"Hmmm..."

I felt something soft tickle my face and adjusted my head till I could find a comfortable spot.

Although the bed was a bit hard and uneven for my liking, it was so cozy and warm that it made me want to stay there forever.

It reminded me of the cabin back home where I lived alone with Chirpy for months. Every night we would sleep in the same bed and Chirpy would snuggle against me for warmth almost knocking me out of the bed every time he rolled. Then he would whine at me with droopy sad eyes like I was the one occupying his bed.

Thinking about those days always puts me in a good mood.

Once I found the spot that satisfied me, I wrapped my leg over the pillow near my feet and dipped my head in the warmth of the bed.

My body felt heavy and wanted me to sleep. But my mind on the other hand, wanted to wake up and go about the day.

'No... I don't wanna wake up yet'

I nuzzled my head against the bed like a cat to coerce my mind into falling asleep when I heard what sounded like a soft chuckle above my head.

Frowning, I pulled the quilt closer and pressed my head into the bed to drown out the sound. At that moment, my wandering hand brushed against something odd.

'What is that...'

I traced my hand over the same place to find it broken into stone-like blocks. They felt warm and hard at the same time much like the stones in a sauna room. So I ran my hand over the blocks again.

For some reason, I found it nice to play with them.

Suddenly the bed jolted up a bit before settling down. The quilt around me became tighter and pinned my body tightly into the bed.

"It's early. Go back to sleep" whispered a husky voice.

'Yes, I should go back to sleep'

With a sheepish groan, I stopped playing with the blocks and relaxed my mind to fall into the drowsiness that was pulling me into their world. Then I noticed something.

Did the bed just speak? If it did, it spoke in a voice that was all too familiar to me. It was on the tip of my tongue yet I could not point it out.

It sounded absurd. Still, I wanted to check just to be sure. So I raised my head against the wishes of my body and squinted my eyes open.

"Sleep"

I heard the same voice I had heard before just as a hand gently nudged my head down.

That made me wake up.

"Hmmm...."

I blinked my eyes as I raised my head again. There was a hazy gleam over my view which gradually reduced each time I blinked.

As my view became clearer, I saw a pair of ruby-red eyes like jewels staring into mine. The more I gazed into them, the more mesmerizing they looked.

'Am I dreaming again? One of those lucid dreams Eugene keeps talking about...'

I leaned in to take a closer look. These ruby-red eyes had been frequent visitors in my dreams for months for me to forget.

'I know these eyes...'

Were these the same eyes that used to terrify me every time I dreamt? Were they always this beautiful? I wondered.

Although I have seen these eyes several times, they still appear as captivating as ever. As if being pulled in by a magnetic force, I leaned in a bit more.

Right then, a calloused thumb stroked my chin. It was a tender and affectionate touch.

'No. This is not a dream...'

The gentle back-and-forth caressing on my chin was enough to snap me out of the momentary trance.

I blinked my eyes, as the face of the person in front of me manifested in my mind.

"!"

I sucked in a breath realizing who it was.

"Good Morning"

It was Edward. My purposefully ditched husband and the male lead I had been hiding from for years.

Somehow, I was in his arms on the same bed, gazing into his eyes like it was the most natural thing to do. I did not know how I got there, but I could make an educated guess.

"You can go back to sleep. The sun has not risen yet"

Edward smiled under his messy hair, his face inches away from mine. We were so close that I could count the lashes on his eyelids.

He stroked my cheek with a feathery touch causing a wave of heat to rise to my face. My mind went blank as for a moment I forgot how to breathe.

In contrast to his calm appearance, Edward's heart was racing under my hand on his chest. Nonetheless, my heart was no different.









By the time Angelica came back to her senses, it was too late.

In a panicked state, she regarded her current situation. This whole time, she had been sleeping on top of Edward her head tucked under his neck and their legs in an entangled mess of limbs under the sheets. Even the quilt that was wrapped tightly around her waist was in fact Edward's arm holding her firmly against his chest.

