SWNOVELS Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Morning Love
The glass in the room suddenly shattered, and the cold wind poured in. Rain splashed against the floor. Though he did his best to hold up the curtains, Carlisle couldn’t do much to keep the gales from coming inside. Other rooms at the homestay had suffered damage to varying degrees as well, and the situation was only getting worse.
Carlisle took Helene to the bed, and the two tucked into the farthest corner, covering themselves with a thick blanket. It helped protect them from the elements, but even then, it was barely enough.
In the darkness, Helene leaned her head on Carlisle’s shoulder. Everything was happening so fast, and she was all out of
sorts.
Suddenly, in a soft voice, she heard Carlisle ask, “Can you fall asleep?”
“I’ll be able to soon. What about you?”
She could feel him gulp. “Me too.”
His breathing was becoming heavy, leading Helene to believe that he might have caught a cold. Out of concern, she lifted the blanket to further cover them.
“Wait, don’t bring it up that far. It’s a little hot,” Carlisle’s urged. His voice was hoarse, yet his tone was patient.
But that didn’t make any sense to Helene. How could he be feeling hot when the storm was blowing right into their room?
Chapter 15: Morning Love
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She reached up to feel his forehead, and he didn’t have a fever, either.
Just then, Carlisle grabbed her hand and pushed it back under the covers. “Stop. I won’t be able to hold back if you keep moving.”
With that one warning, Helene immediately understood what he meant. Fortunately, the room was dark, and neither of them could see each other’s faces. It would have made things that much more embarrassing otherwise.
Helene had become nervous now, not knowing what to do or how to position herself.
As she fidgeted, she heard Carlisle say, “I told you not to move around. Are you trying to seduce me?”
Carlisle had always taken pride in his restraint, but it was being greatly tested that evening. In the end, however, Helene drifted off first. She was always good at emptying her mind.
It was the early hours of the morning at this point, and Carlisle lay awake. He looked down at the woman in bed with him and narrowed his eyes lazily. She was so exhausted that she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore.
A bit later that morning, though still quite early, Helene woke up to find that Carlisle had finally fallen asleep.
The storm that had raged on throughout the night had finally stopped, letting the morning sunshine in. Fine rays of sunlight fell on Carlisle’s handsome face, softening his features and expression. He normally looked so serious and troubled, but for once, it seemed as though he was at peace.
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Slowly, Carlisle awoke as well, slowly opening his eyes as if he could feel Helene’s gaze. The first thing he saw was her face, innocent and still a bit groggy.
“You’re up…” Helene began to say. But before she could continue, Carlisle pinned her against the bed.
The two looked at each other, time seeming to have stopped as they locked gazes. Only the sound of uneven, shallow breaths broke the silence.
Helene’s mind had gone blank. Carlisle was in front of her. On top of her. And his face was contorted with rage. The
atmosphere had turned ambiguous, an odd feeling drifting along the space between them.
And what followed was the morning breeze whisking past, blowing Helene’s soft hair, which brushed against Carlisle’s stubbled chin. It was as if the world itself was teasing the two of them, and it only served to make their hearts that much more restless.
Suddenly noticing her lips were dry, Helene couldn’t help but stick out the tip of her tongue and wet them again. They had looked dull just moments before, but they took on a lustrous pink now, translucent and shiny. They reminded Carlisle of dew–covered petals basking in the morning sun, fragrant and tempting. No one would have been able to resist kissing her.
Carlisle had since fallen visibly short of breath, and Helene was feeling much more nervous now as the tension rose.
She watched with wide eyes as Carlisle slowly closed in. His tall frame blocked the sunlight, casting Helene in a shadow beneath him. Their lips came closer and closer. He was just inches away from her now–so close that his features were
Chapter 15: Morning Love
beginning to blur.
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Helene’s heart felt like it was going to leap out of her chest, pounding wildly in her ears. The air must have been getting thinner. There was no other explanation for why she felt so breathless, why her body was tense like the strings of a bow.
A sudden knock on the door interrupted the two of them.
“Excuse me! Helene? How was the cake?”
Helene quickly covered her face, wrapped in a deep blush, with the blanket. Carlisle immediately sat up as she smoothed out her clothes and tried to hide her embarrassment.
From what the landlord’s daughter could see through the small window to their room, she figured that Helene hadn’t gotten up yet and stopped knocking. Then, she left.
For the rest of that morning, the two barely spoke, if at all. After they packed their things, Carlisle opened the door for Helene and the two walked out of the hotel.
