"Coraline," a trail of soft touches from another's lips found itself on her neck again.
This time she etched her head away from him, stopping Armaan from continuing his unwanted affection.
"Coraline it's time to wake up."
The dark cast in her vision began to let her see a blurred version of Coraline's surroundings. Reminding her what place she had come to and the man she was with.
Everything about it was outside of what Coraline was used to.
Her hand stretched out to the ground and her body began to wake up. The channeling sensations she had from Mama's were now nowhere to be found.
'Have we been here the whole night?"
She brought herself standing using Armaan's shoulder as her equilibrium. Her legs felt unsteady to balance on so when Armaan raised to his feet she held his hand once more.
To him, it was like she was accepting his apologies so his normal expression she first saw had made its return as well.
She lifted her head to look at Armaan, it was like his face was traced out by the sun's rays, "Did we spend our first day here?"
He nodded at her while bringing their interlocked hands closer to his heart.
The rhythmic pacing of it made all her anxiousness settle down. On their first day, Armaan had already learned of one of Coraline's subtle habits.
Sounds that had a pattern to it made her feel at ease.
"The next place we go to, you choose."
"I want to go home."
Armaan didn't say another word but paced himself behind her, his left hand remaining on her right.
Coraline began making her walk to her home not giving a second look back at the abandoned building that held such strong emotions for her.
Her feet always knew the way back to her home so she'd always find herself relying on muscle memory to bring her home.
When the pair had gotten close to her residence, they were met with people giving more than one glance back at them.
But she knew this wouldn't be enough of a stir to make people have their own opinions on her relationships.
Her mind started to warp what she was seeing.
She felt like a young girl again in the dress Mrs. Sixes gave to her. And the hand she was holding—was Vivianne's. Next to them was a girl who tagged along with the duo as her way of saying goodbye to Sangriles.
She and Vivianne had learned that the girl was going to pack up and leave with her family the next day. But had no friends to have a sad breakup with. So the two of them filled that spot in.
The girl's voice began to enter Coraline's ears.
"Never let a man into your home!"
Her sudden comment took Coraline and Vivianne aback. But in sync, they both laughed hard—bellowing as if it came from straight from their soul.
Havanna's hands slapped both of their backs, "I'm serious! My papa told me."
Vivianne tried catching her breath from the laughter that held her tight.
Coraline pitched in, "What will happen if a boy follows you home?"
The girl stopped dead in her tracks and held both of her hands to the sky for dramatics. Her dark brown eyes looked lighter under the sun and she made them bigger to fit her words.
"Babies! Babies! Babies!" She looped around in a circle between the two. Hitting at her stomach and then waving her hands at the sky, "So many of them!"
Havanna dropped to the ground, dirtying her freshly tailored dress in the process. Closing her eyes and keeping a hand to her heart. The other sticks to the sky.
"And you'll dream a terrible dream, leaving you bedridden for the rest of your days!"
Coraline urged the girl to stand up before asking, "Why is that a bad thing?"
Vivianne and Havanna shot glances at each other before answering her, "Stupid girl! He'll leave you immediately after."
Before Coraline could answer them, they took her by each of her arms to continue their walk to Havanna's home.
"And he'll never come back."
"Coraline!"
The snapping sound in front of her woke her from her memory.
She looked at the bewildered face Armaan wore before continuing her walk with his hand holding hers again.
'I'm grown now, it's just a silly tune that girl made up,' Coraline looked back at Armaan before she took to the steps of her complex, 'Howland didn't leave Vivianne.'
Her hand retracted from Armaan as she rummaged around for her key. Then she played around with the lock with her key before opening it.
The creaking sounds from the wood behind her reminded Coraline that she wasn't alone.
Once the door shut and they both placed their shoes next to the door—she took to the piles of papers that crowded her floor.
"You got a nice place, Coraline," Armaan began to wonder inside her room and then to her kitchen.
As she kept holding all the papers in her arms to tuck under her bed.
"Thank you, I never expected to have company other than Vivianne," she lightly laughed to herself as she remembered her friend.
Once the newspapers were safely tucked under her bed she got up and looked for a change of clothes for herself and Armaan.
Her hands stopped at a nightgown with the soft version of the color of green. Coraline ransacked through her clothes for something for Armaan to wear.
"Coraline, can I use your kitchen?" Armaan stuck his head out from the door to watch as she hunched over through the layers of clothes she had.
Flustered she threw her hand up at him, "Go ahead."
Coraline could hear him softly laugh as he walked back to the kitchen.
She smacked the side of her head as she continued her search. That was when she remembered the time Gale had visited.
Technically she didn't lie to Armaan since Gale's visit was a rather short one. They were both waiting for Vivianne on a rainy day when he tumbled over in the mud. That was when Coraline offered Gale to freshen up at her place since Vivianne was nowhere to be found.
She later learned that it was Howland who made her friend forget about the promise she made to meet up with the two.
After he was done, Gale left reluctantly leaving his muddy clothes behind since Coraline insisted she'd wash it and give it back to him.
However, she never got around to doing so since they never had a moment for her to give him back his clothes. And after some time she believed Gale to have forgotten about that day.
She took the clothes and stuffed her other clothes back inside her closet. Forcing it shut before going to Armaan.
"I found some clothes for you if you want to take a bath?" Coraline held up the clothes with her nightgown in the other arm.
"You take a bath first I'll prepare us some food."
"I'll leave your clothes on my bed."
Before she could walk out, Armaan approached her with the spoon he held in his hand. He lowered down to give her a kiss on the forehead.
Her face flushed at the suddenness and Armaan turned around to return to the pots he had out.
She quickly made her way back to her bedside laying down Armaan's clothes and went to the bathroom.
The idea of bathing in the same place as a man she had just met—felt off to Coraline. But it would be the first time she had such a stranger prepare her a meal they made themselves.
Coraline didn't have high expectations since she didn't usually make anything extravagant either when it came to what she ate.
Once the door closed behind her and she had locked the door, Coraline felt safe to shed herself from her clothing.
Warm water began to fill her tub and she grabbed the bar of soap. Taking a flower from the many she grew in her bathroom and ripping it from its petals.
The water began to reach her waist and the petals found a flow to follow while floating in the water she was in.
Coraline began taking deep elongated breaths.
She felt relieved from the water and the serenity of the comfort she got from being in a place she was used to.
Her head submerged into the water drenching her hair soak and washing her face. Then she started to scrub her body.
Vivianne was always the one to scold her about being clean. If a scent came from her that triggered her nose she'd pinch her nostrils and urge her to take a long shower.
Her friend was also the one to regularly check her head. Vivianne would make sure she didn't have built-up dandruff or lice.
As Coraline scratched at her hair she felt alleviated from all her worries. Double checking through her memory nothing too strange was left out in the open.
'The newspapers are on my bed; I've burned all the mail...'
She sat up from the tub uncaring for the water that splashed out, 'The black envelopes!'