The CEO's Painted Skin

~Sunday, Town Plaza~

Jerome arrived in the town's plaza riding his motorbike.

Catherine, her mother, and two siblings were already waiting for him.

His eyes shoot Catherine a questioning glance. He was expecting that they will have a date on their own, not with her entire family.

"Good afternoon, Auntie Thelma, hello Jacob and Lily," he greeted the older woman and the children.

The church was just a walking distance from the Plaza.

"Good afternoon too, Jerome," the older woman returns his greeting. "Let's go now inside the church, kids." Thelma knew and understood that her daughter and her suitor Jerome needs some privacy. She and her children started walking towards the church's entrance a few meters away, leaving the couple behind to have a talk.

Catherine sat on one of the benches that were scattered throughout the Plaza, Jerome followed suit.

Even though the sun was hot and shining brightly, they were able to choose a good spot since the bench was located under the shade of a big mahogany tree. The breeze is gentle and soothing to the skin.

"You want to go inside the church or we can talk here if you want?" she said.

"Let's have a talk first then we go inside the church later, is that okay with you?" suggested Jerome.

She nodded in agreement.

"How's your new work?" asked Jerome.

"I have not started yet. They texted me to report on Monday to start working right away."

"That's good. You're lucky you are hired right away."

She smiled. "Thanks to my cousin, she has a friend who works in the HR department. If not for her, then I won't be hired right away. There are many applicants, only three were hired and granted interview including me."

"They should hire you because if not then it's their loss, not yours."

"Lol, as if am something special," she smiled.

Jerome looked at her adoringly in the eyes. "You're very special in my heart Catherine."

She rolled her eyes.

"Catherine, why until now you are still hesitating to accept my love for you? How long do I have to wait until you will say yes? Am I a hard person to love?" Jerome's eyes turn like those of a cute puppy, trying to tug at her heartstring.

Catherine elbowed him. "Stop that! You can't make me say yes with that kind of technique. But I want to ask you something..."

"Shoot," he said.

"Does the girl's virginity matters to you?" she asked seriously.

Jerome's eyes narrowed. "No. I mean why?"

"Because I'm no longer a virgin. Something dark happened in my past, sorry I can't tell you. But I'm no longer a virgin."

Jerome eyed her seriously and curiously. Catherine was telling and hinting to him some kind of cryptic messages and it's hard to decipher them if she won't reveal to him anything about her past. He was left confused by what she was trying to tell him.

"Catherine, I don't care if you're no longer a virgin. I'm not after your virginity. I don't care about your past or what you have done before you meet me. What matters to me is how much you mean to me right now. I care for the future, I don't care of the past. Don't worry I will accept everything about you, the bad and the good." He had spoken the words straight from his heart.

She stays silent for a while, her eyes were fixed on the ground and the grass beneath her shoes.

"I'm not a virgin either," he laughs. "And that what makes us a perfect match for each other," he winks at her, outright lying. He just utters those words just to melt her uneasiness and not feel bad about herself.

Catherine laughed along with him, feeling a little bit better.

He was about to reach out for her hand but Catherine avoided his hand. He released a sigh.

"Okay I will just wait for the right time you will say yes," he said.

They fell silent for a while.

Jerome fixed his stare at the children playing in the swing nearby. Catherine was hiding a dark secret, but he wasn't interested to know about it. As long she accepts his love, nothing else matters, the rest will be a history that needs to be forgotten.

Catherine herself was immersed in her own deep thoughts. She was comparing Jerome to John. The big difference was that with Jerome she can start with a clean slate. With John, their dark past will always hover like a dark shadow in her mind.

Jerome cough a little trying to bring back her attention to him.

"Why don't we have a trial relationship, Catherine?"

"Huh? What do you mean by trial relationship?" she asked.

"Enter a relationship with me for three months, then after three months, if you can't still learn to love me then we will stop the trial and just stay friends."

"How about it? Would you agree to the trial relationship with me? You have nothing to lose," he was pressing her to agree.

Catherine glanced at his face. Does she want to experience how it feels to have a normal relationship with someone? A clean slate relationship with a decent guy like Jerome? Sounds tempting to her, just three months and it will be over. Why not?

...

How about John!!!

What about John???

How about him???

Tiny voices suddenly sprung from her consciousness. She was trying to shove them away.

"I will think about it, Jerome. I will let you know If I will arrive at my decision."

Jerome eyed her with a pleasant look in his eyes. He was glad she was considering it. If she doesn't like the arrangement then she wouldn't want to give it further thought. He was excited, she might give him a try after all. If she did, then he will do everything to win her love. He will just have to wait patiently for her decision.

"How's your family in the province?" asked Catherine. She knew that Jerome is also a breadwinner just like her. He supports his siblings' education in the province. He was a good, responsible and caring brother and a good son to his poor parents. Jerome is indeed an ideal boyfriend. If she wants to have a real boyfriend one day it would be someone like him.

"They are all fine, thanks for asking. I want you to meet them someday," his voice was gentle and filled with wishful thinking.

She smiled at him. Such a very nice guy!

"Jerome, let's go inside the church now."

They rose to their feet and entered the church to attend the mass.

...

For the past two hours, Allan has been watching and spying on them a few meters away, he plugs his earphones on his ears. He was talking to John on the other end.

"They already entered the church, Sir."

"Are they touching? Like holding hands or something?"

"No Sir. They keep a decent distance between them."

"Okay good, keep watching them, Allan. Were already in the coastal road. We will be there in fifty minutes time. Keep watching where they will be going after the mass," he ordered.

"Yes...Sir."

He ended his call with Allan.

John was feeling furious because he's been calling Catherine's cell phone the whole time she was talking with that Jerome guy. There could only be one reason, she turns off her cell phone intentionally just to shut him off. She doesn't want to be disturb while talking to that guy. He was seething with jealousy. She promised him a date today and yet she was having a date with another guy! Was it just yesterday that she told him she loves him and acknowledges him as her boyfriend to that woman in the internet cafe? Was it just a sick cruel joke on her part just to torture him?

That doesn't sit well with him. He feels like he was ready to explode in anger.

He was mad and feeling insanely jealous!

Catherine can really piss him to no ends. The more she pissed him the more he loves her and the more he craves her. He was getting obsessive with her, he knew it yet he can't stop himself! F*ck!

It's a crazy tormenting feeling for him. But he can't let go of Catherine, she was like the very air that he breathes. He can only have peace of mind if she can finally commit to him through marriage. From the look of things, she is not interested in marriage yet, nor her feelings for him was fully developed at this stage. That what really bothers him.

He can wait for her forever until she is ready...

But what if she will enter into a relationship with someone else and fall in love in the process?

What he will do?

Kidnap her? Caged her somewhere in a basement?

Do shotgun marriage?

There are endless of ways he can obtain her, but he maybe has her body to satisfy his lust yet if true love doesn't exist between them, the relationship is not worth having in the first place.

If he will force her against her will she will hate him forever and he doesn't like that kind of relationship, he wants Catherine to love him, just like the way he loves her.

He can continue chasing her to the ends of the earth...convince her to love him...but if she falls in love with another guy that would be a game changer.

He runs his fingers through his hair, frustrated and bothered with all the tormenting feelings he felt for her.

He will see her later...

Until then he needs to come up with something to control her somehow.