Bleed My Love

Chapter 18

Annabelle was frightened about how things have turned in, especially with Alex. She was all set to move to Manhattan as she was looking at the email of job approval, the company was not a big name but for her, it was a good start to her new life. Now her next step was to get her dad to agree upon her leaving Italy and move to Manhattan, the only person who could get her father to allow her was Leonardo. While thinking about Leonardo she realized that no matter how bad she wanted to run away from him but he was not the real danger it has always been Leo's father and elder brother, Leo never harmed her but with Alex, she was not liking the things were turning into. She took a deep breath and called Leo's number.

" Anna, hey how are you is everything fine". Leo asked.

" Hi, yes everything is fine, I just wanted to know if you are free to have a cup of coffee with me". She asked.

" Ya sure. Is everything okay" He asked.

"Yes everything is fine, just wanted to discuss something face to face", she said.

They met at the café by the river, it was a beautiful sunset, Leo was being considerate of the choices she noted, she wondered whether he has changed or the problem was always with her to look the things in a negatively, but then again those images of him with leggy models published in the local newspaper can never be fake, how come he has that many girlfriends, did the girls not have an issue with his being a womanizer, did they know he has a fiancée or were those women with him because they also didn't want long term relationships. She sighed and started to initiate her aim.

"We were supposed to have just coffee but these eclairs and mini pizza are hard to resist" She guiltily expressed.

"I thought its first time you initiated to spend some time with me and from your tone, I concluded it was something of importance to you that couldn't be finished in 10 minutes, so why are we here, not that I am complaining" He lightly added.

"About that, I wanted to go to Manhattan for this job at an editing company, I had an interview a few days back online and got a call today in the morning, Rosaline and you guys will be there too" She explained.

"Hmm, what are you asking for Anna," Leo asked.

Looking at his face with no expression she misunderstood and hurriedly clarified, "you are getting me wrong, it's not the money, I have my mum's apartment there and enough money to spend few months easily, it just I am afraid Dad will create a fuss over it, you know how forcibly he made me move here with" She avoided to look into his eyes when she said the last sentence.

"So you want me to convince him to let you go to Manhattan"

"Yes", she hurriedly answered.

" And when are we going to get married because I remember you said you wanted to complete your degree first " He looked at her expectedly.

" You have to understand from my perspective, this has been a path I never asked for and on top of that my family's and your father's behavior has already made me anxious, all I ever wanted was to get away from my father and this arrangement with you was never my goal, now that we are connected and I am accepting this and thinking of a future we will have together, I want things to go smoothly, once a get a job and things get normalizing we can think about moving forward". She answered as patiently as she could.

"You know this arrangement has a name, why don't you acknowledge it so I can believe how honest you are," Leo sincerely said while finishing his coffee.

" Yes, I am aware that you are my fiancée and we will get married once I have enough confidence in myself, I want you to support me for my mental peace please, there is no one I can turn towards." She added.

"All right, let's go, I will drop you at your home and will talk to your dad, by the way, when are you joining," Leo asked raising from his chair, Anna followed his lead towards his car and answered, "in a week,".

When they reached her house and both got, Leo, took Anna's hand and gave her an assuring smile which she also returned but then she saw his head moving towards her, she froze for few seconds, Leo asked " May I". Just then she saw a moving figure from his father's French windows. "what the hell is Alex doing here", but from his facial expression she noted he was also like Leo expecting whether they'll kiss or not, Anna who was disgusted by Alex's behavior, wanted to prove to him or her that she will never cheat in relationship or Alex had no power over her. She smiled at Leo as her lingering hand rested over his chest, Leo kissed her gently, Anna was knocked out of her breath, not that he hasn't kissed her before but there were only a handful of events when he had that only were so chaste kisses as compared to this one. This had a meaning like he wanted her to choose him, trust him and return the same passion as he does. Anna couldn't keep her mouth close anymore for breathing she opened her mouth too, that's when Leo deepened the kiss, his arms tightening around her waist reducing whatever distance they had, her both hands moving to his head and neck. Finally when they grew apart breathing heavily. Leo gave her a dazzling smile and rubbed his thumb over her swollen lips. She shyly lowered her head and hugged him back. When they turned towards the house, Anna noted Alex was not anymore looking out the window.