Chapter 17: Pretend, Continue Pretending!
A black-and-white sketch.
Just a few strokes, yet it captures everything perfectly.
On the left side of the paper, there’s him, flipping through the instruction manual, and Alex, kneeling on the floor, building Legos.
Even the almost-finished Hogwarts looks lifelike.
On the right side, there's a drawing of herself.
With big, watery eyes taking up almost half her face, the cute cartoon version of Rebecca waves cheerfully, "Hi there! I'm the super adorable Becca!"
The spatial arrangement of the two drawings is excellent, making it seem like Rebecca is greeting the two people in the other drawing.
Frederick's gaze paused slightly, and he looked down at Rebecca, who was sleeping soundly in his arms.
He thought she had long stopped drawing.
Turns out, she hadn't given up on this skill!
Glancing at Alex, who was obediently lying on the bed and watching him, Frederick said softly, "Sleep well, buddy. Good night!"
Alex nodded.
Frederick carried Rebecca out of the room and walked straight to the small cottage where they lived.
A cold wind blew, carrying snowflakes falling from the trees.
Frederick tightened his hold on Rebecca.
Rebecca nestled closer into the warm embrace.
Back in the bedroom, Frederick gently placed Rebecca on the bed and took off her boots.
As he pulled the blanket over her, Frederick's eyes narrowed slightly.
Rebecca didn't dare move.
She had already woken up.
When Frederick picked her up, she hadn't fully realized it, just groggily aware that she was asleep.
But stepping outside into the cold wind woke her up completely.
Still, she didn't want to wake up.
Walking in the icy snow was fine, but the two of them couldn't just walk in silence, right?
Talking about the weather was clearly not appropriate.
Talking about other things, she wasn't good at it.
Besides, with her curious nature, she would definitely ask about why Alex's mom didn't want him and why Frederick didn't marry Alex's mom.
That would be awkward if Frederick answered her!
If he didn't answer, he might be contemplating how to strangle her.
Either way, it was a dead end.
Since it was unsolvable, the best solution was to hide and not face it.
After all, she was asleep!
Sure enough, Frederick, completely unaware, calmly and steadily carried her back to the room.
She just needed to pretend to wake up slowly, then take a shower and go to sleep.
Close her eyes, open them again, and the night would be over.
Tomorrow, she'd have breakfast with Elizabeth, spend the day, and in the afternoon, she'd pack up and head back to her dorm.
No more awkward moments alone with Frederick.
Absolutely... perfect!
Reality proved that imagination was beautiful, but reality was terrifying!
Rebecca never dreamed that a man as aloof as Frederick would be considerate enough to worry she wouldn't sleep well in her clothes and help her undress!
Frederick moved gently, carefully lifting her upper body to rest against his chest, cautiously removing her down jacket.
Her cheek pressed close to his chest, so close that Rebecca could clearly smell his rich sandalwood scent and hear his heartbeat.
As if hesitating on how to help her take off her cashmere sweater without waking her, Frederick paused.
Then, his fingers touched the hem of her sweater.
The warm fingertips lightly brushed against the soft skin of her waist, causing goosebumps to rise along the path his fingers traced.
A tingling sensation spread up her spine to her neck.
Rebecca's cheeks and ears burned as if boiling water, her mind blank for a moment.
In a sudden move, Rebecca trembled slightly and sat up from Frederick's embrace.