Chapter 18

The slow music could turn anyone's mood to sweet the moment they hear it. As Lily moved and danced to the rhythm of the song, she could help but smile without control.

She needed music like that. Something to take her to another direction and music did that for her.

She wondered why she never tried street dancing before. She had been Moody Al day because of her period and her cramps were not getting better.

Chris noticed her sour mood and offered to take her on a drive to help her refresh. After driving to no destination for a very long time, they came across people dancing on the streets.

Drummers were drumming in their drum, some men were blowing the trumpet and some ladies went in unison with their angelic voice that could heal.

Chris parked once he saw the event on the street. Lily wondered why he stopped at first but he told her to get out of the car and trust him.

Some men and women, old and young, were having fun too as they danced. Lily folded her arms across her chest then she raised her brows at Chris in a questioning manner asking him why he brought her here.

He told her to listen to the music and follow the rhythm. At first she was confused, she turned back to go into the car but he stopped her.

He stopped her and told her to follow his lead. He started doing some weird moves by moving his legs side by side and his hands too making Lily burst into a fit of laughter.

She called him a clown as he seemed to be having fun doing weird movements. After trying to convince her, she finally gave in and followed him to do his weird moves until the ladies started singing another song getting her full attention.

Slowly she started to twirl around, slowly moving her waist and legs to the rhythm of the soon. With time she forgot where she was and danced freely.

Chris stopped dancing to watch her. She danced beautifully and he could help but smile without control.

He placed his palm on his chest to feel his heartbeat. It's been so long since he felt so much warmth in his heart.

Just watching her was enough for him. She looked lovely and peaceful and the mood she had earlier was gone and replaced with a much better one.

"Thanks so much," Lily thanks Chris. They were now driving back home. She felt refreshed and rejuvenated. It was as if that was what she needed for today.

"You are welcome," he said to her.

"So does your moodswing have to do with your period?" He asked.

Lily's eyes widened. She wondered how he knew and why he was so confident in asking her of it. She bit her lips to stop herself from laughing. Chris watched her from the mirror to see her expression.

"What?" He asked, looking at her through the mirror.

"You..." She gasped unsure of what to say. She finally laughed out loud.

"You are seriously something else. I have the worst mood though but thanks for today." Her reply was simple. She wasn't going to have a conversation about her period with her.

Not like she found it as anything bad but if anything she was glad he understood enough to help her ease herself up.

"You are good at it." He said, confusing her.

The skin between her brows creased, "Good at what?" She was confused by his statement.

"Good at changing topics." He clarified.

She smiled, "Hmm. You think? You know compared to me, you are worse," she tells him.

"What?" He raised his brows at her in a questioning manner.

"You know...you have a tight lip. You don't say much about yourself and you tend to hold back a lot." She said,

He sighed. He doesn't tell much because his past has more bitter memories that good ones. Thinking about his past or talking about it only burns his heart and makes the hate he once felt against the people who hurt him strong.

His aunt, his ex lover, the months he spent in jail and the harsh treatment he received. The torture, the bully, how he was spat on and kicked hard in the belly and how he gush out blood.

He held onto the steering wheel tightly. "There is nothing much about my past," he said firmly.

She scoffed, "Isn't that all you say? You sure do know a lot more about me than I know about you, so how do we even become friends."

"You don't need to know them to develop friendship. Most times things are better left unsaid than said. Because in the end, it brings memories one doesn't want to remember and it's bad."

Lily knew there was more to what he said and wished he would tell her more. She couldn't help but think that he was hurt in the past and there were things he was battling with.

"Okay. If you don't want to say much, don't. I respect your decision. I hope one day you will get to open up and tell me." She said to him, her voice were ensuring enough.

"Also I won't judge. It's normal to have times we don't like but then that's what makes us humans and that's why it's a life we cannot predict."

Most times listening to Lily speak made Chris wonder if she had always been like this. From the story he heard about Lily and what he had seen so far, he couldn't tell if she had three different people sharing the same body.

Sometimes she acts like the rich, proud and rude princess she was of her father and another time, she acts mature, responsible and a very good listener.

Then last but not the least, she had the childish part of her that popped up whenever she was teasing him or asking questions. He just couldn't help but think she has three personalities.

It wasn't a bad thing though but then again she needed to show the mature, responsible, good listener and childish part more.

Although she has been treating him well, she hasn't changed some of her attitude towards Bella. Chris knew Bella did not like Lily and he understood well from her perspective after all he had seen the way she treated her.

He thought of speaking to her about it but whenever he brought up Bella's name, Lily would change the topic and focus on something else.

"You know, you are quite unpredictable," Chris chuckled."

"What? What do you mean? Why do you say so?" She asked him.

He cleared his throat, "That's because your personality changes a lot and you do not realise you. Most times I wonder if you swap you know." He shrugged.

Lily was confused by his last statement. "Swap? What do you mean?" She giggled.

