Chapter 82: Boundries
A month went by faster than Dora expected it to. Sometimes her symptoms got better, while at other times they got much worse as she tried to hold in the contents of her stomach.
Worried that Dante, who was supposed to come back when he said he would, didn’t do so. Instead, a week went by and he still didn’t return.
Enough to worry her as she wondered why the hell not.
’Did he lie? Does he actually have no intention to return?’ she asked herself even as she leaned against the window, staring at the night sky.
It would have been a lie to say that she wasn’t extremely impatient to find out why he was yet to return when he was supposed to.
Her face plastered with a frown even as she went back to bed, aware that it was already too late to still be awake when she should have been sleeping.
Her schedule for the day was normal, the usual way of attending acting classes and a few other classes which she knew might come in handy.
Sometimes she would head to the hospital to visit her step mum, who was still hospitalized there, but apart from that there was nothing that occupied her mind except for Dante, whom she knew was not thinking of her in the slightest.
She had just laid down when she let out a long, breathy sigh.
’This is how madness starts, right?’ she asked herself as she stared at the ceiling, wondering if she could pull her plan off or whether or not she was deluding herself.
Soon after, she fell asleep, waking up at the crack of dawn with the sun streaming through the window in a way that caressed her face.
Dora slowly fluttered her eyes open and got out, heading straight towards the open window to close it with the intention of heading back to bed, when she looked down, her eyes widening as she realized that Dante’s private guards were back.
They all had the same black suit uniform and the same black shades they wore, but that didn’t stop her from easily recognizing them as she instantly bolted from her bed and headed to the bathroom, where she bathed and dressed up.
Heading out of her room the moment she was ready and heading straight to the dining room, where she hoped Dante was and was yet to leave.
Beyond relieved, she got to the dining room and pushed the door open to reveal Dante, who was still seated and eating his food as she stepped in.
He glanced at her and her heart might as well have skipped a beat. His gaze was steady and a bit more intense than she was used to, but still she couldn’t help but smile in relief.
’He came back,’ she thought even as she moved to sit in the seat right beside his on the right.
She said a greeting even as she began to scoop food into her plate as she settled at the table.
Usually she would wait for Dante to start speaking and asking her questions, but this time around she opened her mouth and began to speak.
"How—how was your trip?" she asked in a low whisper even as she made sure to meet his gaze.
His hair was still the usual platinum white color it always was, and his face was still amazingly striking. His jaw was squared and his features just soft enough to match it and give his entire face a striking look that made it hard to look away.
"It was very good, actually!" Dante responded with a soft smile on his face, something Dora couldn’t help but be relieved to see as she instantly continued to speak.
"Were you able to finish your business?" she asked with a tinge of curiosity, considering the fact that she knew absolutely nothing about why he needed to be gone for a month.
’For all I know, he could have been with another woman,’ she thought, aware that she had absolutely no right to be jealous.
She was his wife only in name and nothing else.
"Yes! It wasn’t as time-consuming as I thought!" Dante responded, not saying anything more than he already had as he continued to eat his food.
Dora, on the other hand, began to scrabble internally for what to say and how to close the distance that was between them.
Again, she knew her place and wasn’t asking for too much, but just enough that she would actually get a choice in the matter.
’Clearly he’s also not interested in having sex!’ she thought to herself even as she forged on, opening her mouth to speak with her eyes fixed on the plate in front of her when she heard Dante beat her to it.
"I wanted us to have a talk about the baby!" he suddenly said. "I figure now is as good a time as any!" he continued, even as Dora’s hand froze, dropping the spoon onto the plate, considering the serious tone Dante used as he spoke.
Raising his head to look directly at her, "You will leave the second you have the baby!" he told her, words that made her stomach rumble without sound.
Her eyes widened just a bit even as she went ahead to nod her head. "The faster the better! I figure it would make things easier for you!" he said, and as hard as Dora tried to open her mouth and bring up the idea of staying with him, she couldn’t.
Instead, she just stared at him and nodded her head gently until Dante was done speaking.
"I know the terms of the contract!" she reminded him even as she went back to eating the food on her plate with a soft smile that showed no hint of sadness or displeasure.
Dante didn’t speak again after that as he also focused on eating his food. It wasn’t until he was done that he finally got up and adjusted the dark suit he wore, making it clear that he was done and heading to work.
But he had barely moved out of his seat and taken a few steps towards the door when Dora raised her head and spoke more directly than she wanted to, but at that point she didn’t care.
A coldness in her gaze as she stared at the plate in her hands, she spoke, "You said it... you said us being closer and not strangers would make things easier between us!" she pointed out, wanting to draw emphasis on what he had said as she turned to look at him and paused right in front of the door.
"Has that changed?" more than aware of the formal tone he was using as he spoke to her, while indirectly wanting to know if the sex was truly over.
Not too taken aback to hear Dante’s response, he turned to look at her, his hand on the door handle. "...Yes, but you’re pregnant now!" he told her in a frank tone.
"Our goal has been achieved, has it not?" he asked with slightly furrowed brows, almost like he was asking what else she could possibly want.
Dora instead simply smiled and nodded her head even as she watched him head out and leave, slamming the door behind him while she continued to stare at the door.
Her hand balled tightly around the spoon in her hand as she realized that the idea that she might get the billionaire Dante Bellini to fall for her—or even let her stay—was starting to look like a ’dream’.
