The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 39: Look at the Eyes

A satisfied smile dyed Akram's lips as the man lay his head on Elana's shoulders.

A peaceful silence stretched between the two of them, accompanied only by the sound of a simple breath, as if neither of them felt the need to say another word. Elana's own eyes were almost closed, about to settle in Akram's arms.

Then, suddenly there was the sound of a doorbell that immediately stained the silence, tearing apart the magical silent atmosphere that had materialized before. The sound made Elana who was about to fall asleep exhausted on Akram's lap instantly open her eyes in surprise. His back stiffened when his eyes faced Akram's eyes which still looked foggy.

"Elios?" Elana whispered her question in a stifled voice.

Akram nodded, a relaxed smile appearing on his lips.

Contrary to Elana whose face was red with embarrassment, Akram looked as if he did not care.

Actually what was inside in Akram's mind so that the man seemed so relaxed when his men came and they were in a position that was quite intimate like this?

Suddenly Elana wanted to hit herself. Besides, what's up with him? Why did he lower his vigilance and almost fall asleep in Akram's arms? Oh, Elana's sure it's not a hundred percent of her fault. Akram had made him so exhausted that even his brain refused to be invited to stand by.

Akram himself watched the various changes in expression on Elana's red face and he could not help but grin happily. This woman was so innocent that she was like a book that opened in front of her. What was inside Elana's mind, could be read clearly through her facial expression.

Slowly Akram swept his finger to the side of Elana's cheek, tracing gently all the way to her lips and chin, deliberately making a sensual gesture there.

"You can go back to sleep if you want, let Elios wait," Akram opened his arms in a seductive manner. "Elios quite understands his task. If I hadn't opened the door, he'd have stood by it no matter how long it was...." Akram explained his casual attitude indirectly, making Elana understand.

Elana's brows furrowed, staring at Akram with a reproachful look.

"You. You're so mean to your men! I won't do that to Elios!" while speaking in a cynical tone towards Akram, Elana went down from the lap of the man. She immediately tidied up her dress which was made into an unkempt mess by Akram, then turned her head back to look at Akram with an awkward expression.

"A.. I'll be right back!" half exclaiming, Elana immediately turned her body and ran up the stairs leading to her room to change clothes and clean up.

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Elana checks the ingredients brought by Elios, matching her grocery list. Miraculously, Elios managed to bring all the ingredients written on his shopping list with no exception.

Indeed Elios is an assistant of Akram who has a very great ability so that it always seems to be able to do any task given to him perfectly.

"That's great!" Elana looked at Elios with a radiant light full of admiration. "You even bought all the ingredients with organic labels" Elana said in a polite tone.

Stared with admiration that is not covered up. by Elana it makes Elios cheeks blush. Elana may not know how much trouble she had to endure to get the items on the food list perfectly. However, Elana's thanks and courtesy look to her seemed to make all her efforts worth it.

For some reason, the attitude of Elana who is innocent and full of honesty seems to succeed in making any man want to behave as a knight in armor and help him grant all his wishes. Maybe that is how his master Akram feels....

Thinking about Akram made Elios suddenly realize the piercing glare of sharp eyes directed at him blatantly. Akram, who had been quietly observing the interaction between Elios and Elana while crossing and leaning against the wall, her eyes narrowed and her expression darkened when she saw how Elana smiled at Elios so sincerely. It was still coupled with the look of amazed eyes anyway! Something Elana never gave to Akram before.

Elana herself seemed oblivious to the possessive dark hall that enveloped Akram, the woman instead focused her attention on Elios, still with her beautiful smile.

"Can you cook?" Elana looked at Elios and slightly frowned when she saw Elios' pale face.

"No, Miss Elana, I can't cook, '" Elios answered quickly. If Akram's piercing glare could kill, Elios would have been sprawled with blood on the floor, full of puncture wounds by now.

