Chapter 32: Girlfriend?

< Shirley >
After breakfast, I was chatting with Sienna while Xavier and Riley were arguing about something as always. When Dylan came down, I asked, "Where are you going?"
"To the HQ," he replied. He was trying to fix his cufflinks but he wasn't getting it right. "When are you going home? I will dr—" he paused as his eyes fell on me, to be precise on my neck. "I told you to change your bandage after breakfast. Do I need to send an application for you to do it?" he rebuked, and I lowered my head sheepishly. "Sienna, help her."
"Oh, I just remembered I have some work." With that, Sienna got up and left the drawing-room.
Dylan shook his head, massaging his forehead. "Come, I will do it for you," he offered and took me to his study room.
He made me sit on the couch and went to bring the first aid kit. Meanwhile, I looked around the huge study. There were so many files; it made me dizzy. "Do you read all this?" I asked.
"Who else would read them for me?" he replied sharply and sat down beside me. He started to take off the worn-out bandage around my neck.
My heart was thumping loudly in my chest as his fingers were grazing the sensitive skin of my throat.
"How deep did that bastard cut you?" Saying so, Dylan leaned forward to look at the wound, and my breath hitched. "Thank goodness, it's not that deep—" he stopped speaking all of a sudden as I felt his hot breath fall on my injury.
It was drop-dead silence in the study before a soft pair of lips lightly kissed me under my chin. My heart skipped a beat at that.
"Your heart is beating very fast," he whispered.
"No, it's not," I managed to say which might have broken his trance.
Dylan backed away immediately and rambled, "I'm sorry. I just…" he pursed his lips and added, "I just lost control."
I looked him in the eye and asked, "Why?"
He inhaled and exhaled a breath before saying, "The only reason is, I'm a man, and you are a woman."
"Are you saying you felt attracted to me?" He averted his eyes as I asked that. Therefore, I pulled him close by his tie and said, "I thought you didn't think of me like that. I'm just an okay-looking girl."
"Well, I'm sure there are plenty of mirrors to prove what you actually look like to me," he answered.
"Why don't you tell me yourself?" I demanded.
"Should I be honest?" he asked, and I nodded my head. He inched closer to me, our thighs brushing against each other. He brought his lips to my ears and whispered in a low tone, "Bewitching."
There was a sense of relief through what he admitted. All this time I was thinking I was actually not beautiful enough to catch his eye. He had crushed my self-esteem, and now it felt like he was the one flattering me.
However, since my cheeks were growing hotter with each second and our closeness was too much for my frail heart, I lightly pushed him away by his chest. "Get the bandage done."
Dylan chuckled lightly and took out the gauge from the kit. "Just a single compliment from me has got you getting red. Tell me honestly, have you never received a compliment before?"
"Not from you. You were starting to make me feel I was ugly," I admitted.
"Don't depend on a man's opinion to believe that you are beautiful," he said thoughtfully.
I tried my best to stop myself from grinning ear to ear while he bandaged my wound. I was thankful for this injury now. Mr. Creepy Stalker deserved an award for this.
"Hey, you said you were to HQ. Your company's HQ is your office, right?" I let out to divert the tension in the air.
"It's my gang's headquarters. It's only five minutes away from here," Dylan responded.
"Will you take me there someday?" I asked excitedly. I wondered what a mafia base would be like. Must be filled with weapons and illegal items.
"It's not a place for a person like you. Only bad people go there." He was done bandaging my wound by now, yet he remained seated by my side.
"You are saying you are a bad person?" I arched an eyebrow.
Dylan twitched his lips. "I don't think I ever gave the impression or said I was a good person."
I smiled and placed my hand on top of his chest, right above his heart. "This heart, I'm sure it isn't all cold yet. It still has sympathy, and it cares for many people." He underestimated his goodwill way too much.
His eyes were wide, a look of disbelief on his face. "I'm not. I don't have sympathy for anyone, nor do I care about anyone." He shifted his eyes and took a sharp breath. "How can you even think a person who kills other humans has sympathy, let alone being a good person? Where do you get such ridiculous notions?"
"I'm sure there's a reason behind why you do what you do. You might be a villain in someone else's story, but I know for a fact that in my life story, you are anything but a villain," I told him, earning another shocked reaction.
Dylan chuckled humorlessly. "Last night must have traumatized you. That's why you are uttering nonsense." He got up from the couch and strode out of the study.
"He only believes what he wants to." I sighed and followed after him. Once I was back in the living room, I found Dylan yelling at Xavier.
"You told her to come here out of all the places? Are you crazy?" Dylan scolded Xavier.
"She was chewing my head until I gave our address to her," Xavier excused.
