Marcus did not respond and kept his silence. He probably could not find the right words to say. Hence, I kept silent while I continued to stare at the fireworks.
Ashton got out of the bath and hugged me from the back.
“You really like fireworks huh,” he asked in a deep, sexy voice.
I nodded as I took in the lingering smell of the body wash on him. “This is going to be a long winter. Let’s head to R Province when you are less busy. I miss the watermelon and rose plants at the yard.”
“Sure,” he nodded, hugged me at his chest level, and lowered his chin onto my shoulder.
“Who were you on the phone with?” he probed as he took a glance at my phone.
I regained my senses, looked at my phone screen, and wanted to off the phone to end the call with Marcus.
However, Marcus had already ended the call. It was just a lit screen on display.
I felt a tinge of guilt and replied, “A friend called.”
Luckily, I had deleted Marcus’ number from my contacts. Even though my reply was vague, Ashton would never have guessed for it to be Marcus.
He did not probe further. “Go take a shower and sleep early tonight!” he nagged in a gentle tone.
I nodded, placed my phone aside, and entered the bath.
By the time I was out from the bath, Ashton was already lying on the bed. His scars had faded. I dried my hair, climbed onto the bed, and snatched the book away from him.
“No reading on the bed! The bed is a place for sleep,” I nagged.
He gave me a sidelong glance. From up close, his gaze seemed darker, nose bridge higher and lips thinner.
I swallowed my saliva to moisten my dry throat, turned my gaze away, and coughed out, “Good night!”
I buried myself into the blanket while he switched off the lights. I felt my body temperature rise.
He held me closer to his body, and I took a sniff at the fragrance emitting from his body. There was not a single trace of smoke.
“Ashton,” my tensed body leaned into his embrace and continued, “Are you trying to quit smoking?”
He leaned in and lifted my chin. I could still see his charming features and dark gaze under the dim light from the window.
“When was the last time we did the deed?” he asked seductively.
I was in a daze while I nodded.
My face turned hot after I regained my senses. I asked him in a soft voice, “Can you?”
That following day, the falling snow covered every part of K City with strong winds blowing as I woke up in Ashton’s embrace.
He was still soundly asleep. His sharp eyebrows resembled those of the characters in martial art novels.
A moment later, he opened his eyes. I was startled for a few seconds before my lips curled into a smile. “Good morning!”
“Hmm?” he responded with a raspy voice and continued to hug me. “It’s snowing. Let’s sleep in a while more.”
I nodded but could not fall back asleep. I stared at the ceiling and wondered how great it would be to wake up with him beside me every day.
I got up to wake myself fully. Meanwhile, there was the sound of a kids’ chuckle.
It was Summer. I walked over to the balcony to observe Sally and her engaging in a snowball fight. Despite their age gap, they were equally agile. Both of them were dressed in thick feather coats, making snowballs and throwing them at each other.
They burst into laughter whenever their opponent got hit. It was not an easy game. Most of the time, the snowballs would either be dodged or would hit the snow.
Ashton got up and hugged me from the back. He leaned into my ear and whispered, “Do you want to play?”
I nodded while pushing him towards the bathroom. “Go wash up! Let’s head down to join the game.”
He chuckled lightly and headed to the bathroom while I went to the wardrobe to get a change of clothes. On the way there, I flipped open the blanket.
It was like I had expected – there was a big patch of blood. It was not period blood.
That was not the first. I started to panic.
A wave of laughter broke my chain of thought, so I covered it back with the blanket and continued my way to the wardrobe.
Ashton was done washing up when I was done changing. He looked at me and nagged, “You need to put on more layers!”
I nodded, buried myself under more layers of clothing, and I rushed downstairs.
Before I could react, Summer threw a snowball at me immediately after she spotted me.
To make it a fair game, Summer teamed up with Sally against me. However, I was unprepared for the sudden attack by both of them.
Luckily, Ashton joined me shortly after. Summer started to whine after getting hit several times.
