Chapter 58: Unnamed Relationship

< Shirley >
My heart skipped a beat at the cold words of the person I had bumped into in the carnival.
"Start walking slowly," said the person.
I nodded reluctantly and started taking slow steps forward with him tagging behind closely. The other person, who was following me and Dylan earlier, also kept following us like a shadow. I didn't dare to look at their faces.
"You're with Dylan Lewiston, right?" the one with the gun asked in a deep voice.
I nodded hesitantly and kept my head down.
That voice... It felt as though I had heard it somewhere. It was familiar. Yet, it also felt like that voice never spoke to me directly before. But I had heard it somewhere. In a movie maybe? Or something… Dang it, I can't remember!
"You're Shirley Hamilton, am I right?" the same person asked, and I nodded once again. His voice sounded like a voice from a detective movie. But obviously, a celebrity wouldn't keep me at gunpoint.
"Tell me everything you know about Dylan Lewiston," he demanded. I gulped down the saliva in my throat. My throat was going dry with each passing second.
I had to be calm. If not for myself, for Dylan.
"What about him? He is just a normal person. A regular rich businessman and a popular car racer," I answered meekly because I was freaking out.
"Is that so?" I nodded once again. "What is your relationship with him?"
There you go. A question that I didn't have an answer for.
"We are bound in a deal," I replied in the most neutral way possible.
"You're in love with him, aren't you?" My eyes widened at his statement. I pulled down my hood, covering my eyes completely, in case my love for Dylan was visible in those.
"What makes you think that?" There was no way this person could know. Nobody knew about my feelings for Dylan, not even Dylan.
"I noticed the way you look at him. Any blind person can see that. But Dylan is too dense to notice anyway. So it doesn't matter really," he spoke up.
"What do you want from me?" I diverted the topic.
"You're certainly brave. No wonder why Dylan tolerates you. Well, let's not beat around the bush and let me come to the point. Do you know Dylan is the leader of a dangerous mafia organization?"
What the—Were they cops? But… cops would never use such dirty tricks to take confession.
"Of course not. Dylan could never do something like that. Yeah, he might seem cold and heartless. But trust me, he would never be involved in that. He is really good at heart. He cares—"
"He trained you well," he muttered, shutting me up, and I gulped.
We were walking slowly around in circles around the water fountain to avoid suspicion. The other guy, who was following us, was nowhere to be seen.
"Why are you trying to defend him? Do you love him that much to ignore his crimes?" the man asked, trying to make me feel guilty.
"I told you already he isn't a criminal. Therefore, there's nothing to defend about him." I was trying my best to sound believable but he wouldn't budge.
"You can get into trouble for trying to defend him," he snarled, and I scoffed.
I would happily give up my life for Dylan and getting into trouble for him was a very little thing, really. Yet, I couldn't help but wonder why Dylan's enemy would talk about the law when they were law offenders themselves.
"Well, it looks like your beloved is here," my captor said in an amused tone.
"Dylan..." A smile formed on my lips when my eyes fell on him. He was trying to look for someone, most probably me, in the crowd desperately. He looked worried sick.
"Don't tell him anything about us if you want to stay safe."
"Just fuck off," I muttered in a harsh tone as I didn't have to be scared anymore. Because he was here.
"Very well then. Until next time, princess." The pressure of the gun on my stomach disappeared. I immediately turned around to look for the person, but much to my dismay, he had disappeared.
"Shirley, there you are." Hearing Dylan's voice, I turned around. As soon as I looked up to glance at him, I was immediately pulled in a tight hug, resulting in my hood falling off my head.
"Thank God, I found you. I was so worried."
I managed to smile, even though my face was buried in his chest. I wrapped my arms around him and rubbed his back to calm him down. He kissed the top of my head while caressing my hair.
I relaxed and listened to his fast heartbeat. The terror I felt in the last few minutes all vanished like the winter few as soon as I was in Dylan's arms.
"I waited for you at the gate for ten minutes. Do you know how scared I was? I thought something happened to you. I was so scared at that thought. What if I lost you? Or what if you got hurt? Geez, I'm not making any sense," he gibbered, and I giggled at his fumbled words.
Well, someone was more scared than me, I guess.
"By the way, you are okay, right?" He broke the hug and cupped my face, making me look into his grey eyes.
"Yes, I'm fine. Calm down. Why were you scared? You don't care about me, right?" I said in an attempt to calm him down. "It wouldn't have mattered to you even if I die—"
"Don't ever say that," he said after putting his finger on my lips. "It matters. To me, it matters. I don't know why I care. For some weird feeli—argh, I don't understand it, either. But I somehow do care. So, don't ever say that again. I don't care if you do something batshit crazy as long as you don't get hurt. Just know that your life matters to me. You got that?"
