Chapter 13
1103words
My business suit had been changed. In its place was a clean, comfortable nightgown of my own.
On the bedside table was a cup of warm honey water. Next to it was a note.
The handwriting on the note, like the person himself, was clean, crisp, with sharp, defined strokes.
【Drink this when you wake up. I'm sleeping in the guest room.】
Looking at that note, then at my intact nightgown, my heart felt completely filled with something warm.
This man...
Even when I was drunk and unconscious, he still behaved like such a gentleman.
I held that note, smiling foolishly.
As I smiled, tears, betraying me, began to fall.
I grabbed my phone and checked the time.
Two in the morning.
I got out of bed, barefoot, and instinctively walked to the guest bedroom door.
The door wasn't fully closed, leaving a small gap.
The light wasn't on in the room. Only the cold moonlight from outside spilled in, casting a silver frost across the floor.
Luke Shaw wasn't asleep.
He was wearing a black T-shirt and pants, standing by the window with his back to me.
What he held in his hands was that mysterious wooden box he had always treasured.
In the moonlight, I vaguely saw him using an extremely treasured and gentle motion to softly wipe something in the box.
It seemed to be a black and white photograph.
In the photo was a sweetly smiling little girl with two braided pigtails.
That must be his sister.
Looking at his lonely and desolate silhouette, my heart felt as if it was being tightly gripped by an invisible hand.
I couldn't hold back anymore.
I gently pushed open the door.
"Creeak——"
A soft sound, particularly clear in the silent night.
He quickly closed the box and turned around.
When he saw it was me, a flash of surprise crossed those eyes that looked especially cold in the moonlight.
"Why are you awake?"
I didn't answer.
I just walked toward him, step by step.
Then, under his unexpected gaze, I stood on tiptoe and wrapped my arms around his neck.
I actively kissed his slightly cool, thin lips that tasted of sake.
The moment my lips touched his, time seemed to stand still.
His lips were cooler than I had imagined, and softer too, carrying the crisp fragrance of sake.
My mind went completely blank.
I didn't know why I was doing this.
Perhaps it was the alcohol driving me, perhaps it was an impulse born of sympathy, or perhaps it was that I could no longer suppress the overflowing feeling in my heart called "affection."
This kiss was clumsy, inexperienced, with no technique to speak of.
I was simply following my instincts, pressing my softness against his lips.
Luke Shaw's body became incredibly rigid the instant I kissed him. I could clearly feel the muscles in his arms instantly tense up, like a hard stone.
He neither responded nor pushed me away.
He just stood there, allowing me, this "audacious" drunk, to "do as I pleased" with him.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Just as I was about to retreat due to the lack of oxygen and the shame of receiving no response—
A warm, large hand suddenly gripped the back of my head.
Following that, an irresistible force with intense aggression pushed me harder and deeper toward him.
A deep, domineering kiss with a sense of punishment came crashing down like a violent storm.
I was completely stunned.
I felt like a small boat drifting in a raging storm, and he was the surging wave capable of completely engulfing me.
I could only instinctively cling to him more tightly, allowing him to lead me into an unfamiliar, dizzying abyss I had never experienced before.
Moonlight streamed quietly through the window onto the embracing couple, stretching their intertwined silhouette very long, very long...
I don't know how long that kiss lasted.
It wasn't until I felt like all the air in my lungs was about to be completely drawn out that he finally loosened his grip on me slightly.
Our foreheads were pressed against each other.
I could clearly hear both of our equally intense, equally uncontrolled heartbeats intertwining in the silent night.
"Eve Sullivan."
His voice was as if it had been sanded down, carrying a deadly sexiness.
"Do you know what you're doing?"
I lifted my eyes to meet his, which seemed to have flames burning within them under the moonlight.
"I know." Looking at him, with the alcohol's effect not yet completely dissipated, I bravely spoke the words from the bottom of my heart, "Luke Shaw, I like you. It's not acting, not part of our agreement. It's me, Eve Sullivan, who likes you, Luke Shaw."
My words were like a pebble, dropping into the bottomless depths of his eyes, stirring intense ripples.
He looked at me, his gaze becoming incredibly complex.
"What you like," he slowly began, "is just a 'Luke Shaw' who lives in the slums, can cook, and can act."
"So what?" I retorted, "Do you have some other identity? Are you actually a prince from some country, or the heir to some financial empire?"
This was meant to be a joke.
Yet he fell silent.
A silence like death.
My heart suddenly skipped a beat.
An absurd thought, one that even I found ridiculous, unexpectedly popped into my head.
No way...
Could it be that my random guess was actually correct?
Looking at his eyes, unclear and dim in the moonlight, the courage that had risen in me due to alcohol was gradually receding, replaced by an enormous, unknown dread.
"You..."
"Eve," he interrupted me, "you've had too much to drink. Get some rest."
As he said this, he gently pushed me away.
Then, holding that wooden box, he turned around, opened the door, and walked out.
"Bang."
The door of the second bedroom was gently closed.
I stood there, feeling ice-cold all over.
The passionate kiss from just now still seemed to linger on my lips. But that moment of tenderness had been completely shattered by his last words and that cold, retreating figure.
Why?
Why did he choose to run away after I revealed my feelings?
Could it be that he truly has no feelings for me at all? Then what was that moment of lost control and that kiss all about?
Or is he really hiding something, some secret that I cannot possibly reach?
That night, I lay awake with my eyes open until dawn.