If one thing he loved, that would be listening to Lily speak. Lately they've been talking more and they've become more comfortable with one another compared to before.

Thankfully Liam hadn't been much bothered with Lily as he hadn't come to see her in a while now making Chris have peace of mind. He didn't want to see Liam as Liam made him jealous even when he didn't want to or see the need to.

"When I first met you, the first time I first met you..." Liam trailed off.

Lily waited patiently to hear what he had to say about the first time he first met her because what she had to say to him about the first time she first met him was nothing but good.

She hoped in her mind he had something good to say but then again, he met her in a complicated and bad scene when they first met so she wouldn't blame him if he called her harsh names.

"Okay...when you first met me. Go on, I'm listening," he ushered.

"When I met you," he smiled a little.

"You do realise you are keeping me in suspense and I do not like it?" She scoffed as she folded her arms across her chest.

He chuckled, "I know right. That's the fun part of it all, isn't it."

"Okay Mr suspense! Kindly tell me and stop making it seem as if you are about to call a winner in an event or whatever."

"Okay, when I first met you. You were just as they described."

"As they described? How? What do you mean." She asked as he brows raised up in a questioning manner.

She wondered what he had heard about her and what the descriptions were. She knew she had been nothing but terror to people in her life and she wouldn't blame them after all she didn't seem to care about their opinion.

Chris was different. His opinion mattered to her. She wouldn't want him to see her as a bad person when all she showed in the past washer bad side. Making people hate her and hurting them everytime.

"You know the first time I was assigned to you as your bodyguard by your father, I couldn't find you anywhere." He swallowed an invisible lump in his throat.

He continued, "Your dad told me it was my job to find you and protect you although I was new and had no idea where you could be," he chuckled.

Lily wondered why he chuckled. She thought he found it funny but it didn't. He chuckled because he remembered how confused he was when her dad told him it was his job to look for her. He had to take a step back, sit down in a corner for over twenty minutes before asking around for her.

Bella was the first person he asked about her and she described Lily as a bitch who needed to be put in her place but sadly there were only few people who were capable of doing so.

She however, helped him with Lily's image and told him Lily was someone that couldn't be predicted. She was harsh and arrogant and had made all her previous guards lose their job a week before.

Chris wondered what kind of human she was. He looked at her picture which Bella has given to him and wondered why a girl as beautiful as she was had such a bad reputation.

He asked some of the guards on the mansion and they said just the same as Bella wishing him good luck if he lasted a week. He wondered what kind of power Lily had and asked them if they had any clues where she went to.

After searching for ages, moving from place to place, someone finally called to tell him her possible location. He was really angry that day and made up his mind to make sure he wouldn't do anything that would make him lose his job.

"And? So why the laugh? I'm dying to know what your thoughts are?" She said, slightly irritated that he smiled instead of answering her questions.

"You are quite agitated. Calm down, will you?" He said.

"I only will when you tell me what your first impression was about me."

"Okay. They all called you the same name but I wouldn't disclose what that was as I value their job for them as much as they do for themselves." He said firmly.

"Okay. The same name, meaning good or bad?" She asked. She was quite eager and worried at the same time.

"Maybe so or not but you do realise you have quite a reputation which is...not...so...I do not know what to say," he shrugged.

She shook her head. "You are not so sure? Okay I do not. I do not have the best reputation amongst the workers so what about you? What do you think...of...me?" She said, Her voice was laced with worry as she asked.

She wondered if he considered her the same way others did.

"Maybe so or not but," he paused as he held the brake for the traffic light.

"I considered you the same as them and thought of you the same way they did when I first knew you. Gosh your presence irritated me and the way you touched me without my permission annoyed me a lot." He said honestly.

"I honestly felt powerless that I couldn't put you in your place. I didn't want to spend more than a minute standing near you or speaking to you but it all changed." He sighed.

"Changed? When? How? What do you mean?" She had never been so eager to know the thoughts of others concerning her. She believed she owes no one any explanation for how she lived her life.

She knew it would take Chris a long time to look at her the way she looked at him but she didn't mind how long it took as long as she was able to win him on her side.

"It changed the day I let you touch me. Trust me, you do not know much and I do not feel the need to tell you much." He spoke in riddles because he didn't want her to know what she actually made him feel.

He saw her attractive from the day he first met her and then she ruined all of it when she showed him what everyone exactly said about her.

He would look at her most times when she wasn't looking and in his mind would wish she wasn't what she was and most importantly wasn't a rich heiress.

That all changed when he let her touch him in the bathroom. That all changed when she gave him heads and he ate her out. That all changed when he constantly fell for her and let her you him.

"As usual," she scoffed. "Speaking in riddles and saying less. You shouldn't have said anything if you ain't got nothing to say." She huffed before turning to the window to look at the streets.

They drove in silence for what seemed like an hour but in reality only five minutes before Chris spoke up again.

