SINFULLY YOURS

Chapter 21: Chapter 21. What?

Chapter 21. What?

Rosa Lin’s POV

"I actually didn’t know you could apologize."

My voice rang out in the space of the car as I stared at the second-to-last brownie, swirling it between my fingers. I felt the heat of his gaze on my face. Then I turned my head to look at him with a smile. He chuckled, and I saw the brightness return to his face.

"Don’t get used to it," he said casually, relaxing back against his chair, his ego already taking over.

I smiled and rolled my eyes, turning my head to look outside the window.

Cocky, as expected, I thought to myself.

When I looked back at him, I saw that he was already looking back at me with that smile. I just couldn’t help but feel my face heating up.

"God, you really should stop smiling at me like that," I said.

He chuckled. "Why?"

"Nothing," I replied, shaking my head.

"No, there is a reason," he insisted.

I tilted my head to look at him. "It’s a little bit too bright. It’s not calm."

He scoffed. "How else do you expect me to smile at you, oh sweet, beautiful Rosa?"

I looked at him and blinked. "Can we head back to school?" I suddenly said.

He chuckled, smiling to himself. "Not a chance."

I saw the grin on his face that made me know he was determined to drag this out as long as he could—to probably make me explode before him. He wasn’t going to give up.

I placed my palm against my forehead. "Oh my God," I groaned, and he chuckled beside me.

I finally looked up and glanced at the brownies. "You actually did a good job with this," I admitted.

He chuckled. "Obviously." He relaxed back against the seat, keeping his hands resting on the steering wheel while looking through the windshield. "I’ve always known it was your obsession," he said calmly.

I frowned and turned to look at him.

"It was one of the things your father would use to tease you a little bit, to get you to listen to your mom back in those days whenever you were a little bit stubborn, disobedient, and kind of resilient," he said.

I smiled, chuckled, and shook my head. "You really do remember a lot about my past." I was looking out the window, but I could feel his gaze on me.

"You don’t?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Nope, I really don’t."

He chuckled. "I understand."

"Do you?" I asked.

"Oh, yes I do. The trauma must have been so hard; you’ve done your best to shove it away with the memories so you don’t have to relive the pain of losing them," he said.

I clenched my teeth and felt the sting in my eyes, but I shook my head. "Well, at least it’s in the past now."

He smiled. "I wasn’t sure if you would still have the obsession," he said, quickly changing the subject. "I just felt like I should test it to see if it would still work to get you to forgive me, because you’ve been a little bit too stubborn. And I can see it worked."

I chuckled and rolled my eyes.

"Sly," I said to him, and he chuckled.

He then finally started the vehicle. "Well, I guess it’s time to take you back to school so they don’t say I’m the reason behind the drop in your GPA."

I glared at him. "My GPA is not poor; it has always been great."

He smiled at me. "I never doubted you." Then he winked.

He looked ahead and drove the vehicle away from the confectionery shop. As he drove down the express road, I slowly turned my head to look at him. I observed his sturdy, pointed nose, the perfect shape of his lips that almost looked like a pout, and that perfect jawline with the stubble of beard on it. His sharp, intense focus was fixed ahead, with a slight smirk on the side of his lips.

I couldn’t help smiling. Maybe, I thought to myself, just maybe he is not that bad.

It didn’t take too long before we got to school. He didn’t park the vehicle in the usual space where the students were; obviously, he parked it in the secluded, official parking area.

The moment the vehicle was parked, he killed the ignition. I exhaled and reached to open the door.

"Have you thought about staying with me?" he suddenly asked.

He dropped the question like a bomb between us, making me flinch. I blinked, my hand hovering over the handle of the car door, my eyes wide when I felt him staring. I chuckled, then turned back to look at him.

"No," I said. "I’ve made my decision, and my answer is no."

I saw the amusement dancing on his lips as he smiled at me.

"You know I’m not going to give up, right?" he asked.

I frowned at him. Oh, my God. I closed my eyes and pressed my palm against my forehead, not knowing what to say to him at this moment. Why is he so determined? I mean, it’s really just a casual "I want company," right? But why is he taking it so seriously, like he’s going to die if I don’t stay with him?

To be honest with myself, I felt the pull—a little bit heated and tempting. I didn’t know if I was just in way over my head, but the fact that he was so insistent gave off this feeling that maybe he actually wanted me.

Come on, are you stupid, Rosa? the thought instantly scolded me. He is your fucking uncle.

