Love Worth Fighting For

85 Mansion Clarke

Christian who was on his hips staring at the kitchen door, immediately turned his face to Elena. “Because it’s the first time I’ve brought a woman home.”

Elena immediately ran out of words, her brain went blank and couldn’t think. And Christian immediately smiled seeing the expression Elena was giving at his previous remark.

“Wait here, I’ll be gone for a bit,” Christian says quietly.

“W..where are you going?”

Christian smiles. “I’ll take some photos to show you, enjoy the dishes my maid prepared beforehand while I’m away. Don’t disappoint those five maids who stole glances at you earlier, Elena.”

“Christ...”

Christian bursts out laughing. “I won’t be long,” Christian says again, full of promise.

Elena nodded slowly without making a sound, being in the legendary Clarke’s house made her feel really uncomfortable. But because Christian repeatedly asked her to act normal, Elena’s confidence slowly returned.

After Christian is out of sight, Elena is literally sitting alone in a room five times the size of her house. Elena was really curious how big the palace she was going to was. Since Christian doesn’t come back, Elena decides to drink the tea that is in front of her to relieve her nervousness. Being in the living room of the Clarke family residence filled with paintings of the Clarke family’s predecessors made her uncomfortable.

.....

“I didn’t bore you, did I?” Christian asks suddenly.

Elena smiled. “No, I just finished eating the cookies your maids served.”

“Nice?”

“Yeah, it’s not too sweet and I like it.”

Christian, who had just placed some old photo albums belonging to his family on the table, smiled at Elena’s words.

“Those cookies you just ate were my mother’s recipe,” Christian says quietly.

“Your mother ah you mean Mrs Clarke can make cookies?” asked Elena half-screaming.

Christian smiles. “My mom is making the best cookies in the world, my dad was even my mom’s employee at her cookie shop when they first met.”

Elena’s mouth immediately opened wide, Elena couldn’t believe hearing Christian’s words which seemed made up.

“Come here, sit next to me. I’ll show you everything,” Christian says again as he picks up one of the photo albums that are on the top of the pile.

Because she was very curious about the contents of the photo album brought by Christian, Elena finally moved to sit by Christian’s side.

Christian immediately opened the photo album that was in his lap as soon as Elena moved to sit beside him, like a history teacher, Christian mentioned the names of the Clarke family’s predecessors whose photos are still so well preserved in the photo album.

“So this is your mother when she married your father? Oh my God, she’s so beautiful,” said Elena honestly when she saw the wedding photo of Anne and Jack that they took from her cell phone camera when they tied the knot at a church in Yorkshire.

“Yes, my mother is very beautiful and that’s why she is being chased again by her ex-husband who is crazy about her.”

Elena raised one eyebrow. “Hmm?”

Christian smiles, he slowly takes Elena’s hand and squeezes it tightly. “Listen carefully, I’m going to tell you one of my parents’ big secrets. And this big secret I’ve never told anyone before.”

“If this is your parents’ big secret then why do you want to tell me?”

“I want to tell you a true story that happened between my parents so you don’t have to worry about the difference in status between the two of us,” Christian replies quickly. “Since this has something to do with your fears and doubts about me, you still want to hear it, don’t you?”

Elena nodded slowly, although a little hesitant but finally Elena let Christian speak. Her curiosity was so great that she didn’t refuse Christian’s offer.

Without letting go of Elena’s hand, Christian begins to speak. All the twists and turns of his parents’ love that Luis had told him decades ago, now Christian recounts to Elena. Likewise with the terrible tragedy that befell his uncle which ultimately involved his parents, there was not a single incident that Christian did not tell Elena. It’s only the part about how Jack raped Anne that Christian doesn’t tell, because he doesn’t even know about the problem himself. Luis, who cares for the good name of the Clarke family, decides to keep the dark story deep within himself and not tell Christian what his father had done to his mother when he lost his memory.

“And as you can see for yourself, my parents are now living happily together. So...” Christian touched Elena’s cheek gently. “Don’t worry about your status with me anymore, because trust me I don’t care about that. I really want to start it all with you, Elena.”

