"If you weren't Xavier Salvador, who would you have been. What would you have loved to become."
Xavier smirked, still eating his pancakes, "Certainly not a chef."
She shrugged, "You cook so well but honestly I'm curious. Tell me. If you didn't have Salvador's conglomerate to manage, what would it have been for you?"
He paused, then a frown flickered on his face before he replaced it with a smug grin, "Nothing. Mr. Dominic saw to it that my mind was shaped to be CEO and nothing else. I was basketball president, music instructor, and soccer coach," He tilted his head back, watching her intrigued face.
"Funny thing is that I hated soccer, thought basketball sucked, and was horrible in singing though good with the instrument. The point was that" He smiled, "He saw to it that I was always a leader. Have this thirst for power, used to people following my instruction with earnest hurried movements."
"Wow." She mumbled, "Not an ideal childhood situation but a Salvador isn't expected to be at a mall on a Thursday morning with friends, running around the rows with not a care in the world about their future, when they are just 6."
"My children will have as much normal as possible. I won't make decisions for them or manipulate them to crave something I wanted for them. Never." His eyes flashed with sincere fervor.
"Children huh?" She gave him a smirk, "So wedding bells happening soon? Because with such cooking skills," She pointed at her empty plates once filled with pancakes she had finished in record timing, "A woman might just turn a blind to all your nasty attitude and make you her husband."
"Can that woman be you?" She could see the trace of amusement in his eyes as he whispered the question, yet she still felt a familiar thrill at his question.
"I said a woman not a sensible one."
"I thought you meant a gluttonous one," He retorted, "Like who swallows their meal this fast?"
"Sorry I am not the salad type of girl, please. I make sure overpriced takeouts you insist on purchasing in these five-star restaurants, don't go to waste." She batted her lashes, "You should be thankful not whining."
He shook his head amused.
"It only makes sense that you think you should be thanked for being a glutton."
"I'm not a glutton, I just don't eat pea-sized ration all in the name of keeping fit," she glared at her plate hard, avoiding his gaze not wanting him to see the hurt she felt at his words.
"If not for your amazing metabolism, you'll be so fat you won't fit this room."
"But I am halfway there."
"Where?" He asked in confusion, a smile still on his face as he reveled at how natural it felt having breakfast and making discussions with Maya in the kitchen.
"Being fat and undesirable. Remember?"
His eyes snapped at hers, "God, Maya don't tell me you took my words to heart. I was just messing around with you," He paused trying to come close to her.
She gave him a look and he knew better than to do that, "Your body is amazing, you should know that already."
Her gaze was averted away from him, a deliberate act he figured. "How silly of you to think that I cared about what you said." she gave him an intended little smile, that was nowhere near reassuring. "I'm okay."
"Jesus, Maya. I feel like such a fool right now." He facepalmed himself, his eyes widening at the absurdity that his words had hurt her, "I didn't mean to body shame you, I'll never do that."
She gritted her teeth in dismay, "And yet you keep talking. The more we talk about this, the more uncomfortable I feel. It is okay that you love them beanstalk and towering perfection."
His face was that of confusion, "What are you even talking about?"
"Your type of woman. You had told me the other day I wasn't your type," she jerked away from her seat as he took a step forward, "Honestly it is fine." She let out a burst of laughter that was so fake and flat, she cringed. "It was nothing. I certainly don't want to be the type of a player."
"Maya?" He whispered. She met his glance, "Oh Jesus, stop looking at me with so much pity."
She shook her head and then left the kitchen while Xavier stared at her retreating figure completely shocked.
How could she be so clueless to think, she wasn't his type, he wondered weakly.
Even though the way his body had reacted to hers the day they met didn't convince her that she made him hot and bothered, didn't his animalistic urge to possess her and claim her whenever any male in the vicinity took interest in her, show her.
The paleness of her face before she left him in the kitchen bothered him, the despair and anguish put him in a spot, that made him feel both emotions too as he wondered how long she must have felt this way, especially whenever he dropped such underhanded comment.
He flirted with the idea of chasing her to her room, demanding she open the door and then showed her how much of his type she was but he knew how badly that could turn out.
"Why do things have to be so difficult with you Maya?" His fingers massaged his temple as on top of his problems, he had to add the psychopath drummer that rented a space in his head.
Sitting down on the barstool where Maya had just been seating some minutes ago, her face lightening up his day, he wondered how he manages to screw things with Maya even when he was going out of his way not to be the bad guy.
Dumping his unfinished plate of pancakes in the kitchen, he regretted bringing up her healthy appetite as a means to throw light jabs at her.
He passed her door and he knew knocking on it will not do him any good. He was desperate and needed an alibi to undo the damage he had done with his words inardvently. His phone screen flickered on and he was going to shut it down when the name on the screen stopped him.
It was Jessica. A smile formed on his face. Alibi found and then picking her call, he stepped into his room determined to get Maya's friends on his side using the advantage that they thought he and Maya's relationship was real.