out the last of her feelings before he did.

She decided to think of him as an acquaintance from back home. If she was meeting him in a strange country after three years, she might as well give him a small souvenir.

"...."

He stood in front of the stall, his legs still as they had been earlier. When Dana slowly turned around, she realized he wasn't looking at the goods, but at herself. His eyes were so burning, it was hard to look straight at him.

"Well, I'll just take my pick, then."

Dana looked around at the items, but a gift was a gift.

"How about this?"

Dana picked out a wooden bookmark with two horses carved into the end.

"I'll take this one."

The old man lifted his droopy eyelids and glanced at what Dana was holding.

"You picked well."

"Then sell a lot."

After paying, she hurried out of the tent. There was the faintest lingering fear that Theodore might say something to the poor old man.

Dana led him to a clearing.

"...Take this."

He stared down at the wooden bookmark for a long moment. Embarrassed, she was about to get angry.

"...uh, if you don't like it..."

She was about to slip it into her purse and throw it away when his long fingers reached out and grabbed it. It wasn't a bookmark that he grabbed, it was her wrist. Dana was so startled that she dropped the thin piece of wood.

“What is your intention in suddenly doing this?”

The deep voice was dark and full of wariness. To his surprise, his consciousness snapped back to the night she'd left.

"You go first.”

And Dana did indeed kiss him first. The touch, the breath, the look in her eyes hadn't been purely coercive, though it had been earned through threats. For that moment, he believed she meant it.

Then, she was gone.

With no explanation, with one lie after another, with another man.

His head replayed the past like a broken clock. The trauma of the day had come back to haunt him, leaving him frozen in place.

"Answer me."

Dana couldn't stand the sting of being questioned. She felt embarrassed and even more angry because she didn't know he would be so serious.

"I have no bad intentions whatsoever."

Dana replied in a hard voice and glared at him.

"I just wanted to give you a gift from the bottom of my heart. After all, you didn't forget about me, and you helped me earlier."

"Helped you?"

"When I was arguing with the mayor. You told Mr. Wisburne not to push me around, and you intervened at just the right time."

Only then did the grip that had been so tight as to break loose its strength. Suddenly, blood rushed to her fingertips, and she felt a little dizzy. The sensation in the area that had been held belatedly also came back. It was hot like a brand.

Dana quickly bent down and picked up the bookmark. She said, eagerly brushing the dirt off the floor.

"I know you didn't do it for me, of course, but you ended up helping me. I was so emotional... and if you hadn't intervened then... I might have made a worse mistake."

He didn't say anything. Dana summoned up the courage to say what she really wanted to say.

"There's one other reason.... That development plan the mayor and Mr. Scott was talking about earlier, the ‘different street’….”

"You're afraid I'll invest in it, that's why you're doing this?"

"Yes."

Dana admitted immediately.

"Again, the bookmark is a gift. Not that it's intended as a bribe, but whatever."

Theodore watched her smile, even laugh, and gradually realized something startling.

Why did he think she hadn't changed at all?

She had changed so much.

Dana had become a different woman, not just on the outside.

She didn't cower in front of him. She wasn't scared, and she wasn't crying.

"I heard you're leaving soon, and I hope you can let go of all the bad feelings from the past, all of them."

Dana spoke with a pleading tone, but Theodore was lost in his own thoughts.

Tilly's voice echoed in his head.

"Just remember one thing, Master, she's married, and I'm sure she's completely forgotten you, and you have to take that into account. You don't know what Dana may have become.”

When he had her portrait, he learned her face, he knew where she was, when she was, what she was doing, how she lived.

He never imagined she would be so different.

Dana had become so much more mature and grown up in three years.

Theodore felt unreal now, as if he were dreaming.

"I'm afraid that you’ll ignore the fact and rush in. I'm also worried that you will act the same way as before.”

And he did.

Theodore's first thought was to get down on his knees and beg.

'Three years without you has been hell, please come back.’

Or he thought about dragging her to Kreutz and just locking her up.

Either that or just kill Noah Miller.

“The Millers are known to be on good terms. If you killed Noah Miller, Dana would probably ask to die with him!”

So he made a plan. It had to be done.

The woman married to another man wouldn't come back even if he went down on his knees and begged, and he couldn't force her to come back and break her.

“You're trying to force her to change her mind, which is impossible, and don't forget that the two of you are very emotionally tilted.”

The reason he had gone to the teahouse with the others was to show Dana that the fate of the things she loved was still in his hands.

