Chapter 59: Chapter 59

“Whew! That was hectic.” Carol said as she and Sebastian got back to her suite after dinner.

“Huh? What was hectic?”

“Having to pretend to be in love with you and all that. My cheeks hurt from smiling at you all evening.” Carol said, laughing and causing Sebastian to raise one eyebrow in mock surprise and annoyance.

“I’m highly offended. How can you suggest that these appealing features of mine are a chore to smile at?” He quipped, mock frowning at her. Carol burst out laughing at this. She had not known that Sebastian could be a playful person at all. The sound of her laughter sounded so melodious to Sebastian’s ears that he paused to stare at her pretty face until Carol tucked a strand of her luxurious ash blonde hair at the back of her ear nervously, no doubt wondering why he was staring at her.

“Do I have something on my face?” She asked selfconsciously, touching her face unsurely in a way that Sebastian found very endearing.

“No, you don’t. You’re very beautiful, Carol. You should be more confident in yourself.”

Carol blushed to the roots of her hair at this, and Sebastian burst out laughing at her complexion.

“What is so funny? Are you making fun of me?” She asked, somewhat belligerently, but she looked more cute than belligerent, and this thought caused Sebastian to laugh harder.

“You look like a radish, what with all the blushing.” He informed her.

“I take it that you find radishes very beautiful, then?”

“Well, you have me there. So considering that you were the one who chose this location for the vacation, I take it that you have activities that you would like to do planned out, yeah?”

“Oh, well. I had just planned to spend the whole time laying on the beach relaxing and maybe learning to swim.”

“I thought you said you already know how to swim.”

“Yeah. I do… a little… very little. I’ll like to learn to swim better, but yeah. That’s about what I have planned.”

Sebastian shook his head slowly. “Alright then. I have some great stuff planned out.”

“Your tone sounds very suspicious. Am I included in carrying out all these so-called great stuff with you?” Carol asked, but inwardly, she was pleased that she was going to be spending so much time with him.

“Naturally.”

“What ‘stuff’ are you talking about anyway?”

“They’re for me to know and for you not to find out until it is time for you to find out about them,” Sebastian replied, winking at her as he climbed into bed to sleep. Within minutes, he was fast asleep. Carol busied herself with doing a few things that actually did not need doing until he fell asleep. Now that she was with him and they were alone, courage deserted her to carry out her initial vow to have sex with him. The thought of trying it alone caused her body to tingle in anticipation, but her entire being revolted at the thought of doing such a thing. What if he did not want her as she wanted him? She would literally curl up into a ball and die of the ensuing rejection. There was no point setting up herself like that, at least not until she was very sure that he wanted her too. She got into bed with him and lay there awake for a very long time, her body aching for the release that she was sure only Sebastian could give her while he slept peacefully beside her. How could he sleep so peacefully? Wasn’t he affected by the chemistry that she would have sworn she felt between them, especially that day by the pool when they were still at home?

“No doubt, he has a slew of women who will willingly have sex with him at his beck and call.” Carol thought spitefully. Finally, after tossing and turning for what felt like an eternity, she fell asleep.

***

Carol woke up very late the next morning. She was not surprised, considering that she had found it difficult to sleep the night before. Sebastian was nowhere to be found, as a quick check of their suite showed that he was not anywhere there. She even padded to Mr. James's suite to see if he was there, but he wasn’t there, and neither were Mr. James and his wife for that matter. Where had they all gone without informing her? There was no note stating where they could be, so she took her time taking her bath and doing other stuff before she dressed up and went downstairs to get something to eat. She found the three of them in the restaurant, just relaxing and having drinks. Apparently, they had already eaten.

“Morning sunshine.” Mr. James greeted.

Carol mumbled a greeting to the entire table and was about to go sit down before she remembered that she was supposed to be the loving wife, so she made a detour to where Sebastian was sitting and placed a kiss on his head before sitting on the seat beside him.

“Morning. You look well-rested. I didn’t want to wake you up. You were sleeping so peacefully.” He told her, a look that she could not quite decipher in his eyes.

“Thanks. You should have woken me up though. It’s a vacation, so if I keep sleeping the way I'm doing, it’s just going to be a waste.”

“Hmmm. Someone is in a foul mood. Fine, I'll wake you up next time.” Sebastian said, summoning the waiter over to take her order.

They waited for her to finish eating and then Sebastian announced. “We’re going scuba diving.”

Carol stared at him for a minute and then burst out laughing. “You’re joking, right?”

“Why? Do I look like I am?”

“It’s great fun, Carol. You’ll love it. I’ve gone scuba diving several times before.” Mrs. James put in, observing their exchange with amusement.

“Wait, what is scuba diving, anyway? Is that not the one in which you wear some apparatus and go into the water or something? You expect me to go inside the ocean or whatever?” Carol asked Sebastian incredulously.

“Why not? A lot of people do it. Even my aunt here has done it a lot of times. Naturally, you will undergo some training for it, but it shouldn’t take time. There are instructors for that.” Sebastian said, trying to convince her, but Carol was having none of it.

“I’m not doing that. I’ll content myself with sunning on the beach.”

“Are you not tired of doing that? That’s all you’ve been doing since you got here.”

“You’re probably going to be horrified if I told you what I wanted to do badly.” Carol thought to herself.

“Well, I’ll do more of it then.”

“Okay, okay. Suit yourself, but you don’t know what you're missing out on. I’m going scuba diving anyway, so you’re welcome to come with me and watch me do it so you can see if watching will pique your interest, or you can just sit on the beach if you want.”

"Okay. I think I will do that, but I don't think that I will be remotely interested in trying it out."

"No problem. Let's go and get prepared." He told her and they left the restaurant to go back to their rooms to change their clothes.