You Can't Choose Love (3 page)

When Ethan entered the Advanced Calculus
classroom, he quickly became annoyed. Ethan wasn’t used to struggling with
school work so when he found Calculus difficult to comprehend, it bothered him
to no end. However, today, it wasn’t calculus that bothered him. It was Janet
who was sitting in the front row. He glared at her and turned to Kan and George
who had entered with him.

“What’s the serving girl doing
here?” he asked.

“She’s been here all along,” Kan
said. “She’s taking advanced classes apparently so she’s with the seniors.”

Ethan turned to look at her while
she was determinedly avoiding his eye. Flashes of the night before came back to
his head. He didn’t know why he had kissed her but seeing her hurt and broken
had bothered him. He wanted to see the same, fierce and angry Janet instead of
the crying one.

Today, he observed Janet and how
she always answered every single question thrown at them by Professor Pakpen.
He also seemed to be exceptionally fond of her. Suddenly, an idea struck Ethan.
He would ask Janet to tutor him and that way, he’ll be able to figure out how
to break this girl who, so far, seemed unbreakable. Happy with the idea, he
could barely wait till the class ended. When it did, he threw off his friends
and approached Janet, who was chatting with Professor Pakpen. It was too
perfect.

Professor Pakpen turned towards
him.

“Ethan,” he said. “Working hard, I
presume?”

“Yes, sir,” Ethan replied in the
good mannered tone he used with grown-ups. “But I just can’t seem to grasp my
head around the concept that you taught last week. It’s just so difficult.
Maybe if someone smarter could help me…” he trailed off.

Professor Pakpen fell for the trap
immediately.

“Janet is my best student. Why
don’t you ask her for help?”

Ethan turned to look at her and
noticed that she was looking at him through narrowed eyes, trying to figure out
what he was doing.

“That’ll be nice, I suppose,” he
said, purposefully doubtful.

“Let’s give it a shot,” Professor
Pakpen said. “Janet, I’m assigning you as a tutor for Ethan from today. I want
regular updates.” He concluded.

Janet opened her mouth to protest
but Professor Pakpen was already picking up his books and she thought better of
it; what would he think if she refused? He exited the classroom and Ethan
turned to her, smirking.

“You did that on purpose,” she
said flatly.

“I did, yes. What a smart little
serving girl.”

“What do you want, Ethan?” Janet
said, sighing.

“I genuinely want your help,” he
said, trying to sound sincere.

Janet shook her head. “I’ll help
you since Professor Pakpen said so. But don’t you ever try to kiss me again.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, serving
girl.” Ethan winked. “When shall we start?”

“I have work today.”

“You mean that thing where you
serve at the restaurant?”

“Yes, Ethan. Some of us have to
work to get an education.”

“Sounds boring. After your work
then.”

“Okay. Be at the library then.”

“The library?”

“Yes.”

“Where is that?”

Janet looked at him incredulously.
“Are you serious?”

“I’ve never been to the
library...”

“Wait for me outside The Four Stars.
I’ll take you there.” Shaking her head, she walked away.

Ethan smirked. Now he’ll find out
exactly how to break her. She will be just like everyone else in the
university. She will have to bow down to him. The Almighty Janet Price. Ethan
chuckled at the thought.

Little did he know what was about
to happen. The truth of this ordeal was that Ethan could not get Janet out of
his head ever since Aveline spilled coffee on his shirt. The only viable
explanation Ethan could find was that he wanted to break Janet and make her
apologize. The real reason he couldn’t get her out of his head was far from it.
It was also the same reason that had compelled him to kiss her. But more on
that later.

Janet woke up with a burden on her
chest. It was as if something kept bothering her but she couldn’t quite place a
finger on it. Finally, she figured it was her tutoring session with Ethan that
was scheduled this evening. Janet has tutored several students before; younger,
classmates, even older. But recent events made her dread this tutoring session.

Besides the fact that Ethan was
completely trying to ruin her life by getting his female cronies and fans to
bully her, it was also the little kiss incident that took place at Nel’s party.
She couldn’t get the feeling of his soft lips on hers, his fingers brushing her
cheeks, his tongue pushing into her mouth out of her head.

As the day came to an end and
Janet finished her day shift, she became more and more anxious. She would have
to face Ethan now. Sighing, she walked down the street where Ethan should be
waiting for her. However, Ethan had grown bored of waiting and had been
wandering outside The Four Stars. She did not notice him as she exited which
amused him. He started following her at a distance. As Janet walked, she
aimlessly thought about the errands she had to run after her tutoring session.
She was low on groceries so she needed to buy some; she did not want to spend
another day eating ready-to-boil noodles. She felt wary when she walked down a
patch of street with broken street lights; it was too dark and Janet never took
this route after work. She usually headed home once she was done. And rightly
so, since a figure appeared out of the dark and started walking towards her.
Janet held back, trying to decipher who it was.

“Not lost, are you, my darling?”
said a voice, strangely familiar. Suddenly, it came back to her. It was the
same man who had kissed her at the club; there was no doubt in that. She tried
to walk past him but he stepped in front of her.

