Rose took her bath and sat down reading one of the books she always read at night when she can't sleep although the words on the book was not what her mind was on. She was playing the scene where Mr. Whitfred offered her his help over and over again on her mind pausing sometimes to remember the look he wore on his face.
She shook her head and closed her book. Mr. Harts always seemed to be wearing an appearance of someone with a lot of evil on his mind. He was like a big book with so much unreadable pages. He appeared too mischievous for her to trust.
She sighed for the tenth time that night since she retired to her room. This was way more complicated than it should be. She closed the book and stretched her hand to drop the book on her bedside table. She leaned against the headboard and messaged her temple.
"Go to him for help?" she asked into the empty space in her large room. She scoffed and shook her head. She knew he did not want to harm her at least not now because if his aim was to harm her, he would have done that long ago. The only possibility was that she had something he wanted but she could not come up with anything she had except her identity.
She decided to sleep over it perhaps after a few hours of rest she would be able to come up with the right decision. She clapped the lights of her room off and lay down properly. She pulled the comforter up and closed her eyes. It was just the right time for her to sleep well at least before her nightmares wake her up.
An hour later, a black figure walked into her room through the door leading into the room from the balcony. That black figure walked with light steps, so soundless that Rose who was a very light sleeper did not wake up. The figure was tall and built with a well-toned body that could be obvious in the dim light coming in from the door from the balcony and the windows.
The figure walked to her bed where Rose was asleep already slipping into the day she was brutally killed. She kept trying to stop herself from going to the palace. "Stop dressing up. Your clothes will get ruined later on," she begged her naïve self hoping subconsciously that she will not go there in this dream at least she won't get killed then.
The figure paused when he saw the girl's body move a little. He could see clearly enough to notice her movements and the changes in her facial expression in the dark after years of training his night vision.
"Stop, don't get into the taxi. You still have a chance," she begged and tried to grip the hand of the girl naively paying the taxi driver to get a ride to her death but her hand simply passed through the girl's hand like a ghost. This was the first time she had such a dream and she began panicking as she tried over and over again to grip the girl's hand.
"Don't worry, Uncle Hart is a good man," she heard that soft, musical, and motherly voice assure her. She stopped her panicky movement and stared around.
Seeing the excited girl talk to the guards at the palace, her heart froze. "Go to Uncle Hart, he will help you meet the king," she said hastily. And the girl actually turned and when their gaze met, she was suddenly at her dying point with her strong urge to live despite the pain and the humiliation.
The figure sat down beside her and mopped off the sweat from her brow and rubbed her smooth cheeks with the back his hand. He looked very sad and worried. He used his fingers to smoothen her furrowed brow.
"Rosaline. You are not alone," the figures deep musical voice assured her in a gentle whisper close to her ear.
That voice so caring was like a pillar pulling Rose out of her nightmare. She subconsciously reached out to the where the voice came from and hugged a hand close to her. She slowly opened her eyes in her sleepy state but the sweet familiar scent that came from whoever had that hand was too much a sleeping pill for her to remain awake and she drifted deeper into her sleep.
This was the first time since her rebirth that she got to sleep so deep and peaceful. A completely dreamless sleep without the stress of the hell she goes through during her nightmares. The figure allowed her to keep hugging his arm as he felt really happy seeing her sleep so peacefully.
He wondered what her nightmares were about and seriously wished he could pull her out of them every night but it was impossible for him to do so. "Rose, I want to leave now, in the next two years, I will come looking for you. There is something I started that I must finish. I want you to stay well till I return," he whispered caressing her soft long hair.
Rose subconsciously pulled the hand closer to her chest when she heard her pillar of support was leaving despite how deep she was in her sleep. She only loosened her hold when she heard the voice assure her he was going to return after a couple of years.
The Rose, before him, had always showed a sign of turning out to be very pretty since she was child and he had seen pictures of her before but the girl he now saw was way prettier than any picture could make her look. He heard her eyes looked different from before and he saw it in the pictures but he could not help but feel regret that her eyes were closed and he could not see her.
He also wished he could sit this close to her in the day light but it was not possible yet. He was not prepared enough to help her. He felt the softest from her chest hugging his arm to get support she needed and like a healthy young man so close to the girl he loved, he felt the room suddenly feel hot as his body temperature increased. He tried to shake the feeling off but his eyes only dropped to her exposed shoulder.
He felt sorry that he had to pull his hand away from her grip to prevent an unwanted incident. Although he wants whatever that incident was to happen but it was not the right time. He tried but Rose tightened her grip on his arm. He gulped when his mouth became dry from the heat and the tightened grip. He reached for another pillow and slowly pulled away his hand away despite how tightly this beautiful koala held him.
He immediately placed the pillow where his hand was feeling a certain hatred towards the pillow, he frowned and got up. He was already wishing he did not come at all and stayed away since she was really distracting and he did not want a distraction on this two years mission but he felt motivated to finish his mission as fast as he can so that he could return to her before someone else takes her away.
He kissed her forehead lightly before leaving the room hastily as he could not guaranty that he would not try to take that damn pillow away and put his hand where it truly belonged which was as a support to Rose even in her sleep.
The figure only left for a while but Rose frowned in her sleep in a very dissatisfied manner. It was a good thing the figure had left before she made such pitiful face with her sexy pink lips pouted or the figure would have lost his self-control and remained with her till he gets caught in the morning.
That scent was no longer as strong and concentrated as before and she was unhappy about that. She hugged the pillow which was softer than the pillar she hugged earlier but she still continued to sleep deeply.
***
"Rose, wake up," Anna said shaking her sister who she had being trying to wake up for over twenty minutes. Her sister did not wake up. She was that scared that something was wrong but her sister only sleeping deeply while hugging her pillow like a koala with her brow furrowed and lips pouted.
Rose further frowned when someone began disturbing her dreamless beautiful sleep. She hugged the pillow tighter and moaned angrily.
Seeing this reaction, Anna concluded that her sister must have stayed as wake crying over her crush although it did not seem logical. She gave up trying and left the room. She might as well leave with Debby. If he sister wants to go when she wakes up, she will join them come over herself.