"Oh... You look tired after shopping, I'm sorry I didn't get you a drink.... Wait a minute, I'll get you a drink," confusedly Elana turned around, opened some kitchen counters to take a set of clean cups, and, then open a can of fragrant tea that looks lined with various variations on the bottom shelf of the kitchen. Soon after, he brewed the tea with boiled water, before serving it to Elios.

The color of the tea inside the cup turned into a beautiful golden green feel, while the aroma ventured into the air, indulge the sense of smell and display with real freshness the shoots of high-quality tea leaves brewed in them.

"I don't know how to make tea with this type of leaf. I usually use instant teabags sold in minimarkets," Elana started the conversation back in a shy tone. "But, it seems like all tea will taste good just by being brewed hot water, right? May you enjoy it, "Elana again pushed the cup of tea at the kitchen counter, drawing near to Elios. Apparently Elana thought that maybe Elios did not immediately take his cup of tea because the man doubted the method of making Elana tea.

Elios stared at the teacup in front of him doubtfully, not because he doubted the taste, but rather because Akram seemed to be killing him if he dared to take and drink the tea.

Then in an instant, before even Elios could decide whether or not he would take the teacup, Akram suddenly moved closer and took the teacup, which was the tea cup, he sniffed for a moment the scent and sipped it slowly without heeding the protest call from Elana.

When Akram put down the teacup, his expression wrinkled.

"Not good. This is a russian blend, a mixture of green tea and orange leaves from Dammann Freres, and you brew it with boiling water? Black tea can be brewed with boiling water, while green tea should be brewed with a temperature of 80 degrees." Akram looked at Elana with a reproachful look, "If the temperature is too hot, then the green tea is almost like boiled, rather than brewed. It will damage the taste and make the taste of the leaf fiber so too prominent. Therefore, the taste of your homemade tea does not taste good," he concluded with a deliberately degrading tone.

Elana glared at Akram, her breathing even starting to be puffed up by emotions.

"You." Elana seemed to be trying to neutralize her breath that was strengthened by emotion. "Who told you to drink it anyway? I didn't make it for you!" elana lost control. The woman sighed deeply, apparently trying to control herself, then turned to Elios and ignored Akram on purpose.

"I'm going to cook lunch with these ingredients, you... uh haven't had lunch, have you?" Elana somehow felt guilty that the tea she had originally taken for Elios had been taken by Akram maliciously. Akram was apparently used to treating his men badly. Thus, Elana impulsively made an offer to Elios. "You want to have lunch with us? Just wait a little while and the lunch will be ripe soon.it may be just a simple dish, but...." Elana stopped her sentence, feeling puzzled because Elios looked even more pale at her offer.

Is Elios really sick? Or did the man also doubt Elana's cooking ability and fear poisoning when it comes to eating Elana's cooking?

"Elios has business to do after this. Did you forget that this is a holiday and Elios has his own private event?" Acram interrupts, the man steps in front of Elios, as if deliberately blocking Elana's view toward Elios.

Elana's cheeks are flushed. Oh, Jesus! He was too busy with his own thoughts to forget about manners. Sure was! He has even caused Elios to work to shop for groceries on his days off, and now shamelessly, he is still trying to hold back Elios' time by offering him lunch together?

"Ma.. I'm sorry, I forgot that it's a holiday.." Elana's cheeks flushed when she apologized.

Elios shook his head quickly, and Elana could clearly see the relief imprinted on the man's face, making Elana even more embarrassed.

"Don't apologize, Miss Elana. I thank you with your offer," Elios replied quickly in a very polite tone, noticing the eviction cues being sent blatantly from Akram's gaze toward her. "But, I have to leave immediately. Mr. Akram, I beg you first...." Elios slightly bowed respectfully, then the man withdrew from the kitchen area and stepped quickly towards the exit before then stepping away from the apartment.

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The sound of the closed door again spread silence between them. Akram watches Elana, pretending to be busy arranging the groceries Elios brings to the table, and decides to start the conversation peacefully.

"What are you going to cook?" asked Akram without being able to get rid of the arrogant tone in his voice.

