One Wild Night

While sitting there and comforting her it had occurred to Bryan that she had likely been so upset over the prank because she had lost someone that way in the past, and the prank had brought back the painful memory. 

Sonia drew in a deep breath, and then cleared her throat, "My biological father. He worked as a lifeguard at a beach," Sonia explained with a distant look in her eyes. 

She had been just ten years old when her father died, and although she loved swimming because it reminded her a lot of her father who had taught her to swim, seeing Bryan in the water earlier had made her feel like she was about to lose someone special to her once again to water. 

"I'm sorry I brought back such a painful memory," Bryan said apologetically. 

"For someone who had saved a countless number of lives, there was no one to save him when he drowned. The autopsy revealed that he suffered a cardiac arrest while swimming," Sonia murmured in a distant voice that told him that she wasn't listening to him. 

Sonia shuddered when the image of her father floating in the pool flashed in her mind's eye, and she curled herself into a ball on the bed. 

Seeing her that way made Bryan worried. It made him want to protect her. 

"You should sleep now," Bryan said, not liking how vulnerable and fragile she looked at that moment. He preferred her crazy self. He would rather face the crazy and mischievous Sonia than this lady on the bed, Bryan thought to himself as he lifted himself from the wheelchair and got on the bed beside her. He cuddled her close to himself so that she was facing him with her head on his chest, and with one hand around her waist patting her back, he used the other hand which was over her head to pat her hair softly until they he heard her snoring softly. 

When he tried to pull away from her, she made a whimpering sound in her sleep, and snuggled closer to him, leaving Bryan no choice but to remain there with her. 

He looked into her face as she slept while sniffling occasionally, and his heart fluttered in his chest. He hated to admit to himself that what he wanted from her wasn't just sex as he wished it was. He couldn't believe that he had fallen for her charms so easily under such a short duration of time. 

The fact that he had been able to set aside his longing for her body earlier, just so he could calm her, was a clear indication that he cared about her. And seeing how he was lying on the bed beside her, and simply comforting her when what he truly wanted was to strip her off the robe that was covering her beautiful naked body and make love to her, was proof that he already cared about her more than he should. 

What was he going to do about this new development? He couldn't let her know that he was falling for her. It was best he played safe and just observed her until he was sure she felt the same way and wasn't just toying with him. He would just continue picking fights with her and pretending to be displeased with her. 

Still in that position, he kept patting her back and hair while his mind drifted to her nude dance performance at the poolside earlier. His lips twitched with an amused smile as he thought about Sonia and all the crazy things she had done since he met her. With a smile on his face, Bryan dozed off. 

               ************

Anita stirred in her sleep when the sound of her ringtone woke her up. She blindly reached for her phone which was on the bed beside her without taking off her sleeping mask. 

"Anita Miller on the..."

"I just heard from your uncle that the meeting with Thomas Hank is tomorrow, are you prepared?" Her mother cut her off in her usual impatient manner. 

Anita sat bolt upright on the bed once she heard her mother's voice and took off the sleeping mask immediately, "Yes, mother,"

"By yes, I suppose you mean you already know all that there is to know about him already?" Her mother asked just to be sure, and Anita bit her lower lip anxiously. 

She didn't like disappointing her mother, and somehow she knew that her perfectionist of a mother was going to be disappointed by her response, "I wasn't able to gather much since he stays well hidden..."

"If that is so, how dare you say you are prepared for tomorrow?" 

"I..."

"Why can't you be more like your sisters? Do you have to keep disappointing me by behaving like your incompetent father?" Her mother asked harshly.

"I'm sorry..." 

"Did you at least get a competent private investigator? Or have you learned nothing from me in all this time?" Her mother asked without giving her room to speak. 

"I will do so immediately," Anita promised, even though the first private investigator she had gotten had been unable to find anything. 

Her mother was a powerful woman who wanted to have close ties and connections with only the richest and most famous people in the society, and all three of her sisters had married into influential families making their mother proud by bringing her desire to reality. 

She had found the perfect opportunity to follow in the footsteps of her sisters when her uncle announced during a family meeting that he was contemplating selling off his airline to i-Global. He had told them how wealthy the CEO was, and upon further inquiry, he had informed them that the CEO was young and single. That had been the moment her mother decided that she wanted the CEO as her son in-law.

"Leave it to me. I can't trust you to not mess up this opportunity, so I will have my investigator gather all he can on him." With that, the line went dead.

The phone remained in Anita's hand long after her mother hung up the call. She knew she couldn't afford to mess this up no matter what it takes, as she very well knew that her mother wouldn't hesitate to cut her off if things didn't go as she planned.. Her mother was always quick to remind them that she never associates herself with failures, and cutting off their father when he lost his wealth to a bad business deal had always been her reference point.