ElijahAs Elijah sat quietly, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in the side of his stomach. He looked over at Charlotte, who was staring blankly at his abdomen.

"What are you doing, and why are you moving around so much?" he asked.

Charlotte held up the money she was trying to count.

"I told you to focus on that later. Why are you so restless?"

"I have nothing else to do, so I started counting the money, and I've finished eating."

"Aren't you ashamed of what you're doing? You look like you're counting money."

Charlotte stopped what she was doing and turned to face him, wearing a serious expression on her face. "I'm starting this now because I have classes tomorrow," she explained.

"But you had time the other day," he pointed out.

"I have somewhere to go that day," Charlotte replied.

He raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

"Just to see a friend," Charlotte reassured him.

"Are you sure?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes," Charlotte replied, ignoring his doubts and continuing to separate the money.

As time passed, both Elijah's and Charlotte's families were ready to leave. It was getting late, so they needed to go home.

They were now standing in front of the door, ready to leave.

"We're leaving now; be happy together," his mother said. She looked at Charlotte and continued, "And you, Charlotte, take care of your husband, look after him, and cook for him."

He looked at Charlotte's face and noticed that she slightly frowned. He sighed at her reaction, but his mother didn't seem to notice.

"Take care on the way home, Mom."

"Alright, then we'll leave you." She smiled at both of them before getting into the car. Charlotte's family waved at them before leaving.

They remained at the door, looking outside.

"What are we going to do?" Charlotte asked.

He walked back into the house. "Get dressed, and if you want, clean up all the mess inside. You can also wash the dishes."

"Huh? Isn't this supposed to be catering?"

"No."

He glanced back and noticed Charlotte staring at the table and the dishes there. He raised an eyebrow as she walked towards them.

“Go upstairs and get changed. There’s a maid who will clean up,” he said.

Charlotte appeared hesitant. “Should I? What if I change my mind and ask you to do the laundry on the tablecloth?”

Without a second thought, he immediately walked towards the stairs, passing by Charlotte.

Their house had three bedrooms on the second floor, one for him and the other two were empty.

He entered one of the rooms and Charlotte followed him.

“Is this my room?” she asked.

“No, this is our room,” he replied.

Her eyes widened as she looked around the room.

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

"I'd rather sleep in the other room. Anyway, we don't like each other," she said.

He looked at her and asked, "Are you sure you don't want to stay here?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Okay, follow me," he said and led her to the other room.

"This room is for you. Do you like it?" he asked.

She peeked inside the room and noticed that it was empty. "Why is it empty?" she asked.

"No one uses it, so there's nothing in it, not even a cabinet," he explained.

"What about the other room?" she asked.

"Didn't you hear? Only one room is furnished, so the third room remains empty as well," he said, avoiding eye contact.

She rolled her eyes and walked inside the room, standing in the middle.

"Come on, let's go to our room, and you can change there," he said.

“I think I'll sleep here," she said.

He frowned. "Didn't you see? We entered here first. Use your eyes sometimes so you don't ask too many questions."

"Are questions not allowed now?"

"Yes, especially since you know the answers. Just follow me."

When they entered his room, he took off his barong and ended up wearing just a T-shirt. Charlotte looked around for her suitcase.

"Where's my suitcase?" she asked.

"Suitcase?"

"Yes, all my clothes are in there."

"No one brought a suitcase down here."

Her eyes widened before she left the room in a hurry. After a few minutes, she returned.

"My brother didn't bring my suitcase down from the car."

He looked at his cabinet. "If you want, you can use my clothes first."

"No, I'll just stay like this. I won't change anymore."

He shook his head. "No, you're sweating, and your clothes have absorbed the smoke. I don't want you to sleep on my bed wearing that."

"You're so picky."

"You're not the one who does the laundry, so don't be picky."

Annoyed, she slammed what she was holding on the small table beside the bed. "Where are the clothes you're talking about? Now!"

"Are you raising your voice at me?"

"It's obvious. Why are you still asking? If you don't want me to get dirty, then I'll sleep in the other room, even if it's just on the floor!"

"Can you? Go ahead; nothing's stopping you."

She clenched her fists before turning away from him and leaving the room. She closed the door loudly, causing him to squint.

He thought to himself that she was stubborn. He stepped out of the room to follow her to the other side, but she was nowhere to be found. He went downstairs and searched there.

"Cara, where's your madam?" he asked.

"Your wife?" Cara replied.

"Yes. Did you see her downstairs?"

"She's in the kitchen."

"Alright. Thanks."