Of course, he didn't intend to intimidate and harass her as before; he needed an excuse, and to get what he wanted, he needed to have the upper hand.

He planned it carefully, but deep down he knew she might not believe him. Dana was a smart person, and he didn't know when she would realize that the same thing was happening over and over again and have doubts.

Fortunately, so far, it seemed to be working.

The way she obeyed his suggestion to go for a walk and even stood there with those eager eyes.

How could she be so easily fooled, he thought to himself, but then she nodded. He took advantage of her desperation. Too much time had passed.

The man who had tormented her three years ago and had a casual fling with her saw no reason to do so now.

Either that, or she thought something was wrong, but he couldn't help but be drawn in.

He suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

What would happen if the truth came out?

When she realized that she was so different, and he was still stuck in the past, repeating the same thing….

“Don't forget. Dana is Mrs. Miller, and if that's the case, then you must be completely different.”

He knew that.

But why did he keep forgetting?

If he stood in front of her, his mind would go blank and mess up…..

 "Master?"

Through his blurred vision, he saw her again.

His vision came into focus and his mind cleared.

This brief moment was like a battle he had fought. He barely contained his agitation and opened his mouth slowly.

"Talk, I'm listening."

"Are you going to..... invest?"

Dana said, carefully studying his face.

"I have to ask, I'm sure you'll understand that, because my morning customers are so important to me, and I want to keep selling tea to them."

Regaining his composure, he reached out and took the bookmark. He tugged it toward him, and she reflexively tightened her grip. He gave it another tug, and she realized and let go.

The wooden bookmark felt nice in his hand, and the horse pattern was quite elaborate. He traced the border with his fingertips.

It was strange, dazzling, like stepping out into bright sunlight after a long darkness. His heart was still pounding heavily in his chest from earlier.

Theodore wanted to have both, the unchanged Dana and the changed Dana, and he wanted to keep receiving these ridiculous gifts.

To do so, he would have to completely subdue and hide the wild horse in his heart that threatened to break loose at every opportunity.

The first and second time he met her, he failed. But not the third time. He had waited three years, so he could be patient.

Theodore felt himself growing rapidly cold.

"Yes, my decision will determine your fate, coincidentally."

Dana's eyes fluttered open.

"I'm thinking about that."

"If you're thinking about it...."

"I'm a little torn, actually. The development plan is a little outrageous, and as Mr. Wisburne said, there will be backlash, and most of all, I hate getting involved in troublesome things.”

Theodore added mildly.

"I suppose the fact that you're bribing me might change my mind."

Dana's eyes flickered, even though she knew he was joking. She swallowed dryly and turned away, lost in her own thoughts. She looked as calm as she was, but Theodore could see it in her eyes.

A spark of hope flickered across his face.

"Uh... then how can we... Can't you make a decision soon?"

"I don't know."

"I don't mean to rush you, of course, I just wanted to know in advance. If you're going to invest, I can't continue to run the tea shop here, I'll have to take my losses and set up shop somewhere else."

She looked very distressed, and he lightly brushed aside the emotions that kept stirring in his chest.

"What if we do this?"

"How?"

"...We'll talk about it again tomorrow."

"Tomorrow... With me... Together?"

"Why, you don't have time?"

"Oh, no."

Dana curled the corners of her mouth up. Theodore stared down at the woman who seemed to have changed yet hadn’t.

She was a little taller, and her curves were more prominent. And she wore perfume. It was not the green and fresh scent of a youngster, but that of a mature, ripe, fully formed woman.

It made his blood heat up again, in his wrists, his spine, his entire body. It brought back the shiver he'd felt at the touch of her breath.

His eyes, shrouded in lust, turned back to her. The gaslight cast a sickly glow over his face.

The slow spread of the fire burned hotter and more fiercely, threatening to consume him like a snake.

Before they knew it, they were in front of the teahouse. Theodore wordlessly peered over her shoulder into the unlit house.

"It's late. Go inside."

"Tomorrow, then, or anytime."

Dana mumbled something in response. Theodore turned away, not listening.

One day he would have her. Exactly that way, so surely, so surely that she would never want to sleep with her husband again.

What will it feel like to be with a different you?

His breath caught in his throat with impatience.

But he had no intention of rushing. There was plenty of time. It wasn't as if he'd devised a dastardly plan in the heat of the moment.

Dana would have to be willing to accept him. While Noah Miller was distracted by money, power, and a new woman, he'd be the one to comfort her and fill the void.

Theodore pushed the dark thoughts away. The cool night breeze caught up with his heated steps and gently cooled them.

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