Her fingertips shook a little. A tingling sensation she never expected. Zella reached for the other ends of her lace robe and tied it around her waist. Even though she's protected with its thin cloth, Leo's eyes pried to her body, like he's taking her robe off from those smoldering gazes. Zella couldn't move. If she does, she wouldn't stop. Leo was drawing her in.
She wanted to touch his waist, his collar, the hems of his shirt, even his hair. Zella didn't know how these desire have grown overtime, maybe it's the longing. Maybe it's the body responding first before her mouth. Zella must have missed his touch, the way he hold her steadily, the way he kissed her lips, and how he pinned her on the wall. It must be the subconscious saying…
"Will we be able to sleep together tonight, and wake up tomorrow morning, still in each other's arms in the master's bedroom?" Would she want it tonight? Would she want to kiss those lips without thinking who is he? Only relying to the answers he get from her, is she going to do it? Leo's eyes never hesitated. He must have wanted this in the first place. Probably wondering what's going on inside her mind, and couldn't move at all.
The barrier must have been hard to break off, with her short-term memory lapses on the line. Or was it the only reason he's taking back?
"Will you be able to remember it tomorrow if I kiss you tonight?" Leo wanted to keep the situation twisted, so that Zella wouldn't find a way out. She has been here for a few weeks, but tonight is the first night she has asked that. Her questions kept on bugging him in the night. He couldn't sleep a wink.
Leo wanted to escape, but who else would end this? Only him.
"Of course, Leo, I should. My mind won't remember it, but my body can."
…
[A month ago. 17 days after the arrest.]
"I have 50 left, Zella. How about you?" Jaina asked. Zella punched the 50th, and it's still an error. She's about to respond when an officer patrolled the area, checking them inside the cell. Zella hid her Tempus Moneda in her sweater, and turned to the female, black officer. She met her eyes for a second. The officer turned back on surveying the area.
Zella climbed down the bed, showing the cross-out combinations, and sighed. The situation's tight, and the days passed with nothing but the thoughts of escape. What else there could be, right? Jaina exchanged the papers, and she saw nothing's right.
"Did you try the first one?"
"I did, but it isn't the combination."
"Maybe it's different in every Tempus Moneda."
"We don't know unless we try until the hundredth time," Zella assured. She sat down beside her, wondering what they should do in the rest of the afternoon. Zella should establish a deadline to keep them going. She doesn't want to spend the rest of her life claiming the mistake she never had done.
"Why do we have to think of breaking out when we're not supposed to get punished? Being a normal person must be committing a crime, too." Jaina opened her flask, drank from it, and treated her answer as a silence. Zella clenched her jaw, glaring at the wall across from her.
…
[A month ago. 18 days after the arrest.]
It's the 98th time. 2 combinations left, and if they punched in the 100th, the system will detect someone was trying to take off the Tempus Moneda. Zella tried it once again, chewing her bottom lip, and punched in the 99th number. She closed her eyes, pressed the skin harder than it seemed, and it turned back.
Still the same glowing numbers she has for two decades already. It reduced, ticking every second, and she sighed. Jaina, who had the same case as her, peeped in from the above, and Zella shook her head. She hoisted down the bunker carefully, and sighed, "It's the 99th time for me. If I get the 100th time correct, no one will be able to locate me unless we do it by lunch time."
"We need to be careful, Jaina. Do you think we can do it now?" Zella creased her forehead.
"It's 4 hours before the open gates. We have to wait until then." Jaina checked her wrist.
"But if we did, will we be able to escape down the tunnel?"
Jaina thought. Zella stood up from the bed, pacing back and forth, thought of what to do. Their Tempus Moneda lighted red, blazing like fire, indicating they're anxious of their escape route. Jaina couldn't think straight, it just drove her crazy. Zella puffed her cheeks, "What if we deactivate our Tempus Moneda first and risking the next steps to come, Jaina?"
Jaina turned to her. "It's dangerous, Zella. We need to be fast, to be clever when we move. We couldn't afford to get caught."
"We couldn't get caught if we're pretending to be one of them."
Jaina tilted her head to one side. Zella pursed her lips. "It's now or never."
…
Leo closed the door gently. Zella roamed her eyes around the room. The master's bedroom isn't the same as the drab room she used to sleep on for the past few weeks. Zella turned to him, asking, "Why do you keep on letting me sleep there when we have a bedroom on our own?"
"You want to sleep in that room because… that's where I first met you." Zella raised her eyebrows. She parted her lips slightly, nodding slowly. If he said so, it should be the truth. Zella traced her fingertips above the drawer, looking at the pictures, the same as the ones on the living room.
The cream and peach color of the master's bedroom relaxed her eyes. Leo flicked on the switch of the chandelier, and turned on the thermostat of the air conditioner. Not too cold, yet not even warm. The King's bed was enormous to sleep on, the same as the one on the drab room.
"The bed's the same size as the one on the drab room." She took a seat down. Zella had the right to sit down, but she stared at Leo carefully. He smiled, placed his hands behind, and approached her. Leo sighed, readying himself, getting ready of what had yet to happen.
"You first met me at that drab room?" Zella looked up.
"Yeah."
"How so?"
When Randall placed her on that room, Leo couldn't do anything but to hide her. The first thing that caught his eye was a faint blinking in her wrist. She's a Telamur citizen, a runaway, a death convict, and a commoner, who went inside the house of a group of spies, namely, Cassanos. Leo wished to drop it all at once, to stop the lies from coming out of his mouth…
But this lady…
Her innocent eyes waited for his answer.
"You're drunk and I brought you here. I don't know your name that time, but your head is… bleeding. So I took care of you until your hangover and the bleeding in your head stopped. That's when we first got connected with each other."
Lies. It's all a lie! Leo wanted to punch himself and scream to wake up.
"Wow, so that's it, how we first met." A small smile plastered in her lips. Zella sighed, motioning for Leo to take a seat down, and he… controlled his hesitation. He doesn't have the right to resist his wife. It's his wife… and whatever will happen today… Leo wanted to forget all of it…
"So let's sleep?" Zella clenched the hem of her robe. The desire was gnawing at her. If she turned, she would be able to move unnoticeably. Leo took a deep breath. Would they… be able to sleep together?
"Right, we should." The moment his words slowed down like a reverb, Zella couldn't take it anymore. Those three times their kisses got interrupted made her want to push herself on top of him, straddle, and feel his body in the cold night. Leo didn't turn to her, but Zella did.
She hitched his robe, and leaned closer. That fast Leo didn't even know what happened. Zella doesn't want to listen to her second thoughts. She set them aside as soon as possible.
His lips meet hers, and for the first time since forever, Leo has been kissed by a death convict he's trying to hide inside his mansion. Zella didn't move her lips, stayed there for a second, and slung her arms in his shoulders.
Leo didn't know what to do. His whole body froze. His lips couldn't move, because, if it did, he'd be responding. Zella was feisty, like everyone said, and he proved it just now. She moved her lips, kissing him, and Leo's eyes couldn't help but to shut off. Her kiss was like a magic, drawing her in, like she's an unavoidable curse.
When she did it for the third time, Leo pushed, opening his lips, and kissed her back. Zella got surprised, but she remained steady. Leo placed his hands on her waist, pulling her closer, but then, when they got to rise up the tension, Zella shot her eyes, and pulled back. Leo hitched his breath all of a sudden.
Their faces were too close to each other. She stared at his eyes, curious, and then, she pushed him. Zella covered her mouth, stood up from the bed, and walked out of the door. She slammed it, making Leo startled by what happened.
"What just…" Leo hushed.