Elena’s eyes fluttered, glaring at Christian. “Actually what made you like me and since when? I’m not prettier than your former lover and Siena, I also don’t have any advantages that I can be proud of, Christ.”

“Siena...”

“Siena who last year received an award from you.” Elena cuts Christian off quickly.

“You’re not jealous of her, are you?” asked Christian spontaneously.

A blush immediately appeared on Elena’s cheeks. “Jealous...jealous of what? W..why should I be jealous?” stammered Elena back.

Christian bursts out laughing, he knows that Elena is lying to him.

“Christ, I’m serious!!”

Christian raises his hand in the air, signaling Elena to be patient. Having mastered himself, Christian slowly reaches for Elena’s teacup and finishes it without a trace. Christian didn’t even hear the warning that Elena gave before, he still finished the drink that Elena had drunk earlier.

“Christ answered,” insisted Elena impatiently, seeing Christian actually take another photo album made Elena’s patience start to provoke.

“Elena, has what I’ve been doing all this time still not showing you any evidence of my seriousness?”

Elena turns her face the other way, trying to break the intense eye contact with Christian.

“I can’t give an answer to your previous question, because honestly I’m confused how to express the discomfort I must experience when I have to be away from you, the feeling of unease when I don’t see you and the fear I get when I find out you’re out with a other man to Paris. I don’t know where to start, Elena.”

“Christ...”

“All I can say to you right now is an apology, a huge apology from the bottom of my heart.”

Elena raised one eyebrow. “Apologies? What the hell...”

“I shouldn’t have been so harsh on you, Elena. I shouldn’t have provoked, I should have been wiser... I shouldn’t have gotten you those injuries.” Christian immediately discussed the incident or the past month, when he had just returned from Luxembourg after taking Suri home. “Tell me, of all the wounds you got at that time, which part hurt the most?”

Elena is stunned to hear Christian’s last sentence, the man looks so sorry and not pretending. His usually domineering gaze was now so gentle, it was clear that Christian was so sorry.

“Answer me, Elena. If you don’t answer then I...”

“I’m fine now and the wounds have healed too, so it would be best if we didn’t talk about it anymore.” Elena cuts off Christian’s words gently.

“Elena...”

“As long as you don’t do it again,” Elena added slowly with a smile that grew perfectly on her face.

Christian immediately grabs Elena’s hand and brings it to his left chest. “No Elena, I won’t do it again. I promise you.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes,” Christian replies firmly. “I’ll never land my hands roughly on your face or on your body again. I promise.”

“Control your emotions well, Christ. I know it’s not easy, but as long as you want to try nothing can’t be done. Remember you are a leader of a large company, there are millions of family heads who depend on you for their lives.”

Christian nods slowly. “Yes Elena, I will try to control my emotions well in the future. But you have to stay by my side, only you can make me calm.”

With her heart beating faster now, Elena chose to ignore Christian’s last words. She doesn’t want to continue her conversation with Christian for fear of being melted by the sweet words that come from the man’s lips.

“This is a photo of your sister?” Elena asks suddenly, her hand pointing at the photo of a beautiful toddler Christian is holding on a swing. “Adorable and very beautiful.”

Christian smiles. “Yes, my only sister. Her name is Suri.”

“Suri?”

“Suri Mireya Clarke, her age is not much different from you.”

Elena immediately lifted her face to look at Christian. “Really? We’re both the same age?”

Christian nods slowly. “Wait a minute, I’ll show you another photo of Suri.”

Elena removes her hand from the top of Suri’s photo, giving Christian a chance to show her another photo of Suri. Seeing how beautiful Suri was when she was a child made Elena curious.

“This is Suri when she was three years old.”

“This is Suri when she entered school for the first time.”

“And this was when he first learned to ride a motorbike with me, at that time he was only twelve years old. And that night my parents punished me for allowing Suri to learn to ride a motorbike.”

Continued