53

53
Chapter 53

Lucien Alessandro

It was already past 2am by the time I returned to the room, and thankfully, she was already asleep by the time I walked inside the room.

I sat beside her on the bed, reaching for her face and tucking away the strands of hair on her forehead, revealing her puffy eyes. She must've cried herself to sleep.

Recalling how I treated her earlier, I ran my fingers through my hair as waves of regret spurred through me. What the fuck was I thinking? Just a simple apology would have avoided this whole bullshit, but I messed everything up.

A smile unknowingly crept up my face, my heart racing in a strange way that I failed to understand. I have been feeling this way for some time now each time I was around her, but I couldn't understand why.

I brushed my thoughts away, telling myself that it was nothing.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, leaning in to kiss her forehead. This is what I should've done earlier.

I allowed her to sleep as I left for the bathroom to shower. Once I was done, I joined her in bed.

Two hours had passed, and here I was, still turning on the bed, unable to sleep a wink. My mind was clouded by the thoughts of Scarlet. I was afraid. Afraid of how she would feel towards me when she wakes up. Afraid of facing her.

Since I couldn't sleep, I grabbed my phone and left for the balcony to get fresh air, and as I stepped out in the open, I was welcomed by the cool atmosphere. The area was surrounded by water, so it was normal.

My phone lit up with a text. I hesitated before checking.

'Result for your quiz'
I cursed at myself silently when I saw the notification. I took the quiz a few days ago.
Ugh! I feel ashamed talking about it. Well, I just wanted to be sure of what I feel for Scarlet.

I was going to ignore it, but curiosity made me check. Not that I was so interested in it.

'Thank you for taking the quiz. Here is the result for your quiz... From the information you gave, it is safe to say that you are in love with...'
I didn't finish reading before I put out the phone screen light as I felt my heart pounding hard in my chest.

"That is impossible..." I shook my head, shutting my eyes tightly. I literally heard the sound of my beating heart in my ears.

"I don't have feelings for her. I don't love her." I shook it off, trying to convince myself. She is my best friend's daughter. She is young enough to be my daughter! I told myself, but deep inside me, I knew what I felt was deeper than that. I knew that I was just lying to myself. I was madly in love with her. It was already driving me nuts.

'You will get over it. You have to. You need to'
I told myself, releasing all the air in my lungs.

I stayed on the balcony until morning. We were supposed to leave as early as 6am, but since Scarlet was still sleeping, I decided not to disturb her. She must be tired after and perhaps found it difficult before falling asleep last night.

It was already past 8am before Scarlet woke up, and by then, I had already ordered something for her to eat.

"Good morning, beautiful." My heart hammered against my ribcage as I sat beside her on the bed while she was still laying on the bed.

"Good morning." I wasn't expecting her to reply to me, but she did.

"Did you sleep well?" She sat up on the bed and stared straight into my eyes, a smile displaying on her face. What is going on? Isn't she supposed to be mad at me?

"Yes." I drawled.

"When are we leaving?"

"Uhm..." I opened my mouth to talk, but words failed me. I was too stunned to speak.

"Huh?" She batted her eyelashes, and I huffed, turning my face away from her and swallowing the lump in my throat. Why is she acting like we are cool? Like nothing happened last night. Did she not remember what happened?

"Uhm... I was waiting for you to wake up first. We should leave as soon as you are done here." I almost lost my voice, but I managed to keep it.

"Oh... I'm so sorry. I will get dressed so we can leave." She got off the bed hurriedly and smiled at me as she said. "Give me a few minutes. I will soon be ready." And with that, she left for the bathroom, while I was left here, trying to wrap my head around what the heck was happening now. Is she trying to drive me nuts?

Scarlet spent just a few minutes in the bathroom, and by the time she got back inside, her body was dripping wet.

"Uhm... do you need help with that?" I asked, referring to her hair that was wrapped in a towel.

She looked at me, grinning from ear to ear. "I didn't wash my hair. I wrapped it so it won't get wet."

"Oh..." I mouthed, slowly nodding my head.

I sat on the bed, watching Scarlet as she got dressed, and the only question that kept echoing in my head was 'what the fuck happened to her overnight?'.

"Uhm... I brought something for you. Breakfast." I said, hoping to get her attention, and she looked back at me, before taking her gaze to the food on the table.

"I'll eat later." She replied to me, her voice soft, calm, yet firm.

"You didn't eat before going to bed last night." I reminded her, and she paused for a moment. I watched as her fingers tightened around her shoe that she was holding. I could tell that she was mad at me, but was trying hard to handle it. She should just let it out. That is what I want.

"I will eat when I get home." She said the same thing and went ahead to wear her shoes before turning to face me once she picked up her purse.

"I'm ready." She had a faint smile on her face, her eyes boring into mine.

"Scarlet..." I stood up and went to her.

"About yesterday..." I held her hand, but she gently retracted her hand from my grasp.

"Let's talk about it later, Lucien. I need to get out of here for now." She said dismissively, her eyes boring into mine, and I slowly nodded...