After a while, Kevin went back upstairs with the noodles. He gently knocked on the bedroom door again, but he heard no response from inside the room. With a frown, he tried again and knocked harder on the door. Still, Leena didn't open the door nor make any sound. He could only hear the sound of his knocks echoing in the corridor.
Kevin tried to turn the knob, but to his disappointment, Leena had locked the door from inside when she came into the bedroom. Staring at the closed door for a short while, Kevin turned around and headed to his study. If Leena wouldn't open the door for him, he could always use the spare key to open the door himself! After Kevin fetched the spare key and opened the locked bedroom, he was stunned to see the woman who was soundly sleeping in their bed. Holding the noodles, Kevin suddenly had no idea what he should do at the moment. He wasn't gone for long, and he definitely didn't expect that Leena would fall asleep so soon. He thought maybe she was just locking herself in the bedroom and secretly angry with him.
Slowly and gently, Kevin made a beeline for the bedside. Leena was curling herself up like a little kitten, a delicate porcelain doll. No matter what Kevin felt about Leena before, his heart softened all of a sudden at the sight of the sleeping beauty. Men were always like this. They had an issue with the hero complex. They tended to play the alpha male and protect the weak and delicate. As a man, and more importantly, a Major General in the army, Kevin couldn't help feeling like keeping Leena under his wings to protect her from any harm all of a sudden.
Kevin pulled the quilt over to cover her in case she would catch a cold. Then he gently tucked the hair falling on her face behind her ear. Upon seeing the tear stains on her pretty face, Kevin froze for a while. Her tears somehow bruised his heart.
Hesitant, he reached out his fingers to caress her creamy skin. The touch of her fair skin was so fascinating that he couldn't help but slightly pinch her rosy cheek before wiping the tear stains for her. He went blank for a few seconds as his fingers met her tender lips. It felt like he was spellbound and couldn't move his eyes away from her. Finally, Kevin forced a bitter smile and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. He then sat back while fixing his eyes on Leena's sleeping profile. He sighed heavily as he thought that he'd have to finish up all the noodles by himself. Although they hadn't spent much time together, Kevin had known that it wasn't easy to wake Leena up once she fell asleep.
In the meanwhile, Kevin himself was also exhausted because of days of nonstop work. He rushed through dinner. Instead of staying in his study to continue working like he usually did, he took a quick shower and directly went to bed. Leena was frowning with a pout even when she was asleep, which made Kevin wonder what was in her dream that made her unhappy. With a smile, Kevin pulled Leena into his arms and soon fell into sweet dreams.
When the first beam of warm sunshine penetrated through the curtain and danced tenderly in Leena's face, she opened her watery eyes with a huge yawn. She wasn't surprised to see that the other side of the bed was cold and empty. She sometimes even wondered whether Kevin really slept in this bed. Had it not been for the faint and refreshing scent of mint from the pillow and the quilt, Leena would have thought that the man she thought she had married was only her own illusion. However, Leena was struck by another question all of a sudden. She remembered clearly that she locked the door last night. So how did Kevin get in? 'Perhaps he has superpowers and he can walk through walls!' Amused by her own thought, Leena burst into giggles.
Leena stretched with another yawn. After staring blankly at the ceiling for a short while, she got out of bed on barefoot and walked towards the bathroom. She decided to let go of how Kevin got in the bedroom, since she might as well ask him later in person. She was too tired last night that she fell asleep without taking a shower; therefore she felt sweaty and uncomfortable now. All she wanted for the moment was a long hot bath to relax.
Kevin was a soldier who had a strict timetable of when to do, what to follow. Every morning he would get some exercise; even if it was his day off, he would also run in the gym near his apartment. Habit was something like this; it gradually changed you before you could realize, like his internal clock, like his feelings for Daisy. He wondered whether someday he would get used to Leena's company and let go of his obsession with Daisy. Because Leena was in low spirits last night, Kevin decided to take a day off to stay with Leena and cheer her up a little bit. It was still early in the morning after he had done running, and he wondered if Leena was awake by then.
He bought some breakfast from the store near his apartment before heading back home. He just ran for miles, and he was sweating all over. As soon as he walked in the house, he put the breakfast on the dining table and decided to shower off the sweat and change into some dry clothes before waking Leena up to enjoy breakfast with him.
He thought Leena was probably still sleeping, and he didn't want to wake her up. So he walked lightly as he approached their bedroom. But to his surprise, when he pushed the door open, he saw something really arousing. He stopped out of shock, his eyes wide open and his jaw dropped to the floor.
"Ah!" A shriek pierced through Kevin's ears and brought him back to reality. Leena had thought that Kevin had left for work like he always did. But why was he here? She was naked at the moment for God's sake! And he saw it all!
"I..." Kevin froze by the door. He neither turned around nor closed the door; he just blanked out and couldn't think of anything to say or do. He initially wanted to explain himself or apologize to her, yet he didn't know what he should be sorry for. While he was still in a daze, Leena quickly pulled over a sheet to cover herself completely within a split second, which made Kevin once again amazed by how deft she was.
"What? Turn around now!" Leena was burning up with embarrassment. She was sure that her cheeks were hot enough to fry an egg. She thought Kevin had gone to work and she was the only soul in this house. That was why she didn't bring her pajamas or changing clothes with her into the bathroom. When she got out of the tub, she just casually dried the water off her body and walked to the closet to find something to wear. While she was humming a tune and going through her closet, naked, Kevin, the one who she thought couldn't be there, showed up at the door.
Kevin's face slightly twitched. He felt a bit awkward because he had seen everything whether he intended to do so or not. Now that Leena had wrapped herself up, was it necessary for him to turn around? He didn't see the point anyway. But he knew she was coy and embarrassed at the moment. Thinking about all the problems between them that they hadn't found a proper way to settle and make their relationship less awkward, Kevin then decided not to provoke her any further and simply turn around as she demanded, in case she got mad at him this time.
Upon seeing Kevin turn around with his back to the door, Leena turned to the closet and randomly grabbed her underwear and her clothes before hastily dashing into the bathroom again. She blushed as she ran. She secretly blamed herself for not checking whether she was really alone in the house before she went out of the bathroom without wearing anything. She was a married woman and this was not her home; she should have been more careful! Leena felt so humiliated that she didn't even know how to face Kevin right now. What would he think of her? What could she say to explain herself? Leena could only sigh heavily in distress. This was going to be harder than she thought.