Worry more about yourself

Valerie was confused as she stared at his face that was in such close proximity. What did he really want? There was no way this was the torment he was talking about. It was too soft and too 'hot'.

"I'm hot now." Valerie said. "I don't think I'll catch a cold with this much."

"Is that so?" Max turned to turn off the shower. Once he did that, he swiped his hair back and scanned the thoroughly wet Valerie who was firmly holding onto her wet towel to avoid it from falling. "I'll carry you back out, the same way I carried you in." He said and lifted her off her feet.

"Max, the ground is slippery. We'll both fall."

"That sounds fun."

"What?" Was he crazy? She sighed.

If he slipped on the wet floor, it would be a big fall and they might even get a bruise or two, or even worse injuries. Couldn't he think that far? Or was that just his plan?

She glanced at the confident smirk on his lips. He was enjoying this. Enjoying making her tense and worked up.

So this was what he wanted, huh? And if she did not do according to his wishes, if she did not show her distress, worry, and pain, he would get bored and maybe turn violent.

That was her speculation but she hoped that that wasn't the case because she didn't know how long she would be able to respond to his provocation. She was always so calm when dealing with things and only when acting as a villainess did she show much expression. Yet, with Maximus, she wasn't sure she could pretend much. He would see right through her.

Once Maximus got back to the room, he put her down, and took out his phone from his pocket, shocking her.

He had his phone on the whole time?

Max looked at Valerie and said,

"It's waterproof."

Of course, she knew that, but who in their right mind would enter the shower fully clothed in the first place? He was crazy.

Maximus got a call and had to leave her. She sighed once he was gone and wondered why he had to go through the trouble of drying her hair in the beginning, only to get her wet again.

"He's so crazy." She muttered and clutched onto her wet towel.

Honestly, what was he thinking?

About an hour later, Maximus returned wearing a new set of casual clothes and the contract in his hand.

"Don't you know how to knock?" Valerie muttered under her breath.

"Did you say something?" Max asked as he got closer but she remained silent. "Hm, I thought I heard you saying something about knocking under your breath."

"If you heard it the first time, why bother asking?" Valerie asked, folding her arms and Max sat opposite her, acting like he did not hear the last part.

"Here's the contract." He said, dropping it on the table and she picked it up.

"That was fast." Valerie said, picking it up. "All my conditions were added?" She asked and he nodded. "Hm, I suddenly feel like adding one more condition."

"What's that?"

"Party A must give Party B a heads-up before he tries to do anything crazy like what he did earlier." She said with a grin, causing Max to sneer.

"You call that crazy? You haven't seen anything yet, darling." he said. "And besides, if we had already signed the contract, you would be breaking clause 6 in section 2." He said and even without looking at it, Valerie already knew that clause she broke.

He was so sneaky, wasn't he? But two can play this game.

"And that is why I said to add a clause that tells you to give me a heads-up before I sign it. I didn't complain, I just added a condition, so I didn't really break any condition, did I?"

"But if I give you a heads-up, you won't be as shocked anymore." He said, marking her complaint as hopeless. He was doing it for her reaction anyway.

"Fine." She picked up the pen and signed her signature. Once she was done, she passed it to him and he signed it as well.

"There," Max said with a victorious smirk. "Now, you're stuck with me for the rest of your life."

With this, Valerie gave an unexcited cheer.

"Woo."

The lazy look in her eyes showed her true feelings about the contract and this got Max upset.

"What? You don't like it?" His angry face was back and Valerie shook her head.

"I don't know how else to express my excitement in this." She said, but he still looked angry, giving her the cod eyes and twisted eyebrows. She sighed. "But to make up for ruining your mood... What would you have me do?"

"Come here." He ordered and without a choice, she got up and walked around to meet him.

In the pink dress she was wearing, she felt she had grown a lot younger. Nah, scratch that. She felt ridiculously ridiculous.

"Stop dawdling." Max said and suddenly grabbed her hand to pull her to himself. She lost her footing and as she crashed into him, he turned her around to sit on him. "Took you long enough."

"Don't be so reckless. You could get hurt." Valerie warned but he brushed it aside and said,

"You should worry more about yourself and what I'll do to you, Valerie." Max said with deadly eyes that strangely held deep interest. "You'll be staying with me till we return. Have you wondered what I will do to you?"

His hands were on her waist, staring right into her eyes as their position was of her sitting on him with her legs spread and her hands on his shoulders.

"You already said you're going to hurt me, what else should I wonder about?" Valerie asked.

"Oh, really?" He took off one of his hands from her waist and slid it inside her dress and gripped her thigh. "We've both signed the contract so from this point on, whatever I do to you, you must accept it."

"I know that." Valerie said, her eyes squinting a bit at the sensation of getting gripped at her sensitive thigh. "I read it before signing."

"That's good to hear." He drew his lips close to her neck and blew on it. "Say, if I broke your bones, would you come to hate me?"

"No." Valerie managed to say, causing him to pause and he raised his head to look at her slowly melting gaze.

"And why is that?"

"All the hatred I have and will ever have will be directed to those horrible people for the rest of my life." She declared and a thought ran through Max's head.

"So, if we manage to get rid of them, all your feelings of hate will bounce back to me, right?" He asked and Valerie stared into his eyes. His deep dark brown eyes.

That crazy ambition that was driving him to think of absurd things like this... Where was it coming from?

"Answer me, Valerie." His grip on her thigh tightened causing her to flinch.

She opened her eyes again. What to do? She didn't know what he wanted to hear so she decided to be honest.

She raised her hand to brush his hair aside, shoving her fingers through and saying in all honesty,

"What to do? I don't think there's anything you can do that'll make me hate you, Max."