"You are not really a bad person. You just had a bad upbringing. You did hurt people and you can still make changes."

"Changes? What if I do not care?" She said nonchalantly.

"I owe nobody anything. In Fact they should be grateful to me that they have a job all thanks to me. And if I get to see those people who badmouth me in my back, I'm gonna get them all fired!" She spat out.

She was hurt by the thinking of others. She knew they only thought of the worse for her and she caused it but then again she felt betrayed by them for saying much bad about her but she didn't have any good with them to give them to talk about.

Chris said nothing in return. He wondered why she was so worked up about it. Lily expected him to say something but he said none.

"You say I'm not a bad person yet you do not look at me good enough," she muttered.

Chris felt the urge to laugh as he said so. She tends to misunderstand things and speak of words that aren't needed.

"You know what Lily?" He said to her,

"The way you want me to look at you is impossible. It's just." He said firmly.

"And why is that so?" She asked him. She just couldn't accept any of the reasons.

"That is because we are two worlds apart! We can never be. You do not even know if how you look at me is lust or love and u for sure know that anything that happened between us in the past was all for lust on my side," he lied.

Lily scoffed, "Liar!"

"I am not." He defended.

"You are. You touch me, give me assurance we would be changed like a chameleon and then give me an ultimatum and then say words that I do not even understand!" She exclaimed.

Chris licked his bottom lips. "Calm down," he said to her.

"Let me give you one million long reasons why you are wrong and I am right." He sighed.

"Firstly you are the sole heiress to a multi billion dollar company. You are not someone of an ordinary status. You have a very big reputation to keep and your status to mine is on a way different level. While you are at the top of the food chain, I am below."

"Secondly , you won't end up with a man whose status is less than yours. You are rich, you need someone with the same status as you to keep moving your company forward. In Fact I bet your dad and some other big company holder like Liam dad would have spoken about weeding the both of you."

Lily interjected, "If it is with Liam, then it's impossible. Secondly I won't go in for an arranged marriage. My father wouldn't want to do anything that I am against."

"You can never know. People like you who are considered as Princess always think their parents won't want to hurt them or do anything against their will but then again their company comes first and they will do anything to keep on the legacy and if they involve marrying their child off, they will."

"You do not know that! My dad wouldn't. Trust me because If that's why you are so afraid then worry not." She said, hoping she was assuring enough but Chris didn't need her assurance.

"Thirdly, You claim to want me and it was for a genuine purpose but then again I feel it's all lust. I mean you are not even fully independent yet and you all talk about is love? Do you know the meaning of Love? Do you know how powerful that word is?" She asked her.

Lily leaned into her chair as she thought about his words.

"Fourth, I will leave sooner or later. If your father comes to know we have any relationship that is not beneficial to him, he won't go to you because he knows you might fight against him, he'd pay me off and once I try to fight for us, he would kill me. That's how powerful he is."

"My dad won't kill you, he can't! He isn't capable of that." She said to him.

"You do not know anything Lily. You feel he ain't hut we that have seen knows what we talk about."

"Is that it? Are these all the reasons you are so scared of this relationship?" She asked.

"No! And there is more than enough reason but let's keep it short. I do not like you the way you think. I like you as a normal human would like the other but the way you want me to like you and look at you is impossible and that is why I'm trying to help you move on before it is too late." He clarified.

Her heart broke into a thousand pieces from his confession. She placed her palm on her chest as she took in his words. She swallowed an invisible and painful lump in her throat. Her eyes glistened with tears.

Chris finally drove through the mansion gate. She parked the car in the parking lot and turned off the engine.

"We are here, he said to her."

"Can I ask you a question?" She said,

Chris wondered what it might be. "What is it? Go on, ask." He said to her.

"You like girls like Bella? Isn't that it?" She said.

Chris swallowed a lump in his throat. He didn't see Bella as anything other than a friend but if saying yes to her question would help her move on from him, then he would.

"Why do you ask?" He said.

"Because you smile a lot with her and it doesn't seem forced and another reason is because the two of you are of the same status. Tell me Chris, why does status have to do with everything? Secondly if I was of the same status as you, would there be hope for the both of us?" She asked.

Chris took a few seconds to digest her question. He had so many answers to her questions but decided to keep it short.

"Yes it doesn't seem forced with Bella. I can relate more with her because of our status. Status is everything as long as it is in this life. Money, power, fame is everything and to those who do not have any would end up with someone in the same category as them for peace to reign. If you weren't. Rich heiress and was of the same status as me, my answer would still be the same. No."

It felt as if Lily's heart was yanked out of her chest when he uttered his last words. She was hurt and sad.

She wanted to ask him why it was so but she didn't want to be hurt more than she already was.

With a forced smile on her face, she said to him. "Okay."

She opened the car, got out of the car and ran into the mansion, holding herself from letting the tears roll down her cheek.