Someone shook her. Nooo. She'd just fallen asleep. She was still tired.
"Ugh. No, don't wake me up," she protested, covering her face with the blankets and rolling away.
"Wake up, sleeping beauty," said Thieren's voice, his fingers sneaking under her pillow and nipping Stacey's nose. "We've already let you sleep for as long as we could put it off. You've slept all night and need to get up and eat something. There are still rehearsals this morning and then the elimination challenge tonight. We put it all off for as long as we could so that you had time to get more rest."
"Noooo," Stacey groaned, rolling over again and protecting her nose.
"If you don't want to get up, we can do couple things that husbands and wives normally do," Thieren leaned down, bringing his body close enough that she could feel the light pressure pushing down on her with the blankets a thin barrier between them. "There's no one else here and they probably won't be here for a few more minutes."
"No. No way. Just a bit longer," Stacey rolled over again to try and avoid him, barely hearing or understanding what he had said. She was still so tired. "Just a bit longer," her voice dropped off as she fell asleep again.
She let go of the pillow and didn't realise when Thieren moved it away. He leaned in to steal a kiss, catching her hands when she woke up to flail at him in surprised panic. Before she was fully awake, a mouthful of minty water was slowly and forcefully released into her mouth, making her swallow automatically and choke.
Stacey sat up in a flustered panic, coughing on water that had gone down the wrong way.
Thieren helped her to sit up and patted her back while she continued coughing and choking, passing her the cup of slightly sweet, minty water to finish drinking. It reminded Stacey a bit of drinkable mouthwash but without as much bite.
"Finish it all," Thieren told her. "It's medicine."
When she finished the drink with a grimace, Stacey realized that she was sitting in Thieren's lap and there was a bulge sticking into her backside.
She was awake now. Sort of. As awake as her still foggy and sleep-ridden head could be at the moment. She wasn't dreaming this, was she? Nooo. Let her free. She was still feeling sick. She didn't want to be molested like this.
She squirmed. The more she wriggled and tried to break free from his embrace, the more the light in Thieren's eye began to change.
When she stopped to look up into his face, Thieren's face broke into a wide smile. He leaned down and caught her lips in his, one of his hands taking the empty cup from her hand and putting it down on the table. He then flipped their bodies and pressed her down beneath him in a deep kiss. Her body slowly softened beneath him as she surrendered, allowing him to dominate and taste the mint from her medicinal drink just now.
Or maybe it was just that she was suffocating and had forgotten to breathe. Was he not worried he'd catch her cold or flu or whatever it was?
She was weaker than usual. Her struggles could barely be called struggles.
Thieren let her go.
Stacey drew in a huge gasping breath and turned over to cough again.
Whoa! What was that?
"Awake now?" Thieren asked. "Would you like… more?"
"Awake! I'm awake!" Stacey panted, still trying to get a grip on what had just happened. She threw a palm at the smirking face but he caught her wrist. She felt confused. Why had he kissed her?
Kissed. She'd been kissed. She should be more uncomfortable and upset than she was feeling. Why wasn't she more angry and upset? Because then maybe she could blow these cobwebs out of her brain. Then again, everything could well be a fever ridden dream. She could be delirious and hallucinating.
Holding her wrist, Theiren continued to smirk while he made her hand cup his face and then slowly run down his neck, his collarbones, his chest. She could feel his nipple beneath the thin material of his shirt and the beating of his heart.
She could feel herself growing hotter, more red and flushed with embarrassment the more he played with her hand.
"Stop that!" Stacey tried to pull her hand back, watching in horror as he refused to let her go but brought her hand sliding down his abdomen lower and lower until…
There was a knock on the door.
Thieren let her go.
"Lord Huo, is Stacey up yet? Rehearsals are almost finished. She's the only one not there and ready. The last person is almost done. You're running out of time. Otherwise we'll only have time to do a quick sound check."
"Ow!" Stacey yelped.
Stacey fell out the other side of the bed in a bid to get away from the evil man as fast as possible. She had to stay out of his reach. They might be husband and wife in name but she wasn't ready. Wasn't ready for physical or intimate contact. Didn't want to be teased. She was still sick. What was he thinking?
"She's up," Thieren grinned at Stacey picking herself up off the floor. "I'll bring her out for you all to do your thing with in a moment."
"Ok. We're waiting."
Stacey stood up. Thankfully she wasn't as dizzy or unsteady today. Her mind was clearer, although still fatigued, but at least she could stand on her own two feet.
"Wash up," Thieren pointed at the washbasin in the corner. "Toothbrush, toothpaste and facecloth are all there, ready for you. Clothes are there. You'd better be quick if you don't want my help."
What Stacey really wanted was to go to the toilet but she suppressed her urge to do as she was told before the man got other ideas. Out the corner of her eye, she could see him sitting with crossed legs and head down. She wondered what he was doing or thinking but didn't want to or dare to disturb him. Just in case he did another shameless thing to her.
When she was done at the sink, she crossed her legs and squirmed while getting changed behind a curtain. Why was there no toilet in here? Just a sink and a mirror? There was no time to feel self-conscious that she was changing her clothes so close to a man. She needed to go to the toilet.
"What's wrong with you?" Thieren asked with a quizzical expression, watching her when she emerged from behind the curtain.
"Need to go to the loo," Stacey said and at his blank face, amended her choice of words. "Toilet. I need the toilet."
"Ah," Thieren said, looking enlightened. He pointed at the floor. "Socks and shoes and you're ready to go."
Stacey scrambled to put the socks on, fumbling with one side while he helped her slowly with the other. Once one side was done, she shook him off her foot, jammed it into the shoe and promptly tripped over because she hadn't buckled her shoes properly in her hurry.
"Argh. Quick, quick, quick," she flapped her hands at Thieren while she tried to get the unruly buckle done right. The only problem was that she had never seen this type of buckle before and didn't know how to do it up to make it stick. And Thieren was so slow. "I need to go. I need to go. I'm begging you."
"You're begging me?" Thieren looked up at her with an amused expression. "Need to go and find release?"
Stacey nodded emphatically.
"Yes. Hurry up!"
And then she realized what he had just said and the innuendo involved and she blushed. She felt her face colouring to become what was probably a fiery red.
"Argh! You know what I mean. Get your gutter out of my mind. I need to go to the toilet before my bladder bursts. I mean, gutter out of my mind. No, your mind. Get your mind out of the gutter. Don't laugh. Stop laughing, you meanie. I didn't mean anything else. Nothing else," she batted at his shoulders. "I don't know how to do these buckles. Help me, please? Please? Quickly? Please?"
When Thieren continued to just smirk at her, Stacey pushed him away.
"Forget it. I'll put them on later," she said, running out the room in her socks and leaving the shoes behind.
"Stacey, darling! Where are your shoes?" Tonton called after her.
"Inside! I have to go to the toilet!"
"You can't go to the toilet in your socks," Tonton caught her and held her back.
"I don't know how to put them on," Stacey complained, dancing on the spot. "I don't know how to do those buckles. They wouldn't buckle."
"Wasn't Lord Huo in there with you?" Tonton asked. "Sit down here."
Tonton guided her to a chair.
"He was too slow," Stacey complained, sitting and wriggling.
"I'll do it," Thieren emerged from the sick bay room with Stacey's shoes and knelt down to help her put them on and buckle them. His movements were swift. "Done."
"Why couldn't you just do that earlier?" Stacey cried and ran to the toilet in a hurry, nearly tripping herself over.
"Pearl," Thieren called, waving her over, pointing at Stacey. "I think you'd better follow her and make sure she doesn't accidentally fall and knock herself out."
"Yes sir."