The homestay was close enough to the pier, and Carlisle had left his car at a nearby parking lot. Not far from the homestay, the two noticed a stylish woman approaching them. She was dressed impeccably and had big bags in each of her arms.
“Carlisle? What are you doing here? What a coincidence!” The woman greeted Carlisle warmly.
It seemed as though the more afraid you were of something, the more likely it would come to haunt you. Carlisle didn’t like running into old acquaintances, especially not one that he went to primary school with. Seeing as he had no other choice, he greeted her in return.
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“What a coincidence. Are you here on vacation?”
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“Well, sort of. I found a new man recently, you see. I thought he was the heir to a rich family, but he turned out to be a sham! He couldn’t shut up about how he was going to take me on his private yacht yesterday, but do you know what came instead? A dinky fishing boat. I was so mad that I was practically yelling at him the entire day.”
Suddenly, the woman stopped, having noticed Helene standing behind Carlisle. “Wait, what’s this? You have a girlfriend? Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Carlisle frowned and replied, “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s my wife.”
“Seriously?! No way! That was fast. I remember running into you a few months ago… sometime at the start of the year, right? You didn’t even have a girlfriend yet,” The woman recounted, eyeing Helene enviously. “You’re a lucky gal to be married to Mr. Bamford himself.”
“What did she say?” Helene asked Carlisle quietly. “Bamford? Is that what she-”
Though she had done her best to be discreet, the woman still overheard her and interjected, “You don’t know that your
husband is the Bamford Group’s…”
“I used to be a department manager at the Bamford Group, and everyone I knew wouldn’t stop making fun of me for it. ‘Mr. Bamford‘ is an old nickname.” Carlisle gave his old classmate a small wink and an expectant look, telling her to stop talking.
“You used to work at the Bamford Group?” Helene said in
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awe. Her impression of Carlisle had improved. “What happened? Why’d you quit?”
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“A lot of things happened. I’ll tell you about it sometime later!”‘
Unable to stop herself, Carlisle’s old classmate asked, “So you‘ re not at the Bamford Group anymore? Weren’t you still-”
Hastily interrupting her again, Carlisle asked, “Miki, have you had breakfast yet?” He wanted nothing more than to slap her for being so ignorant.
“Huh? Breakfast? What, you wanna treat me to a meal, then?”
“I’ll take that as a no. Go eat something, will you? If you don’t, you’ll miss the second bus out of here.”
“You know what? That sounds like a plan. I was worried about how I was going to get out of this place. Any chance I could hitch a ride with you two?”
Carlisle was a split second away from refusing when Miki walked over and took Helene’s arm as if they were close friends. “Hey, what’s your name? Oh, and one more thing. You know, all the girls loved Carlisle’s when we were growing up. So you’d better watch out. He was the best at everything he did. We used to think he wasn’t human back then. He was too
perfect.”
Carlisle watched in silence as his old classmate ran her mouth, the words coming out at machine–gun pace. She continued to chat with Helene as they walked, getting much too excited at times as Helene listened with great interest.
The two barely paid any attention to Carlisle walking behind the two of them, a dark shadow cast over his expression.
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Carlisle was holding Helene’s bag in his left hand, and Miki’s two bags in his right.
Coming across Helene was a golden opportunity for Miki. For once, she could tease the CEO of the Bamford Group as much as she wanted.
Once they arrived at Carlisle’s car, Miki took the hint and climbed into the back seat without saying a word. The silence didn’t last long, though, and she began talking again.
“Hey, Carlisle. You know, I’ve been curious about this for a while, but I never really got around to asking you. How much do you make in a month?” she asked in a sly voice. She was doing this on purpose.
With a blank face, Carlisle pretended as though he didn’t hear her. Afraid of keeping Miki hanging, Helene answered for him. “He told me he makes about 50 grand annually.”
“Pfft!” Miki giggled, unable to stop herself. “Sorry, 50,000?”
Not knowing why Miki was in such hysterics, Helene was no longer so friendly.
“That’s more than enough, isn’t it?” she asked, taking on an edge in her voice. “What’s so funny?”
“Wait, don’t get mad!” Miki said, catching her breath. “I’m laughing because he must have a lot saved up. Just… Look into it when you have the chance. There’s no way he’s only making a few thousand a month.”
Carlisle was so mad that he could barely breathe, thinking that Miki must have been picking a fight with him.
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