A dream that barely came. The breath was soft, calm, and reassuring. Lia fell into the depths of sleep which was quite amazing, considering how poor her sleep quality had been lately, after the arrival of Prince Aerus.
Right now she was feeling heaven, feeling the wonderful thing she had been waiting for. Neil didn't come into her dreams, at all, but it didn't matter. Lia would meet and contact Neil later when she had made up her mind.
Something hit her thin and frail body, arching her back and almost sinking into the bed. Like a rock falling on her, making her body take on greater weight, dragging her down, and causing her to stumble deeply.
Lia reached for the air, mouth opened as if drowning. She thought he was sinking, that was a rational explanation. When she felt her breath hitched, and her stomach so stiff Lia opened her eyes, opened her eyes wide, and almost screamed.
Just then she found a face already drooping on her shoulder. "Cindy?" shouted Lia, mistaking someone. Lia's mind became chaotic, she began to search for her cell phone. "Phone, where is my phone? I have to call an ambulance. Cindy, what's wrong with you? You are sick?"
Lia patted Prince Aerus on the back quite hard, landing on the end of his strong muscles. The bright room lights made Lia realize that something was wrong here, especially when her eyes found the figure of Cindy snoring very comfortably beside her.
At first, Lia thought that she had seen it wrong, or maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe Lia was just getting a sleep disorder, namely sleep paralysis, but that's not enough to satisfy her. Finally, she pushed the body that was on top of her, almost overwhelmed by the heavyweight. Her face was sweating with gasps.
"Who are you? Thief?" Lia asked, bluffing and also very annoyed. Then there was a faint threatening tone in her weak voice.
Prince Aerus' golden hair swept across Lia's gaze, but only for a split second. It was missed and was unable to be a marker for her.
Consciousness had returned. Prince Aerus groaned, squirming softly on top of Lia's body as if he was a baby who had just woken up. The comfort he got, accompanied by a feeling of wanting to stay longer.
"Lia," groaned Prince Aerus. He hugged Lia's body tightly and stuck her like a postage stamp. His head began to sink into the crook of Lia's neck, inhaling her soft and sweet scent.
"You…" Lia stiffened, dumbfounded, frozen. Lia knew that Prince Aerus could track her position. However, after their brief quarrel, and after the absence of Prince Aerus, she didn't expect that the golden-haired prince would come to her, and even pressed her down like this.
Now Lia cleared her throat. Her trembling body became more and more shriveled. Next to her, Cindy was fast asleep, and she didn't want to wake her best friend.
She had troubled Cindy enough today, stuffed her with stories like this and that hitchhiked in her flat and even her bed, borrowed her clothes, and lied to her about things. Lia still hadn't opened her wig, hiding the golden hair inside.
"What are you doing here?" whispered Lia firmly, almost fiercely. But she adjusted the volume to make it less loud to keep Cindy asleep.
There was no answer from Prince Aerus until Lia thought that he had fallen asleep. However, soon there was a chuckle. Oddly enough, there wasn't anything funny here.
Lia refrained from asking, she had to take Prince Aerus out of Cindy's room. "Come out. You can't be here. My friends will see you."
"And leave you here alone? Peace without me? How selfish."
Lia shuddered. Was the one talking to her just now Prince Aerus? A man who had treated her rudely and unkindly? Who didn't even want Lia? But why was his voice so soft? So cool and sounded so caring?
Almost losing her focus, Lia forced herself to stay awake. Now and then she pushed Prince Aerus' body, which was pressing against her and making it difficult for her to breathe.
"Go! I will sleep here tonight. You can't just come to someone's home like this. You can be caught and accused of stealing," said Lia again, her hands shaking Prince Aerus' body to get away from her.
Feeling the movement, Prince Aerus shook his head. He sank deeper into the crook of Lia's neck. Then his lips trailed down that neck, moving slowly in a sweeping motion.
Lia started to feel uncomfortable. "Don't be like this! I beg you." Feeling very tormented because she had to keep her voice volume, amid her desire to scream and curse Prince Aerus.
A groan was heard, then some strange noises. Prince Aerus seemed to have lost his mind, he sometimes hummed a little and cried slowly.
Starting to feel strange, Lia quickly got up as best she could. Despite being restrained by the weight of Prince Aerus' body, she was finally able to sit herself up. Her hand touched Prince Aerus' head, gently stroked his golden hair, feeling the softness and flexibility of its strands.
Lia briefly froze, finding herself as if she recognized the strands of hair, their soft texture, and their very distinctive fragrance. Getting rid of that strange thought, she immediately reached out to Prince Aerus' face and then placed her palm there.
Frozen, hot, all of them collided and created each other's power and dominance. In a few short moments, Prince Aerus' body would be stricken with fever, and soon the fever would disappear and be replaced with frostbite as if Prince Aerus had just soaked in ice.
"Oh my gosh, what happened to you?" Lia started to get very worried, especially when she heard Prince Aerus start to talk in a loud enough voice. Couldn't stop glancing at Cindy, Lia's fear was increasing with time.
"I came to earth and met you. Hahaha, you hid and I found you. Yeay!" Prince Aerus yelped, then swayed like a dance. But before long he would cry, then moan, shiver, and finally sweat. His change in attitude was in stark contrast as if he had lost his mind and was on the verge of dying.
Panting, Prince Aerus seemed to have lost his lungs. He squirmed and clutched his chest.
Lia started to panic. She inched and lightly slapped Prince Aerus in the face.
"What happened to you? Prince, what happened to you?" Lia's eyes filled with tears, it was all pure fear. She had almost forgotten about Cindy, who could be her greatest threat.
"Why are you covering your hair? Why?" Prince Aerus groaned, in the middle of his hand holding his chest. Tears welled up in his eyes, and convulsions hit his body.
"Hey, wake up! What happened to you? Prince? Prince?" Lia groaned, feeling the grip of Prince Aerus' hand on her arm, as a result of the pain that radiated through Prince Aerus' body. He groaned, and his face paled.
"You want to leave me. You want to run away from me. You will meet Neil and marry him. Why are you so bad?" It was as if blood was about to come out of Prince Aerus' eyes. It looked terrible, making every gut not dare to just crawl. Tears melted, rolling down Prince Aerus' cheeks. At that time Lia wiped it and found the liquid was clear.
"Let's go back to the Elipsis plane. Can you? You can teleport, right? Come on." Lia shook Prince Aerus, caressing his sweaty face while wiping it. Fear filled Lia's heart. It wasn't that she felt guilty, but that she couldn't see someone die in front of her.
Glancing around she couldn't find Hamdi at all while calling the hospital was a stupid choice.
"You will run with Neil. You will leave me and will abort my child in your womb. You're bad, Lia. You never see me in the right way."
***