Take Me Home

Chapter 46

Take Me Home.

Lyla Atelo.

Sage did not say anything until the car came to a stop in a luxurious shopping mall where he went back to driving mode, parking the car at the exclusive parking lot. He stepped out to open the car for me, taking my arm in his.

"What are you doing? Where are we going? Why are we here?" I asked him even if I could guess what exactly it was that we were doing here.

"Shopping." He shrugged. "I saw on the internet that you should take a woman shopping when she is angry. It— "

"But I'm not angry. Why would I be?"

He gave me a quick look before shutting the car. "Yeah, right, you aren't. But I'm here to apologise anyway."

Amidst my protests, Sage had his arms hooked around mine until we reached one of the most expensive jewellery stores in the city.

"Pick anything you'd like. Diamonds. Gold. Silver. Precious stones. Anything." He said as he signalled one of the sales assistants to come over.

The girl gave me a once-over, and she did not hide her displeasure when she saw me, but when she saw Sage, she flashed him her best smile.

"Welcome to the best Jewellery—"

"Where are your best jewelleries?" Sage cut her off immediately. "I mean the best and authentic. I don't need scraps."

The girl was taken aback by how direct he was, but she maintained her cool and stepped forward, gesturing us to come upstairs.

"This way..."

As we passed the display of jewelleries that were downstairs, I realized that even the money that my grandmother left for me couldn't buy the cheapest of these jewelleries, talk less of the jewelleries that were upstairs. This was too much, and too expensive. I didn't need this for any kind of apology.

"Are you okay? You seem distressed..." Sage lowered his head to my level to talk to me. I was once again struck by how tall he was, and the bright lights of the store highlighted all his perfect features that made me catch my breath once more.

"I..." My voice faltered. "I just want to go home, Sage. This... This is all beautiful, but..."

"You haven't found what you like yet? Don't worry, I will get all the assistants to work on finding something that would suit you specifically."

"No! You don't understand." I was finding it hard to explain myself. "I don't need the jewelleries, Sage. I'm perfectly fine with—"

"Oh, you need the store? I'll call the manager over to get their price and sign it over to you as the new owner."

To say I was taken aback would be an understatement. I was flabbergasted. Make me the owner of the store? Of this multi billion dollar jewellery store?

A soft giggle escaped my throat until it became a full blown laughter. This was funny. Very funny.

"What's that?" Sage did not break a smile. "Did something amuse you? Is there something you finally like?"

"No, it's not that." I shook my head immediately. "It's you. You want to buy this whole store? For me?" I asked him.

Even the shop assistants turned to look our way in surprise.

"Yes, if that is what you want." He said it with all manner of seriousness and I was moved to believe he would do that.

"Do you know how much each of these Jewellery costs? Look, I know you come from a rich home and can afford a lot of things, but have you actually looked at the price tag on the jewelleries of the lower level? They are not in thousands of dollars, Sage, they are in millions. And the price tag on the upper level is in the tens and hundreds of millions. How much more the entire store? Sage, please." I smiled and patted his shoulders. "You don't have to do too much to ask for my apology for whatever it is you think I'm pissed off about."

Sage stood there looking at my face which was already red and filled with laughter. "Okay." He said simply.

"Okay..." I nodded in agreement. "Can we go now?"

I didn't care about the angry look on the face of the shop assistants who thought they had bagged a new customer. I was more interested in leaving. At least this was the highlight of my day.

"Can I, at least, get you something to eat for dinner?" He asked me once we were out of the store.

"That would be much better, thank you." I agreed with the lazy smile still on my face.

Once we had gotten our food, we made ourselves comfortable in his car. I didn't care that the time was running even late, and Michael would soon call me to come home.

"This is really good." I told him as I munched on my food. "Why aren't you eating?" I noted that he hadn't touched any of his food.

"I'm fine. I prefer watching you." He said, and I suddenly got shy as his dark eyes roamed my body. I was suddenly self conscious of the clothes I was still wearing.

"Why are you actually apologising, Sage? Is it because you called me a stranger?" I said after I had cleared more than half of my food.

"Yes, and no. I can't really explain everything now, but I will when the time is right." He leaned back, his imposing aura back but it didn't affect me one bit. I was used to him this way. "Your entire life is at risk if you come to my house, Lyla. It was at rij the day you came, and I can't welcome you as my visitor until I'm able to solve that problem."

Why did it all sound like gibberish to me? Risk? In what sense was my life at risk? I guess he could see the questions in my eyes as he continued.

"Once everything is solved, you will be able to come to my house at any time. All the time. Even if you want to live with me, Lyla. Just not now. I will tell you when the time comes."

I was dazed for a while. "Did you fall and hit your head on something?" My eyebrows pinched together as I narrowed my eyes in him. "First you were talking about buying me an entire jewellery store, and now you're saying this? Take me home, Sage, so you'd be able to get some rest."