When we started going down in the SUV I thought our hand in hand situation wouldst longer, but after five minutes or so, I had that urgent need to itch the back of my hand and just slightly squirmed it. As soon as Anton recognized my uneasiness, he drew his hand. And I missed the heat of his hand instantly. But I didn''t say a word. What could I say, ''Oh please Anton hold my hand again?'' pathetic. My hand instinctively went to my phone to check if Matt had sent me a text but I avoided the urge. It was something like I was trying to prove myself that I like Matt. But he didn''t call me or text me after yesterday, so maybe it was just me thinking that way. Even more pathetic. I turned my gaze to the window, while the car was crawling down from the coastal road to the downtown.


    The scene was maic. It instantly glued me to the window and washed away all of my thoughts. The light blue of the sea was turning to a darker shade as it spread through the horizon. The palm trees were dangling with the hot summer breeze elegantly and extending their leaves to the sea as if they wanted to touch it. I could not me them. The crystal clear water was calling every soul to look at it, as if demanding attention. Golden sands of the beaches were shining as a promise to make you feel better as soon as your bare feet touched it. I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with precious ocean air. The mesmerizing scent of the seaweed and ocean salt filled my nostrils.


    After a while, the buildings started to show up here and there, they were small vige houses with crooked walls, leaning each other cozily. Then they left their ces to bigger buildings as we proceeded into the town. Big tall buildings, shopping centers, restaurants were circling the crescent of clear blue ocean and coasts.


    We stopped in front of a bazaar ce. The driver, which was actually one of the guards got out of the car and went to the Mr. Anton''s door, while the other guard came to my door and opened it for me. He extended his hand to help me get out. I intended to take his hand because it was hard for me to get down from this huge SUV with my short height. I extended my hand towards him, but suddenly Mr. Anton nearly appeared from thin air, knocked his hand to the side with a not-so-gentle push and took my hand instead.


    Here, my hand was in his hand again. Budump, budump! Stop it stupid heart, we like Matt remember?


    He pulled me gently towards him, helped me climb down from the SUV and roughly told the guards to leave. My sole focus was again on my hand, still clutched in his grasp. He looked down at me tilting his head to be able to look at my face from his height. He was so tall, I had to raise my chin to match his stare. We looked at each other for a couple seconds, or hours I don''t know. We stayed there until he finally broke the spell that binding us there and talked,


    "Let''s go, shall we?" He extended his other hand towards the bazaar ce. I snapped myself from this daydream half heartedly and nodded.


    He gently pulled me from my hand and started guiding me into the crowd of the bazaar. When we stepped into this gorgeous ce, I forgot everything. My mouth dropped open to a silent ''Oh'' and my heart fluttered in excitement. Dresses, jewelry, ssware and trinkets in every size and shape even fresh fruits and food. Different colors were striking from every corner, demanding my attention but I only had one set of eyes. My head started whipping from one side to another, I was trying to take in everything about this ce. People were talking, bargaining and shopping everywhere and creating a humm in unison, like a luby for a background music for this unique ce. I have loved bazaars since I was a little girl. When I was a kid, my mom used to take me to small local bazaars and garage sales. And everytime we went, I was feeling like I was lost in tales, every piece was telling a different story and offering a different world.


    I started touching the fabrics, admiring the handiwork of crafts, intently watching the little sswares and looking and looking around. I was like in a dream of soft fabrics and intricate art pieces. We walked around the stalls, I watched people while shopping, I smelled the fresh spices and dusty books disyed side to side on different stalls. I wasn''t sure how long it had been since we came here. While I was touching fabrics and trinkets and watching everything withrge eyes, my stare crashed with Anton''s and I remembered who I came here with. His dark eyes were glinting with joy. Shiny. Maybe even shinier from any trinket, any jewelry that this ce could hold. He tucked a stray strand of mine behind my ear. He pulled a locket from a stall disy and extended it to me.


    "Please try this," he said.


    We were passing by a little stall selling antiques. It was a silvery, heart-shaped locket with a thin chain. He was expecting me to take the locket from his extended hand and put it around my neck. Instead, I held my hair in a fist, lifted it off from my neck and turned my back to him to let him put the locket on me, himself. I wasn''t facing him, but I felt the momentary pause and hesitation. Then I felt the heat of his body getting closer and closer. Finally he was right behind me, in just a short breath length. He reached the front of my neck by passing his arms over my shoulders, he ced the locket gently on the ne of my chest. His fingertips brushed my skin and I slightly shivered by his touch. Then he slowly, even agonizingly pulled his hands tracing my neck with his fingers as recing the touch of his fingers with the chain of the locket. I was feeling his breaths on my ear, short and fast. Finally his fingertips reached my nape. He locked the chain at the back of my neck and his fingers lingered there onest time, gently making a small circle as if caressing me, then left.


    "Here," he said in a hoarse voice. "It suits you well."


    I looked down at my chest where the locket was lying soundly. It was a small heart with two little ck gems carved in. ''Like his eyes,'' I thought unintentionally. I touched the small heart, and I felt like the locket, and this moment belonged to me and I liked it.


