Chapter 159 Can you keep a secret?
As we moved to the bathroom, I stole a glance at the couch and made out Finn's form beneath a blanket. His face was turned towards the backrest, his limbs loose like he was asleep.
But I was not completely certain he was.
In the shower, Mordiane set off immediately to his favorite task, helping me wash. But the shower session ended with me on his lap, where he sat on the shower stool, and Hale kneeling between both our legs as they took me again.
This time, my moans rang out clear to the ceiling.
By morning, I could not meet Finn’s eyes, painfully aware that it was impossible that he had slept through all that. But he, on the other hand, stuck closer to me than usual.
At the studio, he danced with me two separate times, and the moment the clock struck twelve, he snuck me out to tour the city on our own.
We walked through the Ikseon-dong community, holding hands like an actual couple.
“How do you feel?” He turned to me, and my eyes popped.
“I…I.” I could not form a sentence, my cheeks were on fire.
“Um…” He looked startled, his eyes shining brightly. “I'm referring to your body, you know… the glowing skin stuff.”
"Oh," I blinked stupidly, my throat drying up. Mordaine had been firm about never telling anyone about it.
But this was Finn. “When you were away….”
“What happened when we were away?” The velvet baritone said from behind, kissing my neck. I froze, and then spun around to find Hale grinning behind us.
“Your husband leveled a thousand threats if I failed to tour with you today.” Mordaine was staring right at me, his gaze burning a hole in my head.
Finn beamed as Hale pulled him close, but my face was a tight mask. And when Mordaine gently took my hand in his, I shivered.
But he appeared calm as we wandered in the city. And as time passed, he became the happiest I have ever seen him.
He threw his head back in rumbling laughter when Hale turned painfully red in an attempt to wolf down the spicy noodles they’d placed a bet on. He dropped on one knee to fix Finn's shoelace as we approached one of the Hanok villages that were yet to visit.
And when we got on the Ferris wheel, he turned to me and shouted over the wind. “Do you like me or what? You’ve not stopped staring at me today.”
I blushed a hot red and jerked my head away.
We made our way to Gwangjang market as soon as the sun disappeared and Finn closed his umbrella.
“Did you hear what the old lady just said? She thinks you are our sister.” Hale turned to us outside a food stall.
Mordaine grimaced, and Finn burst into an embarrassingly loud laugh that drew the attention of people around us. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole at this point. Mordaine wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close.
“What did you tell her?”
“The truth, of course,” Hale gave a puzzled frown. “I told her she's my wife, and you're both stubborn suitors who I just cannot seem to drive away.”
I glared at Hale, and he gave me a teasing wink. But Mordaine did not let it go, he turned to the vendor and broke into brisk Korean.
The woman looked up with a confused frown, her eyes sweeping over four of us. Then she smiled.
“What did you say to her?” I asked when we finally moved away from her food stand with black wraps of Ttekbokki.
It was Hale who responded, “You don't want to know, my love.” Then he leveled a dirty look at the dragon. “You have no morals. And I am beginning to worry that there's no hope of changing you.”
DAINE
The moment we returned to the hotel, that damned manager stole my wife.
She was becoming as bothersome as Konrad had been in Berlin.
I watched them leave, wishing I did not have to keep putting up this nonchalant act, wishing I could hold her as much as I ached to, wishing I could tell her the truth.
But it was all worth it.
It was enough to be around her like this, watch her from a distance doing all the things she loved and having little to no worries.
My resolve strengthened. I would do anything to keep that bright light in her eyes. And the first step to that was extending this trip.
I launched my computer and sent instructions to Samhain. Earlier, my wife expressed a desire to spend Christmas here, to which Hale immediately responded that dragons hated the cold.
Which was true, but it did not matter anymore. We will extend the trip till whenever she was ready to return home.
My eyes found Finn on that favorite couch of his, his head on Hale’s lap. I had to start getting things in order. The moment we moved to the shortlet Samhain was right now sourcing, I'd let him know he could be with Lys if he still wished.
Even now, the thought of it was a painful ache. Especially as she did not love me. All three of them now shared a mutual love bond I felt a painful exclusion from.
But this was Nymphaea. Even if she did not remember me, remember us as we used to be, the knowledge that she kept her promise and returned to me was enough.
And spending time with them as I did today, all three of the people I loved the most in the world, was one of the highlights of my life.
I did not know it at that moment though, my arch enemy was at that moment gearing to rock my world again. This would be the last time in a long time all four of us will be together.