Chapter Sixty six

Ariana's POV;

I was happy for Eleanor. She had a man like Reginald who was head over heels in love with her and treated her like a queen she truly is. The way he looked at her adoringly, had my heart aching to be loved like that. This was more than just the wedding excitement, it was true love at it's best.

"Nine months more, Ariana." I said to myself in a whisper.

No I was not mad at Damien at all, at least not after he apologized to me the way he did. It was surprising but it also meant we had made immense progress cause I never thought I would see the day when Damien would apologize without trying to justify his mistake. That was really impressive.

We were home now and I had been in my room ever since we returned from the wedding. I just wanted to be alone and think about certain things, things I did not even know about.

My door came open and Damien walked in like he owned the place. He literally does though.

"Hey, I've been looking for you all over the place." He said, leaning his back on my door with his hands in his pockets as he eyed me from head to toe.

"I've been in here." I said looking down and fiddling with my duvet which was covering the lower half of my body.

"Are you okay?" He asked, walking further into the room. He stood in front of me on the bed and I looked up into his eyes which were scrutinizing my countenance.

"I'm good." I mumbled, looking away from him because I still could not hold his gaze for so long.

"Can I sit?" He requested.

"Do you ever ask my permission before doing anything?" I voiced out, apparently confused about how nice he was acting.

"I'm asking now." He said, rocking on his heels as he held my gaze again.

First, he apologized to me earlier and now he was requesting my permission to sit in a house that he owned, both things that I thought he was incapable of doing. I just have to be dreaming or worse, hallucinating.

"Go ahead." I agreed to his request and the next minute he was seated next to me on the bed with his legs stop the duvet and his head on the headboard and his back cushioned by the numerous pillows placed there. He folded his arms across his chest before turning to me who had been watching his every move.

"So..." He dragged on, staring around the room before his gaze fell back on my face.

"You want to talk about what's bothering you?" He asked.

"Nothing's bothering me." I lied. I truly had a lot to worry about but he did not have to know it.

"It's obvious Ariana, you have been overly quiet ever since the wedding." He said and that actually struck a nerve though I did my best to not show it.

"I'm tired, that's all." I said dismissively.

"Hmmm." He hummed and looked away from me before bringing his attention back to me again the next second.

"What you said at the wedding, did you mean it?" He asked out of the blue.

"What exactly did I say?" I asked with a befuddled frown, I did not speak much but I sure said a lot of things at the party so what exactly was he referring to.

"The thing about you choosing your husband any day." He paraphrased and I chuckled but did not say anything.

"You're not going to say anything?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Nope." I said popping the 'p'.

"Alright then." He said and I nodded.

"I'll just have to tickle you until I find out what's making you sad." He said hurriedly.

Before I could register his words in my head, he was already tickling my sides. I laughed so hard until I could not breathe.

"Alright... I'll tell... you." I said breathing heavily between every word. I thrashed all over the bed trying to escape his grip.

"I can't hear you." He teased, continuing his torture.

"I'll tell you!" I screamed as loudly as I could and giggled shortly after. He let go of me and I tried to catch my breath for a few seconds before I took off into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. I was surprised I did not hear him running after me. It was suspicious.

I sat on the bathroom floor, a blushing mess, still trying to steady my breath. Suddenly, I heard a door coming open from somewhere I had no idea. I looked up and saw Damien come in through the bathroom wall. I do not even know how to rephrase that, because he literally came in from the side wall of my bathroom.

My jaw fell open as I stood up. I pointed at the door behind me then I turned to him and pointed out where he came in from.

"What? How? Where?" I just said, not even understanding what I was saying.

"Five Ws' and H." He said smugly. My brows furrowed even deeper in confusion.

"Surprise, surprise." He held my shoulder and led me through the door he had come in through. It led us directly into the closet.

"Wow." I breathed out and looked up at him.

"How did you do it?" I finally asked after getting over my shock.

He then went on to show me the buttons and how they worked before he led me back into the bedroom. I gaped all through. So he let me go through the stress of having to come out of the bathroom into the bedroom before the closet, when I could just skip the bedroom part before dressing up? This man had got to be kidding me! I had a hunch he did not let me know about this earlier for a reason.

He led me to the bed and made me sit down before he sat next to me.

"Now, will you tell me what's bothering you? And before you think about lying, just know I would tickle you until the truth comes out." He said and I could tell he meant what he said no matter how hilarious it may have sounded.