Dylan groaned in frustration.
"Who's coming?" I asked Riley who was sitting on the couch. I also sat beside him and grabbed the cup of chocolate shake that was kept for me on the coffee table.
"A Mafia client's clingy daughter," Riley answered, flipping through the pages of a magazine.
"I'm going to the HQ before that dinosaur arrives." Dylan hurried to leave but Xavier stopped him.
"Dina will follow you there as well," Xavier said.
Were that dinosaur and Dina supposed to be the same person?
"Xavier, you have no idea what she's going to do when she sees me. She might just force me to sign a marriage registration certificate with her," Dylan let out.
The three of us burst out laughing at Dylan's presumption. There was no way someone could Dylan into doing something like that. Also, a marriage registration? It was so hilarious.
"Don't laugh, you guys. She's an actual nightmare," Dylan bellowed.
We all continued laughing until we heard a high-pitched voice of a woman.
"Dylie baby!"
I spat out the chocolate shake I was drinking. I forgot to wipe the dripping chocolate from my chin when I spotted a green-haired girl who was slightly shorter than I came running through the main door.
I had a hard time controlling my laughter. I was also confused about whether I should laugh at Dylan's nickname or her ridiculous hair dye.
"The poor chocolate shake couldn't bear the drama that's going to unfold right now," Xavier commented, grabbing my attention back to the spilled chocolate shake.
Dylan passed me a packet of wet tissues, which I used to hurriedly cleanse the chocolate before the girl named Dina came and engulfed him in a breathtaking hug. Why breathtaking, you ask? Because she took his breath away by squeezing the oxygen out of him.
Even though there was a stinging sensation in my chest as she didn't let go of him, I pressed my hand over my mouth to not laugh at Dylan's helpless expressions.
"Dylie baby, I missed you so so much," she exclaimed. "Every day I thought of ways to convince you to marry me, and today I have decided to officially propose too."
Dylan wasn't kidding when he said she might force him to sign a marriage registration.
"I don't think today is a good day to propose," Riley interrupted, trying to rescue Dylan.
"I and my to-be-husband are talking. Why are you talking in the middle?" Dina snapped, her sweet demeanor shifting to a menacing one in an instant.
"Riley is right." Dylan tried to untangle her arms from around him and took a few steps back.
"No, you guys are wrong. No day is a good day to marry this crazy bitch," Xavier jeered, earning a death glare from Dina.
"Keep your opinions to yourself, asshole. Otherwise, I'm going to tell my dad to make sure you guys don't see the next sunset," Dina threatened, sending goosebumps through my body.
Xavier scoffed and went away, not being able to tolerate her presence any longer.
Dina turned her attention back to Dylan who was trying to escape. "Oh, I forgot to ask. How do I look today, baby?" As soon as she asked that, I scanned her. She was wearing a floral knee-length dress with a brown belt on her waist, along with brown shoes and matching accessories.
"You couldn't get any uglier, I guess," Dylan responded, and I held back my laughter once again. These two would make a good comedy duo.
"Huh?" Dina raised an eyebrow in question.
"I was being sarcastic as always." Dylan flashed her a fake smile so real that only keen eyes could detect it. "You are like the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," he complimented. However, he just said she was a 'thing', not a woman.
"Great. Let's get married today." Dina wrapped her hands around his biceps.
Dylan gazed at me helplessly. I shrugged because there was no way I could help him. Just then his face lit up like a bulb as he shoved away Dina's hand. I wonder what plan he got. It must be a brilliant plan as it came out from his brain.
"I'm sorry, Dina. I didn't mean to break your heart," Dylan started, and Dina frowned. I was watching them curiously until Dylan grabbed my arm and pulled me up to him. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his chest and said, "I already have a girlfriend."
My eyes widened and I gaped at him with my mouth hanging open like Dina. What the actual hell?
"Babe, why are you surprised? Did you really think I would keep hiding you from the world forever?" I almost threw up listening to his sugar-coated voice.
"Dylie baby, what are you talking about?" Dina snapped.
Dylan brought his face closer to my ear, pretending as if he was kissing my earlobe, and whispered, "Just play along." He moved away and said to Dina, "She's a little shy, you see."
"Are you actually his girlfriend?" Dina demanded, looking extremely furious.
I was too shocked to say anything until Dylan kissed my cheek, almost making my heartbeat come to a stop. "C'mon, love, say it to her."
I gulped back the bike that came to my mouth after hearing his endearing tone towards me. Dylan was the last person on earth who I expected to talk to me like that.
Feeling Dina's piercing gaze at me, I cleared at my throat and put on a bright smile like always, and lied, "Yes, I'm his girlfriend."