She watched in astonishment as the door she had not even attempted to open swung open slightly on its own. Shelby’s mouth dropped open slightly.
But she wasted no time as her curiosity got the better of her. She pushed the door further and ventured into the dark space, one hesitant step after another. Suzie, her maid, rounded the corner just in time to see this and gasped in surprise.
"Miss Shelby did it!" She jumped for joy and ran forward, but the door slammed shut before she got there.
"Oh yes! I must inform Madam Geneva immediately!" She said to herself as she ran back the way she had come. Her initial purpose for coming there was totally forgotten.
After the day that Ian ventured out and witnessed his wedding, Ian had trouble sleeping. He had been puzzled that ’a nobody’ was intruding on his precious memories of Aliya. In fact, after the first day he had dreamed about the new girl, she had been stuck in his head, and it made him emotionally tired. Here he was with two women lodged in his consciousness and sub-consciousness vying for attention; one whose image he could not shake off, and the other, his mind trying desperately to see its facial features from the little he had seen that day. This left him confused.
He still did not know what happened to him that night a few weeks ago that made him scream as if his very being was being torn apart. It had been a brief outburst of emotions that had passed as if it never happened.
His eyes fluttered close, and he embraced his dreams yet again. The ones he had been waiting for. His mouth curled up in his dream as his door swung open, and Shelby walked in tentatively. Shelby stood in the middle of the room and let the light from the doorway steam in. But as she took a few steps forward, she heard the slight sound of the door closing, cutting off her light source. The room was so dark that she stood still and let her eyes adjust to the darkness within.
’Ah, I didn’t dry my hair!’ She whispered as she finally made the outline of the person on the bed not far from her.
She could not afford to switch on the light to disturb his sleep, but she inched forward, nonetheless.
She did not know how she felt about this person who had the identity of her husband. The fact that he had never come to see her even once after the ceremony when they lived literally a door away was unsettling, but there was nothing she could do.
She felt the bed dip down as she sat at the edge and studied the man’s outline. She could not see him well but sat there quietly for a while and turned to get up and leave.
Just then, a hand snaked around her waist over her pyjama, holding her in place. She froze, and her heart did a summersault because of how low his hands were on her.
She turned her head, making sure that her body stayed the same. Her shock was so great that she had not realised that Ian had no reaction to her like the others.
"Ian?" she whispered.
"Ian, can you hear me?"
After getting no response for a while, she concluded, "Oh, he’s still asleep!" Her heart calmed as she eased out of his encased arms, making sure that no part of their skin touched, and got up, but then, he stretched his hand and held her bare arms.
"Ouch!" She let out a small scream as she heard a similar grunt from him, jolting him awake and sitting instantly.
She rubbed her arms in the darkened room and thought, ’What was that?’
This was the first time she had felt anything like that from being touched by anyone. Usually, she sees the men who dare to touch her jump away from her as if deterred by something. The most she had seen was from Brad, who had been thrown away from her. But she had never felt any reaction whatsoever. From the sound Ian had made, he was also affected. How could both of them be affected? ’Does that mean...?’
In her shocked state of trying to make sense of what happened, she did not see the slight glow from the ring tattoo once again. But because of the darkened room, Ian saw it from his position, causing him to frown, for he recognised it in his hazy mind.
He was still disoriented from being pulled out of sleep and his dream abruptly. One moment, he felt a warmth never before flow through him, and another moment, he was literally shocked awake!
But instead of feeling angry, he felt longing! An emotion alien to him in this instance because he only longed for Aliya! His mind screamed at him, but all he smelt was the jasmine shampoo that had spread lightly around the room. The glowing phenomenon he had seen was already tucked away in his mind as one single thought passed, ’It can’t be! It should not be possible!’
But his mind and body were in dissonance! Before Ian became fully aware of himself, he was out of bed, forgetting what had happened when he touched the girl; he pulled her onto the bed.
Shelby gasped and tried to shrink back! She prepared for the reaction again, but nothing happened. She only felt his nose in the crook of her neck as he inhaled deeply. He held her securely and ran his hand through her still-damp hair.
’What is he doing?’ she thought.
But then suddenly, lips against hers as his beard rubbed against her.
He used one to pin her arms above her and used the other to hold her jaw and kiss the life out of her. It was just too crazy.
An electrifying sensation shot through Shelby when their lips met. It was amazing! Tingling her whole person. But she couldn’t help but think,
’What is going on?’ As her mind faded, and she tried to think straight but could not!
’My first kiss!’ She once again panicked, almost screaming, ’Oh no!’
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