The car ride back to Maya's house was uncomfortably quiet as they both stuck to staring out of their window unsure of what to say to the other and overwhelmed by the unexpected events of the night.
Maya turned, watching him. The breeze ruffled his hair.
She chuckled as he frowns, closing the window angrily.
"You are such a girl" She whispered, amused that he was touchy about his hair.
"How did you know?"
"Know what?" She asked, a smile still on her face.
"My favorite food and color. Those are unnecessary details, I hardly share." He stated.
"By mere observation. You are always asking Maria at the front desk to make orders for your dinner. Though the bananas here are not as fresh as that of an island, your choice of food screamed island guy. What happened to hamburgers, pizza, and fries? Italian food and why the fuck was it almost always boiled bananas?..."
"So that's how I figured out, you must love your boiled bananas."
He shook his head.
"So much for being mysterious." He whispered, offering her a small smile.
"You are damn mysterious though and the favorite color? That was a wild guess. Because you are a self-obsessed man..."
"No that's not true."
"You are! You know you are." She argued.
"No, I am not."
"No, you are."
"Not"
"Are"
"Not"
"Not"
"Are"
She laughed triumphantly. He rolled his eyes at how childish they were being, a hint of a smile tugging his lips.
"I figured you will be in love with your eyes because that is the most striking feature you see almost every day whenever you look into the mirror." She added.
"Mmm.." he whispered, impressed by her intelligence.
They fell back into the awkward silence while Maya played with her fingers wondering what next to say, Xavier, drummed his finger against his laps rhythmically.
"The artwork in the sitting room is really beautiful."
He smiled.
"My grandma was an excellent artist amongst being a great wife and a good cook. But she preferred her artwork shelved and allowed to gather dust. The drawing of the river was one of my favorite even as a child. I will stare at the picture frame for long hours, completely fascinated by its beauty yet subtle mystery."
Maya couldn't help but visualize him as a kid. Maybe 13 or 14 with some baby fats, curly blonde hair, eyes wide in awe as he gaped at the picture.
"When she died, I decided to display it in my sitting room even though it would be worth a lot on an art exhibition show. God forbid Nonna to monetize her God-given talent." He said chuckling at the last part, a wistful smile on his face as he no doubt reminisced about the good ole days with her.
"The way you had proposed to me..." Maya started after a few minutes of silence.
"What about it?" He asked, looking at her.
"You should consider acting because it sounded so genuine."
He shrugged and then conspiratorially he shifted closer to her, a mischievous grin on his face.
"I read a lot of romantic novels yesterday night to sound like I know what I was saying." He admitted.
"Oh." She whispered, her face falling as she tried to figure out why she sounded so disappointed.
"How did you know your dad was going to pull something like that on us?"
"You can just call him Mr. Dominic, not my Dad." He said frowning.
"And... I didn't. I saw the ring and remembering we didn't have one, I bought it." He simply replied.
She stared at the Rock on her finger, fascinated.
"It looks really expensive." She whispered.
He chuckled.
"The more expensive, the more convincing and you should remove that if you are not ready to give a helluva explanation to your friends." He warningly added referring to Jasmine and Jessica.
She slipped the ring out of her finger, feeling the loss of its weight almost immediately.
"What did you discuss with Tyler?" Xavier asked not able to hide the burning curiosity he had to keep within himself ever since Maya had joined him in the dining, a frown on her face, and Tyler had followed minutes later looking ruffled and disturbed.
She glanced at him, not at all surprised he had asked.
"Nothing worth mentioning. I tried convincing him, our engagement was not a sham. Was a flop, but your confession at the dining must have fixed that." She looked at him, awe in her eyes. " That was one of the most beautiful love confessions I have ever heard. At a point, it felt so real."
"It wasn't..." He sharply replied.
She released a nervous shaky chuckle.
"Of course. Just saying. You were so good with your choice of words and they sounded sincere. You moved almost everyone at the table to tears."
He shrugged cockily.
"I can be very convincing." He whispered one of his genuine smiles surfacing and as usual having the same heartwarming, panty melting effect on Maya.
She looked at him, suddenly aware of him sexually. Noticing how close they both were, the amused look on his face disappeared and his head inched closer while she stared at his lips impatiently.
"We have arrived at your residence ma'am." The driver tersely announced jolting them from whatever spell they were engulfed in.
"I will have to go now." She murmured.
He nodded.
"On second thought, I have a question to ask you. A question that has been bothering me all night." She said.
"Shoot."
"It is about a woman called Anne Gracie..."
He visibly recoiled at her words, his face hardened instantly.
"I don't want to talk about it." He whispered curtly.
"But I need answers. Why does she seem to hate my guts..."
"Maya Luke.." he said warningly.
She stubbornly shook her head.
"Who was her daughter to you and what does that have to do with me?"
"This is a lie, Maya. The ring, the confessions, the dinner everything!..."
"I asked your mom but she insisted I rather hear it from you." She continued like he had not said anything.
"Fucking stay in your allotted boundary. Don't go about poking your head into something I have told you is non disclosable. You are fucking nothing to me, you are just my assistant doing me a big favor, so just stick to your Job description. Just don't get caught up in this act and start living a lie."
Maya stared at him, her eyes stung with tears and it felt like she had just been slapped.
"I just wanted to know why she was so insulting towards me." She whispered, a pitiful sob escaping from her lips.
"You should stop trying to know things you have no business being in the know about."
"You should have thought about that when you threw me in like a sacrificial lamb to your family wolf's pack. We both know that this is not real. But who will tell her that? You don't have any idea how it feels to just stand and take all kinds of insults, for you." She said, her finger jabbing his chest.
"I know this is not my world and honestly I am really glad that I wasn't raised in such a dysfunctional society. And I would rather be an assistant than some targeted fiancée who is supposed to just take it all and not even know who she is up against." She said, her voice raised.
With a tear-streaked face, she grabbed her bag and opening the door, she banged it harder than needed behind her.
Angry, that his words could still make her cry.
She should have become immune to his cold words and painful jabs.
What had she thought? Just because she had shared a joke or two with him, knew his house, and dined with his relatives, she was now worth his acknowledgment?
At the end of the day, he was just her cold prick of a boss. Just like it was meant to be.