Putting aside her laptop she stood up and follow him with heavy steps.
He suddenly looks back that caught Clara off guard, she looks at him curiously when she heard him cough.
"Get your coat" he coughs dryly as he turns around continuing his steps towards the door "We'll be eating outside"
Clara looks dazedly at the silhouette of his broad shoulder for a minute.
Not hearing any noise of footsteps from the woman behind him, he curiously gazes at her seeing her dazed expression that makes his mouth twitch.
"What are you doing?"
Snapping back from reality Clara strides to her luggage where her essentials are, to get the coat, but after unzipping her luggage, her hands stop. Given that her eyes were bad, especially in the dark, she can't figure out where in the pack of clothes were her coat. She stealthily looks at Claude, who was silently observing her every move.
She can feel his gaze on her that makes her body hot in embarrassment, she tries to calm her nerves as she breathes deeply and moves her head to meet his gaze. She didn't know that she can be easily embarrassed or this guy was just shameless to openly observe her as if his gaze were burning her.
She gulps when she feels that he is squinting his eyes at her, or it is just her imagination, barely closing her eyes for a second to calm her nerves, she gave him a small smile and speaks in her timid voice that she didn't know exists "Can you please turn on the lights?"
"There were no lights here" his hoarse bass voice echoes in her head
She manages to see his clear eyes despite the dark and looks at him as if he was from another world "Pa-pardon?" she blinks at him, bewildered at his answer.
His facial expression can't be seen by Clara because of the dark, but she knew he shrugs at her, "There were no lights here in the house"
She was shocked by his answer, after closing the gap in her mouth "Why?"
"I don't think I need it, " he nonchalantly said while he took a step forward for her
Clara can somewhat see his defined features, his tall nose, and small lips, looking up at his stature 'He is really good looking' she nods in agreement with her thought
Looking at the pile of clothes inside her luggage he looks at her, who was sitting pitifully looking for her coat in the dark "If you can't see your coat just leave it be, let's go" he turns around again leaving her dumbfounded.
'How could she survive the cold outside?' Before she could contemplate how to survive in the cold her stomach grumbles.
In the quiet room when her stomach grumbles it could easily be heard by the other person, Claude steps pause, and look at her "Let's go before you could die in hunger"
Clara could feel her face warmed the same with her ears, she immediately catches up with Claude as she was looking down in embarrassment.
Knowing that she was not familiar with this house and its dark, she bumps into the corner of the wall, making her grunt in pain.
She could hear the faint deep chuckle and a warm hand touch her arms, looking at the man who's the owner of the warm hand to thank him, but all she could see is a faint silhouette of his head but it was well handsome. 'How can the silhouette of the person be this handsome?' She thought
"Let me help you or else you could end up in the hospital instead of a restaurant" His hoarse voice envelope her ears at the same time makes her face even warmer dismissing the thoughts inside her head a while ago.
"A-alright" she timidly nodded.
How could you blame a woman like her, for her timid actions? She doesn't have experience having a fine man next to her in her life! Especially touching her in the darkroom!
Clara exhaled, clasping her hands tightly as she erases the thoughts in her head, why do all of the erotic novels she read in the past years, for references in her books comes to her mind now?!
'Pure thoughts, pure thoughts'
Focusing on cleansing her dirty mind she didn't manage to detect the corner of the stairs.
Claude gently pulled her arm to him so she can't hurt herself, he looks at her daze expression he sighs, good thing that his eyes were good and trained in the dark so he can see the surroundings "Can't you even detect that you will bump into something?"
Snapping from her daze, she shakes her head "My eyes are bad in the dark"
He smacks his lips and pulled her closer to his body, putting his arms around her waist "Excuse me, I'm afraid you'll fall," he slowly walks towards the stairs "Be careful" he mutters and supports her going down the stairs.
Every step going down her face gets warmer, she could even visualize herself like a potato.
"This is the last step"
She hummed as she steps on the last one, at the same time her waist feel cold as the arms that were encircled it a while ago, leaving her waist, it just a second she feels a warm hand touched her arms, guiding her in the right direction until they reach the doorstep.
"Thank you"
He just nods at her and opens the door, walking straight to the elevator.
Clara immediately moves and follows his steps, looking at his dull expression she feels uncomfortable.
While waiting for the elevator, she felt that the air they are gasping was getting thinner as she feels overwhelmed with the uncomfortable atmosphere. She coughs to clear the clog in her throat, hoping she could breathe comfortably, but her coughs made him look at her curiously.
He looks at her with a creased brow "Did you just get a cold stepping outside?"
"Huh? No." she shakes her head urgently while excessively waves her hands as she saw him take off his coat "I-I am" but too late, he places it in her palms, she looks at him dumbfounded, with a stoic expression he steps inside the elevator that has some people in it "not that fragile" she whispers as she follows him inside.
She looks at him and tries to give his coat back to him "Claude"
He didn't even budge and glanced at her, looking straight at the elevator door "Hold it" he mutters
Looking at his expression of don't have a plan on getting his coat back, she backs down and looks at the black coat in her hands. The coat in her hands looked plain in one glace but it has embroidery on it that you could only see up close, the embroidery makes it more elegant and gives a mysterious vibe to it.
While inspecting the coat the elevator opened indicating that they are already on the ground floor, she looks at Claude but he just straightforwardly goes out of the elevator leaving her behind. She quickly moves and follows his steps, but he is such a tall man compared to her that makes his steps were two times bigger than her regular step, which makes her run to catch up with his speed.
The cold breeze greets them the moment they step out of the building, looking at him shivering a little, Clara immediately opens his coat and puts it on her body, making her look like a sushi roll.
A chuckle breakout the quiet atmosphere between them, he looks fascinated by her actions just a moment ago and how she looks right now, a walking sushi roll.
"What?" Clara looks at him sharply "If you think you could get your coat from me once again, it is too late for that, I gave you a chance a while ago but you didn't grab it. Now, you don't have the right to get it from me." she said breathlessly, she needs a coat for survival, she can't be too soft-hearted if her life were in danger.
He blinks at her before giving her a smirk "I'm not getting it back." he said, putting both hands in the pockets of his trousers and walks to the side road.
Looking at him that has only a thin black sweater that would defend him from the cold, she clasped her hands tightly.
Feeling that no one was following him, Claude's look back at her and saw the complicated expression on her face. 'So, she's feeling guilty right now, huh? " A smirk formed on his small lips. Putting his hands together, he rubs them together, slightly shivering and he looks at her, "Can you move faster or do you want me to freeze to death?"
Looking at his pitiful expression while rubbing his two hands, Clara bites her lower lip as she runs towards him "Do you want your coat back?"