Sarah 's POV
The way he smiled when Mrs.Lancaster appeared, it was genuine. He felt soft. Mrs. Lancaster was a lovely woman. Her eyes had the same impression as her grandson's. But they were filled with love. The way she embraced me felt good. She was ill. Her body was showing several deficiency signs. The way she panted after taking some steps, I guessed her heart was definitely not in good condition. The whole day she was so nice. It would be a lie, if I said I was acting. I was feeling happy, genuinely.
When she mentioned his grandson's habit of doing late night work. It just felt right to me to act like I know him. Also, I knew how I usually sleep. My sleep was always so deep. So If I was really his girlfriend it wouldn't have bothered me.
I was already feeling bad about leaving her. But the way she said she wouldn't take the medicines. I got the feeling she is serious. I searched for his expressions. He was concerned. Her face was turning red. I saw the tension built up in her eyes. Her blood pressure was not normal. And it was confirmed by her caretaker too. One night's stay won't do any harm, right? That's what I thought. And the way she started to calm down, it felt right. She was being lovely again. I was satisfied, her condition was under control.
The content smile on my face disappeared at the news of spending the whole night in one bedroom with him. God, this was going to be super awkward.
"There is no need for that Mrs.Lancaster," my hands were moving unnecessarily.
"Why? It's big enough, don't worry," she pointed out.
That's not my worry. I will happily spend the night in a chicken coop. But don't make me spend the night alone with him.
"This way," the young maid, Marylin, signalled us to follow her.
I stood up, he did too. Standing beside him, I nudged his shoulder,
"Do something," I whispered harshly.
"What?" his face was confused.
"Tell her we cannot spend the night together," my face frowned at him. We were now walking, following Marylin.
"And what reason should I tell her exactly that I cannot spend the night with my girlfriend?" he whispered with clenched teeth.
Marylin turned to us, we both smiled at her goofily and she replied to us with a smile.
It was upstairs. She opened the door, and started turning on the lights.
It was big like Mrs.Lancaster had told me. But one bed. That made my eyes roll. A large window giving a breathtaking view of Ashwell, caught my attention. It was simple yet decent. I saw Marylin arranging things at the dressing table. There was book shelf on the wall beside the wardrobe. There were no books there but I saw different musical notes that were framed. Wardrobe was old fashioned, it was giving vintage vibes. I saw him taking off his watch and putting it on the side table beside the bed. I saw Marylin with some clothes. He took his clothes and went to bathroom. She turned to me and showed me a very beautiful white silk gown. It was see though. She gave me undergarments that were white too.It looked like a lingerie. And she wanted me to show up like that in front of him. I didn't want to. But guess how many options I had? None. With that there was box. I opened it after she was gone. There was herbal shampoo and soap. And its smell was amazing. On the dressing table, there were perfumes and moisturiser. I was shocked by the level of hospitality. They were so caring. Beside the fact I was going to spend the entire night with him, the room was cosy. I didn't know how long he was going to take. I left the room to look for Marylin, maybe I can use any other bathroom. I was sure there will be more.
Thankfully, I saw her in the hallway. She came to me as soon she saw me,
"I was thinking, is there any other bathroom? I want to take a shower, I don't know how long he will take," the additional information I told her was totally unnecessary. For some reason she found it funny, and tried to hide her smile. Which was unsuccessful. Because I caught it.
"I thought you were going to shower together," she said shamelessly.
I had to put my act together so I responded as it was required, "Oh, he doesn't like invading privacy," I didn't know how it actually sounded. But I wasn't going to concern myself by thinking about that.
She showed me a room at the end of the hallway. It was a guest room.
Why the hell didn't they let me sleep here?
It was so nice of Marylin to go to bring my things from the bedroom. As I was waiting for her, I heard some maids talking,
"She is beautiful, isn't she?"
"She is, but they don't look like they are a couple. Don't you think so?"
"Yeah, may be she is not the girl in the picture,"
And they both laughed.
Here I was spending the night with him alone, just for the sake of his Grandma. Still they don't believe it.
F**k.
Marylin came with my clothes and other things. I took a quick shower, the soap felt so refreshing. Also the shower was so comfortable. When I was done with the shower, I started folding the clothes that I had just took off. They were expensive. The pearl jewellery I bought was inspired by someone. Or you can say I envied Tina, when she showed up that day wearing something like this. I hated the fact how I was affected by her. But it was what it was. My feminine urge to wear something everyone is envious of was always there. I took my things and went to his bedroom.