Elana raised an eyebrow and looked at Akram with a thick hostile gaze.

"I'll cook a simple meal for the commoners" he replied quickly.

Akram's molars hardened by the provocation of Elana's statement. Slowly he spoke, his tone threatening as a king had to obey.

"Make two servings. I too was starving and wanted to eat," infuriated Akram later.

"If you're starving, why don't you just order food from a fancy restaurant like you originally intended? I doubt if your usual digestion filled with high-class food would be able to swallow commoners' food like mine," he said in an exalted sentence but had the clear intention of condescending.

"Wait!" elana's hand reflexively held onto Akram's arm and held him back, an unexpected courage she would be able to do.

Akram looked down and watched Elana's hand clutching his arm as if in disbelief if not sure himself, then his gaze returned to Elana, his eyes narrowed filled with impatience.

"What's wrong?" sizzle slowly.

Elana gulps. It's wet, why doesn't he throw himself in?

"You said you were starving, didn't you? If you help me cook, our cooking will be finished sooner and we can eat soon" Elana removed her grip from Akram, grabbing a sharp slender knife from the knife rack, then he took it into Akram's hand before Akram could refuse. "I'll cook vegetable soup and egg omelet fill mushrooms. For now, you can help me peel the onions! Ah, and wear an apron if you don't want your clothes dirty," Elana shoved a bowl full of onion on the black marble kitchen counter in front of Akram, then turn the body around and install the apron he took from the pile on the bottom shelf, before then taking the vegetables, putting them in a large container and taking them to the sink to wash them thoroughly.

Akram was fixated on staring at the back of Elana who had now started washing vegetables while humming in front of her. His eyes then turned towards the knife that was forcefully gripped into his hand.

He usually used a knife to incise wounds on the bodies of other humans. To threaten them to the limit of their most terrible fears. Now... This woman asked him to use a knife to peel onions??

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"Wow!" Elana looked over from beside Akram's shoulder who was sitting and doing her work diligently for some time without a sound. Elana's widened eyes filled with admiration so she forgot to be hostile.

Akram is slicing red onions and garlic with quick and precise movements. The slices are amazing, very neat, clean and the same size with elongated lines and almost identical thickness. If there is a race to slice the fastest onions with the neatest results, Akram must be the champion!

It seems that it is Akram's basic attitude to do any job perfectly. Even for trivial things like slicing onions, Akram put all his skills into doing it.

"Your ability to slice will make the expert chefs with high-level slicing techniques feel ashamed" Elana praised sincerely.

Akram looked up, and when he realized that Elana was not insulting him, he could not help but grin with a hint of a smug smile implied on his face.

"I am indeed very good at using a knife," he said with a sharp, and somehow it tickled Elana's amused taste until the woman chuckled loosely without being able to hold back.

"Then, from now on, when we cook, you're in charge of finishing things related to knives!" Elana presented her cheerful big smile to Akram, then took the perfect slices of onion and garlic from the face of Akram. "I'm going to fry this onion for a sprinkle, you can wash your hands and wait at the dinner table, soon I'll serve you a meal" he said kindly.

Akram did not argue, leaving Elana back to the stove and frying the onion into a frying pan filled with hot oil that was waiting, causing the fragrant aroma to re-exude in the air.

Akram went to the sink and washed his hands. The sharp aroma of onions is so difficult to remove that it makes Akram frown in annoyance when constantly rubbing his hands with soap.

But, for some reason for now, Akram did not mind at all. She had heard the cheery laughter of Elana, and she had received the wide smile of Elana who was so sincere to her. To get such rewards, all the hassles of helping Elana cook earlier, it felt really worth it to Akram.

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"Nake?"

Elana observed the expression of Akram who was bribing soup into her mouth. As usual, the man ate with such elegant etiquette that it was as if the food presented before him was a high-end sumptuous meal, not just a bowl of soup and a simple mushroom omelette.

