Taken By The Mafia Lord

“What happened to looking for Chloe?”

“Oh that,” Mimi chewed on her lower lips and didn’t say anything else.

Winters narrowed her gaze at her,

“You didn’t find her, did you?”

When Mimi looked away, Winters knew instantly from that gesture that she failed to find Chloe and that pissed her off.

“This is why – !” Winters paused upon realizing that she just raised her voice and now Akim and the children were looking at her strangely, curious as to what was going on.

“It’s nothing,” She smiled slowly as a cover-up that everything was okay and that it was just a harmless argument, however, that smile died off when she turned to Mimi.

She told her “I would have found her easier if you let me do it but you said -”

.....

“I never said that I didn’t find her,” Mimi corrected her, “She’s just not here.”

Seeing that Akim, especially, had become suspicious of their communication, Winters secretly signaled Mimi and they parted without a word.

“Hey,” Winters said when she approached Akim.

“Hey,” He said.

There was no other word between them as Akim whisked the egg with the machine and Winters internally cursed herself. She was not usually shy, but Akim left her confused. She couldn’t tell if he was interested in her or not. Guys were usually the ones making a move on her, not the opposite.

“You seem to know what you’re doing?” Winters blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

“Not at first, but Diego likes to have cake so I have no choice but to learn it, you can imagine.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Winters muttered, her eyes trained on his strong arms. Akim had tied an apron around his waist and rolled his sleeve up his arm so it didn’t get stained, hence Winters could vividly see the display of his bold veins, heightening his male appeal. Why does he have to be so handsome? She groaned inwardly.

However, there was no more conversation between them leaving Winters more confused. This is usually the point where the guy tries to know more about her and they exchange numbers and stuff like that. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here, was Akim even interested in her, or was it all in her head?

“This is stupid,” Winters said with disappointment, and was about to turn to leave when Akim said,

“Wait,”

She did.

Akim was now standing in front of her, the whisker turned off. The kids must have caught on as well because they silently moved away, giving them the privacy they needed. For once, they decided to do something meaningful without being forced to. Mimi bri

“I’m sorry for earlier, you know, boxing you into the fridge.” Akim gestured, hoping that she understood, “That wasn’t intentional, believe me.”

“Of course,” Winters laughed to clear the tension forming in the air,” That was a mistake. We just have this weird power of stepping into each other’s way, haha.” God, she wanted to hide.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Akim said so suddenly that Winters was startled and blinked thrice to confirm that she heard right.

Winters exhaled deeply, that sounded like good news. Does it mean that she wasn’t mistaken and Akim was really interested in her? She had high hopes.

“But I’m not ready yet to be in a relationship, for personal reasons.”

Bang!

Winters had been flying so high that she crashed down to earth so badly that she couldn’t breathe. She stood at that spot, her feet glued at the spot with her mouth wide open yet no word could come out. His words played in a loop in her head and she took over a minute to understand that he didn’t want to date her. It was all in her head. Akim wasn’t interested in her.

This was the first time Winters was getting rejected by a guy hence it hit her hard, however, she was able to control her emotions and didn’t shed a single tear. Rejection was a part of life – even though she has been rejected most of her life.

Moreover, what was she thinking? A workplace romance with a relative of her employee – even though the job was for just a day. Well, they weren’t meant to be together. Maybe, this was for the best anyway. She wouldn’t have to worry about getting married into a patriarchal family or not. Mimi was right, how could she have thought as far as getting married when they hadn’t even dated – which wasn’t going to happen anymore.

“Of course, I understand. I wasn’t even thinking of us dating, you know,” Winters lied through her teeth, covering it up with nervous laughter, “I was thinking we could be friends or something.” God, bury her now. She was so pathetic.

“Sure. Friends? Why not?” Akim agreed readily and Winters was grateful that he believed her. It was less embarrassing that way. Who knew that rejection stung this much? And she hasn’t been exactly gentle in rejecting her past admirers.

“I’ll go see if I can go help the other nanny out there,” she referred to Mimi who was shockingly laughing with the kids, but those little demons gave her a hard time!

“Reina wanted us to work together.” Winters provided an opportunity for her and Mimi to talk freely without suspicion.

Akim nodded and she returned to Mimi’s side. The moment the kids saw Winters, they took that as a cue to return to Akim and she thought, maybe they weren’t so bad, after all.

“Why do I feel you have bad news?” Mimi sensed it from her mood.

“He wants us to be friends,” Winters confessed.

“In that case, all hope is not lost. I’ve seen people move from strangers to friends, then friends with benefits, and finally, happily ever after. Have patience, Winters.” Mimi comforted her, patting her shoulder.

But Winters said, “You don’t have to worry about me but yourself when Marcel loses his patience and asks about his sister. Where is Chloe?”

“Well, that is the thing,” Mimi came closer to say, “I spotted a room opposite the kid’s, so I did some subtle schmoozing, and though they didn’t say a name, I have a feeling that it belongs to Chloe, but then, there’s a little problem.”

“What problem?”

“I think she was moved just days ago,”

“Moved to where?”

“Not where, but who?”

“Who then?” Winters was sure she could take the bad news.

“Sakuzi,”

Damn

Marcel was not going to like this.