Stay with me

90 Taming the stubborn

He's crazy! He's crazy if he thinks she's going anywhere with him... the two of us.

"What makes you think I'm sailing to the island with you?" Jansu asked with an ironic tone in her voice.

"Are you afraid?" he asked in response.

It was a challenge. Jansu was well aware that a balanced, reasonable person would never fall for it. Except that she, when it came to Niko, didn't know how to be either balanced or reasonable.

"What should I be afraid of?" She asked mockingly.

"Me," he replied smugly, "or yourself. That you can't control your feelings."

"What feelings?!" Jansu resented and jumped off the cliff into the quarry with her eyes squeezed shut. "Good! Pick me up tomorrow at 9:00."

Sunday turned out as if on order for a boat trip - quiet, sunny, and warm. Niko pulled up behind Jansu in a black Maserati. Nine o'clock sharp. The car, with its trident crown on the grille and slanted headlight eyes, shone with a noble, matte glow and looked obscenely luxurious. Jansu stretched out in amazement, "Wow!" - walked around it, examining every gorgeous detail, and then asked the waiting Niko, "Where did you get this monster?"

"I rented it," he answered nonchalantly.

"Maserati for hire?" She looked up, - and asked astonished.

"What's the big deal?" Niko, with feigned indifference, shrugged.

"Yeah, nothing," held out Jansu, then asked mockingly, "Couldn't you have taken something simpler?"

Niko pretended to think about it.

"Simpler?" he interjected. "That's an odd question. You wouldn't have asked it before. After all, everything had to be the best, exclusive and upscale for Princess Jansu Baisal."

Jansu looked away and mumbled, "It's been four years. I've changed."

Niko was silent. She looked up at him. He stood leaning his hip against the hood and crossing his arms over his chest. Brand blue silk jersey shirt, beige shorts from the latest Lacoste collection, ultra-expensive, stylish sunglasses. Every item spoke of the man's status and impressive bank account. Once upon a time, Niko was derisive about high fashion brands. Said that men who chase Brioni and Burberry have self-esteem issues.

"It looks like we've both changed," Jansu said.

Niko said nothing. He was discouraged. He wanted to show her his success. Dazzle with status things. Show what she lost by abandoning him, and as a result turned out to be the same show-off with problematic self-esteem, at whom he had always laughed at himself.

Yeah. Jansu Baisal knows how to put you in your place and show what you are worth.

Angry at himself, he opened the door of the monster Maserati and gestured for her to take the passenger seat. Jansu hesitated. She looked at her plain sundress, bought in a common store, and said with subtle irony, "Your Maserati will be insulted. My clothes don't suit your status at all. But I'm not going to change," she added, cockily lifting her chin. "I love my sundress and I'm comfortable in it."

"Get in already!" Niko muttered angrily and pushed her toward the open door.

Jansu tossed her hair and sat down gracefully, like a real princess, in the Maserati saloon. Spreading the thin cotton on her lap, she looked at Niko expectantly. He never moved. Hovering over her, his gaze was fixed on the neckline of her sundress. The blood ran faster through her veins. After suppressing the fire that had flared up so inadvertently and suppressing the urge to cover her chest with her hand, Jansu asked sarcastically, "Are you just gonna stand there?"