Love is the Sunshine novel Chapter 67

'Damn!

It slipped out.'

Carla knew that she had accidentally spat out the truth so she stood up all of a sudden, ready to make an escape. But Terence grabbed her before she had the chance to. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her back to him. He locked Carla in his embrace and she couldn't move a muscle.

"Carla? Did I hear you right? Do you realize the price you will have to pay for lying to my face?"

Terence breathed heavily onto her neck. Carla felt extremely embarrassed and was raging inside. 'What do you mean by lying to your face? I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you the truth because I didn't know where to begin...'

Terence knew that Carla was trying to come up with some way to get away from him again. He loosened his grip just enough to lift her chin up to him. Without giving her any time to respond, he brought his mouth down on hers and kissed her hard on the lips.

He was angry with her that she had lied to him and wanted to punish her. Carla tried to pull away but that just made Terence tighten his grip around her waist even more. He thrust his tongue inside her mouth, exploring every corner greedily. Carla let out a small moan. Terence circled his tongue around hers, teasing and licking her lips with his. Carla's heart was pounding hard and fast in her chest. He pulled her waist even closer to him. Carla's head was spinning and she felt breathless. She parted her lips slightly and Terence nibbled them with his lips and then thrusted his tongue in her mouth again while he kissed her passionately.

Terence was lost in the passion of the kiss. He held her head back over his arm, kissing her deeply, but wanting more. Carla wanted to fight back but was overcome by a feeling of helplessness. A warm surge enveloped her. She moaned, as her body took over and writhed in pleasure pushing herself against him.

Just as quickly as the kiss came, it had ended as Terence finally felt satisfied. He released her from his embrace.

Carla sat on his lap for a moment bewildered. Her legs were shaky and she felt hot and out of breath. When she slowly opened her eyes and saw Terence's face, she blushed and lowered her head. She was rendered speechless. A heavy silence lingered between them.

Carla felt deeply ashamed and aggrieved. Tears welled in her eyes and streamed down her flushed cheeks. She slowly looked up at Terence through wet eyelashes and when Carla saw his angry face, she straightened her body, defensively. 'How dare he give me that look after what he just did!' she thought furiously.

Suddenly, she reached across and pinched Terence's arm as hard as she could. "Terence, you're such an asshole!

Can't you remember anything you did from last night? You forced me to—

You! You... I don't want to continue this conversation anymore. I don't want to talk to you anymore! It's best that you just go back to your JA City as soon as possible!"

She made her hand into a fist and tried to punch him in the shoulder but Terence swiftly sidestepped and pulled her into his lap again.

Terence held her for a moment until she calmed down. He looked down at her and seeing her reddened eyes and distressed face, he realized that she wasn't making it all up. He narrowed his eyes and questioned, "Carla, are you telling me that we didn't make love last night? Instead, I forced you to do something else. Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

'If that's the case, everything will make sense now. What on earth did I force her to do though?' Terence wondered, his curiosity piqued.

Carla looked away, not able to look him in the eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier this morning?" Terence's expression had softened and was replaced with a teasing smile. He gently lifted her head up in his hands and probed further, "Carla just relax. Tell me exactly what happened last night, will you? And don't leave any details out."

Carla couldn't believe this man. He was actually flirting with her in such a nasty way! She was still reeling in shock from that brutal kiss and shot him a fierce look, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. At the thought of what he made her do, a lump rose in her throat.

How could she possibly describe in detail, about how she had to endure the humiliation of being forced to jerk him off?

"If you don't want to tell me, it's fine. I won't ever ask you about what happened last night again, all right?"

Terence cradled her in his lap, gently stroking her silky hair. When he saw the pained look on her face, he couldn't bring himself to question further.

'So that means, Nathan was wrong about Carla being unfaithful to me.

If nothing had happened between us during her stay in my suite, then there won't be any blood stain on the sheets, ' he thought to himself. Although Nathan had been his bodyguard for a long time, he never noticed that Nathan was so attentive to small details.

"Let's just leave it in the past, Carla. I hope you and I are okay now. I will be going back to JA City after a meeting tomorrow.

Once the shareholders sign the contract, a lot of things need to be done back in JA City, so I will have to go," Terence whispered softly in her ear as he nibbled her earlobe with his lips.

"Mm..."

Carla purred. She had calmed down and leaned into Terence's muscular body. She looked up dreamy into his eyes.

Terence smiled and tapped her lightly on the nose with his long finger. "I have already made arrangements at Sean's school. He can go back as soon as he is ready." He put his hands on her face and furrowed his brows, suddenly becoming serious again. Over the past few days, a lot of things had happened which strengthened the bond between them. Even though he wished to stay longer with Carla, his work commitments dictated that he return back to JA City. He heaved a deep sigh.

"Carla, after I leave, I want you to carefully consider moving to JA City. I don't want to force you to do anything against your wishes. But, don't leave me waiting for too long.

And another thing, Carla. If you do wish to have a job, I promise you that there will always be a position waiting for you in JA City. No matter where you want to go, companies, governmental facilities, whatever; I will arrange it for you." Terence started to lure her by offering her a various selection of jobs.

JA City, in comparison to BH City, was like comparing an elephant to an ant. With Carla by his side, he could at least take good care of her.

But, he understood her reluctance to leave BH City. After all, it was her hometown where she had grown up.

"Don't worry, 'dad'. I will take good care of both of me and Sean. You can rest easy and go back to JA City, ' she mocked. As much as she appreciated his thoughtfulness, she didn't show it on her face. Carla slid off Terence's lap and sat on the couch, turning the laptop on. She began to delete her files.

Terence noticed what she was doing and frowned. "Carla, what are you doing? Stop deleting your files. I'm leaving the laptop for you. It's yours now."