To add salt to the wound, she had been running her hands over his body unaware of where she was or what she was getting herself into.

Angelica looked up to find Edward's face right in front of her. Almost immediately all the drowsiness in her body faded away and she bolted back as fast as she could.

"!"

Her eyes wide and lips quivering in a mixture of anger and embarrassment, she roared,

"You depraved beast!"

"..."

Edward lay frozen in place with his arms outstretched. After taking a moment to comprehend what had just happened, he lowered his arms, sat up, and turned his gaze toward Angelica with an expression that read 'What's wrong?'

In the dimly lit room, Edward could see Angelica sitting at the foot of the bed, facing him with her entire body tensed like a cornered fox. The knot on her robe was undone and one of the sleeves on her shoulder had slipped to the side exposing the bare skin underneath the dark clothing.

Meanwhile, Angelica whose chest was heaving in fury was glaring daggers at Edward, her face beet red and her hand slowly creeping toward the pillow by her side.

And before Edward had a chance to react, she lunged at him pillow in hand, and started hitting him ferociously on the head.

"I shouldn't have trusted you! How dare you!? How dare you take advantage of me you freaking sonuvabitch!"

It was only after Angelica had landed ten hits that Edward was able to get hold of his assailant.

With a firm grip on Angelica's wrists, he smiled deviously,

"I came over you?"

"Yes! You did!"

Angelica broke free of Edward's grasp and hit him on the head trice more. But just as she was about to deliver the fourth strike she heard him confidently say,

"Are you sure about that?"

"?"

With a frown, Angelica paused. Midway through the confrontation, Edward had stopped fighting back. He seemed more amused than frustrated with each hit.

Feeling suspicious, she looked around them for the first time. To her surprise, they were not on the further side of the bed but rather on Edward's side which was closer to the door.

'What the? I was sure I fell asleep on the edge of the bed. How did I get here?'

Confused, Angelica lowered the pillow in her hand and plopped down on the bed. The quilt that was thrown off when she jumped away from Edward was halfway on the floor and the pillows were scattered across the bed.

Strangely, the only place left undisturbed was her side on the edge of the bed. It looked almost as if no one had slept there.

"Oh god..."

Angelica's face darkened. She could see the turn of events running through the back of her mind that landed her on top of Edward.

At first, Angelica had been sleeping on the further end of the bed to avoid the person occupying the other side. But as the minutes went by, she slowly rolled to the center of the bed after finding it uncomfortable to sleep on one side for a prolonged time.

Then on feeling the warmth emitted by the person beside her, she unconsciously moved toward the direction of its source till she reached Edward who had woken up from her touch.

Despite Edward's initial attempts to move her back to her side, Angelica kept rolling and clinging to his back for warmth which ultimately led them to end up cuddling together like a couple of lovers in an affectionate embrace.

'I thought I was getting better' Angelica screamed inwardly.

While she understood that it was her bad sleeping habit that was the cause of the problem, she still could not bring herself to accept it. Because if she did, it meant that she was giving in to Edward and it hurt her pride.

Having already lost round one in a humiliating defeat the previous night, she did not want a repeat of the scenario two times in a row.

"You could've just left the room like I told you to" Angelica grumbled, choosing to ignore the sense of guilt for accusing him unjustly.

Instead, she eyed Edward with skepticism. If it were not for Edward insisting they stay in the same chamber, Angelica would have slept separately and none of this would have transpired. Thus in a way, it justified her actions.

'Heh! I don't regret it though'

At the same time, she did not regret hitting him repeatedly when the opportunity presented itself. Had she known it earlier she would have snuck in a few heavy objects to add momentum to the swing.

Still, after all that, there was one thing that was left unexplained. Angelica pointed at Edward's chest.

"Why the hell is your shirt open!?"

