Chapter 27: Chapter 27

My clothes were all wet from splashing water with Ashton. I could have scolded him, but no. It had been a long time since we swam together. And I didn't want to spoil our mood.

I left the pool after my body was shivering with cold. Ashton tried to keep me warm by hugging me. At first he wanted to carry me inside, but I refused. I let him rub my hands with a few warm blows.

As much as I hated that we had to end our moment, I was still glad that Ashton finally talked to me again. Thanks to my dropped earphones. If it didn't fall, then Ashton wouldn't find it and talk to me.

My body shivered even more, which made Ashton hug me again as we almost reached the threshold of the entrance. I was not looking ahead in my path other than trying to keep myself warm.

I didn't understand why Ashton suddenly stopped after our first steps inside. My head looked up to see what was stopping him, and I was instantly confronted with those amber eyes piercing mine.

"Your help ends here, I'll take her." said Adrian coldly. He tugged at my elbow, but Ashton still wouldn't let go of his grip on me.

That made Adrian and I both stared at Ashton.

"Let go," said Adrian, this time sounding powerful and demanding. His voice dominated the room.

I gave Ashton an apologetic look. He slowly loosened his grip on me before letting go completely.

Because of the strong pull of Adrian, my body bounced until I hit his chest. Before I could process what happened, he was already carrying me in a bridal style. I put my arms around his neck with my face snuggled into his chest. He was warm and so gentle.

When Adrian was about to leave the scene, I realized that Rainy and Miranda were also there. I didn't know what to say to Rainy after seeing Ashton with me. Sure enough, she was disappointed in me. I messed up.

Adrian led me up to the second floor into one of the rooms at the far end. He wanted to lay me down on the bed, but I held him. In his arms, I felt warmth and affection. He said nothing, but let me do what I asked through my actions. I didn't dare ask if he was all right. I was grateful enough that he still wanted to take care of me.

I hugged him like he was going to disappear a few seconds later, and he just stood still like a doll.

"You need to change your clothes," After I waited, Adrian finally said something to me.

"If I change clothes, you will take the opportunity to leave."

"I won't do that," Adrian sounded reassuring, but I was too nervous.

"O-okay," My hand slowly let Adrian go. He went to the wardrobe, took whatever clothes I could use from there. Then he handed me a pink oversized t-shirt with ripped jeans shorts.

"I'll wait outside. When you're done, just call me."

Adrian left the room and closed the door. I hastily changed my wet clothes with dry ones. My body was still cold, it forced me to quickly crawl onto the bed and put on the blanket.

"I'm done," I said, trying to scream in a hoarse voice. I hoped Adrian could hear it. But there was no answer from him, until a few moments later the doorknob turned with him pushing the door. He went inside and closed the door silently. He walked over to me emotionlessly. I slightly shifted next to the bed to make space for him.

Then I realized Adrian was carrying a container of hot water, momentarily seeing steam rising clearly in the air. He sat next to me and grabbed my hands from under the covers. I obeyed then let my palms get steam from the hot water. It was enough to make my hands feel something again, not as numb as before.

I looked at how Adrian's grip fit on my wrists. I didn't think I wanted him to let it go. "Adrian?"

Adrian turned his gaze to me.

"I don't like Ashton anymore. I was just too happy that our friendship was back," I didn't know why I should explain. Adrian might thought I was overconfident thinking he was jealous. Honestly, I didn't know if he was jealous or not, but the way he gave me the silent treatment and talked as much as he could tell everything.

"I know," Adrian averted his eyes from me. "After all he's still important to you,"

"I mean - he's been my best friend since we were kids,"

Adrian ignored my words. He was silent as if he didn't hear what I just said until a knock and the door opened stopped me hoping Adrian would say something.

Miranda came in with a glass of hot tea and also a piece of toast with peanut butter. I smiled in thanks. After that she put it on the nightstand and stepped out of the room.

"Miranda is pretty, isn't she?" I wondered what Adrian thought of Miranda.

Adrian raised an eyebrow at me. He turned my hands, so now it was the back of my hands that was exposed to the steam.

"I've met someone prettier than her," Adrian didn't take my question seriously.

Hearing that, only Selena's name popped into my head. "Selena?"

Adrian flinched, his jaw clenched. It was his sudden reaction.

"When you had a fever, you had nightmares with several times calling her name, asking her not to leave you." What I heard that night from his mouth was still neatly arranged in my memory.

I pulled my hands from his grip. Sighing softly, I got up and sat down. My body was getting better, warmer. "Sorry that I brought her into the conversation,"

"Selena was indeed the first woman I've found prettier, but Mabel, now you're that prettier woman." Adrian stared at me deeply, studying me through my gaze at him.

I felt that Adrian said that so as not to want to hurt my heart. Even if I made him choose who he loved the most, it wouldn't be me. Smiling was the only best option for me to do, so I just smiled at him.

