hapter 18
Chapter 18
In the dark living room, the man silently watched the sleeping girl.
:འ
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After a long while, he seemed to finally make up his mind. Reaching out, he picked her up and carried her toward the bedroom.
Jostled in her sleep, the girl instinctively wrapped her arms around him like clinging vines, her soft face nuzzling against his neck like a kitten seeking affection.
The unfamiliar contact froze Alexei’s steps. The warmth of her body in his arms felt almost scalding, leaving him torn between moving forward or stepping back.
Biting back the urge to drop her, he managed to lay her down on her small bed. As he turned to leave, the girl murmured “Grandma” in her sleep–soft, tender, and full of longing.
Just as Alexei was about to exit the room, he found his hand firmly gripped, impossible to pull free. A surge of stubborn frustration rose in him, as if he were wrestling with himself.
Annoyed, he shifted the girl further inward,‘ then lay down beside her, still holding her hand, occupying the other half of the bed.
Back in a familiar setting, the girl instinctively reached for her giant plush goose in her sleep, clinging to the warmth beside her.
With the girl nestled against him like a rose in full bloom, Alexei pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed, and finally wrapped an arm around her small frame before closing his eyes.
“Ah!” A scream shattered the quiet of the early morning.
Alexei caught the foot planted against his chest, pinning her back against him with one hand. “What? Sleep a little longer,” he murmured against her hair.
She’d slept like a baby, while he’d been up half the night.
“Why are you in my bed?” Natasha squirmed, pinned and furious, kicking at his legs.
How was this guy so strong?‘ she thought.
“Take a good look. You’re in my bed,” Alexei retorted without opening his eyes, playing the victim
first.
His handsome face wore a lazy, exhausted expression–utterly distracting.
“Wasn’t I in the living room?”
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Chapter 18
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“I didn’t lock the door. You got up in the middle of the night, half–asleep, and climbed in here,” Alexei lied smoothly.
Natasha frowned, skeptical. ‘Since when did I sleepwalk?‘
As she struggled harder, Alexei kept his eyes shut, mimicking her actions from the night before by nuzzling her neck and patting her waist, signaling her to settle down.
“Nothing happened last night. Relax,” he said.
Of course, Natasha knew if her own body was feeling off–otherwise, she wouldn’t still be here, digging into the past with him.
‘But dude, your actions right now are seriously crossing the line!‘ Natasha struggled but couldn’t break free, eventually collapsing in exhaustion against him.
“Let me go,” she snapped.
‘Are we even at the level where we could sleep together?‘ she said inwardly.
Alexei shut his eyes and went statue–still.
Though it started with him being annoyed at his own inexplicable soft spot for her, after holding her all night, he experienced the most peaceful sleep he’d had in ages.
He’d totally caught her pig–like sleep habits.
For someone who suffered from chronic insomnia–especially after just surviving an assassination attempt while still injured–this was downright unbelievable.
If he had to sum up his mood in one sentence, it’d be: Slept like a king, and he was gonna keep sleeping.
All his frustration and confusion vanished. What he wanted had never slipped through his fingers.
In just one night, he’d already decided to transplant this little rose into his own garden.
So now, in Alexei’s mind, he was just holding his own property while sleeping–no shame
whatsoever.
“Didn’t you say you’d repay me yesterday? Then sleep with me for a month,” he said.
Catching the fist she suddenly threw at him, he patiently clarified, “Platonically”
Natasha was baffled, “Okay, but… has no one ever taught you to keep boundaries between men and
women?”
From the moment they met, their relationship had progressed way too fast.
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Chapter 18
:།
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Who’d have thought that the guy lying next to her in bed–she’d known him for less than five days.
“So what?” Alexei retorted.
Natasha choked on air, utterly speechless.
“Don’t you have a wife or girlfriend?” she asked sincerely.
“Nope. Single. Unmarried. No women,” he mumbled, half–asleep.
“And you didn’t even ask if I have a husband or boyfriend?”
Alexei pulled her closer, pressing her waist firmly against him. “Doesn’t matter if you had before. Starting today, you won’t.”
“Dude, your moral compass is… special. Waking up to a whole new world of crazy, Natasha quickly realized: she couldn’t fight him, couldn’t out–sass him–so she just went limp.
After all, she only attempted murder. The guy next to her? Probably hosed bloodstains off his shoes before breakfast.
Lying next to Alexei, she couldn’t help but find it amusing.
She had known Lucas since she was three and he was five, and it wasn’t until she turned twenty that they finally confessed their feelings. They dated for three years after that.
For all that time, he had never slept in her bed. Yet now, here was a man she hadn’t even known for long, casually taking up the space.
The thing was, during those three years of dating, they were constantly arguing over Olivia.
Looking back, they were actually closer during their childhood days.
Guess that was just how life screwed with people, making them keep crashing into each other’s lives at the wrong damn time.
From the moment she broke up with him, Lucas had been permanently erased from her life. She didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty about it now.
Anyway, it was just a one–month cuddle buddy situation. She tried to convince herself–putting up with it for a little while wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Just as Natasha’s eyelids grew heavy and she was about to drift off again, a loud banging erupted at
the door.
Alexei, who was holding her, woke up with a start. The murderous glint in his eyes was instantly caught by Natasha, who had also been jolted awake.
Quickly pressing down on the man who was about to get up, she whispered soothingly, ‘T’ll go. I’ll
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- go. You shouldn’t show your face right now.”
:;
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Though she didn’t know exactly what he was plotting, based on his conversations with Shawn and the others, she guessed he was supposed to be “dead” or “missing” to the outside world.
Plus, she really didn’t want to see bloodshed at her doorstep first thing in the morning.
After finally wriggling free from his iron–like grip, Natasha took a deep breath of freedom and hurried to the door.
Opening it, she found Thomas standing there with dark circles under his eyes.
Thomas was practically losing his mind.
Ever since the night Lucas proposed–when Olivia got into a car accident, followed by Natasha clearing her name and calling the cops the next day, the family arguments, Natasha beating up Olivia, and then Natasha setting the old house on fire–he’d been scrambling nonstop to clean up the mess.
Just as he finished dealing with the house situation in Scrushire, his phone started ringing nonstop. Every call was filled with endless humiliation, the insults so creative they made him want to crawl into a hole.
At this point, the sound of a ringing phone was enough to give him a nervous breakdown.
At first, he thought it was some business rival, but when he realized the rest of the family was getting the same treatment, he immediately knew it was Natasha.
This kind of mischievous, petty revenge? Only the most unpredictable Natasha would pull something like this.
Exhaustion carved deep lines into his usually sharp face. Even the legendary Clark family’s good looks were running on fumes now.
“Natasha, can we call a truce?
“You’ve vented your anger, burned the house. Why keep pushing it? Even though you hate us, Mom and Dad are too old to handle this kind of stress,” Thomas said.
Despite the plea for peace, his tone was still accusatory.
Natasha lifted her chin, crossed her arms, and countered with a question, “Thomas, how does it feel to be falsely accused and condemned without reason?”
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