AROUSING DESIRES

Episode 25

****

Alice sank into the sofa, dropping the cell phone beside her as she buried her head between both hands in despair. She felt the space beside her dip further down with an added weight as her daughter sat next to her.
She didn't lift her head.

It had been more than two weeks and yet nothing.
No progress in finding her niece, Virginia.
They were either never allowed entrance to the Bloom mansion or the guards were just never ready to answer of their questions or listen to their pleas.
Judging by Mr Bloom's son's ambush and his fiancée's kidnap, they had been reluctant to give any information to strange faces or allow them entrance.
If only they were prepared to listen to her, she would have been able to prove Virginia was her niece with a few pictures she had.
Aside that, there was still no progress in finding her son, Brandon.
Aside from the fact that he was still declared as wanted, it was like Brandon had completely disappeared the face of the earth.
Neither had he called them once, and neither had his line ever gone through.
Perhaps, he had changed his number, but either way, Alice still needed to hear from her son.

She needed answers.
She needed to ask him why he did what he did.
She needed to ask him why he couldn't set his eyes on any other girl except his very own cousin.
She needed to ask him why he had to go as far as kidnapping her as if almost raping her wasn't enough.
She needed answers.

"Mom" Ella called softly, tapping her mother.
"You should eat something. Starving like this wouldn't give us the answers we need"
"I can no longer face my friends anymore Ella. I'm the mother of a man who wants his own cousin in his bed. Where did I go wrong in my upbringing?"
"You didn't go wrong anywhere mother. The one who's wrong here is Brandon. Once a vegetable gets rotten, it can never go back to being fresh. That's just how Brandon is.  His mindset is rotten from the roots. Don't beat yourself up over his mistakes mother. He alone has to pay not you.
Come mom, please come eat something" Ella urged, gripping onto her mother's arm softly.

Reluctantly, Alice got up and followed her daughter towards the dinning table.

***
"Please Virginia. Just one tiny chance. Please" Kevin pleaded, his forehead going back to rest against hers, nose rubbing softly against hers.

Virginia's eyes were closed as she inhaled Kevin's cologne, trying to steady her beating heart.

"Kevin" she breathed.
Her lips almost touching his.

"I'm not asking you to be my girlfriend. I just want to get to know you more. Maybe a little deeper than friendship. Then maybe, perhaps maybe we can move on to the next stage from there. Please, let me get to know you. Let's explore this new thing developing between us. These kisses we shared Virginia, they mean something. They mean a lot. I really can't stop thinking about you. I can't"
He skimmed his thumb over her cheeks lightly.

"O..okay" Virginia muttered.

Kevin pulled back again to peer into her face, his lips stretching to an adorable smile as the skin beneath his eyes wrinkled slightly at his wide smile.
A small dimple forming on both cheeks.

Virginia found herself smiling back involuntarily.
His smile was just too contagious.

"Thank you." He told her sincerely, his eyes shinning.

Never had Kevin thought he'd be this happy by just getting an approval for asking to get to know a girl.
Sheesh, in fact it was always the other way round.
The girls always swarmed around him like bees, each trying their level best to get his attention and gain his approval.
It was such a great feeling to have all those girls swarming around him.

But nothing.
Nothing could be compared to the feeling he was having right now just by staring at Virginia.

Slowly, Kevin let his hand drop from her face, sliding down her arms and then taking her dainty little soft hands in his big callous ones, interlacing their fingers.