Elizabeth woke up with her body aching all over, especially her womanhood. It felt like as it had been rolled on by a bulldozer and she couldn't stand, she could feel her legs still shaking.
With her eyes still closed, she reached for the nightstand beside the bed and searched for her phone. With her half-hooded eyes, she looked at the lockscreen with her photo in Hyde Park. It was already twelve in the afternoon!
"What the hell," she mouthed and tried to stand, only to collapse in bed again. "Ouch," she groaned when she felt her body aching all over.
She heaved a deep sigh, realizing it would be impossible for her to move at that state, making it worse with her thought that she would never wake up that late. Then, she remembered what happened last night that became a reason for her body to ache and for her to wake up late. And as the remnants of what happened last night came back to her, Elizabeth could only blink, unable to believe what happened.
"Oh god," she mumbled. "Did I really had sex with him? Did I really gave my virginity to him?"
Her aching body and womanhood was the obvious answer, making her sigh. It was as if she just lost something important to her. Well, she really did, although nowadays, virginity was just a social norm. But for someone like her who had never let someone touch her more than a kiss even to her ex-boyfriend, Elizabeth couldn't believe that she just gave it easily to Arduous.
"To someone I just met last night."
Elizabeth bit her lips with that thought and again, sighed. She looked at her side only to see that Arduous was gone, just like how she watched it from movies and like how she had read them from romance books.
Then her eyes darted on the bedsheet, it has her blood on the center part of it, a sign that she had really given up her virginity to him.
"What should I do now?" she asked hopelessly.
She knew that usually, she should act normal, as if nothing happened. After all, she wouldn't die if she wasn't a virgin anymore. But the problem was how would she be able to face Arduous again? She knew that they would cross each other's paths again, especially that their parents were friends.
And she would be staying in the states for three months!
As if the odds heard her, the door of her room opened, making her cover herself with the blanket. Her mouth parted when she saw Arduous entering her room with a paper bag on his hand. Unlike last night when he looked different as he fucked her, he looked innocent and decent at that moment, as if he wasn't someone who could be as hard and as rough when it comes to sex.
She remembered so well how he groaned and moaned last night, how he grinded on her, and how he became more aroused and turned on whenever she was telling him that she was hurting.
"Hey, you're awake."
Elizabeth's thoughts were halted when he heard Arduous who was already walking towards her. And without a word, he placed the paper bag on the center table in her room before walking towards her bed and sitting beside her.
"How are you feeling?"
She blinked, processing what was happening. So, he didn't just leave after getting her, huh?
"I'm, uh, my body's aching." she replied honestly.
There was that something that crossed in the depths of Arduous eyes again, something dark that she couldn't name as he smirked.
"Well, yea, that's given."
"So you were already expecting for me to feel like this?"
He didn't even tried to deny it as he nodded, "You remembered what happened last night, don't you?"
It was as if it was the only answer to her question and it turned out that it really was. What they had last night was something more than the usual sex that led her body to ache all over. And now, she didn't know how she would be able to move.
And as if Arduous could read her mind, he lifted her without a word and walked to the bathroom, then carefully deposited her to the bathtub as he filled it with warm water.
"Just lay there for a while, while I prepare your brunch," he said before leaving.
He didn't even wait for her response when he left, making her roll her eyes and shake her head. It was one of the things that she was starting to notice towards him, he doesn't take responses when he wants something and instead, just does it.
She could hear his movements from outside as he left the bathroom's door open, probably to hear her if she called him. And from how she hears things outside, he was preparing something, her brunch as he claimed before he left her. Probably, it was what was in the paper bag.
Knowing that she couldn't move at the moment unless he helped her, Elizabeth decided to relax herself as the bathtub was filled with warm water. It helped her ease her body pain, the warm water was soothing her. She spent almost twenty minutes in the tub before Arduous came back and wrapped her on a white robe before he lifted her again in his arms.
There were sushi, sandwiches, Italian sausage and pepper fritata affogato, and pizza on the center table, with hazelnut coffee and black coffee. And on the side, there were two pills on the side.
Seeing where her eyes was stuck on, Arduous said, "The advil will help you to get over your body pain. While the other one is an emergency contraceptive pill. Surely, you are not on a birth control, are you?"
Only then did she realized that they didn't use any protection last night, not even a condom. With her eyes widening, Elizabeth turned to look at Arduous, clearly telling her thoughts with her looks which the latter instantly get.
"That's why you have to eat and take it afterwards," he replied, pertaining to the pill.
Nodding, she took a bite of the sushi and munched it, thinking about their unprotected sex last night. She was just in the middle of her thinking when Arduous spoke again, making her almost choke.
"And after you eat, let's talk about us."