Burning Desire (Completed)

chapter 43

Holding her hand as they walked upstairs, he led her down the hallway and stopped in front of a room. He let go of her hand and held the door knob tight.

'What the fuck was I thinking bringing her up here?'

He thought and turned to her.
He wanted to make her feel happy and so he thought about bringing her to his studio. He remembered how her blue eyes always lights up whenever she sees a beautiful art work, and so he decided to show her some of his personal works that no one had ever seen.

She folded her arms, waiting for him to open the door.

"Well, here goes nothing." He muttered with a sigh, twisting the knob and opened the door wide. He gestured to her to come in as he walked inside his studio.

She entered the room and her jaw dropped in awe, her eyes roaming round the big room.

The room was painted white and filled with LED lighting. There were beautiful paintings on the left side of the room, all arranged neatly on the wall. The other side of the room was filled with painting materials, canvases and a tall stool he sits upon whenever he paints.
Taking slow steps, she walked closer, admiring the paintings with glint of excitement in her eyes.

"Welcome to my man cave," he said, standing beside her.

She was so mesmorized by the paintings as she had never seen anything so beautiful. "Look at all of this,wow!" She exclaimed in amusement, eyes moving from one painting to the next.

"What are they doing here? They should be at the gallery for display.
Do you realize how much money people would pay for just one of these? These are fucking amazing,so beautiful. Oh my God!"
The words flew out from her mouth quickly.

He laughed lightly and scratched his chin. "Well you're right. People would pay good money for all of them but they are not for sale," he said.

"Huh?" She looked at him with a confused look on his face "I don't understand?"

"These paintings here are priceless and I kept them here because they mean something to me. I don't want the world to see them yet because they won't understand the story each of them holds," he said and sighed deeply.

Every night Raymond wakes up from his nightmares, he couldn't go back to sleep. And so, he would walk into his studio after taking some shots of alcohol and start painting, letting out all his pains, fear and emptiness on a canvas.

It always surprised him that the paintings always ended up looking so beautiful than the ones he did at the studio in the gallery.

Jasmine still didn't understand as she stared at him, confusion all over her face but she nodded, not wanting to persuade him. She turned back and walked to the other side as she noticed a large painting of a beautiful young woman.

The woman in the painting was looking so happy, with a wide smile on her face. Her brown hair was long and curly and she had beautiful grey eyes with flecks of gold.

"Wow!" Jasmine breathed. "Who is this?" she asked, pointing at the woman.

Raymond walked up to her, his eyes gazing upon the painting. He was silent for a long moment as if considering a weighty matter. She stared worriedly into his shadowed face, waiting for his response.

A long sigh escaped from his lips as his reply was very soft. "That's Ella."

Saying out her name felt strange and foreign, as it had been awhile he had mentioned her name to anyone. No one knew about Ella and how much she still possessed Raymond's heart till this day.
Only his family knew and his therapist, but they could never understand how deep he still feels connected to her. The way Ella's eyes shone under the moon light when they laid out on the field, the way she smiled, the way her laughter carried a soothing melody with it, the way she saw the world. He still remembered every little fragment, every tiny piece in his heart.

"Okay. Is she your lover?" Jasmine asked, giving him a curious glance.

"She was." The words left his lips, leaving another agonizing mark on his shattered heart, and he swallowed hard.

"Oh!" She mouthed quietly, pausing her lips into a thin line as she saw a glimpse of pain in his brown eyes. Seeing his hard profile, she knew that whatever story he had with the woman on the painting was more than a break up.

"She's very beautiful," she admitted quietly, turning back to the painting.

He let out a faint chuckle. "Yeah, the most beautiful woman I've ever met in my life." A weak smile appeared on his face, eyes focused on the painting as painful memories came back to him.

She nodded slowly and turned her gaze to him. "I'm sorry for your loss," she said sorrowfully.

He looked at Jasmine. "Thanks." He gave her a warm smile.

She was tempted to ask him what happened to the woman, but decided against it. She didn't want to bring back painful memories and ruin their peaceful moment.

They stood in silence as they continued looking at the painting.

"You're off for the day," he said, finally breaking the silence as he looked away from the painting, his expression distant. He didn't want to be reminded of his past and so he needed to leave the room.

"What?"

"I called Gloria and told her you won't be coming to work today," he told her, walking out from the room.

"But why? I'm perfectly okay," she said, following him from behind as they left the room.

"You need time to relax and get yourself together," he explained as he closed the door.

"Seriously, I'm okay Raymond. You don't have to give me the day off. I need to go to work today." She argued stubbornly.

"You're taking the day off Jasmine and that's final," he said giving her a Stern look and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

She knew she couldn't argue with him on this one. He was her boss so she had to obey whatever he said. She let out a long sigh as she went downstairs and walked to the kitchen.

"Fine, I'll take the day off." She rolled her eyes at him and walked to the kitchen island, resting both arms on top.

He chuckled as he shook his head slowly. "Stubborn woman." He muttered, picked up his cup and brought it to his lips, draining the remaining coffee inside.

"Are you going to work?" she asked him, sitting down on the chair.

"No," he said, walking to the sink, dropped the cup and walked back to her.

"Okay." She nodded, drawing lazy circles with her finger tips on the island.

"But I'll be leaving to France in the afternoon for a business trip," he told her and sat down.

"When will you be back?" she asked him.

"I'll be back on thursday cause I need to get home for my sister's wedding." He replied and let out a sigh, as he remembered he was coming to Ruth's wedding without a date. He hoped Ruth would forgive him with the wedding gift he had prepared for her.

"Your sister is getting married?" she asked, a wide smile playing on her lips.

"Yep," He nodded. "She's getting married this Saturday, so I need to be home on Friday." He informed her.

"Wow that's great!" She exclaimed happily, placing a palm on her chest. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." He chuckled, amused by the excitement in her eyes.

' I guess she loves weddings.'

He thought with a grin, looking at her.
Instantly it hit him and a wide smile formed on his face.
Finally! He had found a solution to his problem.

"Would you like to be my date for the wedding?" he asked her.

"What?"

He chuckled. "Sorry. What I meant to say is, I want you to be my date for my sister's wedding," he told her.

"What!"

Did her boss just ask her to be his date!

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