Destined Hearts Ch. 09

"No, granny." He shook his head abruptly, rubbing on his arms. He was just hoping no one was gonna know his arms were bruised. "He didn't hurt me. He was just mad because of office work which has become too much plus his music. I am sure he went to get some air. He will be back soon."

Emilia and granny looked at each other. Emilia was just so worried that her son had made her son in law lie. "But Praveen, Celine..."

"Praveen dear, why don't you go and make some tea and snacks for me?" Granny interjected before Emilia could finish her sentence. "I am craving for those wonderful snacks of yours."

Hearing granny's question, Praveen simply smiled and nodded. "Sure, granny. I will make them for everyone."

He slowly bowed his head and started heading to the kitchen. The moment he turned his back to everyone, he lost the smile on his face and got lost in his thoughts again. He was really worried, scared and emotional. Antonio had never warned him like that and although he was such a jerk, he couldn't help but worry about him.

Emilia and everyone watched as Praveen disappeared into the kitchen.

"But mother..."

"I know, Emilia." Granny gave a gloomy sigh. "I know exactly what you want to say. I know he was lying but I am just so happy and sad at the same time. I am happy because... no matter what would have happened, Antonio wouldn't have found such a boy in his entire life. On the other hand, I am sad because Praveen lied to protect his husband while he's hurting inside."

"I have observed that, mother, but why did you just let it go like that?"

"Because... because Praveen is unique." Granny smiled brightly, her eyes still glued on the door where he had disappeared on. "I had expected him to tell his husband off but he didn't do it. Where can we find someone as perfect as him?"

"You're right, granny." Celine gave a sigh of relief. "I honestly think that Antonio wouldn't have found himself a jewel as precious as him. But it's all thanks to the almighty that you brought Praveen in his life. I just pray that they fall deeper in love with each other."

Celine's statement made Bruce so angry that he couldn't even stay there. He just turned and left the living room, looking like an evil warrior. He had had enough of Praveen in the house and he was gonna make him pay for it.

"They will. But not until Antonio gets it from me." Granny said angrily, losing the smile on his face. "This is really foolish. Who gave him the right to shout at Praveen? The boy and he are yet to get closer and yet he wants to make things awkward. I will talk to him and he'll find me waiting right here."

She turned and went to the living room, leaving everyone looking puzzled and a little upset about different things. Ever since Praveen had come into the house, people had noticed that granny had changed. She was... happier and livelier than she had ever been. Some people thought it was for the best while others like Emma thought it was bad.

***

Praveen was busy kneading the dough to make one of his special cookies for granny and everyone else that needed them. He was kneading slowly, trying to make it smooth but he was so lost deep in his thoughts that he wasn't even aware of his environment. His mind was already back in the room and he could hear Antonio's angry voice and the powerful grip that he had held him with.

Thinking about what had happened, Praveen felt his heart getting heavy and restless. His breaths were becoming a little harsh and his body a little cold. He couldn't even think properly because he was scared and really worried.

"Why did Antonio react like that with me?" He thought, frowning as he got more confused. "It's not like he cares about me or anything. He doesn't even own me. How long shall I continue living like I am his toy? It's not like he even likes me or I like him. I..."

"You!"

Before Praveen could even finish his thoughts, he heard an angry voice on his side and he stopped what he was doing and stood still without even looking at the person. He was already having problems as it was and he didn't want any more. The most annoying thing was that he started getting angry the moment he heard that voice.

"I don't know what game you're playing but I won't let you succeed." Bruce said angrily, pointing at Praveen. "If I were you, I would leave this house early. I told you that I can be really aggressive when people mess with me or anything that I own. I can attack from anywhere so you better know where you step because you might yourself in a pit."

Praveen slowly moved his face and looked at the man that was scaring him or rather threatening him. He could tell from the frown on his face, the anger in his eyes and the way he was harshly breathing that he was in rage.

"Why?" He smiled mockingly, raising his eyebrows. "Do you see anything that makes you feel that way?"

"Don't play coy with me." Bruce literally yelled, feeling as if he could kill the boy. "I know what you are doing and I will not let you succeed. You are trying to seduce Antonio so that he can sleep with you and..."

