"You don't love me now, but trust me, you will love me soon". Like something out of second rate thriller movie, where the main girl is unwilling pursued by some wealthy, powerful, and possibly dangerous prick that pulls out all the stops just to make her notice him. And this might as well have been mine.
While everything in her wanted to scoff in his face and call his bluff, she managed to fight off the urge not to. Men like Levi Ackerman weren't meant to be scoffed at- or taken lightly for that matter. Men who had the world in their hands and floated above the law without fear of its gravity holding them down. Men who could get anything and everything they wanted with a simple snap of their fingers. But Levi was different. He was different because Aila saw him for what he truly was before the money, power, and success got to him. And she helped where she could until he could stand on his own two feet and drifted apart from me. A couple of years may not have changed his appearance, but everything else might as well have belonged to a complete stranger. Why he sought me out after all this time was a question only he could answer; and he did.
"All of these other cheats, fakers, and cock suckers will never get us the way I do. We know what the world is really like.- how badly it can fuck you over. When everyone else was happy to look away from me like I was just shit to be scraped off the bottom of their shoes, you helped me back on my feet and gave me a purpose. You treated me like a goddamn human being. And now that I have the world eating out of my fucking hand, it's only right that I should share that with you. Levi explained, voice smooth like water despite the small hint of bass behind it. And steel blue eyes void of any emotion other than fierce determination and intent.
"And not to be indelicate, but you really don't have a choice in the matter",he added. I was with him until that last sentence. Immediately, I was taken aback, eyes slightly narrowed in disbelief and a hint of anger. Did he really think that just because I was kind enough to help him out of poverty that that meant he had some kind of unspoken claim on me? As if I were a specific item on that he had on layaway until he came and picked it up. I was prepared to laugh in face if not for how deadly serious he sounded. So instead, I tried to match his intensity.
"Excuse me? I don't recall you ever being my dad to tell me what choices I have in my fucking life. Maybe if you had a bit more humanity than you do money and status, then sure. But as you are, no way in Hell",I replied, disgust dancing on my words. But while my blood was slowly starting to run hot, Levi sat across from me, colder than the icy color of his eyes, not even the least bit offended by my rebuttal.
"In case you've been living under a rock this whole time, I worked my ass off to earn that money and status. It turned me from a malnourished corpse living on the streets to a fucking millionaire. From law enforcement down to politics, I have connections to every faucet that makes this city run. Including the ones that keep a roof over your head", he replied. That was all I needed to hear for my heart to sink into my stomach, my breath to hitch in my throat, and my eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. In the back of my mind, a slither of fear began to creep its way in, despite my best attempts to keep it away. While Levi didn't outright threaten to make me homeless, the mere mention of how easy it'd be for him was cause for alarm.
"...You wouldn't…" I replied, voice barely above a murmur. I didn't realize just how much of my fear I let show until he raised a quizzical eyebrow at me.
"Don't tell me you're surprised. I told you, you don't have a choice in the matter", he said, taking a long drink of his tea, holding the cup by the rim. Sure, it was a simple enough gesture, but in my state of fearful shock, I took it as an insult. No, not even an insult. An insult, I could return with comeback. But this was an utter spit in the face. Fear gave way to white, hot anger and before I realized it, I snatched the cup away from Levi and tossed whatever was left in it in his face, not caring whether or not it was still hot enough to burn his skin. Although my own face felt as though it were on fire, while my heart practically shoved adrenaline to the rest of my body. I didn't realize how much I was shaking until I noticed the empty cup on my hand was dripping out leftover tea in a sort of choppy fashion.
I looked about ready to come across the table on him whereas Levi barely made a move beyond wiping the tea off of his face, and undoing the cravat from around his neck where a bit more dribbled down from his chin. Once the napkin was away from his face, I could swear I could see him wearing the faintest hint of a smile, followed by a low, short laugh. A true rarity for someone like Levi. So much so, that it brought me back down to earth long enough to set the cup back down on the table, taking a few deep breaths as I did so. However he was make me regret what I'd just done was anybody's guess- but I knew it'd be something unpleasant. As he tucked his soiled cravat into his jacket pocket, he kept his eyes fixed on me with a look that was akin to a wolf with a hare in its teeth. And his voice held a palpable intensity that almost made me choke on the saliva I prepared to swallow.
"As if some childish shit like that would make me change my mind about you. You can fight me on this all you want, but I've never been one to shy away from a challenge. You don't love me now, but trust me, you will love me soon".