Edward's shirt was wide open exposing his chiseled chest to the cold air. All the buttons were undone and some were even missing as if they had been yanked off with force. The loose shirt stuck to the sides of his chest enhancing the view of his muscled upper body whereas the lower half was hidden beneath the remainder of the quilt.

"You said it was uncomfortable" Edward replied nonchalantly, running a hand through his hair.

"Uncomfortable for what!?" Angelica shot back.

Unconsciously, her eyes roamed down the line of his chest answering her own question.

'They are certainly not blocks...'

At that moment, Angelica's face changed in a second. She had caught sight of something that caused the hair on her neck to stand in fright.

"What... is that..."

"Hm?"

Edward followed the direction of her gaze, to the bulge underneath the quilt right around the area of his waist.

"What is that thing under the sheets?"

"Ahhh... that"

To Angelica's question, Edward shifted his gaze and lifted the quilt covering his waist as the color from her face drained.

"!"

When Edward removed the quilt, Angelica's eyes widened. In an instant, her pale face flushed red, and she pursed her lips unable to utter a word.

"It's a sachet of herbs to help you sleep. I placed it in your hand since you were groaning endlessly"

Edward explained pulling out a small green pouch. As he shook the semi-transparent pouch the rustling of the herbs inside it was heard and a pleasant smell enveloped the room.

"It must have slipped down when you rolled over"

Edward tossed the pouch to the side and on seeing the embarrassed expression on Angelica's face asked with a teasing smirk,

"Perhaps you were expecting something else?"

"No!" Angelica bellowed and hurled the pillow in her hands at Edward's face.

'This crazy b*stard! I can't stand this anymore!'

The sun was barely up and she already felt the urge to strangle him. She decided that the sooner she found a way out of the Frost Estate the better it would be for her future.

Right as Angelica was about to step out of the bed she heard the sound of Edward's chuckle and looked back with a raised brow.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Ah... I was just reminded of our first night together. It's funny how old habits die hard"

"First night?"

Angelica tried to remember. During her brief stay in the Frost estate, she had done a long list of antics for her to keep count. Although she did remember the major events like the assassination attempts and drinking. She could not recall the specific incident Edward was referring to.

Anyway, it did not matter since Angelica was never going to acknowledge her identity. So she denied any knowledge of the topic and shrugged her shoulders.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I'm leaving"

As quickly as those words came out of her mouth, Angelica deeply regretted her past actions.

"You removed my clothes, climbed on top of me, touched me, and took advantage of my body all night till sunrise. And you-"

"Hey hey hey hey! Hold on. What nonsense are you spouting?" Angelica jumped out and covered Edward's mouth with her hands.

The moment Edward said those words, the scenes of their first night flashed before her eyes, and before she knew it, she had climbed on top of him to stop him from speaking further.

"Wh-who took whose clothes off?" Angelica asked, her voice broken and her heart pounding in her chest.

Seconds passed and they remained frozen in place as if time had stopped. In an ironic twist, they had in a way recreated the events of their first night years later.

Angelica felt Edward's lips curve into a smile under her hand and tried to slip away. But Edward seized hold of her wrists again forcing her in place.

"I do not mind though" Edward said, gazing at the ring on her hand with a possessive hue. He then locked eyes with Angelica and declared,

"I do not mind you taking advantage of me"

"In your dreams mister" Angelica scoffed defiantly.

She tried to break from his control. But this time, Edward had no intention of letting her go.

As Angelica was sitting on top of Edward with her hands bound the most she could do was express her anger by pulling herself back.

However, that only had the opposite effect, since at the next moment Edward tugged Angelica's hand forward causing her to fall into his chest.

"!"

When Angelica flinched back in surprise, Edward brought the palm of her ringed hand to his lips and confessed,

"You wouldn't believe what we do in my dreams"

Edward pressed a deep kiss on Angelica's palm. His eyes, however, were focused on the red plush lips she was biting onto.

Round two officially had its winner.