"Even if I am, how is that your business?" Praveen lost the smile on his face. "I am not interested in what you or anyone else thinks because I know myself. I am married to Antonio and it's normal for married couples to sleep with each other, don't you think?"

"How dare..."

"Lower your voice. This isn't your house, Bruce." Praveen had lost his cool. He felt he needed to put Bruce in his place. "I might not be welcome here by some people but at least I know how to behave and I am not a voice. If I was you, I would be really careful because I don't know when I will still be here. And what did you think?" He chuckled bitterly, rolling his eyes. "That you were just gonna come here and scare me and I would be scared?"

"Praveen..." He pointed angrily, his mouth shaking.

"And what did you say?" He chuckled, remembering what Bruce had said. "That no matter what I do, I will never be like you? Well, you're right Bruce, I will never ever be like you because I am more than you right now. People don't even know who I am and yet they consider me one of the best models alive. They need to see me more. You took a picture with your boyfriend and you had your time but alone, I topped the chart in a few hours."

Bruce felt as if Praveen had just ripped a part of his heart and it hurt like hell. He felt as if his heart was about to break out of his chest. He felt a wave of anger take control of his entire body, making him vibrate in anger. He clenched his fists and then breathing in angrily, his eyes widening. He was just so angry.

"Praveen, I will not..."

"I have a lot of things to do and a lot of things to think about." He put his hands together, pleading with the idiot. "Can you leave me alone now? I don't have time for you."

"You will pay for this, Praveen." He swore, shaking his head. "I swear to you."

With those words, Bruce turned and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Praveen alone. Praveen sighed, taking a deep breath. He then shook his head, wondering why he had talked to Bruce like that but he had just been so angry.

Anyway, Bruce deserved it for provoking him. He continued what he was doing and got lost deep in his thoughts again.

***

Antonio entered the huge mansion, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. He was sweaty, stinky and really pissed. Throughout the day, he had been really mad. He had gone to the office, snapped at every little thing at the employees and angrily walked out of a meeting. Everyone at the office had probably been really worried because they knew their boss as a really wonderful and care free guy. They knew that something had happened to him so they understood him.

It was almost 10 PM and he had been hungry the entire day. He hadn't had any food because he had lost his appetite. He had tried... he had really tried to make himself calm and find a reason why he was angry but he couldn't do it. His anger was still there.

Antonio was still going inside when he heard someone clapping, making him stop. He quickly froze, moving his eyes in front and found granny clapping, coming closer to him with a smile on her face. She was with his mother and his brother and Emma were also there. He tried to smile but it terribly failed. He had no idea why his granny was doing that.

"Welcome!" Granny clapped even harder. "You're welcome, Mr. Antonio Gonzalez. How was your day?"

Antonio got really confused with the tone his granny used. She sounded rather mad, something that he hadn't heard from her in a long time.

"Granny, I am sorry, I just... I had a lot of things to do and..."

"Wow, Antonio!" Granny smiled brighter, standing in front of him. Then she did something that surprised and scared him too. She lost her smile and gave him the most serious angry face he had ever seen from her. "Just wow!" She clapped again. "I am really proud of you. Superb! You're a great man. I am really proud."

"Granny... I... what's going on?"

"What's going on?" She laughed, looking at Emilia who was also serious. "What's going is that I don't like your behavior Antonio." She snapped, breathing in deeply. "How dare you do what you did this morning? What gave you the right to try and hurt Praveen?"

Antonio's heart gave a sharp pound in his chest, fear taking a hold of him. He's never heard granny speak to him like that and it kinda got him scared. His fear melted at that moment as he stood still, looking at granny wide eyed.

"Who do you think you are, Antonio?"

"Granny, I... I..."

"Can't talk now? You surely had a lot to say before you left." She yelled, angrily pointing at him. "You had a photo shoot with someone else aside from Praveen and I never heard him complain. What went wrong with Praveen having a shoot with Santiago? Did they do anything wrong?"

