16 Why Are You Here
749 Words
No, that isn’t right, a voice inside him said. I shouldn’t have forced myself on her like that. It doesn’t matter if she had experienced something like this before or not, because she didn’t give me consent to touch her in any way.
Feeling ashamed, Leo kept his expression neutral as he watched Rena get up off the sofa quickly and bolt for the door. Just as she placed her hand on the door handle, it opened suddenly and smacked her right in the forehead. She fell backward and collapsed on the carpet.
Leo’s assistant, James, stood in the doorway with a confused look on his face. He was taken aback both by his boss wrapped in a towel and the girl who was now unconscious on the floor. It was clear that he had come at the wrong time, even if he didn’t grasp precisely what was going on.
He vowed to always knock first from this point on.
James looked like a regular assistant, but his situation was unique in that he was related to his employer. In reality, he was Leo’s half-brother and, therefore, also a member of the Caswell family.
“James, who was the last person to leave this room?” Leo inquired as he headed into his bedroom.
“David, I believe. Why? What happened, Leo?” James only said his brother’s name when they were in private.
“He was drunk and didn’t close the door when he left.”
Rena slowly rose from the carpet in a daze. She placed a hand against her forehead and winced before more tears started to fall. Noiselessly, she rested her head against her knees and wrapped her arms around herself, surrendering to the despair.
James noticed her movements and went over to check on her. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
Rena said nothing, but her shoulders shook slightly.
Leo returned, and he was fully dressed in a tailored suit that accentuated his figure. He didn’t know what else to do with himself at the moment, so he sat down on the sofa.
Finally, Rena looked up and met James’ eyes, and he felt overwhelmed by the look of heartbreak on her face. He had seen women cry before, and knew that they all cried in different ways. Some of them cry so loudly they can barely breathe, while others cry with sobs that you can barely hear. But, it was the first time he had seen someone cry like Rena.
The tears continued to flow from the corners of her eyes and make their way down her cheek. Each teardrop silently fell on to her shoulders and stained her long-sleeved green dress. Her eyes were filled with the helplessness that begged for someone to help her.
“I don’t know what happened, but I’ll do my best to assist you, Miss,” James offered sincerely.
“That won’t be necessary,” Leo announced. “James, I will call if I need you. Please, leave.”
“I want to escape,” Rena whimpered.
Conflicted, James looked back and forth between his boss and Rena, before he sighed at the look of contempt that Leo gave him. “Alright,” he said with a sigh and exited the room.
With James gone, there was only the distraught Rena and the ice-statue that was Leo Caswell.
Leo patted the spot next to him on the couch. “Come, sit,” he said.
Rena shook her head fervently. She didn’t want to go anywhere near him.
Although a part of him understood the reason for Rena’s reluctance, he still was amused by her stubbornness. His history with women always amounted to them wanting to impress him, whether through their looks or actions. He had never encountered a woman before who wanted nothing to do with him.
Rena was turning out to be very different from the rest.
Leo walked over and chuckled a little when he got a look at her face. There was a small welt that had formed on her forehead courtesy of James. However, the break-in his usually icy expression didn’t last, for he returned to being closed off.
“Tell me, why are you here?” he asked her.
- Writer