“No one to protect you here,
little bird,” the man said. “Nel was an old friend of mine. Long before she
became big and famous. She refuses to talk to me because apparently, I hurt
you.”

“Leave me alone,” Janet said, her
voice strangely high pitched.

“Is there a problem?” a voice
said, behind Janet.

She turned and was strangely
relieved to find Ethan walking towards her. The man saw it too and faltered;
his face darkened.

“N-not at all, Mr. Reed,” he
stammered. “I was just asking the young lady if she needs help.”

“That’s not what I saw,” Ethan
said, his voice deadly.

“N-now now, I wouldn’t do anything
after what you did to me for the innocent kiss I gave her,” the man said,
pointing towards his eye. For the first time, Janet saw the bruise around it.
His arm was also bandaged.

“Good. Now get out of my sight,
Charlie. And I never want to see you near this young lady again lest you want
another black eye.”

The man called Charlie stumbled
away, muttering. Janet was shocked into silence. Had Ethan actually hit him on
her behalf? That made her feel strangely touched and angry at the same time.
Angry because it wasn’t his place to look out for her when he was
simultaneously busy trying to ruin her life. Touched because she didn’t expect
him to care about her.

“Thank you,” Janet said quietly.

“I only did it so I wouldn’t have
to wait for you at the library,” Ethan said, shrugging. Still, he draped an arm
around her shoulder, as though to protect her. Janet thought of slapping it
away but he had saved her and she thought she should at least try to be nicer.

“Next time, we’ll work at your
café,” he said with finality.

They walked in silence for a few
minutes before Janet spoke up. “You-you hit this Charlie man?”

She glanced up at him and saw his
jaw tighten but he didn’t respond. When they reached the library, he was back
to his infuriating self, taunting every movement she made and every word she
spoke.

Janet took out her Advanced
Calculus book and started flipping through it, wondering which chapter to start
with. “We could start with integral equations but I think that’s a little too
advanced… maybe we should backtrack to integration first… that’s a lot simpler…
unless of course you want to start with the very basics… linear algebra and the
likes… that’s fine with me but it would take an awfully long time so…”

“Janet,” Ethan cut across her
random musings. “Can we not study today?”

“Why?” Janet asked, confused.
“What else do you want to do?”

“Let’s talk.”

Janet gave him an exasperated
look. She didn’t understand him. At times, he was exceptionally infuriating and
at other times, he was almost sweet.

“Where are you from?” he
continued.

“I thought you did a background
check on my life with Pam.”

“That’s true.”

Janet rolled her eyes.

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Anything else you want to do to
me?” Ethan asked, suggestively.

Janet rolled her eyes again,
shutting the book.

“Why don’t you want to talk to
me?”

“Because you’re trying to make my
life miserable.”

“It doesn’t seem to affect you,
clearly.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that
you’re trying.”

“That’s why you don’t want to talk
to me?”

“Yes.”

Slowly, Ethan got up from across
the table and took a seat next to her. “I’ll tell Michelle and her cronies to stop
making your life miserable then. I can’t have my tutor not talk to me.”

“How considerate of you.”

Suddenly, Janet felt Ethan’s hand
on her legs as it slowly trailed up. She wanted to push his hand away but
something wouldn’t let her. And while she did not want to admit it, she was
thinking of their last kiss and how nice his lips had felt on hers. She
wouldn’t mind kissing him again. But his hand was trailing up her skirt now and
she felt like she couldn’t move. He brought his lips to her ear and whispered.
“I don’t want to study today. We can do that later. I want to do something else
today.”

Janet turned her face towards him
and suddenly, their lips were barely inches apart. His hands were at her inner
thigh now and she felt his gentle touch through her panties. It was all so
foreign to her that she did not know how to react. All she knew was a feeling
at the pit of her stomach that would only be quenched if he finished what he
started. He moved the remaining inches as their lips met in a heated kiss. This
time, Janet kissed him back with fervor. It was different from their soft and
gentle kiss before. This one was urgent, desperate. When he broke the kiss to
suck at her neck, Janet moaned and pulled his hair.

“I want you to come back with me
to my house,” he breathed against her neck.

Janet instinctively wanted to say
no but she felt safe around Ethan. He had protected her on the streets and he
had beaten up the man who kissed her at the club. Ethan could be trusted, she
told herself. She heard herself agreeing. Ethan grabbed her hand and they
walked outside. Ethan’s driver was waiting with his car. It was a three minute
drive to Ethan’s house. Or mansion, as Janet would prefer to call it. His house
was huge, with three different gates. When they entered, Janet noticed the
various tree houses, gardens and cocktail bars outside, as well as a small
glass hut at a distance. Inside, the floors were marbled and the ceiling was
adorned with chandeliers and fancy lights. The corridor was huge, with
paintings hung all along the walls. A huge, black staircase led up to the next
floor. Janet looked around, awestruck.

“You
live
here?”

“Yeah,” he glanced down at her.
“Why?”

“It’s huge,” she said faintly.

“No one really uses it. Used to.
Before we moved to California. Now, it’s mostly empty.”

“That must be lonely.”