Akram stared at Elana, then nodded his thin head and fed another spoonful of soup into his mouth without protesting. Somehow Akram's mouth that seemed to never run out of sharp stabbing sentences was now not activated to attack Elana.

"I saw Elios's shopping receipt and it was pretty cheap. Well, actually the price can be a little pressed if Elios does not choose pure organic ingredients for all goods. You know, the price of pizza alone can cost you more money than grocery shopping like that..." Elana devoured the food quickly while talking. He was starving but at the same time did not want any awkward silence at the dinner table, which is why he kept talking.

Akram put down his spoon after the soup. He decided that Elana's cooking was not too bad, and his senses could accept the taste of the cuisine well. Akram wiped his mouth in an elegant manner, then raised his gaze to look at Elana.

"Pizza is not a fancy food, it's junk food. And as the name implies, the food will only end up being garbage in your digestion." he said in a cynical tone. "I can buy luxury food that costs tens of times as much as pizza and get the number one taste and the best quality for my food every day. It won't make my wallet thin. Have you forgotten that I am rich? I don't have to save money to eat. Since you live with me, then you don't have to do it either." she gave an ultimatum.

Elana did not argue. He chose to continue eating it greedily and just rolled his eyes irritated when he heard Akram's words.

This rich, arrogant Lord seems to have again shown his true nature!

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"You have a schedule at six in the afternoon and eight in the evening. The eight-hour meeting will be a closed-door drinking banquet with businessmen from France. Do I need to put this into your fixed schedule, or is there anything you want to cancel?"

"That dinner was just a gathering of a bunch of old people filled with meaningless nonsense. Cancel that," Akram gave an expressionless command, then glanced at his watch. "It's lunchtime. Did you send someone to pick Elana up and take her upstairs?"

Akram is currently in a large conference room located in a separate conference building area that has a direct connecting hallway to the first floor lobby where the reception area and reception room from outside are located.

The conference building was circular in shape, with a dome covering its top and had a very wide size, consisting of many giant spaces with large tables and dozens of seats available. The meeting room in this building has a variety of capacities for special meeting purposes with guests from outside. The minimum capacity is for twenty-person meeting rooms, and the maximum capacity is for conference rooms with multi-storey circular seating areas such as amphitheaters that can accommodate up to three thousand people.

The location of the conference building is placed on the first floor to prevent outsiders from entering the area within the company that might store closed data for outsiders.

"I've already sent people to pick up Miss Elana, but it seems like Miss Elana is working on additional duties...." the sudden noise from the hallway connecting the office lobby with the reference building made Elios stop his sentence and frown in alarm.

A bodyguard came in throngs followed by several other bodyguards. His expression looked worried.

"Master Akram," the bodyguard bowed slightly in a respectful manner. "Mr Xavier was in the lobby and said he wanted to make an appointment with you. He came alone without a bodyguard so we could make sure that he was not dangerous at this time. But, he refused to leave before you made sure to meet him. So, in order to prevent her presence from attracting the attention of other employees, we placed her in the VVIP living room area located behind the reception area."

"What?" Elios could not help but exclaim with a surprised expression. Xavier must have known that Akram had found out that he was the mastermind behind the accident that hit him. Even so, Xavier still had the guts to come to Akram's company, alone without a bodyguard anyway!

What exactly was Xavier planning this time around?

Elios wondered, how much is the limit of Xavier's infatuation point that his actions are so unpredictable and his mind so incomprehensible?

Akram raised his hand, gesturing calmly. His expression was dark and unreadable before he stood up.

"It's okay, I'll see him." Akram's move was quickly followed by Elios and his bodyguards leaving the reference building. When he reached the front door of the VVIP living room, Akram gestured for Elios to wait outside, and he stepped in alone into the room, then closed the door behind him.

Akram's eyes were instantly flushed with Xavier's. The man was sitting leisurely on the available sofa, crossing his legs elegantly. Then, Xavier's lips slowly unraveled a smile when he found that Akram had been in this room with him.

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