she'd been absent-minded, wondering how to approach her mother and what the woman would say on seeing her. She pulled her cardigan more clos

was wondering why she'd decided to run away from home in the first place. But if she

ha

ucination. Every moment with him, however short, had been right in place, save the moment he

hing the front door of her house, and her feet automatically halted. Her heart began to po

s no way to avoid the situation, she would have at least preferred to sleep through it and

ual form. The light at the front revealed her mother haggard and pale. Alethia felt a wave of emotion sweep over her, leaving her dry as well so that her eyes co

ook a single retreating step, but her mother was already wrapping her t

," she said, sobbin

lt. She made this happen, and

I'm sorry I ma

kay, baby. It's my faul

my fault. I w

ed her out to make sure she was okay, like a treasure that had been out of its shelter and back in its p

Alethia down on the couch and q

r mother came back with a steaming cu

cold, honey.

other, until her mother mad

ng to eat? Should I m

om. I'

side Alethia on the couch and c

ness! You

ogize to her mother, but Alethia wasn't even given a single chance to do so. And the more she got treated delicately, the more she felt the guilt

om's hands and adj

I'm

n, Emily couldn't

she searched for

elming. I wish your father was here. He would have known what to say…" she pa

all. Maybe there was no point reminiscing on her father's time with them and letting it hold them back from movin

n her face as she picked the beads of tears with her knuckles. They were both in

fferentiate her mother's Ethan from the Ethan she had earlier met, but it came out as such, and he

should leave

fish. You do deserve to be happy, and if this Et

ghter's approval of her new man, but given th

to make you feel t

rry I've been so laid off. You needed my help aro

ad we're here now, at this moment. At

and maybe because the man was not in the house yet. But she was ready to take the situation as it had

You don't know how

welcom

er which they both moved into Aleth

ong night so that she has more

*

tering and ready to make sail. As the air became more chilly, she wrapped her hands around her body and tried to make her environment. Somehow she felt like a stranger as if she'd just been thrown only to land whe

lethia found herself smiling more widely now, reminiscing on one of the many memories she had of her father. Maybe this particul

er these past few days was because her mother was always still head-bent on going to work while her father

e reckoned she'd rather leave the environment than die in the cold hands of the weather. But

it would take a magnificent kind of miracle to meet him again since she'd thought he was only her imagination. But there he was, staring into hi

anket?" He said and t

was smiling from the. movement at the side of his lips. She watched his neck and down to his broad

na bore a hole through my face

rit had been heightened to the point where she was starting to im

. Alethia cringed and held still. Her breath stopped in her throat, and her heart became heavy as she held onto the little inkling

xpecting so

sense of the sheer awareness of his presence, so her body was lost to numbness. She

. She could feel a jolt of electricity running through her spine as his hand moved further down to caress her cheek. T

t want to escape anyway. She wanted more of what he was doing to her body, arousing her carnal desire like she'd never felt before. There was something about this man that drove her nuts for reasoning

she'd earlier wished could get a room and save her the sight of them devouring each other outside were n

no escap

here, P

feet, she struggled to stand straight. Then she felt his hand on her back, thinki

you tremble

ming hot with pleasure and more desire. She looked into his eyes. He was smiling with those lips. Those darn beautiful lips that she could barely resist. Well, why the hell should she resist? He'd been the one to

rn