Chapter Twenty-nine
Hazel
Unsurprisingly, I’m alone on the bed when I wake up. I stretch my bones and shake my head at how all the warmth and scent of Rain is gone from the room as if he was never here.
‘ Principessa, come here. Come and hold me . ’
He had requested for me last night. He trusted me with his vulnerability, showed me his weakness, and I don’t know what to make of that.
I still have to ask him if he sent the email for me. He has pushed me a step forward into my career and I want him to know I’ll forever be grateful to him.
My eyes widen when I see the time on the clock and I wonder why Angela hasn’t come to wake me up yet. She never lets me get late for work. Since I told her my shift starts by nine, she makes sure I leave by eight thirty everyday.
Imagine my shock now that I’m waking up at the time I normally leave. Rain must have missed breakfast. I planned to make him something for his hangover, but I missed it.
I dress up for the day and make sure my room is arranged. My eyes pop out when I shut my door behind me, only to see Rain doing the same thing.
“What the hell?” I blurt out suddenly. At that, he makes eye contact with me and I size him up to make sure he’s not a clown.
Is today ‘Shock Hazel Wilmer Day’? Why is Rain leaving for work so late?
“What are you doing here?”
“I live here.” He rolls his eyes and my mouth drops at the sassiness.
“Did you check the time? It’s almost nine. I’m late every time and get scolded by Angela, and it’s most likely I’ll get fired soon, but you… I mean you’ve never stayed home this late in the morning. It’s not that I check the time for when you leave or anything, it’s just that I—”
“Are you done?”
“Uhn?”
“Are.You.Done?” he spells out.
I gulp and nod my head fervently. “Ye-yes, I’m done. Bye.” I try to rush past him, but I fail miserably. My legs betray me and I hit them against each other, almost falling on my face.
Almost , because my husband grabs my waist and pulls me to him.
I’m too late for this, but I find myself leaning closer into him. My chest heaves against his while his eyes try to find mine. “Thank you,” I whisper. His hand loosen a bit and I think he has released me, but when I try to move away, his hands tighten again.
“Do you want me to drop you at work?” What? But he works in the opposite direction. Why does he want to stress himself out for me? His face hardens and he releases me suddenly like he just realized he has been holding me. My back ramrods straight and I awkwardly engage my hands by rubbing it over my dress. “I mean, it’s not a must. Only if you want me to.”
Do I want him to? Hell yes, I do. I make sure a passive look is on my face before giving him a carefree nod. He arranges his suit jacket and goes down the stairs, with me trailing behind him.
Confusion morphs my features and I look around the living room, noting how void it is of a human’s presence. It’s unusually silent.
“Where’s everyone?”
“The staff are on their monthly break.”
I raise a puzzled eyebrow. “Monthly break? What’s that?”
“They get a week’s break every two months.”
I nod, but my eyes soon widen when I further take in his words. “ All the staff are on a break?” He nods. No wonder I heard Angela talking about packing. “Then we … we’re going to be home alone.”
“You have a problem with that?”
My head shakes on its own accord. “No, of course not.”
Not another word is heard from him till we make ourselves comfortable in his car. “Did you send the email for me?” I hit the nail on the head.
His hand pauses on the key, but he regains control quickly and ignites the engine. A few seconds pass, and he replies, “What are you talking about?”
“Henri Leclair replied to my email. I need to visit the nearest headquarters and I might actually get accepted afterwards.” I gauge his reactions as I speak. His face gives away nothing, but I take a deep breath and continue, “I’m very happy about it, but I didn’t send him any email as of recently, and it’s impossible that my old mail was found. He gets tons every day.”
“Could be luck.” Anyone would believe him, but I don’t. Firstly, because Angela saw him in my room with my notebook. And secondly, Rain is a billionaire. He didn’t build an empire on luck.
“Do you believe in luck?” I raise an eyebrow. “You don’t look like the type.”
“I didn’t look like the type to get married either, but here we are. Congratulations on your new life, Hazel. Now use your seatbelt.”
I trap my lip between my teeth to hide a smile and turn to clip my seatbelt around me. He’s intentionally deflecting from the obvious and I find that adorable.
My lips twist again to stop a laugh. Rain Dacosta will throw me out of his car if he knows I think of him as adorable.
