Chapter 4 - Unwanted Love

Chapter 4

Unwanted Love

After a long tiring flight, Alejandro went to take shower. He was so exhausted that he wanted to sleep in the bathroom but he managed to clean hurriedly and grabbed a towel. He folded that towel around his waist and grabbed another one to dry his hair. He placed it around his neck and went towards the washbasin to brush his teeth. While brushing his teeth, he heard someone’s footsteps coming inside his room. He glanced at the bathroom entrance and then cleaned his mouth.

“Who is there?” He suspiciously asked as he walked slowly towards his wardrobe to check who came inside. He was suspicious. No one had the audacity to enter his personal space without his permission. 

As he entered the wardrobe, someone put a hand on his mouth and pinned him to the wall. He was shocked and couldn’t understand what to do. Everything was shady and blurred in front of his eyes. Suddenly he grabbed the person by the shoulders and replaced their positions. Now Alejandro was pinning the stranger on the wall with his strong arms. They both were gasping hard until Alejandro got to know who the person was. It was Maria.

She was now more startled as if he was going to kill her. He was still holding her arms and breathing to the core. After having a staring contest for a few seconds, he loosened his grip. As he left her, she instantly started rubbing her arms as if he injured her. Her frowned face made him so embarrassed that he wanted to vanish from there.

“What are you doing here?" Alejandro stammered hesitantly.

“I wanted to give you a surprise but look what you did to me, wow.” She growled and kept rubbing her arms.

“I’m so sorry, I thought somebody is spying on me, Are you okay?” he asked. Now he was concerned. Her face was turning red. Anger had clearly appeared on her face but she was so busy rubbing her arms.  

"Maria?" Alejandro politely called her name, shocked. It was his first encounter with her after four long years.

“Are you ok?” He further asked.

She then met his gaze and grinned.

It made Alejandro confused instead of being anxious. She put her both hands on his shoulders and pulled him towards her. During these four years, she turned more elegant and gorgeous. Any man could fall for her. Alejandro glanced at her from head to toe. She was looking surprisingly stunning in that low-cut black cropped dress. Her blue-eyed face was more attractive with her short strawberry blonde hair and that red lipstick just added a flavor to make the environment hotter.

“Alejandro Francisco, from where did you learn that wildness?” she smirked seductively.

“You have grown up into a groomed lady." he smiled devilishly, grabbed her waist, and pulled her towards him.

He was not seduced. She mesmerized her. He didn’t know what he was doing or what was happening. She literally trapped by time to time staring at her lips. Gradually coming closer to him, she pulled him on her for colliding, chest to chest, hip to hip. She neatly wrapped her arms around his neck without breaking the eye contact, not for a second.  He was all lost in her deep blue eyes when suddenly he sensed something. She was about to press her lips against her but he backed off. Awkwardness, alert! Alejandro broke the eye contact while she moved one step away.

“What happened?” She confusingly asked.

“Why don’t you wait for me downstairs? Look! I’m half-naked right now.” he nervously said with a reluctant smile. That made Maria glare at him to death. 

“Seriously? What the hell, Alejandro?” she said exhaustedly and left him in his room alone.

“That was close” he gasped, closing his eyes and placing his head on the wall. 

"Alright, get dressed, Alejandro." He murmured to himself and walked towards the wardrobe. 

“Where is Maria?” he asked his dad as he entered the dining area after a few minutes of his awkward encounter with Maria. Antonio glanced at him while turning the page of the newspaper but Alejandro's eyes were busy finding her.

“She left,” his dad sighed.

“She left? But why?” Asked Alejandro in shock and curiosity.

“I don’t know, you tell?” his dad asked, shrugging his shoulders and closing the newspaper. They both exchanged looks for a while and then Alejandro rolled his eyes. 

“Forget about it, I’m so hungry,” Alejandro said while joining his father at the dining table for dinner.

“Son, she is already suffering through a lot. You left her and then warned me not to tell anybody where are you, including her. Isn’t it unfair to her?” Antonio tried to talk to him about his son’s love life politely.

“First of all, I didn’t warn you... I requested you to do that. Second of all, I don’t love her, dad. I never did and I know, I will not love her, ever. She is not the one. I can sense it.” He answered with irritating frown on his face.

Antonio was gazing at him, all startled and nervous. Alejandro observed that his dad was really disappointed with his sudden confession so he decided to cheer him up.

“Come on, dad. It is not a big deal. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to marry and all but I am just saying I don’t feel the spark with her.” He tried to give his dad a hope.

“But why not her? She is intelligent. She is beautiful and you both know each other since childhood. What else do you want?” Antonio asked and was trying his best to convince him with all possible reasons.

“I want nothing else.” He replied and lowered his gaze to avoid that conversation but it seemed like Antonio was not going to give up that easily.

“So, what’s the problem?” Antonio again asked.

“Nothing is the problem.” Alejandro answered firmly.

“Then why don’t you want to marry her?” his dad exhaustedly asked that made Alejandro stopped eating and give his full attention to the conversation.

“Who said, I don’t want to marry her? I do but it doesn’t mean I have to love her as well.” Alejandro explained.

“You’re unbelievable.” his dad finally surrendered that made him giggled and they both continued eating again.

 After years both father and son spent time together. They talked the whole night about their family issues, what Alejandro had done in four years, what his father did, about the work, college and almost everything. They recalled memories and talked about Alejandro’s late mother. After a very long time, he literally realized how much his father suffered alone when he and his mom left him, but now, he was glad that he came back. He realized that no matter what, family always comes first.

He called Maria the next morning. She picked up his call on the first ring. Maybe she was waiting for him to call her.

“Hey, how are you doing today?” Alejandro asked her casually.

“As if you really care.” She replied rudely.

“Maria, I was exhausted, please try to understand and you know that I don’t like such things,” He said apologetically.

“Alejandro? What is wrong with you? We have been engaged for six-year, and I met you after four years. You never tried to contact me once in London but I still came to welcome you because I love you. And what did you do to me? I better not remind you. If you don’t want this to be continued then I think we should separate our ways.” She growled, seemed really clear that she was so mad at him.

He felt pain in her voice. He never wanted to hurt her nor did he want to give her hope. He gasped and rolled his neck with closed eyes. 

“Let’s meet today, I’ll pick you up within an hour, be ready” He sighed and hung up without listening to her answer and walked towards the wardrobe. 

                                                                ***************

“Did you see, dad?” Alejandro asked one of the servants as he came downstairs before leaving for Maria’s home.

“Señor Alejandro, Good morning, Señor Antonio went for a meeting.” the servant murmured in his thick Spanish accent.

“Okay, whenever he will come back, inform him that I am going to see Maria,” He instructed, scrolling his phone to dial Maria and was about to leave but the servant interrupted him.

“With due respect señor, you cannot leave home,”