Altezza lifted her head as she heard the bathroom door open and saw the petite figure emerge wearing an oversized black hotel bathrobe that draped down to her calves. "Isn't that supposed to be mine?" she asked, seeing Adaline looking around.
"Huh? Oh, um, that..." Adaline glanced around the room. "Have you seen a black totebag around here? I brought a change of clothes yesterday, and I kept the totebag in the bathroom cabinet. It was there this morning, but now it's gone." The girl spoke with a puzzled tone as she searched here and there, while Altezza furrowed her brow.
"Maybe it's in another room," Altezza suggested, walking toward the bathroom. "But could you take off the bathrobe for now? If you wear it, what will I wear?"
"Uh..." Adaline bit her lower lip in confusion. She couldn't just take it off without getting something in return. "Let me find my totebag first. Once I find it, I'll return the bathrobe." With that, the girl dashed out of the room in a hurry.
It took Altezza only five minutes to freshen up. She was really feeling tired and just wanted to resolve the issue with Adaline and then sleep.
Altezza called out to Adaline to get her bathrobe back, but the girl didn't respond.
Altezza wrapped herself in the only remaining towel in the cabinet. It barely covered a small portion of her body.
Just like Adaline, she had brought a change of clothes in a small bag and had asked her driver to deliver it to this room. But she couldn't find it anywhere. Meanwhile, she couldn't possibly put back on the dirty clothes she had worn since yesterday evening.
Altezza opened the bathroom door and was surprised to see Adaline sitting on the bed, twisting her fingers. "Madam!" Altezza's reprimand made her jump in surprise.
"S-Sir," she stammered nervously.
"Have you found the totebag?" Altezza asked, surprised. "Then, are you planning to keep wearing that bathrobe?" Adaline nodded again. "Then what should I wear?"
"Well, um..." She began to panic again. "The other rooms are locked, and there are no spare bathrobes. I can't take this off."
"What's the matter?"
"Well, um... It's lingerie. I mean, I only have lingerie, there's no women's bathrobe in the bathroom earlier."
"So what's the problem if you wear lingerie? Newlyweds usually wear lingerie, right?" A mischievous grin appeared on Altezza's face.
"Sir..." Adaline replied, frustrated.
Altezza raised both hands, feeling sorry for the girl in front of him. "Okay, okay. It seems like my mother did this on purpose. So that we both could be naked all night."
"Because my bag wasn't delivered here either," Altezza replied casually, which only made Adaline's cheeks flush.
The man went back into the bathroom and reluctantly put on his suit pants again. He couldn't possibly sleep wearing just underwear in front of the easily-blushing virgin girl, could he?
Altezza re-entered the room and saw the girl still frozen in her spot. "Sorry, my shirt is dirty. Didn't mean to tease you by showing off my athletic body," he teased, making Adaline blush even more. "Are you hungry?" Adaline shook her head in response. "Okay, can we talk on the sofa?" The girl nodded again. Slowly, she walked towards the sofa and chose to sit with her head down.
"Madam?"
"Y-yes, Sir," Altezza chuckled upon hearing her response.
"There's something I need to say. It might hurt you. But I don't want there to be any secrets between us.
"It's about our agreement and my request to you a while ago. Do you still remember?" Adaline nodded. "What?"
"You asked me to bear your child," she replied formally.
Altezza nodded. "And then?"
"That's it."
"Alright. I know we should have discussed this before the wedding, and I apologize for being too busy to bring it up.
"Not too busy," he quickly corrected. "Maybe I was just looking for an excuse to procrastinate. And meanwhile, my mother went ahead and did everything against my plans, so..." The man shrugged casually.
"I don't know if this will hurt you or not. Because actually, this is a secret between me and Antony. But it seems like it's not our secret anymore if I didn't misinterpret my father's words before the wedding.
"So I have to tell you this." There was a brief pause as the man took a deep breath and looked intensely at Adaline. "I've been married before."
Bang!
The statement instantly made Adaline look up. She knew that the man who was now her husband was mischievous, so there was a big chance he was teasing her. But even though Adaline scrutinized him closely, there was no hint of amusement on his face.
The man returned her gaze with a piercing look. Adaline felt like she was being stabbed by something. So Altezza wasn't a single man but a widower? Or was he actually already married? Was that why he asked her to give him children? Because his wife couldn't conceive? But why...
Altezza tried to read the girl's expression. Surprise? Yes, he could see it when her golden eyes widened. But there seemed to be something else troubling her mind.
"Are you still married to someone else?" Adaline asked back, and Altezza was quite surprised by her question.
"No, Madam," Altezza replied firmly. "I told you I've been married before, but not anymore." He answered with a sad smile on his face.
Adaline guessed that the man was sad because his marriage had ended, while Altezza was sad because he had been fooling himself and his family all this time.
"I was married, secretly. For five years," he continued, once again causing Adaline to feel a pang. "You don't need to know who she is because she won't disrupt our marriage. And actually, I never told all this to my family, except Antony."
"Why?" Adaline started to speak up. Her head lifted, and she looked directly at Altezza. Her golden eyes were full of questions. "I mean, why did you two get married secretly while with me, you could have a luxurious wedding like this?"
"Isn't marriage supposed to be because of love?"