"No, this is way too expensive. I can't accept this."

Carla wasn't planning on taking it, so she decided to delete the files anyway.

She murmured to herself, 'You are so lucky to be born into a wealthy family. I could never dream of giving a laptop to someone else after they borrowed it just once.'

However, Terence pulled her hands away from the laptop, stopping her from deleting anymore of her files.

"Carla, why can't you just be a good girl and don't make me repeat myself?"

he said with frustration in his voice. Terence heaved a deep sigh. 'Only you, Carla, will ignore my words completely and do whatever you like, ' he thought annoyed.

The sudden change in his mood had caught her off guard. Carla was surprised by his domineering behavior. Terence grabbed her finger and put it inside his mouth and bit down slightly.

"The next time when you act against me, I will bite you until you listen,"

he said in a threatening voice. Terence shot her a fiery look while he removed her finger from his mouth and licked the tip with his tongue.

Carla pulled her hand away from Terence and wiped the wet finger off on her dress.

The more Carla got to know him, the more she felt his sensitivity.

He was like a wolf in sheep's clothing. In the beginning, he only showed her his gentle and tender side until he had won her trust. However, with time, his dangerous nature gradually began to appear more and more. Carla didn't say a word. She held the laptop in her arms and left this dangerous man as quickly as she could. Terence didn't try to stop her. He slowly traced his lips with his index finger, still savoring the after taste of the passionate kiss.

It was the next morning.

Terence had successfully earned the shareholders' trust and completed the contract at the meeting. After having lunch with Carla, he caught a flight back to JA City.

After Carla saw him off, she felt an emptiness in her heart. Neither of them mentioned a word about when they would meet again.

She was well aware that it all depended on her whether they would meet again or not.

If Carla were to call Terence and tell him that she missed him, he would fly over in a heartbeat. She knew that.

However, Carla wasn't that sentimental. She needed to build her own life again.

Another two days had passed since Terence had left BH City.

Terence had informed the hotel before he left and directed all her expenses to his credit card. Carla and Sean could stay there as long as they wanted to.

While, on the other side of the city, their new home was being decorated and furnished promptly in order for them to move in as soon as possible.

Although Carla had passed the interview and she had been studying the regulation for almost a week now, she still hadn't received any calls from them for the enrollment. However, she wasn't concerned at all because she knew the position had been assigned to her. She laid on the couch in her suite, checking the date on her phone and remembered that tomorrow was the memorial day of Marian -- her mother.

Since the company hadn't called her yet, it allowed her more time to prepare a small ceremony for tomorrow.

"Carla, I miss mom and dad."

After they had dinner, Sean ran into Carla's room and climbed onto her bed. When she saw his little face and his eyes were all red and swollen. Carla realized that Sean had been crying. She held him in her arms tightly to comfort him and he sobbed, "Carla I had a dream about mom last night. She was in the hospital and she looked like she was suffering in extreme pain."

Carla gently rubbed his head and thought to herself, 'Strange. I had a dream about her the other day as well.'

"Hey, Sean. Don't you know that dreams are always the opposite of reality? That means that mom is living happily in heaven with God and the angels. You need to take good care of yourself, to eat properly, sleep on time and study hard. I believe mom would be looking down upon you and she would be happy about that." Carla encouraged him and wiped his tears away.

Sean nodded and looked her straight in the eyes. "Carla, you're the best sister in the whole world! I hope that we are never apart. Oh, and Terence, he is the best brother-in-law in the whole world too!

I'll be brave for you and Terence, I promise." Sean clenched his little fists and his expression showed resilience.

He told himself inside his heart, 'No matter what has happened, Carla never left me once. Even if mom and dad had gone, I was never alone.

I will never be alone because I have Carla and Terence.'

Sean was emotionally and physically exhausted, so he quickly fell asleep inside Carla's arms.

Carla slowly laid him down on the bed and gently covered him with the soft blanket. Though she had been lied down for a long while, she couldn't sleep. The only sound that she heard in the suite was the steady rhythm of Sean's breathing. She tilted her head and looked outside of the window, lost in her thoughts.

It had become late in the evening and Carla was still having trouble sleeping.

She got out of bed and walked slowly to the desk.

On the hand-carved wooden desk, a black box was placed on top of it.

Under the shimmering light of the table lamp, the box seemed to glow in the dark. The cover of the box was made of glass and metal and normally, one would be able to see the contents through the glass. However, it was now covered in soot from the fire. If looked closely, the pink flower pattern could still be made out faintly under the light.

The box was from her mother's generation. After Marian was married, the box had stayed with her and was very well preserved. If it wasn't for the fire, the beautiful pattern on the outside of the box wouldn't have been burned and gone for good.

Even so, the robust material of the box had protected the contents that were saved inside of it. This was the only thing that had survived the fire.

Knowing that the box was so precious to her mother, Carla never tried to open it, not even once.

The box was hidden in her closet after their mother had passed away because she was afraid that Sean might constantly be reminded of her. He always cried when he thought of his mother.

Who would have thought that everything else was destroyed in the fire and yet this little box that was hidden away had survived? Carla had all but forgotten about it, until she found it again.

Carla took a piece of cloth and began to wipe the soot and ash residue from the box.

She recalled that her mother used to put all her important things inside. Every time she tried to touch it when she was a little girl, Marian would always refuse her and hide it in her room.

Carla ran her fair fingertip across the cover of the box. The color contrast of her finger and the box was so extreme that the shades could have represented the past and the present.

Carla's heart was shattered when she felt the coldness of the box beneath her fingertips. Tears ran down from her cheek and she finally lost it. 'Mom, I miss you so much! I hope you are at peace, ' she cried inside her heart.

Click—

The sound of a crisp metal voice was heard in the silence of the night. The box had suddenly been opened by Carla.