A DRUNKEN CHOICE

In the early morning, Annabelle Ross let out a soft groan and turned around.

Her hands grabbed something subconsciously, and she was about to continue sleeping when the sensation in her grip felt

odd.

Puzzled, she squeezed with her hand again before her eyes snapped open in alarm. A bare, fair, and muscular chest greeted her, and her hand was resting right on top of the said chest.

Annabelle was so frightened that she immediately retracted her hand. At the same time, she dared not look up at the owner of the chest while lamenting her inability to teleport under the bed.

“Are you awake? Go wash yourself up. Once we leave this hotel, we’re complete strangers.”

The man’s voice was a little deep, and there was a hint of anger in his tone. It made Annabelle, who was embarrassed in the first place, panic instantly.

She sat up in a hurry, causing the thin blanket covering her to slide down. Instinctively, she glanced down and saw red marks all over her chest. Her face turned crimson, and she quickly picked the blanket back up to cover her chest.

Upon turning around, she found herself looking into a pair of dark eyes. Annabelle caught her breath, and she immediately averted her gaze.

“You…”

“I–Isn’t it bad to act like complete strangers?” Annabelle could not recall how she ended up having a one–night stand with this man. However, she had never stepped a toe out of the line in the twenty–odd years of her lifetime, so she felt like she should marry him since they had been intimate. For that reason, she did not wait for the man to finish his sentence and nerved herself to speak her mind in a soft voice.

The man was very good–looking. His skin was fair, his shoulders broad with a slim waist, and he also had a pair of long legs. However, his countenance was rather frosty at the moment. After all, they had agreed to three rules before sleeping together last night. The rules were that they both consented to it, it would only happen once, and they would never contact each other again.

“You have an objection?”

Annabelle glanced at the man and quickly retracted her gaze upon catching sight of his chilly face. Feigning a calm look, she said, “I–It’s written in the book that people who got into bed together without marriage in mind are rogues!”

During their conversation, the man had put on his clothes. He then bent over to pick up a pair of silver–framed glasses on the bedside table and put them on. Slowly and steadily, he said, “Do you think we’re compatible as husband and wife?”

Annabelle could not say anything in response. Inwardly, however, she shouted, “I don’t think we are!”

“As you can see, we really are compatible in bed, but marriage involves more than that. I don’t like tearful women. Do you like men who don’t brush their teeth after eating garlic?”

Annabelle imagined the scene of her living with a man whose breath reeked of garlic and was immediately convinced. Shaking her head at him repeatedly, she said, “We are not compatible!”

The man evidently did not expect her to be convinced by his rhetoric so easily. With his eyebrows raised, he waited for her to continue her sentence. If the trouble could be resolved entirely, he was willing to make a few concessions, such as giving her some money.

“Sure enough, I shouldn’t be so rash. Forget it. Let’s just treat this as a lesson. This is the first and the last time. Something like this will never happen again,” he admonished himself inwardly.

He abhorred dealing with troublesome matters.

It was obvious that women were trouble, and he should not have gotten involved with one in the first place.

Seeing that the man remained standing by the bed with an unfeeling expression, she endured her curiosity for a while but still could not help but ask him the question. “I–Is there anything else?”

The man was silent.

“Must we leave the hotel for us to act like complete strangers?” Annabelle was a little embarrassed. It might be because she was too nervous before that she did not feel anything. However, now that she had relaxed, she started to be discomforted by the pain in her head and her lower body. The feeling was so unbearable. It was as though all her bones were fractured from being run over by a car. “I still want to lie down for a bit! Can we just cut ties from this point onward?”

The man was rendered speechless by her words.

A period of silence later, he replied, “You can stay in this room. I’ll extend the stay for another night, and you can leave after you’re fully rested.”

Annabelle nodded in response. Seeing that the man lifted his feet to leave, she lay back on the bed in relief.

“Wait!”

The man did not seem to be surprised when he heard her call. Apparently, he refused to believe she would leave him alone so easily.

“Please close the window before you leave!”

The man looked over his shoulder. His eyes flickered to the woman beneath the covers and the curtain fluttering in the wind. After a moment of silence, he went over to the window, closed it, and even thoughtfully drew the curtain. Only then did he turn around and leave without looking back.

Annabelle slept until around four in the afternoon. If it were not for her stomach growling from hunger, she probably would have continued her slumber.

Thus, she decided to have a meal before heading home. After ordering some food, she lay on the bed to wait for them to arrive. Now that she was fully rested, her brain finally started to function normally, and she now remembered what had happened the night before.

Annabelle was the eldest daughter of the Ross family in Dellmoor. It would not be an exaggeration to say she was doted on by her family since she was young. Recently, her life had been a little tough because of her younger sister’s return to the. family.

In the 23 years of her life, it was her first time hearing about her younger sister – her twin, at that. According to her parents, Ashley was swapped with a deceased baby by someone as soon as she was born. If it were not for the tragedy that befell the family that took her away, the big secret about her birth would have been buried forever, and Ashley would not have returned to their family smoothly.

Although Ashley did not look like Annabelle, the paternity test proved that this sister of hers, who came looking for them all of a sudden, was indeed their parents‘ daughter.

At the thought of the hardships Ashley had suffered over the years, Annabelle was also distressed and tried everything she could to make her happy, such as giving her everything that she thought was good and bringing her some delicious food from time to time.

However, her mother, Madeline Hudson, accused her of regarding Ashley as a beggar, spiting her sister by giving her trash. Nothing happened to her when she ate the delectable food, but Ashley was sent to the hospital because of the food she gave. Madeline also claimed that she was too spoiled for doing everything possible to harm Ashley. Her father, Braxton Ross, agreed with his wife, saying that she was narrow–minded and imprudent.

Last night was hers and Ashley’s birthday. She made a cake herself and planned for the family to have a meal together. At the same time, she thought of seizing the opportunity to clear the air and solve any misunderstandings, if there were any. However, she waited for a long time, but her parents and siblings did not show up. Instead, all she saw was an Instagram post from Nathan, her younger brother, with the caption: “Happy birthday to my two sisters!”

In the photo, her parents and younger brother hugged Ashley, who was making her wish in front of a cake.

At that moment, Annabelle was brokenhearted. She used to take photos like that every year on her birthday but had become like an outsider that day. As an emotional person, she could not stand any grievances. Tears began to pool in her eyes, and naturally, she began to weep her eyes out.

After that, she boldly went to the bar to drown her sorrows away, crying as she drank. It was unknown how much alcohol she had drunk. When she was intoxicated, someone tugged at her arm and hit on her. She wanted to reject him but did not have the strength to push the person away. It was the good–looking man from before who drove that person away.

He also told her to go home quickly.

As soon as she heard the word “home,” she became depressed, for she no longer had one. While she was in a muddle, she hugged the man and sobbed.

Then, she followed the man wherever he went. He asked her if she was trying to flirt with him, to which she seemed to have nodded in response. The next thing she knew was that she had slept with him.