His Favorite Piece Of Art

Chapter 14 | Piece of me

"Hello?"

"Hello, am I speaking to Alexander Hart?" 

Bella could hear an older woman's voice speaking to her through the phone. "No, I'm sorry, Mr. Hart couldn't take the call." She speaks politely. "Do you want me to tell him to call you later or to leave him a message?"

"Oh no, that's fine. Just tell him to call this number back and that this is about the orphanage. He'll know. Thank you, darling." The woman hangs up, leaving Bella utterly confused.

Orphanage? Why would someone from an orphanage call him?

Bella wonders but the door opening interrupts her thoughts. She turns to face Alexander, his eyebrows furrowing when he sees her with his phone in her hands.

"Umm...some woman called and said you should call this number back. She said it's something about an orphanage?" Bella says unsurely.

As he hears this, his eyes widen a bit and his face turns cold. His whole body freezing on spot, asserting some distance and slowly closing himself off. His mood completely ruined. "And why did you pick up the call?"

His voice is harsh, surprising Bella with the sudden change of tone he never used for her and she can't help but feel a little bit nervous. "I-it just kept ringing and I thought it might be important so I-I answered..." She gulps.

"And you think that's okay? To just touch someone's things and answer their call when it's none of your business?" His voice is cold, rising a bit, making Bella's face fall, and steps back as if trying to hide away from him.

His eyes soften as he notices the small action and her expression. She wants to get away from him and that breaks his heart. But he just couldn't help but react that way. He isn't particularly mad that she answered his phone, but the fact that she knows about the orphanage now.

Maybe she doesn't know the whole story or how he's connected with it, but she will definitely wonder and think what's this all about.

"I'm sorry, love." He sighs. "I shouldn't have reacted this way, you did nothing wrong." he slowly walks closer to her and watches as she nods hesitantly.

She hands him back the phone and steps away from him to take her stuff.

"Are you free tomorrow?" He speaks quickly, stopping her in her tracks as she was about to leave. He didn't think this through, but the fear of ruining their relationship or even worse, losing her made him utter the words that he hopes he won't regret later.

"Umm...yeah." She quietly answers, still a little shaken up and scared to turn around and look at him.

"Okay...I'll come to pick you up at our usual time." He walks closer to her and she finally turns around.

"Why?" Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. 

Alexander bites his lip nervously, putting his hands in his pockets, fisting them then relaxing them. He repeats the actions a couple of times, trying to calm his beating heart and get rid of his nervousness.

Where he's about to take her is not a place full of good memories, and it's not something many people know about. Only Jake and Scarlett, and a few people that made fun of him because of that in the past.

That's why it's hard for him to talk about it. He knows that Bella isn't that type of person and that she would never judge him or make fun of him. But there is always fear lingering in him of being rejected or looked down on because of his past.

"I want to take you somewhere..."

Bella thinks about it and eventually nods. As she was about to reach the door handle again, he grabs her hand gently, stopping her. "Love, I'm really sorry for earlier...please don't look at me differently..."