Antonio became dumbfounded, feeling as if he had been busted. He had no idea that people had known what had happened. Why wouldn't they? After all, Praveen had such a big mouth. He got really angry with the realization that Praveen had told everyone on him. What was his boyfriend going to think now, he thought as he got raged?

"Granny, you've got this all wrong, I swear." He shook his head. "I never had a problem with..."

"And now he's become a liar." She laughed bitterly. "Is this how we raised you, Antonio? This is what's wrong with you kids of nowadays. You think it's okay for you to do things that make you happy but let your spouse do it and you become monsters. That boy has only been in this house for a short while. He is yet to get used to you and look what you did. I have always tolerated you doing anything you want but I won't allow you to hurt that boy, Antonio."

"What, no!" He tried to get closer to granny but she moved back. "You are just misunderstanding this. If this is what he told you then..."

"Praveen never said anything, Antonio." Emilia finally spoke, looking at him as if he had committed an abomination. "He was even trying to lie for you. We know because someone heard you Antonio. What are you trying to become."

"But mother, why are you not listening to what I am saying? I am your son."

"And Praveen is my son-in-law, Antonio. You're his husband and I am only looking out for his best interest. You're gonna go upstairs, apologize to that boy for your behavior and make things right again."

"But..."

"Antonio, that's not a request." She spoke softly, taking a sigh. "It's an order. Go upstairs and apologize to him right now."

Antonio moved his face angrily, clenching his fists. He had never been so humiliated in his life before. It was really, really painful. His anger, hatred and pain came crawling right there. He could feel it about to overflow. He couldn't believe his mother and granny had just talked to him like that. It was like he had suddenly lost them. He promised to make the boy pay.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Emilia seethed. "Go up there and apologize now."

Antonio groaned, looked at all of them and quickly turned, rushing up the stairs. The more he climbed, the more he got angry till it started overflowing. By the time he reached his floor, he was dripping wet with sweat, breathing like an evil warrior. He was seeing ready as his anger got intense.

Reaching his room, he furiously opened the door and found the boy folding some clothes on the bed, his clothes. He entered the room, furiously banging the door behind him.

Meanwhile, Praveen felt his heart pound when he heard the door bang. He moved his face up only to meet with a furious, red eyed Antonio coming to him. Seeing him, he got really scared but he knew he couldn't be weak. Maybe Antonio wasn't even coming towards him, he hoped.

He quickly took some of the clothes he had been folding and started rushing to the closet. He didn't even walk far before he bumped into something, a body. It was Antonio and it got him really scared.

"What the hell did you tell my parents?" Antonio yelled, gripping the arms of the boy.

Praveen felt weak, letting go of the clothes he was holding. They fell to the floor, on both of their feet. He shook his head, wondering what Antonio was talking about. He had a powerful grip on his arm that the bruises started hurting again.

"Antonio..."

"Fuck, when the hell will you stop playing these games?" He yelled, not caring that anyone could hear him. "When the hell will you stop turning everyone against me?"

"Antonio..."

"Shut up!" Antonio pulled Praveen, slamming him to the wall. "I hate you so much because you've made my life miserable." He snapped, shaking his head. "I hate you so much because you've turned my special life into a nightmare ever since you came here. Can't I have some peace?"

Praveen moved his face away as he tried to fight his tears. Out of nowhere, the windows to the room burst open, letting in a really strong wind. Praveen could feel it blowing on his beautiful face, making his tears feel really cold.

His hair started blowing uncontrollably backwards.

"Until when will you stop turning my family against me?" He seethed, applying pressure on his arms. He slowly started moving his hands down, towards Praveen's hands. He felt something harder on Praveen's hand, probably a bangle but he didn't care.

"I didn't tell anyone anything, Antonio, I swear." He said with a tear following. He was just so scared. "I... I didn't say anything and I am not doing anything to your family. You know that. Please, let me go... you... you are hurting."

"Hurting you?" Antonio chuckled sinisterly, getting closer to the boy as his grip got harder. "You think I wanna hurt you? I hate you so much. I wanna torture you, Praveen. I wanna make you regret ever getting married to me or coming to this house. You are gonna pay for everything."

He tried to apply more pressure but felt something snap in his hand, something that made him stop what he was doing. Before he could even do anything, he felt the boy wince softly and nimble in a painful groan.