Adrian sighed with a slightly hurt look as he carried the warm water container out of the room. Shouldn't I be the one showing the hurt?

I didn't want to think about that anymore, so I took the toast and hot tea that Miranda had brought me earlier. What I said was just causing problem, I shouldn't have asked that. All women have their own beauty. I shouldn't feel insecure and need other people's recognition that I'm prettier.

Later that day all I knew was I fell asleep. Even though at first I intended to just take a nap. I woke up at eight at night, and felt like I missed a lot from sleeping during the day.

I came out of the room and heard nothing from downstairs. Until I reached downstairs with no one around. Where's everybody? I checked everywhere and couldn't find any of them. The only thing I hadn't checked was the outside of the villa. I rushed outside and finally found Miranda. She sat on the swing, swinging her legs.

"Where's everybody?"

Miranda turned off her phone screen, giving her attention to me. "Adrian went somewhere with Daniel after leaving your room, and as for Ashton and Rainy, they went out too. Plus, you managed to set Rainy on fire with jealousy."

I already knew that part- Rainy's jealousy part. I sighed, I was really selfish with my own desires.

"Sit down," Miranda motioned for me to sit on the swing next to her. "I actually wanted to go shopping, but then remembered you were in the villa alone."

"Thank you," I mumbled.

"How about you go shopping with me now?" Miranda looked at me with a smile. "What do you say?"

I stared at her in disbelief before my face changed to match the smile on her face. "What do I say? Hell yeah, let's go!"

I had never been to Bali before, so I didn't know where to shop there. But Miranda? Don't ask me. She knew some authentic spots to buy souvenirs. We bought many things, such as Rattan bags, tie-dye t-shirts, handicraft displays, to milk pies. Actually we were too early to buy souvenirs, but to kill the boredom, it never hurt.

Miranda is a lovely woman. She's brave and sociable. Not only that, I discovered her heart was as pretty as gold.

"So Miranda, tell me about yourself. So far we've only been talking about me,"

We were sitting at one of the fruit ice shops around the street. Miranda seemed to think about my words for a while before finally asking. "What do you want to know?"

"All about you," I took a sip of my fruit ice. "Hmmm, how about your love life?"

"I like this guy, but he already has a girlfriend. It's complicated all the time to see him with that woman," Miranda chuckled, trying to cover the obvious hurt in her eyes. "The way he treated me in such a sweet way was like promising me that he would leave his girlfriend just to be with me. And I'm getting tired of being confused by him like that,"

"You deserve better,"

"So I've been told. But you know the feeling, Mabel. I'm sure you've been there because of Ashton," Miranda smiled sadly.

"Yeah, I've been there. But look at me now. I'm going to marry Adrian. Maybe he's the right man for me," I smiled as I rubbed the back of Miranda's hand. "Stay cool,"

Miranda looked at me and pressed her lips together. She looked like she wanted to say something, but ended with just... "I hope people who want to hurt you can see this side of you. See how kind and gentle you are,"

I didn't understand what that meant, but I was okay with that. Good words.

"What's his name?"

"Lucas Wesley,"

"I think I've heard that name before," I whispered, to myself more specifically.

Miranda sighed. "Lucas is Daniel's older brother,"

I glared with my mouth open.

"Ever since I met Daniel, I've known him straight away. He doesn't know me, because he just got back here. But we met once at a party for Lucas's birthday,"

"Wait a minute, does that mean they are the sons of the Wesley Family?" I knew who the Wesleys were, apart from their business dealings with my father, they also own three hundred hotels spreaded across the world, along with five hundred fast-food restaurants.

Miranda nodded. "Right,"

"Gee, I didn't know Daniel was one of them."

"But Lucas and Daniel have different characters. I thought Daniel was as cold as Lucas, but I was wrong." Miranda shook her head.

I laughed when Miranda said that. Daniel was far from that kind of attitude, he couldn't even be serious.

"Hmmm, Lucas is the typical cold guy, huh?" I stirred my fruit ice with a straw. "Usually cold guys are hard to break, so how perfect is his girlfriend to be able to do it?" I was curious.

"Elena Leanor is everything a woman wants. She's all that," Miranda explained for a moment I imagined about that woman.

"Elena?" Adrian's ex is Selena, I thought. Is this some kind of coincidence? "She's a model, isn't she?"

"Yeah, anyway why are you so surprised to hear her name?" Miranda narrowed her eyes. "You know her?"

"What? No, of course not. She'll probably just think of me as her fan though,"

Miranda rolled her eyes and chuckled at my expression. "She's not like that. She's so sweet, I can't even do anything bad to her."

I couldn't say anything more, other than to let Miranda speak her mind.

"Elena deserves Lucas. She's like a light to that man's life,"