Lowering his hand from the handle, his head dropped until he saw his woman's hands on him. How could he ever leave her? All he wanted was some air and some space to think about everything that was dropped on him that night.
First, meeting Samantha after so long and seeing him with another man that he least expected to see with her. A man that looked like a threat to their relationship.
Second, he had a son that he did not know about! Although he had already accepted this bit, he still had to wrap his head around the idea that he was already a father. Something that he had not thought would happen to him suddenly and that night of all nights.
Lastly, he refused to believe that Gael was their only hope to be able to reach Yanovich.
But the love of his life had so much faith in the idea that it was upsetting him in the process. He knew that he could trust her but how could he trust a man like Gael De Luca?
Bringing his hand up, he covered hers with his, warming her hands with his big ones. He turned around and immediately drew her into his embrace.
"Please don't leave me," she said one more time with misty eyes, making his heart tremble.
Placing her head on his chest, he tightened his arms around her and whispered, "I'm not… I won't."
"After not being with you for so long, I have been wanting to see you and I thought I could control myself once I get just a tiny glimpse of you but… you know how that happened." His chest slightly shook when he lightly chuckled. "I can't leave you anymore, Samantha. My heart won't take it.
"I can't leave you and Ashton."
Pressing herself onto him, Samantha nodded as if she understood everything that he said and everything that was left unsaid.
"Welcome back, Samantha," he kissed the top of her head and patted her hair gently.
"Welcome back, Daniel." She responded before tiptoeing to give him a soft kiss on the lips.
…
The next morning.
The sun gleamed on the bedroom, waking up Samantha. When she opened her eyes, the first thing that she saw was Daniel who was lying on his side while looking at their sleeping son. A smile formed on her face when she realized that one of her wishes came true and it was to see him like that. It had been a dream of hers to see the father and son together in one frame and she had wanted to see Daniel's eyes looking lovingly at Ash – the kind of love that only a father can give to his son.
Noticing the stare from opposite him, Daniel looked up at her and smiled back. "Good morning."
"Hi…"
"Does he always sleep like this?" He asked as he observed his son; one of the little boy's arm was raised up beside his head as he slept while the other was touching his belly.
Samantha chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, he sleeps just like you." She fixed the blanket and covered Ashton's body carefully not to wake him up.
"It's so… weird looking at him. He's so tiny." He touched little Ashton's hand with his index finger and unconsciously, Ash wrapped his fingers around his father's, widening Daniel's smile more.
"He was tinier before, just like this…" Samantha moved her hands to show him before she pouted, "He's growing up so fast."
"I missed it…"
"Hmmm?"
Daniel's expression turned melancholic. "I missed it while he was still inside you. And I missed it when you gave birth to him… it must have been so hard for you." The look on his eyes told Samantha that he was regretful of their circumstance, making her stomach feel upset because she still had been feeling guilty.
Samantha bit her lip. If only she was stronger for them, she would have told Daniel sooner. "I'm sorry… it's my fault. I should have-"
He shook his head and caressed her face with his fingers lightly, "Don't be… it's not your fault. I understand why you didn't and it's okay. It would have been very dangerous for both you and our son. I'm afraid that if I knew about his existence early on, I probably would have messed up. You did so well in hiding him and no one else should know about it. For now, at least. We need to keep him safe."
"How do we do that now? It had been so hard for us to keep him in hiding. Now that you know about him, how are we going to do this?"
"I'll think of something. Don't worry. When are you going back?"
"What?" Daniel's question alarmed Samantha.
"When are you flying back overseas?"
"You want me… to go back there?" She understood what he meant right away but she wanted to refuse him as she did not want to be separated anymore.
"I don't want you to, Samantha but I need you to go back there and stay safe."
"But I can't leave you!"
Samantha's voice made Ashton flinch a little on his sleep; Daniel had to stroke his son's leg to keep him from waking up and in almost a whisper, he answered, "You have to. It will keep both of you safe."
Samantha knitted her brows, she could not understand why Daniel was trying to let her go away again. She thought that they were finally going to do things together. Was she the only one who thought that?
"But what about-"
Knocks on their bedroom door interrupted their conversation. After a few seconds of contemplation, Hannah said, "S, Ummm… Mr. De Luca is here."
Daniel lazily looked at Samantha and gave her an insincere smile. "Great, your boyfriend's here." He said before he got up from the bed and went to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
"Daniel, he's not my boyfriend!" Samantha tried to catch up to him only to have the door shut on her face. She rolled her eyes and knocked on the door, "Come on... don't be like this-"
Why did it feel like their relationship had gone back to their first stages? Their temperature's hot and cold.
Just as she finished the third knock, the door opened and a hand came out to drag her inside the bathroom. She squealed in surprise while Daniel managed to close the door again before he trapped her there with his hands on either side of her face, her back leaning against the door. She gulped at their sudden closeness while her heart beat erratically.
It's definitely not their first time being this close but his sudden aggressiveness made her feel butterflies in her stomach as if she was a teenager. Was this how they were going to be after finding each other again?
Daniel stared into her eyes dangerously before he lowered his head as if he was going to kiss her, making her close her eyes in response. But just as his lips were less than an inch apart from hers, he stopped. Her anticipation grew wild but the contact never came like she expected!
She opened her eyes and saw a smirk appear on his delicious lips as he gazed down at her waiting mouth. Her brows began to wiggle, confused why Daniel was torturing her.
Pulling back, he continued to look at her and taunted, "I won't kiss... nor touch you while you're associated with that man." His eyes looked serious but the tone of his voice was playful.
Irritated, Samantha did not dare to coax him anymore and let her stubborn self play with him instead. "Fine! Have it your way! I won't do it either until you tell me who that woman was from last night!" She left the bathroom in a flash, leaving Daniel with his smug look.
He knew very well that their charade won't last long but with the way things were with them at that time, that little game of theirs will just bring them closer together. He was not in a hurry but he was not going to let her go again this time either.. After all, he was Daniel Cho.