The CEO's Painted Skin

John was staring at Catherine's pretty face for a very long time, her beauty and innocence never fails to mesmerize her.

It's been liberating to take off his mask for several hours even if there is another person beside him. He can only take off his face mask if he was alone in the room, he has a woman beside him right now, normally he won't take off his mask, but now he can go bare face all the way because Catherine was comfortable with his ugly scar. She accepted his looks and maybe that is also one reason why he loves her even more. With her, he doesn't need to hide what he looks like, with Catherine he felt comfortable baring his soul.

Catherine's eyes fluttered and landed on John's face.

"Oh my, I fall asleep. What time is it now?" she asked in a worried voice.

"It's still 10:00 PM my dear Catherine. The night still young," he said.

They curled up to each other's warm bodies.

A moment later...

John stood up pulling Catherine with him. "Come with me, I have something for you," he said.

They walked towards the window side of the room with several shopping bags lined up in the corner.

"I brought some presents for your entire family. Check it out Catherine," he said softly.

Catherine obeyed his command. She checked each content of the bags, there were some dresses for middle-aged woman fit for her mother. There were also some shoes and t-shirst for a boy and some pretty dreses for a girl fit for her younger sister. The two bags contained blouses, skirts, and jeans for women with her age. Then there was also two fashionable shoulder bags, for her and Caroline.

She was astonished to see the expensive clothing that came incontact with her hands! Speechless for the whole duration of time while perusing each of the presents, Catherine hadn't expected that John would be generous enough to shower her entire family with gifts!

"John, you don't have to do this!" she turned around and face him. "You have given me enough already, It's all too much! I can't accept it!" she exclaimed.

John smiled at her.

"Catherine, it's just a small present from me. Don't mind it much," he held her hand and pulled her towards the bed with him.

"I got another present for you," he said.

He retrieves a box from the shopping bag above the table. A new box of mobile device landed on Catherine's palm. It's the latest edition of iphone8!

F*ck me! Catherine screamed inside her mind.

"It's your's Catherine," he said amused by her reaction.

The girl was not moving her hands to open the box.

John decided to do it for her. He opened the box and fished out the shiny glimmering mobile device from it's covering. He placed the device into Catherine's hands.

She was still frozen, stupefied with his expensive gift.

"Early in the morning, my bodyguards and I went into the nearest city to buy all these presents for you and your family," he mumbled. "Hope your family likes them," he added.

Catherine was still dumbfounded, unable to say anything.

"You don't like this mobile device?" he said in a worried voice. "We can exchange it to something you like," he suggested.

"No need. It's beautiful!" she finally has spoken. She runs her fingers on the shiny mobile device's surface. She never owned such an expensive device before. She felt like she's not worthy of owning such a device.

"John, Christmas season is still far away, why are you showering me and my family with gifts?" she asked.

"Because I love you, Catherine. I want to provide all the material things that you are lacking with. I have so much to give if you allow me. And please allow me to show how much I love you and how much important you are to me," he pleaded.

Catherine got misty eyed all of a sudden. She hugged John tight and sobbed into his chest.

"You make me cry!" she wailed.

"Oh, is that cry of happiness or cry of resentment?" John asked.

"Both," she said.

Alarmed, John gathered her teary-eyed face and looked hard into her crying orbs.

"Why? Did you hate me all this time?" he said with a voice full of sorrow.

"No! I hate that I can't bring myself to hate you!" she sobbed harder into his chest, soaking his t-shirt in the process. Every time he touches her anywhere her body she melted over and over again under his touch. Her heart was also melting because of his generosity, gentle and caring nature, every minute and every second she spent with him she was getting comfortable with his presence.

He rubbed her back, trying to console her. Her crying was like tiny pins digging into his heart drawing painful emotions from him.

"I don't want you to hate me, Catherine! I want you to love me. I want you to open up your heart and accepts me fully. Let me take care of you. That's all I ever wanted from the moment I laid my eyes on you," he said softly. His raw emotions were shaking the very foundation of his existence.

Catherine was suffering from internal agony...moving to the city was a clear indication that she's stepping back away from him...all her plans were already in motion and tomorrow is the completion.

John was also advancing towards her two steps at a time...trying to get a hold even a tiny fraction of her fragile heart.

Tomorrow she and her family will finally migrate to the city and she has no plan to tell John about it. She has to get away from him while she still can. She dried her tears away with his t-shirt.

"You're okay now?" he asked in a worried gentle voice still rubbing her back.

"I'm okay," she said softly while avoiding his gaze.

"H-how to use this thing?" she asked staring at the new mobile device. Her old cell phone is not that hard to navigate compared to this one.

"Here, let me teach you. There's also a manual book, you can study it during your free time."

John navigated the mobile device functions one by one, making sure Catherine saw everything he's doing so that she can use the device's functionality easily on her own. He typed his own cell number on her iPhone.

"I added my number into your contacts so that you can call and text me anytime," he said. John activated the camera and took several photos of them together.

"Ah, wait. Let me wear my mask first," he was in the process of deleting all the photos of them together with his ugly bare face. He wants to replace them with photos wearing his mask.

Catherine quickly took the iPhone away from his fingers. "No need to delete them, they look fine to me," she said softly.

John looked at Catherine's beautiful face, his heart was bursting with happiness. A woman has finally arrived that could bring color to his world and help him overcome his troubled past. He was so ready to embrace the dazzling future with her by his side. He has great plans for her. He has great plans for their bright future together.