His Sweet Sunflower

11. I am sorry

Nora felt a lot better after talking about it with Sarah and watching their favorite movie Mean Girls for the hundredth time. She fell asleep in the middle of the movie and woke up feeling thirsty. She looked over at Sarah, and she was snoring lightly. Nora got out of bed carefully, so she didn't wake her friend up and tiptoed to the kitchen. The house was dark and quiet, but Nora could easily find each room since she practically grew up there. She finally reached the fridge and poured some water, and proceed to gulp it down.

"Feeling better?"

Nora almost dropped her glass when she heard the deep husky voice that belongs to none other than the enemy himself. She turned around to face James, who was towering over her, making her feel even smaller.

James was wearing nothing but a pajama bottom, which showed off his v-shaped muscle on his lower abdomen. His bare chest looked perfectly chiseled but not overly muscular. He had abs that showed the sign of someone that regularly worked out. His hair was messy, and his eyes were sleepy, which indicated that he just got out of bed.

"Well, if you are done f*****g me with your eyes, I'd like to grab something to drink," James spoke suddenly, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"I... um...I wasn't..." Nora stammered as she was caught off guard and started to leave the room. Before she could get away from him, James blocked her way and took a sip from her glass.

"I wasn't done with you yet, sunflower," James whispered. His usual cold blue eyes looked surprisingly warm and gentle.

Nora was startled at his sudden foreign behavior. Usually, his nicknames consisted of derogatory terms like ugly, fatty, i***t, or vice versa. When did he start calling her sunflower?

"I should get back to bed..." Nora replied nervously. She wanted to get away from him before he could do something to her again, although he never did anything when she was in his house since other family members were around. Still, she didn't want to take any chances.

James moved slightly closer, and she could smell his cologne. The sight of his bare chest up close made her blush despite her newfound hatred towards him. He looked down, and his expression turned grim. He held up her hand and looked at the scrape caused by the fall earlier.

"Does it hurt?" he asked. He touched her hand, and she flinched in response. He lifted her hand to his face, then gently pressed his lips on her wound and kissed it.

Nora's entire body jolted at his sudden intimate behavior. She has never felt so confused in her life. What the hell is happening? He is acting weird. Nora felt like her heart would jump out of her chest.

She somehow managed to let out a whisper, "what...are you..." before she could finish her sentence, James leaned over and whispered the words she didn't think he was capable of saying,

"I'm sorry."

James couldn't focus at the party after Nora left with Sarah. He couldn't stop thinking about how he humiliated her and how hurt she looked.

Even though he laughed about her fall with Ryan, he felt like s**t for hurting her like that. Why did he have to act so crazy when she was close to him? He couldn't make sense of it himself. He called it a night around midnight and went back home.

He was surprised to hear two voices coming from Sarah's room. He figured Nora would forget about the sleepover after what he put her through, but he was glad she was here. Although he had no intention to stop torturing her just yet, he decided to leave her alone for tonight and went to sleep.

He woke up after a few minutes of sleep, then tossed and turned, thinking about how sexy Nora looked in her dress and how much he wanted to kiss her. He finally gave up on sleep and decided to get something to drink. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed who was standing by the fridge.

He wasn't planning on letting his guard down in front of Nora and showed her how bad he felt about hurting her, but something inside him snapped the moment he held her hand and the raw scrape mark on her palm. He loved how shocked she looked when he kissed her wound. He shocked himself by doing that, but he didn't care. He just wanted to be close to her that night, even if it meant forgetting about his dumb pride for a moment.

"It's fine. It didn't hurt too much," Nora said in response to his apology. Her voice sounded distant and cold. She hardly looked at him as she was still hurt and angry.

James pulled her closer, "Good because I am not going to stop playing with you, far from it. You are still my doll, so don't think I'll go away." James said matter of factly. He wanted to make sure Nora didn't realize how vulnerable she was making him feel.

Nora was startled at the lack of space between them but didn't try to pull away. "Why did you call me that?" Nora suddenly asked.

"Call you what?" James wasn't sure what she meant.

Nora tried to hide her flushed cheeks with her hair, "Sunflower..."

James couldn't tell her the real reason, so he just smiled at her confusion. "I don't know...its just another stupid nickname. I get to call you whatever the hell I want, and you can't do a damn thing about it. Just remember that." he whispered. With that, he let go of her and walked away before he lost all control of himself.

"This girl is going to be the end of me," he muttered to himself.