I swallowed hard and clenched my teeth, then turned to look at him with a chuckle. "Just forget about it, okay? Or do you know what? Just give me more time. It’s kind of a hard thing to think about."

"It’s not that hard," he said, still looking at me with a lazy gaze in his eyes that made me curl my toes, wanting to tear my eyes away from him.

"Like I said—" He placed his hand against the headrest of my seat and leaned in closer, gazing fiercely at me.

I jerked my head back, my eyes wide and my lips slightly parted as I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.

Okay, why is he so freaking close? I thought to myself.

"Like I said earlier," he continued, "I’m not going to give up, and I know that you want to stay with me."

My eyelids fluttered. Then I snapped back to my senses, scoffed, and turned my head to look out the window. "In your dreams," I replied.

I heard him chuckle beside me. "Oh, stubbornly stubborn Rosa."

The warmth in my chest wouldn’t leave. Good Lord, Rosa, caution yourself.

This is so wrong. Very, very wrong.

Nothing is going to be okay about this. I closed my eyes and let out a breath. I felt a prick of heat that felt entirely wrong at what I was about to say. I didn’t know why I was feeling that, but I knew I was making the right decision. It wasn’t normal at all.

"Actually, I think I’ve come up with my answer right now."

He tilted his head to look at me, and I saw the expectation in his eyes. He leaned in even closer, making me jerk back.

"Okay, can you take a chill pill and sit back?" I said, placing my hand against his shoulder and trying to force him to lean away. He chuckled.

He allowed me to push him back to his chair.

When I let him go, he leaned in close again. Great. He was definitely doing this on purpose. I scoffed, rolled my eyes, and gave up, turning to look ahead and ignoring the proximity of his face near my cheek.

"I can’t," I suddenly said.

I felt him retreat slowly as he tilted his head to look at me from the side. I didn’t need to look at him to tell that there was disappointment in his gaze.

"Why?" he asked softly.

I bit down hard on my bottom lip. "Look, I just... I can’t, okay? Please, I really hope you can understand me. You have seen what I’m going through, and you have seen the pressure Mac has put me through. I can’t bear having to hide myself and stop anyone from knowing I stay with you. It’s just going to be absurd. No one is going to listen if they hear that we are relatives; they are just going to think the opposite. And I’m not ready to go through the heaviness of what I went through in the past again."

"But you do know that no one is literally going to know," he said. "It’s not like I’m going to be parading you around the school."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I know, but people are cunning, and everyone has their nose in my life right now. And it’s not going to take long, okay? For heaven’s sake, I still have three more years at this school. You can’t tell me that within those three years, someone isn’t going to sniff around and figure this out. It’s just not possible."

He finally leaned back against his chair and stared ahead. I saw his hand drop from the steering wheel to rest on his lap. I frowned, observing him.

Is that sadness I am seeing in his eyes right now? Wait, is he actually sad?

I tilted my head to the side, watching him. His eyes were downcast, staring at the hands in his lap like I had just taken a piece of candy from a crying child.

"I’m sorry. Did... did I hurt you?" I asked. "I didn’t mean to."

He shook his head quickly, lifting a hand to wave it off. Instantly, I saw the smile return to his face.

"No, no," he said quickly. "Nah, don’t worry, it’s cool. I understand. I was just... I was just thinking about it. Why would I be sad about that? Come on. I mean, what you said is totally appropriate."

He paused.

"Perfect," he added, leaning against the car door to look out the window while tracing his fingers along his chin.

I observed him for a while and then shrugged before looking down at my own fingers. After a moment, when I turned back to look at him, I saw that he was staring at me deeply.

I felt something flutter in my chest. I quickly avoided his gaze, turning around to look out the window.

Time passed. There was this thick, intense silence—that kind of quiet where you could tell something was about to happen. Something your mind wouldn’t be able to brush away. Something profound and heavy that would completely pull the rug out from under you.

I swallowed hard, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe.

"Rosa," he called beside me, making me flinch.

I slowly tilted my head to look at him. I saw the heat in his eyes that made something roll in my gut.

Oh my God.

I saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down.

"I, um... I was just thinking. I wanted to know if you would want to—"

He suddenly stopped.

I raised my eyebrows, looking at him expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

I saw him frown, avoiding my gaze and looking down.

"What?" I asked once again.

My curiosity was instantly piqued as I leaned over and placed my hand on his arm, waiting for him to speak and say what was on his mind.

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