He quickly moved his eyes to his hand and found that Praveen's bangle had broken and that wasn't all. It had broken into pieces and Praveen's wrist was hurt but not that much. He was bleeding. Seeing Praveen's blood, Antonio's anger melted away, replaced by fear. He felt really terrible when he saw that he had hurt him.

"Fuck!" What had he just done, he thought as he slowly moved his hand, letting the pieces of the bangle fall to the floor?

His eyes were on Praveen's wrist. It was just two tiny cuts but the boy was still bleeding. Shit! He felt like an asshole, an animal. That was when granny's words came to him. If she ever found out that he had hurt the boy, he didn't even know what she was gonna do to him. He was really, really scared.

Praveen on the other hand slowly moved his other hand to his wrist, trying to hide his pain. He slowly opened his eyes and got surprised with what he saw. He could see fear, regret and pain in Antonio's face. Just what was going on he thought, as a tear went down his cheeks? He had no idea why Antonio was causing such pain on him.

"I... I... I..." Antonio's voice was cutting. He didn't know what to do. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I... I swear. I didn't."

But Praveen just stared at his husband without even saying anything. He was in pain but somehow, he was more concerned about Antonio than he was about himself. He knew the man was going through something. Why the hell would he hurt him like that?

"I..."

Antonio quickly rushed out of the room, closing the door behind him. He quickly ran to the terrace and just sat there, wondering what the hell was going on with him. Even though he hated Praveen, he didn't need to hurt him like that. Wait! Was that the reason why he was even acting like an animal? He could feel all kinds of emotions building up inside of him, something that he had never felt before.

What was going on?

Meanwhile, in the room, Praveen was still standing there, looking at the door where Antonio had disappeared, wondering what was going on through his head. He could tell that it was more than the hatred that Antonio said he had for him. He had never hurt him that way before. What was happening to his life?

***

Since that night, everything changed for Praveen and Antonio. Antonio started avoiding Praveen even talking to him. They just passed each other like strangers who had never met before. Maybe even strangers even greeted at times but things were awkward.

Antonio pretended to be happy when he was with his family, smiling and talking to them but he wasn't fooling anyone. Granny and Emilia could tell that nothing was the same anymore. His mood was always foul, especially when Praveen went out or Santiago called Praveen or even came to see him.

Praveen was getting affected by what was happening. He had a feeling of emptiness inside of him, something was missing but he had no idea what it was. He could see Antonio and Andrea talking, laughing and at times with Bruce but the man was still not happy.

Praveen had never thought that he would miss talking to Antonio. Thanks to long sleeves, no one had noticed his cut on the hand or the bruises that were on his wrists. Whenever granny or anyone asked him how the relationship with his husband was, he always came up with an excuse that they were all fine.

Although, Ethan had talked to him at one time and he had told him what was going on. Ethan had told him that his friend was probably just jealous but he had just laughed it out. Antonio would never be jealous because he had Bruce by his side and they spent time together, in fact, more than that time.

As for Bruce, he was trying all he could to deny that his hunch was wrong. No wonder, he did everything he could to make his boyfriend happy and forget that there was Praveen. But something about Antonio was making him really mad although he never snapped or demanded answers. After all, he didn't wanna argue with him or get to hear something he didn't wanna hear. So he kept his cool but he needed to find a permanent solution to his solution, something that would bind Antonio to him.

***

5 days later

*

"Are you crazy?" Antonio fumed, angrily getting up from the bed. "Why would you even ask me that? Did you think about this carefully before..."

"Yes, I did, Antonio!" Bruce yelled, following Antonio behind. He gripped his arm harder, pulling him back. Their faces were now closer. "I love you so much, Antonio, and my life revolves around you."

"I love you too." Antonio said, pulling his arm away. "But I can't do what you are asking me to do. Did you call to your hotel because of this?"

"Yes!" Bruce said, tears building in his eyes. "This is truly important. I wanna be yours forever, please, don't deny me this. What would connect us more than this?"

"Love!" Antonio yelled in Bruce's face. "Isn't it enough that we are in love?"