My hand pauses with the cleaning and hover on the table when I suddenly remember.
‘ All the staff are on their monthly break ’
When am I ever going to catch a break?
The thought of Rain and I being alone in the mansion for a week sends cold shivers down my spine.
On one hand, being alone with Rain is awakening some thrills inside of me as if I’m engaging in a forbidden relationship. Alone with him without any prying eyes builds nervous excitement inside me. On the other hand, the awkwardness will be too much if we’re alone.
I take a deep breath, drawing Su-mi’s attention to me. She stops cleaning too and faces me with narrowed eyes. “What’s with the deep sighs? It’s the third time.”
I blink. “It’s nothing.” The lie forces its way through my teeth. “It’s… work. I’m so tired.”
“You still haven’t learned?”
I gulp down nothing. “Learned what?”
“You can’t lie to me, Hazel. Spit it out, because I know that look.”
Su-mi is right. She knows me better than anyone else—except my sister, of course. One of the things that makes me lucky to be her friend is the way she’s the opposite of me when it comes to noticing details. While I’m oblivious and sometimes need things spelled out for me, Su-mi picks up on even the smallest things about a person. Someone else would have believed, given how busy and exhausting work has been for us lately, but not Su-mi. She just knows I’m lying.
I hesitate though, wondering if I should tell her or not. She’s going to tease me about it, no doubt, but sometimes, she gives me good advice when she decides to use her voice of reasoning.
“Fine,” I surrender, my cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “Rain said the staff are on a week break.”
Su-mi stares at me blankly, then shrugs in a totally unbothered manner. “I’m still waiting for the punchline.” My mouth part to give her the punchline, but she creases her brows and replies to herself, “Oh!” She taps her finger on her jaw and tilts her head. “Oh!” It comes out more aggressive than the first and her eyes widen. “You and Rain alone all week?”
I nod.
Her eyes mischievously shine and I wait for the most unhinged thing to come out of her mouth. “Oh la la. See, even the universe wants you both to sleep together.”
That’s actually meek to what I was expecting from her. “It’s not about that, Su-mi.”
“Yes, it’s about him helping you rearrange your room and you helping him finish his work project.” What a weakass comeback. “This is the perfect opportunity to spice things up between you both. You both are adults. I know you’ve said you like him, but please don’t tell me you’ll fall in love with him after one night.” At the look on my face, she throws her hand up in the air. “Right, so what’s the problem?”
“It’s a marriage of mutual convenience, Su-mi. We can’t complicate things.”
She waves away my protests with all nonchalance. “Details, details. You’ve said it so much, it’s starting to sound like you’re just convincing yourself. So you’re telling me that you’re not even a tiny little bit curious about what might happen when you both are left alone? Come on girl, live a little.”
That’s the problem. I’m too curious.
My lips purse and I bite my finger nervously. I can’t shake the flutter in my chest and the unknown feelings tingling in my lower stomach. The idea of sharing the same space with him, without any buffer of distraction is just too much for me to bear.
The unhinged part of me desires to unravel Rain Dacosta. In the few months since I’ve known him, he has too much control that exceeds normality. How much time would we have to spend alone before I get the chance to peel off the layers of his cold facade and discover the man beneath? Who is the man beneath?
I think about our kiss and what it stirs in me all the time, but he doesn’t seem to care. I bet he even remembers anything like that happening. I side eye Su-mi. I wonder what she’ll say about him sleeping in my bed last night and dropping me off this morning.
Is this us making progress? Or is Rain playing with me? It’s worse if he’s testing me. I’m still locked in my thoughts when Su-mi kicks my chair. My head jolts up and I watch the amused look on her face. “I can promise you, bestie. It’s not that deep.”
I can’t help but laugh at her mocking demeanor. “You are incorrigible.”
“And you’re scared of your husband.”
My jaw falls at the jab. “I’m not scared of him”
“Okay, Mrs Dacosta, whatever you say. But if you can’t feel it, your face is all mushed up like a teenage school girl who just got her first kiss.”
Oh I can feel it, all right. I can feel how mushed up it is because it’s so painful and I’m resisting the urge to calm it down by cupping it with both my hands.
I shouldn’t feel this much butterflies for Rain Dacosta. Too dangerous for my poor heart.