Whispered Desires

Chapter 35: Expensive Scotch

KILIAN

I knew it was a risk. 

Springing this question on Jasmine probably wasn't my smartest move, but I didn't know what else to do. I wanted to stake my claim, and the second I bought that ring, I knew I wanted it on her finger. People should know she was taken, that her body was mine, and mine only.

Who could've known that idea would explode right into my face like that? I didn't even know I loved her until I said the words, not that I ever knew what they mean exactly. I just know that if I am capable of something like that, it would be with her. Even if she can't reciprocate the words.

"Dude, I still don't know what you were thinking." Hayden laughs.

I glance over to him, watching how he brings a glass of scotch to his lips. Fatherhood turned the man old; beers and cocktails don't do it anymore, apparently. It needs to be expensive liquor, probably to enjoy the rare times he gets a minute for himself.

"It's been four months. Even I am over it, why aren't you?" I retort, although it's a straight-up lie. I'm nowhere near over the disaster that happened when I asked to put that ring on Jasmine's finger, but I'll have to learn to accept that she will take what she wants when she's ready for it, no matter how much it irks me.

"Sure you are." He chuckles and leans back in the deckchair in the middle of his garden, the sun setting right in front of us. It's been a while since I've had my best friend for myself, not that I can blame him. I know Nova asks a lot of his attention, and never in my life would I demand him to share it with me.

But still, I can't deny I missed this son of a bitch.

"You know," Hayden glances over to me with a smirk, "I never thought I'd see the day you'd ask a girl to marry her."

"You said that already. It'll happen, though." I roll my eyes at him. Hayden held an entire lecture about how stupid I was for doing it this way. I respect the hell out of my friend, but I didn't listen to a word he was saying that day; all I had on my mind was the sight of that ring, and what it would look like on Venus' finger.

He asked why I didn't talk to him before I did it, but the truth is, I didn't want to. I'm sick of people telling me what to do, or how to live my life... There's not much I can control right now, but buying that ring was a decision I could make.

"No, I know." He playfully slaps my arm, the action making me look at him. "But I mean... I also didn't think you'd still want to do it four months after she rejected you. I know you're persistent, but this is next level."

I can only shrug at his statement. It should be weird that I'm so stubborn about it, but it's not. I still don't understand why asking her was such a stupid idea. I know I want to stay with her, and I know I don't need any other woman. Why shouldn't I put a ring on it?

Jasmine said we weren't ready for it, but I know that's bullshit. I was ready. I am ready. But I saw in her eyes that she wasn't, and that's the only reason I backed off. Forcing her hand wasn't exactly part of my plan, not that I had one to begin with. All I know is I wanted that ring on her finger. I still do, and I know it will happen one day.

"How have things been with her?" he asks, the question making me glance into their living room behind the glass facade, where Mila and Jasmine have their own little girls' night with Nova.

"Not much has changed." I shrug. "She works more now, but other than that it's like nothing happened."

I wouldn't have expected things to change, considering Jasmine is not the kind of woman who gets rattled by these things. Before I proposed, she said she wanted to start working after my surgery, given everything went well. Things went perfectly, and she got back to her job, which meant she spent less time at my place and more at hers. It's the only thing that bothers me, to be honest. I've gotten used to having her around, and it annoys me to only have her for the night on most days of the week.