The wind was getting stronger and the temperature had dropped. I knew that Bradon was logically right that we should head inside but my stubbornness had already taken over.
“Your hand is cold...” he said to me softly.
“Stop trying to change the topic...” I warned.
The moment he raised my hand to his lips and kissed it, my words felt stuck in my throat. His lips were soft and warm and their touch on the back of my hand made my insides tingle. Even though I knew that he was doing this to distract me from pushing him for answers, I couldn’t help the way that my chest tightened. It took a lot of effort to stop myself from moaning when I felt the wet tip of his tongue flicking softly against the back of my hand.
“Stop...” I said as I tried to pull my hand away.
Of course, it was no use. On top of failing to free my hand from his grasp, Bradon rewarded my vain effort by sucking softly on the back of my hand. He looked straight at me as his lips continued kissing and sucking on the back of my hand. I could feel my body throbbing as my body started to heat up.
“Shall we head back inside?” he asked invitingly as he moved my hand away from his lips.
I pulled my hand away as I glared at him. My jaws clenched tightly as he smirked mischievously at me. It felt like I had lost this round because he did succeed in distracting me. However, I was already quite certain of the conclusion that I had reached. There was just no other explanation.
“Yes...” I replied in short before turning and walking away toward the villa.
...
Later that night, I laid stiff as a board on my side of the bed. Although it wasn’t our wedding night nor our first night sleeping on the same bed together, I felt so nervous and conscious of the fact that Bradon was sleeping next to me on the bed. After returning to the villa, we went our separate ways. I showered and washed my hair before getting into bed. It wasn’t even late in the evening but I didn’t have anything to do.
A while later, Bradon got into bed with me. Laying on the bed side by side without saying a word to each other and with our bodies not even touching felt like the strangest thing in the world. For a moment, I even wondered what I was doing there. Then I began wondering what Bradon was doing there sleeping next to me. I more than half expected him to find another room to spend the night.
Calling our conversation earlier an argument felt like a stretch. It wasn’t like we had a fight, but at the same time, there was a strange tension between us. I felt so restless but I didn’t dare move my body either. The light was already off and the room was quite dark. Some light shining in from the outside made it possible for me to see silhouettes of the furniture in the room.
Why isn’t he doing anything? Has he fallen asleep already?
“Can’t sleep?” Bradon suddenly spoke up in a low whisper.
“Yeah. I thought you fell asleep already,” I replied honestly.
I felt the bed shifting under me as Bradon moved on the bed. He moved closer to me and when I turned to face him, I found him lying on his side facing my way.
“I’m not sleepy yet,” he said quite casually.
“I thought you fell asleep already because you looked quite tired earlier...” I said as I found myself staring at his face in the dimly lit room.
I could see the outlines of his face well enough although the lights weren’t on and I could tell that he was watching me intently. At first I thought that I simply felt enraged because he had left me and then I thought that I was curious about what he had returned to do at work because it must have been important. However, now that everything had calmed down somewhat, I began to realize that I also felt worried about him.
“Flying there and back isn’t fun,” he replied.
“Did some bad trouble come up at work? Oh, I’m not trying to pry, I’m just...a little curious...and worried...” I murmured hesitantly.
“It’s all good now,” he said like it was nothing.
If it’s all good now, that only meant that it wasn’t ‘all good’ before. Something quite serious must have happened given the way that Bradon had to take off like that. He did return right away so I thought that it might be fine to go a little easier on him for that.
Suddenly, I began thinking of how he jumped into the pool with his clothes on while thinking that I had to be saved. He must have thought that I was drowning in the deep end of the pool. I felt very frustrated, embarrassed, and angry when that happened but looking back on it made me let out a giggle.
“What’s making you laugh?” he asked.
“I was just thinking of how you jumped into the pool to rescue me. I guess it’s not supposed to be funny but it is now that I think back on it,” I said as I tried to keep myself from giggling.
I didn’t succeed and ended up laughing while Bradon kept on staring at me. I could tell that he didn’t think that it was funny but it wasn’t my fault that he thought that I still couldn’t swim. It must have been a long time ago that Anthony told him about that and for them to get to that topic of discussion, Anthony must have told him about the incident as well. I smiled a little to myself when I recalled the frightening memory that had ripened over the years until it had turned into a memory that I could recall without fear and with a sense of warmth instead.
–To be continued...