To His Hell and Back-Chapter 160: Pretty Things-II

She let out a gasp and slowly backed away, but when she backed away, she had instead pressed her back closer to his front, only to feel the rigidness of his body that pressed between her bottom, turning her face as red as tomatoes as she understood what she had readily pressed her body towards.

Uncomfortably, she shifted forward, trying to make it all seem normal though she couldn’t help her ears that had turned bright red from burning brighter or the gulp that bobbed her frail neck.

Cassius watched how she moved and how tinier her body felt as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

So small, so tiny, and so fragile. She was as light as a feather and as pretty as it was, and that was concerning. He had always been concerned by pretty things, as they always seemed like they would fade immediately.

He saw her pale neck peeking from her brownish red hair, which length had brushed against his forearms, and gently he brushed it aside, pushing all her hair into her left shoulder without saying a single thing.

The tension of the silence stretched, and Arabella didn’t know what to say.

Cassius was... different tonight. He didn’t seem drunk as drunk people would often do the weirdest thing that contradicts to how they usually act when they’re awake. He didn’t seem to be sleepwalking either, as she had slept alone in his bed earlier.

But why was he so... solemn? So... why was he acting this way?

It stopped her from breathing, making a knot inside her stomach, and made her act awkwardly, which she couldn’t explain fully in words.

He would usually tease her, joke with her, and even poke fun at her, as it made them banter. But his silence, his thoughtful expression, and his crimson gaze that lingered on her neck and then her eyes... all just felt too hot. Even hotter than the flame on the candlestick that she held against her chest.

He didn’t seem happy, but he didn’t seem mad either. Not relief, and neither was it any sense of delight. Rather, it’s a tension as taut as a drawn bowstring, ready to shoot fire at any time.

"Y-," Arabella coughed as she realized just how dry her throat was. She decided not to look at Cassius’s eyes any longer, feeling the intensity of his gaze would only cause her body to combust. So she turned and instead stared at the front, where there was the garden illuminated by the silver moon. Then she continued her words, "How long have I been asleep for? Days, you say.."

"A lot of days," Cassius said as he placed his head on hers, which made her feel his weight. "Five. No, it should be six now."

Arabella frowned, "Six?"

"Do you remember what happened?" He then asked and saw her nod. "You were asleep for far too long. What did you remember seeing last?"

"You," she answered, and noticing how odd that word slipped from her mouth, she bite her lower lip and continued, "I remembered seeing Morpheus and how I was injected with something- was that why I had lost consciousness for so long?"

"Yes," he whispered, his voice like a purr that made her toes curl, and Arabella instantly couldn’t handle it anymore. Cassius’s air that usually forces her to raise her eyebrows at him now turned into an odd charm that made her feel a lump in the back of her throat, turning her tongue dry.

There was pressure from him tonight. Not the malicious kind, but the kind that makes her skin more sensitive and her ears to pick up every single noise he made, including his breath that had trailed near her face.

His eyes trailed from her green eyes that were trying their best to focus on the moon instead of him, and then to her pale neck that seemed so sweet to look at.

She couldn’t ignore how his eyes were on her body, and though she wanted to refuse acknowledging it, she couldn’t help the tickle she felt when he gazed at her that way... like he’s about to bite her.

And she should be scared that he would bite and bleed her dry. Yet why was it exhilarating?

Acknowledging this makes her want to choke herself to death, but she couldn’t help her feet that began tangling with one another to stop herself from breaking into a nervous sweat.

"Why- Why are you so quiet?" Arabella squeezed her eyes, "Are you angry?"

Cassius hummed back in response, "Why should I be angry?"

"I don’t think I would know your emotions," she answered him and expected him to laugh but because she didn’t she felt even more tensed.

In a second she felt her body twirled and her face turning toward him which forced her to look into his eyes no matter what she wish.

"You’re..."

"You protected me," Cassius whispered, his voice was a mix of tender and sultry. "Do you remember that as well?"

She licked her dry tongue, "Well I think I did?" She helped him didn’t she? He protected her so many times with his life on the line and she had returned it, thinking it was fair but why was it that when she confirmed that she did actually protected him, Cassius looked even more displeased than ever? It’s as if she had plucked a feather from his precious little bird.

"Why?" Cassius asked her, his arms still wrapped around her waist but now he had scooped her body upward, pressing her waist to his torso, "I thought your survival matters more for you. I know how you are and you’re the same as me."

Arabella had many questions to ask him back, but the first to come out of her lips was, "The same?"

"That we put everything on the line for survival," Cassius answered as he brought one hand away from her waist and now went to hold a lock of her hair, smoothening it between his thumb, "You ran toward me without any hesitation despite always prioritizing your survival. Can I take it that somehow I have become someone dear to you, Arabella?"