    "It''s beautiful." I said.


    Anton looked directly in my eyes, not even paid a nce to the locket and said,


    "Yes, beautiful," he said. I felt blood rushing to my cheeks. I averted my gaze because I had no courage left in me to look into his eyes again. "How much?" he asked the vendor.


    "Well it is a quite unique piece, it is white gold adorned with two ck diamonds. It is handmade, was a special gift, from a man to his wife for their marriage and it stayed with the woman for sixty years. After that it passed to their daughter and it passed in the family for three generations. So it is a little bit pricey sir."


    "How much?" he asked again.


    "This is a very special part indeed, rumor has it, this ne brought joy and love to every rtionship it has been witnessed. Every woman who inherited this beautiful ne had married the love of their lives and they lived happily ever after."


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    "And?" he asked again, a little bit impatient this time. The poor vendor has no idea he was before one of the wealthiest men in the world and no number he would name could surprise him.


    "One thousand dors," he said. "But we can bargain," he added hastily. Even he didn''t believe the number he said.


    "No way!" I cried. I won''t let Anton pay a thousand dors for an old ne. I hastily grabbed the lock of the chain and tried to rip it off from my neck. Anton''srge hand snapped like a thunder, on my hands trying to take it off. He held my hands at the back of my neck and immobilized me.


    "Okay! He said, "We are buying."


    "No Antonio, it is too expensive!" I cried. He turned to me with a surprised expression on his face, instantly morphed into joy and he gave the biggest smile I had seen on his face so far. Even both of his dimples appeared.


    "No Alice, it is not, and we are buying." He also called me by my first name like I did. And the way he sounded it instantly sent shivers to my spine. I liked it, more than I wanted to admit.


    He passed his credit card without even breaking the gaze he was keeping me hostage. The mischievous, amused gaze. The vendor took the credit card in no time and made the purchase. "But, b-but..." I stuttered, it was too much. How could I ept a gift this expensive from my boss?


    "Come." he said, putting an end to all discussion without even starting it. He grabbed my hand and guided me to a food cart. This was a small cart offering different kinds of sliced fruits, all of exotic and some of them I had never seen in my life. There were small stools lined in front of the counter of the cart, and sliced fruits were on disy. He guided me to sit on one of those and he sat next to me.


    There were a variety of exotic fruits on disy; apple bananas, breadfruit, coconuts, noni, papaya, pineapple. He served me some fruits himself that he thinks that I would like. While serving those, he also mentioned about the local fruits, especially mountain apples;


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    "... their blossoms are a tone of a fiery magenta, and when their brush-like petals drop, they cover the ground in a spray of color, very spectacr, I hope I can show you one day. When ripe, the fruits are ruby red, like this one. Try," He extended a fruit to me which looks like a red pear to me. The white flesh was mild in vor, very juicy, and was smelling like roses.


    "Hmm," I hummed in pleasure. His eyes twinkled with content. I looked at the scene right beside me again.


    He was so huge, it wasical to see him sitting on a small stool. And even on a stool in a bazaar ce and in casual outfits, he was still intimidating like a demi-god and still perfectly stiff under these circumstances. I smiled as I looked at him. "What?" he asked with a crooked smile in return.


    "Nothing,” I said. "It is just funny to see you like... that." I said. I gestured to all of him, it was the only word I could summon for such a view.


    "Don''t say to me you agree with Matt," he said. It was the first time he mentioned Matt casually around me.


    "Agree on what?" I asked, as I reached a bottle of water from the counter and brought it to my lips.


    "That I am sitting like a stick shoved in my ass," he said. Suddenly, I burst out the water I took into my mouth onto Anton mostly from my nose. My coughs mixed with myughter about thisment. He startedughing with me as he was passing some napkins to me from the counter. Hisughter was unbelievable. Like it was the first beam of light at dawn. Like you need to stay up all night to see but it''s definitely worth waiting.


    Hisughter made mine continue, Iughed andughed until tears started welling in my eyes. Heughed with me, not forced but easyughs. Like the ones you can have with your family or maybe with your best friends. Familiar,fortable and warm.


    Finally ourughter ceased to a stare. He kept my gaze hostage again in his beautiful ck diamond eyes. I wasn''t able to break it. I wasn''t that strong. So I drowned in that gaze. I let it take me wherever it wants to. I felt he was drawing closer to me. I felt I was drawing closer to him too. My eyes drop down to his lips. The exotic taste of mountain apples were still on my tongue. I wondered what he would taste like. Taste like an exotic fruit? Or a very local trouble? But I was about to jump in that trouble head first and feeling no resistance in me to tether me to reality.


    "It''s nice to see you''re finally getting along," a familiar mocking voice cracked all of my surreal dreams and the tether I was expecting to find mmed me on the face. It was Matt standing tall in front of us, hands in pockets, head tilted to a side predatorily and a look in his eyes, the first time I saw. It was the look I saw in Anton''s eyes a thousand times so far. Murderous...This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.