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Chapter 13 - 13

"Have you always liked wishing fountain?" I asked, feeling a slight excitement to know if we shared the same yet odd interest.

"Hmm... Rather than that, I think I have only come to appreciate it after I met you," he answered.

His hand was leading me towards the tower viewers. From afar, I could see the glowing bright light in the ocean of darkness as though the lights were a reflection of the golden treasure underneath. While that in itself is a breathtaking view that deserves my full attention, I was more curious about my relationship with Edmund.

"After you met me? Did I talk you into liking it?"

How was this man able to make me open up my deepest childish secret so willingly when I had never shared this information openly with Alistair - the man I knew for at least seven years?

"Not really. I noticed you tend to linger longer whenever there's a water fountain and often wondered if it would be alright if you could throw a coin in it."

"Oh... I didn't even notice I did that."

As glad as I was that my childish secret remained a secret, shock would be an understatement of what I hear from him. I barely noticed doing all that he mentioned and yet, he got all that information purely from observing me? Mind you, it had only been no more than two years he claimed to know me. Even I was not sure whether I was in awe or found myself creepy about it.

I tried to be objective and think from an out of the box perspective. In that very moment, I tried to imagine I was an outsider seeing in. Would I classify him as an obsessed crazy man or would I classify him as a hopeless romantic?

It was so hard with the memory loss. I could not make right or left of everything. I had no direction to guide me but only overthinking.

Was I wrong for overthinking? Was I feeling overly suspicious towards him or perhaps my guts were entirely wrong and I could very well be a mean bitch for thinking badly of him?

'Oh, I am so lost!!'

"Personally I prefer the view during sunset," was all I heard as he described the cityscape right in front of us. I was too busy with my own thoughts that I forgot to be present in the present!

What he said before this, if he did say something, or whatever information he relayed, I hope with all my heart he did not ask any question that I failed to answer. Most important of all, I hope I was able to control my facial expressions and it was not as terrible as my thoughts!

In my weak defense to hide the fact I had not been paying attention, my mouth rambled on and on about the beauty of the cityscape. I swear it was to the point of exaggeration. If not, I must have repeated the same point in different wordings like some broken records. Worse of all, I could confidently say that he must have noticed it too.

"I'm sorry," I apologised quickly with defeated droop of my head. "It's just..."

'What?! What excuse are you going to make, you stupid mouth! You could have stop at I'm sorry!!' My brain was scolding every part of my organs, for doing everything on their own accord.

He stroked my hair, brushing it with his long fingers. My body flinched at his touch as a result of my overthinking, feeling slightly creeped out.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," he said reassuringly.

'Damn right I won't! Like I would dare to share this stupid assumption about you right in your face?' I silently but angrily responded at the back of my head.

"No no. It's just... I was wondering why the place's deserted tonight?"

Ah-ha! I finally found an excuse to cover up whatever needed covering up! Thanks my brain for your quick thinking!

"I wanted it empty."

Red alert! Red alert!! The klaxon in my head was blaring!!

"W-why?" I stuttered in fear.

While I was lost in my self-made fear, I caught a glimpse of him looking rather dispirited.

"Nothing important for now," he answered with a sad smile.

I did not want to push further because based on his reaction, I realised my previous overthinking had gone out of control. I had deduced that since he was feeling upset despite having the whole floor empty, would that not mean he had planned to be with someone besides me here? If my deduction is true, that means he's not a creeper! Yay, I'm safe!!

"Would you like to take a dip in the pool?" He suddenly asked.

"In this Autumn weather?" I retorted, raising my shoulders to show the thick overnight hoodie. "After you have me dressed thick, now you want me to dress down?"

He grinned, revealing his beautifully done pearly white. "It's heated pool."

"And?"

Like I get it - heated pool. So what? What happen after I am done? Would I not shiver as my body exposed to the cool air? Was I supposed to run? On a wet floor?

"You don't necessarily need to wear a swimsuit."

Yikes!!

"You're not saying I should go naked, are you? Because I don't think I'm that comfortable with you yet even though we are legally husband and wife."

"NO!" He screamed. His face flushed and his hands maniacally waving side to side. "I meant you are welcome to wear a T-shirt and long pants."

'Gosh! Stupid stupid stupid! See what overthinking has done to you, Maisie! You have turned into a pervert!' I scolded myself for being so quick to judge the man being a pervert when I was the one with the dirtiest mind between the two of us.

"Good to know you have some moral," I pretended to rebuke him, hoping it would cover my mistakes.

Together we head back to the maze into the secret gate of his house. We changed into a comfortable set of clothes and I decided to wear as baggy a shirt I could find and tights as my pants.

What could go wrong?

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