Ethan shrugged.

“Not really. My idiot friends are
always here. Plus, all of dad’s friends in Georgia use this house for their
conferences and meetings. The first floor is all conference and presentation
rooms.”

“Wow.”

“Want a tour of the house?”

Janet nodded, too shocked at the
extravagance to speak. The ground floor held several banquet and dinner halls.
The first floor was indeed conference rooms. The second floor had rooms,
bedrooms, guest rooms and children’s play area rooms. The third floor was a
humongous library. The top floor had three gyms, a basketball court and an
indoor swimming pool.

“Wow,” Janet repeated. “Does
anyone even use these gyms?”

“Used to,” he repeated. “When we
lived in Georgia, we always had cousins and family and friends over. Now, no
one really uses them. We’ve thought of making them open to general public but
it’s not really feasible security wise considering dad’s senior position.”

The last part of the tour was
Ethan’s own room and a tensed silence fell over them as they entered. Ethan
glanced at his watch.

“It’s late,” he said. “You should
stay over.”

“I’d rather not,” Janet replied
softly.

The light in his room was dim but
it was enough for her to see how huge it was. The window was covered with
golden curtains and the bed covers were golden as well. The bed was king sized
with identical bedside tables on each side. A dressing table stood in the right
corner and a huge closet in the left corner. The room was entirely carpeted in
thick rugs with the wooden floor peeking through at certain places. Janet felt
warm, cozy and safe there.

“Why not?” Ethan asked her.

“Why do you want me to stay?”

“Because I want you.”

“A plane serving girl like me?”

“A strong minded, fierce and bold
serving girl like you.”

He gently turned her so she was
facing him. Tucking her hair behind her ear, he brought down his lips to press
a kiss to her jaw. Janet knew she should stop him there and then and leave. He
was the one who was making her life miserable; the one who didn’t care for
people’s feelings and only wanted what was best for him. But he had saved her
too. He had kissed her after the incident to make her feel better. He had
looked out for her and beat up the drunken man. She was torn between what she
should
do and what she
wanted
to do. She was torn between hatred (did she ever
really hate him?) and desire.

As he nibbled at her earlobes,
Janet found her hands trailing to his chest and push him away enough to get him
to stop.

“I’m a virgin,” she blurted out.

Ethan raised his eyebrows. “I
know. So?”

 When Janet didn’t respond,
Ethan continued. “It’s not a problem for me…” he trailed off.

“It isn’t?” Janet was surprised.
She always had the impression most guys would hesitate when they learn she was
untouched.

Ethan shook his head.

“Although…” he continued, the
annoying smirk back again. “I’ve never been with a virgin before.”

Janet rolled her eyes.

“I guess we’ll both be trying
something new.” His fingers gently brushed her cheeks. Janet held his hand
there, her eyes closing at his touch.

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

“I know,” he replied simply.
“Don’t worry, I’ll guide you.”

Janet nodded and hesitantly
reached up to kiss him. She could feel Ethan smiling into the kiss which made
her pull away.

“What?” she asked, annoyed.

“This was the first time you
initiated a kiss,” Ethan said grinning. “Let a guy be happy.”

He proceeded to kiss her again and
slowly started unbuttoning her blouse as he did. Janet unwound her arms from
his neck to allow him to slide her shirt off. When he did, she stood in front
of him in her black lace bra, feeling extremely vulnerable. No one had seen her
like this before. She took the blouse from his hand to cover herself. He still
held the blouse as she attempted to hide herself. Amused, he gently pulled the
blouse away, releasing it from her hands. It fell at their feet. Janet looked
up at him shyly. His eyes were full of lust but they were still gentle,
understanding.

“You’re lovely,” he said, tracing
the edge of her bra.

“A plain serving girl like me?”
Janet mocked.

“Plain but lovely,” Ethan said,
his hands palming her breasts. “Didn’t know fierce Janet Price could be so shy.
It’s cute.”

Janet rolled her eyes but didn’t
have time to be annoyed because his thumb was now brushing over her nipple
which visibly hardened through the thin material of her bra.

“Relax,” he whispered, watching
her reaction intently as he continued to feel her breast. “Would it help if I
took my shirt off too?”

“Sure you’ve never slept with a
virgin before?” Janet joked, but she visibly calmed as Ethan laughed and pulled
his shirt off with ease. He was built with muscles and prominent abs. Janet
hesitantly brought her hands to his chest and ran them down to his abs,
appreciating how built they were. Ethan let that distract her while he unhooked
her skirt. It fell to her feet and he helped her climb out of it, causing her
to stumble. He caught her before she fell with a deep laugh. Leading her to the
bed, he laid her down. Ethan appreciated how pretty she looked lying on his
golden sheets in her black bra and panties and her brown hair spread across the
bed. He wanted to take her there and then but he knew he had to be careful;
Janet had never done this before. He kneeled besides her on the bed and
proceeded to kiss every inch of her body as she lay on his bed. Janet responded
how Ethan intended her to respond. She sighed at his gentle touches and moaned
when he brushed a sensitive area. Ethan wanted to hear her say his name but he
knew that would have to wait.