~ Fernandez Mansion~When Ella arrived into the Fernandez mansion and walked into the brick house, she saw no one in the studio room.
Danny must be somewhere in the kitchen...
Ella dropped the cowboy hat in the stool chair, and then she walked towards the sofa in the corner and drops her shoulder bag. She began looking at the canvases in the living room, there were portraits of mother and child, a woman sitting on the chair, and they were images of Danny"s deceased family. Some canvas were half-drawn, half-finished or full of splattering colors yet no shapes were taking place. Some abstract portraits were gathering dust in the corner.
Danny had survived through the years with the deceased memories in his mind unable to move on from the painful tragedy of his past. Inside the walls of this house were the memories of his beloved woman and their son pulsating alive and that what kept him a prisoner of this house unable to move on.
Ella heard footsteps approaching...
When he turned around he met with Danny"s gaze fresh from his bath. She can smell his aftershave entering her nostrils.
"Why don"t you live in the mansion next door? Why would you holed up yourself alone in this house with their memories?" she asked indicating his deceased family.
Danny raised his head and shoots her a dark look.
"You never know how painful it is to lose your love ones. Shut your mouth and stop asking questions, Ella! I won"t entertain any of it," he avoided the topic and walked to his chair stool preparing his tools for painting.
Ella sighed. She walked to the stool chair and slid her cowboy hat on her head.
"Stare at the window and don"t move until I say so," Danny commanded her.
She followed his instruction obediently. While looking at the window, it dawned on her how Danny able to survive not seeing the outside world? He must be roaming the backyard on their mansion and held himself a prisoner in this brick house for two years without any social interaction with anyone. That"s terrible! If some people can move on after a few months from a family tragedy, Danny was different, he chose to remain in the confinement of his painful past.
"Dan, are you going to stay forever in this house where much of their memories were alive?" Ella asked.
He didn"t acknowledge her question.
"How can you move on if you won"t try to live in the present world again? Start meeting new people, new women, maybe you will meet a woman you will like and fall in love again," she suggested in a friendly way.
Danny"s mouth was pursed but his hands were still moving to sketch her.
She tried to catch his gaze but he won"t look in her eyes for a longer time. He was avoiding eye contact with her.
"If you allow me, I can help you ease into society again. I will accompany you in starting your new life again, I can offer you my friends.h.i.+p and companions.h.i.+p, I will try to support you the best I can," she offered her help in a friendly way the best way she knows how.
Still, he was not interested with her blabbering, he won"t join in her one-sided conversation pretending he was deaf and mute.
Ella sighed.
Maybe she should not meddle in him and his personal affairs, but she can"t help it. She just can"t help herself, if somehow she can pump some sense into his head, maybe it"s easier to convince him about donating that piece of land for her charitable project. The hardest part isn"t even about convincing him, it"s his refusal to join her in a conversation. How to convince him if he wouldn"t even answer her questions?
Dang! Her body was already aching for not moving for so long, she needs to rest a bit and go to the bathroom, that"s it, she would excuse herself and go take a pee!
"Danny, can I use the bathroom?" she asked.
As usual, he didn"t answer her, he was just giving her a cold treatment.
Ella gets off the chair and went to the bathroom and relieved herself. She stops by at the fridge and took a soda and emptied the contents in her mouth, satisfied, she throws the empty bottle inside the garbage can beside the kitchen"s door and returned to the studio.
Danny was still at his chair sitting, holding the paintbrush in his right hand and doing some sketching in the canvas in front of him.
"Shall we continue?" she asked.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.
He just nods at her.
Ella made a posed again and focused her eyes on the window.
A few minutes later, he began talking...much to Ella"s surprised and delights.
"My father said that you are here to convince me about the piece of land that you wanted me to donate for your charity causes, is that right?" he asked.
Her face lighted up. "Yes! I"m here for that specific reason. Is there any chance I can convince you to donate that land to my charity projects?" she asked eagerly.
"You are just wasting your time. I won"t sell or donate that land to anyone for any cause. That is the piece of land that I was planning to erect a house for my deceased family. I won"t let it go, letting it go means am letting go of their memories and I can"t do it," he said seriously.
Ella released a deep sigh. "Is there any way I can convince you to let go of that land?" she asked.
"No," he said firmly.
d.a.m.n! She just meets a dead end!
"I will do anything you want me to do," she said on spur of the moment, she offered something which in the end she doesn"t know if she can even give justice to.
"Really?" he asked. Something gleaming in his eyes when he stared into her face.
"Yes," she answered bravely.
Danny rose to his feet and went inside on one of the bedrooms and when he returned he brought a piece of clothing with him. "Wear that one!" he commanded her. He dropped the fabric in her lap.
Ella inspected the garment, it"s s.e.xy red lingerie!
"Y-you want me to change into this dress right now?" she asked.
Danny looks at her, his piercing eyes boring into hers. "Yes. It"s my late partner"s favorite lingerie," a smirk suddenly appeared in his eyes.