His back was turned to me when I entered the room. He was peeking out of the window. I put my things in the wardrobe and sat on the chair in front of the dressing table. The gown was flowy. I had just taken a shower, so my skin was shining underneath the gown. My hair was still wet. I was brushing them out when I saw him looking into my reflection in the mirror. Our eyes met. He was in a silk shirt and pyjamas. It was plain and not see through.
Inequality.
His hair was also wet. I saw him coming towards the mirror. We were not looking at each other, now. He was pushing his hair back, by brushing it with his fingers.
"I didn't know you were okay with me playing music at night," I heard the deep voice of the man standing beside me. Our eyes met again, but we were staring at each other's reflection. His eyes were amused. So, he jokes too.
"Why are you so shocked? I was just being a good girlfriend." I told him. My hands were busy brushing.
"I am not shocked. I just didn't expect it. The way you reacted in the car when I told you we were going to visit my Grandma, was not very nice." he pointed out.
I stood up, turned to him. I didn't know how I got the confidence to stand this much close to him.
"You should have told me why she wanted to see me and she was ill," I arched an eyebrow. I was now walking towards the bookshelf to have a proper look at it.
"You should have questioned. You question a lot." I heard his voice from the back. I turned back to find him folding his arms against chest.
"You hate it when I question," I shrugged my shoulders.
"Since when have you started to care about my likes and dislikes?" he was smirking at me again. I should have been angry. But the way his eyes looked at me, it felt so warm. A cosy feeling. Like you are at home. A feeling of belonging like we know each other and like we are used to joking with each other. But it was not the reality. These were just my wandering thoughts.
I turned back, facing the bookshelf.
"I don't care," I replied in a muffled tone.
The book shelf was everything about music. There were some miniatures of musical instruments. And they were beautiful. There was an envelope. I picked it. On the back of it, Drafts, was written. I was going to open it. When a hand snatched it from me. It was him.
"You shouldn't get nosy if we let you stay," here he goes again with his jerky attitude.
"Let YOU stay?" I asked in a scoffing tone.
He rolled his eyes at me and started walking towards the bed. Putting the envelope in the drawer lying beside the bed, he sat on the bed.
"What's in there?" I said, killing my ego.
"Nothing that should be your concern," he said, avoiding my gaze.
It was funny how he looked when he was hiding something. I got even more curious. I ran to the drawer and opened it. He gripped my hand tightly. I used my other hand and swiftly grabbed it. His other hand was now on my other hand.
"Are you crazy or something?" his annoyed tone amused me even more
"Let me go," I was protesting. Suddenly his other grabbed my waist and pushed me onto his lap. Before I could think anything, he took the envelope from my hand and threw it on the bed.
"You are so nosy," he said under his breath. His both hands were on my waist. I was caged by him.
"Let me go," this time I whispered.
He eyed me from top to bottom. The silk gown was not covering my body properly. The fast rhythms of my breath were brushing against his face. He pulled me towards him. We were so near.
"Why would I?" His eyes moved to my lips and came back to my eyes again.
"Let me go, please," My quivering voice pleaded.
His grip was so strong, so was my urge to be touched. I was afraid of things that could possibly happen by the level of proximity we were in.
"Don't tempt me again," he said before I lost the touch of his hands. I stood up and walked towards the bathroom. I finally breathed freely, after closing the door. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. My face was red. My body was hot.
"What the hell he does to me," I was talking to myself.
Washing my hands and getting myself together was easy. But pretending like nothing happened in front of him was not. I was there for like twenty five minutes.
I opened the bathroom door and stepped in the room. He was lying on the bed. His eyes were closed and I wanted to believe he was asleep. There were blankets folded at the side table by the other side of the bed, which was empty. The couch was definitely not an option. So I was sleeping beside him. It would have been less awkward If I was not in his lap thirty minutes ago.
I laid on the bed, covering myself with a blanket. Maybe I was covering my embarrassment. The day had started well and it was spent so well too, why the hell did I get so curious about that goddamn envelope?
I didn't know for how long I was sleeping, when I heard a big thunder. My heart almost jumped out of my chest. God, I hated thunderstorms so much. They scared the sh*t out of me. I lifted my body with the support of my elbows. My eyes were still half open. I was going to sleep again. When I heard it again and it was loud enough that I felt vibrations that passed through the walls. I jumped and shouted at the top of my lungs,
"Harry !!" This was the second time in my life. I had said his name. Well, I shouted. He was awake now, and I wanted to sleep again so that I couldn't face him.