I was flabbergasted at his words. I just kept staring into his grey eyes with my jaw hanging. My heart felt so warm, it was as if spring was in full bloom inside even though it was summer.
"Let's leave. We don't know whether our followers are still here or not. Thus, it's better if we leave this place." He took a hold of my hand and started making our way out of the carnival.
———
"Thank you for not breaking my trust," Dylan said and smiled at me.
I had told him everything about the person who kept me at gunpoint in detail. I made sure not to skip any details other than me loving him, even though that person told me not to tell anything to Dylan. As if I was going to favor that bastard, instead of my beloved.
"It's my pleasure." I smiled back at him.
"You know, you're the only person alive outside the mafia who knows about my illegal business?" he said while driving the car as we were on our way home right now.
"Wow, I feel special," I said sarcastically.
After a minute, he spoke up all of a sudden, "I will treat you to ice cream for keeping your promise."
"What promise?" I asked, being confused.
"Remember when we met you made five vows about not telling my secret?" I started laughing hard after I remembered what I had said. He also started chuckling after looking at me.
"You even remember that?"
"Geez, the things you did that day, I would never forget them. Undoubtedly, one of the weirdest days of my life." I laughed harder at his comment.
After I was done cackling, I inquired, "You sure you are going to treat me to ice cream someday?"
"Promise."
"Good. But why ice cream specifically?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Because you love it, don't you?" he asked in an unsure tone.
"Yes, I do. How do you know?" I furrowed my brows, demanding an answer.
"Once upon a time, in a long lost city of New York— err, in easier words, once you told me," he joked.
"What the—" I started laughing my ass off at his lost track of words, and the way he said 'err', it was so cute.
Dylan pressed the honk to stop me from laughing. "Stop laughing," he warned.
"N—no."
"Shirley, if you don't stop laughing, then..."
While continuing to laugh, I managed to ask, "Then what?"
"I will shut you up with a kiss." I forgot to laugh and just gaped at him with shock. Dylan smirked, realizing his trick worked.
Oh, little did he know that it was Shirley Hamilton he was talking to. Recovering from my initial shock, it was my turn to smirk.
"Well, I don't mind. Please do kiss me, darling." I tried to make it sound like I was playing, but I was serious.
Horny much? commented my subconscious.
"W—what?" Dylan was dumbstruck.
I held back a giggle at his innocent face and wide eyes. I brushed my fingers on his cheek and neck sensually. He immediately stopped the car and looked at me as if he was actually turned on by that.
I clicked my tongue at him teasingly and feigned innocence by saying, "Why did you stop the car?"
"It's my car. I can stop it or start it whenever I want."
I nodded my head, still an innocent pout on my lips.
"If you keep acting like this, I will really end up kissing you," Dylan warned.
I unfastened my seatbelt and leaned closer to him, making his breath hitch.
"W—what are you doing?" he asked nervously.
"Doing what you told me you would," I said and pressed my lips on his soft ones.
For a moment, he was numb and didn't respond, but when his brain started to function again, his hand went around my neck, deepening the kiss. Even though I initiated the kiss, he wasn't letting me dominate, rather he bit my lower lip to gain entrance inside my mouth first.
At that moment, I couldn't care less about anything else. It was just me and him. I didn't care what our relationship status was. All I knew was that I loved this man, even if he didn't reciprocate it. I was selfish enough to want him without finding out about his feelings for her.
I ran my fingers over his silky hair while exploring his mouth. I couldn't explain what I was experiencing, the blast of crackers in my stomach. His mouth tasted so sweet and addicting, just like cotton candy.
Even though we were out of breath, we continued the kiss either way. Because we knew once we parted, we wouldn't be getting into it again. That's why it was like we couldn't get enough of each other.
Finally, after a few minutes, we parted and gasped for breath.
There was an awkward silence in the car after that with just the sound of her heavy breathing.
As I noticed Dylan opening his mouth to speak, I interrupted, "Please don't say sorry. It will be insulting to me."
Dylan looked at me as if I was crazy. "I wasn't going to apologize." I sighed in relief. At least he wasn't regretting it. "I just wanted to say that we are both adults, and not to mention single. Therefore, accidents like this could happen. Not a big deal."
I nodded my head. "Yes, not a big deal." If accidents like this were not a big deal, I wanted them to happen very often. Because I couldn't stop wanting him. I wanted so much more than just a kiss.
However, I had to put a stop to my raging hormones. Even if I wanted to be greedy, I didn't want to spoil what we had now. I wanted to cherish it and make it grow into something better, something that we could give a name to, not another unnamed relationship like now.