I groaned and laid down on the bed before sitting up again. This was going to be a very tough one but as I knew, Damien would not let this one slide.

"I just got thinking about a lot of stuff and it made me cry." I shrugged.

"Things like what exactly?"

"Eleanor was such a happy bride and I just wish I would get to experience that kinda joy while getting married again you know, but then, I got worried about ever being able to find love after all this." I opened up. He went silent for a while and I fiddled with my fingers while he thought about what what to say.

"You mentioned this while we played that question game and I ask again, why would you think you would not be able to find love?" He prodded, looking at me squarely.

I shrugged. I was reluctant to speak, I did not know how he would take it if I spoke my mind.

"Ariana..." He called in a knowing tone. I sighed heavily.

"You know being married to a person like you comes with a lot of side effects and..." I said and hesitated to speak further while I watched his reaction. He gestured for me to go on and I swallowed.

"When we eventually annul this marriage, it's going to be a public thing and everyone would know about it. I just feel like I would have to bear the brunt and stigma of being an ex wife to an influential man and it could reduce my chances of finding love especially because of the PDA we've been doing non stop." I said, in between sighs and blinks without looking at his face all through. I poured my thoughts out with great difficulty but it was relieving that I had done it.

"You want me to say something, yes?" He said after a short while. I nodded, still not looking up at him.

"I believe that you're a beautiful, intelligent and an all round amazing woman and any man would be foolish to not fall for your charm and love you the way you deserve because of whatever society thinks." He said, holding my face up with both palms and I looked away shyly. His words made me all fuzzy on the inside.

"Don't ever doubt yourself like that." He said and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"Understood?" He questioned raspily and I nodded as he placed his chin on my head and pulled me into an embrace.

We soon found ourselves cuddled up in bed with my head on his chest while my arms were wrapped around his waist. He held me close to him with his one hand resting on my behind. I was getting so used to having him hold me and his touches no longer felt overly inappropriate and it was beginning to concern me.

His words had me thinking, as well as his actions. Damien had become so much nicer than he used to be when we first met. He was so polite and dare I say it, he was even more affectionate and it was strange. Not like I did not appreciate it but it was just absolutely unexpected from someone like him.

He was asleep and it gave me more time to think. I sat up and shifted a little farther away from him to get the perfect view of his peaceful face while he slept.

I reached for my phone and took a video of him asleep. It was so cute to see the all tough and buff Damien Kingston sleeping like a child and still maintaining beauty.

I rubbed my hand over his hair as he slept and he sighed sweetly, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it.

"Mom..." He said in his sleep.

Awwww, Damien's a mummy's boy. It was so adorable.

I pecked his nose lightly. I just had to admit to myself that I was getting more attracted to this man as the days went by especially since he had become nicer but I knew it would be wishful thinking to believe that we would work out.

I could not fit into his world. All I wanted was a simple low-key life and Damien could not give that to me. I wanted to be with someone who I could spend time with and see everyday not an absentee man.

I have never truly experienced an actual relationship and when I do, I do not want it to be so complicated like this one. It was just a crush and it would be a thing of the past, I believed.

I slept off soon after.

***

I stood up in the middle of the night and went to use the bathroom. I ended up spending a lot more time than I had expected because I was sort of constipated. When I finally came out, I saw that Damien had gone restless in his sleep and when I got closer to him stealthily, he came awake abruptly as if he sensed my presence from his sleep.

He pulled me close and placed his head on my belly as I stood by the bed locked his embrace.

"Another nightmare?" I asked him. He bobbed his head up and down against my belly.

I climbed into the bed and snuggled with him, singing him a song my father used to comfort whenever I got scared while I was younger. I knew it sounded childish but it helped me greatly.

It's a good thing he understood Spanish so I did not have to stress about interpreting what I sang. As usual, I brushed my hands through his locks and heard him sigh in relief as I sang.

"Ariana?" He called out to me and I stopped singing.

"Yeah?"

"Please move back into my room. I promise I won't do anything funny." He said in a pleading tone.

I thought hard about what he had just requested and I really wanted to decline because the closeness between us was beginning to scare me.

He held the hand that I had been rubbing his head with and looked into my eyes. His eyes had me trapped and I could not look away.

"Please." He said. He has me in a tight spot and without further thinking I agreed.

"Fine." I said.

"One more thing." He said, laying back down on my thighs.

"What is it?" I drawled.

"Promise me that even when we fight, you'd not move out again." He said.

"That's a big one, you'd have to promise me something too."

"Whatever you want is yours." He assured me.