A Burning Impulse

Chapter 8

When I stopped crying, I pulled away from Erebus. My eyes fell on his wet suit, and embarrassment crept up on me.

What am I doing? I asked myself.

“Are you feeling better?” Warren asked, handing me a water bottle. I nodded and sipped the water to wet my parched throat. Never in my wild imagination—and I had a lot of wild imaginations of them—did I think I would be bawling my eyes out in their presence one day.

“Should we walk around a bit?” Erebus suggested, and I nodded again. Erebus covered me with his coat, and side by side, we walked to a nearby park. “Let’s sit there.”

“Thank you for earlier,” I said to both brothers when we settled on a bench. The night air was cold, and it made me feel better. For once, I wasn’t anxious about doing something I would regret. Their presence felt soothing, so I closed my eyes and enjoyed the serenity surrounding us.

“This feels nice,” I commented, looking at the stars. The night sky was full of them, and it was fascinating that we could sometimes see so many stars together in a city.

“Beautiful, isn't it?” Warren said.

“Absolutely,” I replied, not turning my eyes away from the sky.

“I wasn't talking about the sky,” Warren added. I snapped my head at him, looking at me with adoration in his eyes. I blushed under his gaze, cursing myself for feeling butterflies from a simple compliment. When I opened my mouth to say something, Warren beat me to it, “You are going to run away again, aren't you?”

I snapped my mouth shut. I could neither deny Warren’s claim nor accept it. I was going to escape from them, but I don't think I would have done that. I have no control over my mind right now, and I don't trust myself enough to make any sane decisions.

“I'm right, aren't I?” Warren leaned forward, looking at me curiously. I made the mistake of looking at his moving lips, and right then, I knew I f****d up. His lips looked tempting, and without thinking, I leaned into him and pecked his lips.

When our lips met, I felt an electrifying current rising in my body. There was something so sensual about the simple kiss. The forbiddenness of it all gave me a thrill like never before. My chest constricted, and my heart started pounding like crazy.

When I realized my mistake, I pulled away, looking at him wide-eyed.

“You're not going to call it a mistake now, do you?” Warren asked.

“No…” I stopped midway and gasped when he grabbed the back of my neck and gently pulled me to him. Our lips brushed each other lightly as he spoke, “I will let you leave this time, but I won't hesitate to kiss you back next time. And it won't just end with a kiss.”

“It's been a while since we were outside; you should hurry home,” Erebus butted in, allowing me to escape.

“You are right; it's late. I'm sorry, I was too emotional and ended up making a mistake,” I brushed it off as a mistake because it would be better for us that way. Saying that, I hurried into the apartment. Midway, I stopped and turned to face them, “Why are you following me?”

“To make sure you get home safe,” Erebus replied. I nodded and let them be. We rode the elevator in silence and soon stood before my apartment.

“Good night, and have a safe trip back home,” I said softly and entered the apartment. After I went inside, Erebus and Warren immediately left, leaving me flustered and eager to look forward to our next meeting.

“This is hard,” I sighed to myself. The more I resist the brothers, the more I feel attracted to them. It’s hard for me to get over my lust because we keep bumping into each other. I wish I could avoid them entirely until my attraction to them comes to an end, but I know I can’t keep avoiding them no matter how much I wish to. It’s worse that they keep fueling my desire each time I bump into them.

“You can resist the temptation, Eclipse. You can get over this menial crush on them,” I talked to myself, and with a resolution to not act on my desire, I went to sleep.

~.~

With my resolution in place, I managed to survive them, partially because I sent Sam to meet with them regarding the event and threw myself to look over their event personally. I did so much to avoid them that I never picked up my car from their parking lot after our last meeting. I decided to pick up my car tonight when it became too much of an inconvenience.

Before that, I went to The Grand Palace, where they decided to hold the event to check the day's progress. Warren and Erebus decided on a masquerade ball, so I made the decorations accompanying it. I decided to make the party more fun, so instead of lights, I used candles, candle chandeliers, and moonlight to illuminate the ballroom. As the ballroom in The Grand Palace was built like an actual ballroom, it has grand balconies attached, which helped us create the atmosphere we wanted. There will be a full moon during the event, so it’s safe to say nothing out of the ordinary will happen. I went with a medieval theme for decoration, but for the dress code, I went with modern outfits that exclude elegance. I had a clear picture of what I wanted, so when I entered the ballroom, which was only halfway prepared, I nodded in satisfaction.

My team member, Natasha, who was looking over the decorations for today, rushed to me when she spotted me near the entrance.

“Boss, what do you think?” she asked proudly. She was one of the best members of my team and truly knew how to represent my ideas in reality.

“It’s perfect, but would the candles work?” I asked worriedly. Before this event, I never used candles for decoration, so I was unsure how we would pull it and get it running until the ball's end. There is also a chance of getting into accidents with all the candles around, which worried me greatly. With this event, everyone would be watching like a hawk, and I can’t afford to mess this up even a little bit. If I do, I will lose the credibility I gained over the years. I can’t afford to fail at any cost.

“That’s what’s bothering me. We used a lot of silk in the decoration, and if something were to happen, the whole Hall would get engulfed in the fire,” Natasha said. Mulling over her words, she added, “But I have a perfect solution for that, just that it will go over the budget we prepared.”

“Budget is not the problem; do what you need to do,” I said, assured that I wouldn’t have to worry about it.

“Okay, I will show you the solution tomorrow,” Natasha smiled. “Btw, can I change the color of the decor to black? Something dark like black would make the decoration perfect with candles combined. I think red would look like a Vampire’s den, which isn’t what we are trying to achieve.”

“It would make a good background and a good contrast with the light from the candles. Throw golden with black, too. Just black won’t do,” I suggested.

“Golden with black, eh? Sounds perfect,” Natasha nodded her head, envisioning the final look. After discussing a few minor details, I left for the office building of Zeon Co. As I got closer to my car, someone approached me—someone I never wanted to meet again, my ex-husband, Mason.

~.~