He went to the kitchen and saw Charlotte rummaging through pots. "What are you doing?" he asked.

She dropped the lid of the pot she was holding, making a loud noise. "Charlotte!" he called out.

She took some rice and the leftover dish from earlier, sat down, and started eating.

"Can you hear me?"

She just continued eating without looking at him. Irritated, he left the kitchen and went back to his room, locking the door behind him. He thought to himself that Charlotte was headstrong as well, sticking to her decision. He wondered how long she could endure sleeping on the cold floor. He took a shower, then sat in front of the table to read some papers. He grabbed his eyeglasses before starting.

After Elistaring at what he was reading for a long time, he blinked multiple times. He glanced at the clock, which was already eleven at night, but he didn't hear anyone trying to open the door. He put down the papers he was holding, as well as his eyeglasses, and stepped out of the room. It was obvious to him that his household staff were already asleep in the house, and the downstairs appeared clean when he peeked.

He went to the adjacent room, slowly opening it and peeking inside, but Charlotte wasn't there, nor was she in the third room.

Where could she have gone again?

He descended the stairs and checked the entire house, but Charlotte was nowhere to be found. He was about to go to the servants' quarters to see if she was there, but he refrained, not wanting to disturb them. Now he stood in the middle of the living room, contemplating, but when his gaze drifted to the row of car keys, one was missing.

He approached and looked at the keys. Would Charlotte be capable of driving? It didn't seem likely, based on what he saw whenever she came home, just commuting, so he randomly grabbed a key and hurriedly went outside, but he paused in his steps because the car that was missing the key was still parked inside the yard.

He slowly approached the car with a frown on his face. He inspected the front of the car; the engine was running. He quickly stepped closer and tried to peer inside to see Charlotte, but was unable to do so because of the tinted windows and the lack of visibility inside. He tried to open the door, but it was locked.

What could this woman be thinking of locking the door while she was inside his yard?

He attempted to awaken Charlotte by knocking on the window, but she remained asleep like a log. She didn't even flinch when he knocked on the window. He believed that Charlotte's presence would make his quiet world chaotic.

Charlotte couldn't stay inside the car because even with the engine running and the air conditioning on, there was still a risk of the car stalling, especially if it ran out of gas. She might have even set the air conditioning to a high level, which would consume more gas.

He left the car and went back inside the house to retrieve the duplicate keys for his car, which he remembered now because he hadn't lost the original keys of his car yet since he was meticulous. He had duplicates made just in case they got lost, and he kept them in a drawer for easy access whenever he needed them in a hurry.

He opened the drawer containing all the duplicate keys for his cars, obtained the key for the car where Charlotte was, and returned outside.

He quickly unlocked the car door and opened it. Charlotte was fast asleep, not even waking up from the noise he made earlier when knocking on the window. He had intended to wake her up, but his hand clenched into a fist, irritated, as he opened the driver's side door to turn off the engine. He would just carry Charlotte back into the house.

As he entered the car again, he struggled to lift Charlotte, so he simply grabbed her hands to make her sit up and lifted her from there.

Instead of sleeping at this hour, he went looking for the missing woman.

He laid her down on the bed to make her comfortable, but Charlotte insisted on not changing her clothes. He just shook his head as he tucked her in. He would change the sheets and pillowcases tomorrow.

He yawned, then lay down on the other side of the bed. He was slowly closing his eyes when he suddenly felt something pressing on his stomach. Irritated, he removed it and looked at Charlotte with annoyance. He wanted to wake her up, but he felt sorry for her, so he just placed a pillow between them when she couldn't move closer.

He yawned yet again, feeling very sleepy, so he closed his eyes and finally drifted off to sleep.

Elijah was awakened by a scream at four in the morning.

He stood up but clung to the bed due to the room's sudden spinning. After everything was back to normal, he gazed at Charlotte, who was still asleep.

Did Charlotte let out a scream? Was there someone else?

He headed toward Charlotte's side, but she was still asleep. He was about to leave, but she screamed again. He quickly looked at her face, but she was still sleeping with her eyes closed. Charlotte appeared to be having a frightening dream.

He went back to bed and tried to sleep again; he had two more hours to rest. His head would hurt if he didn't sleep again. But it seemed like he wouldn't be able to because Charlotte was now thrashing around on the bed.

"Char, wake up!" He shook her body, but she continued to thrash around as if possessed by some entity. "Wake up... hey... Charlotte!"

Her soul seemed to separate from her body when he shook it, but she did not wake up. She may be having a nightmare.

"Hey!!"

He noticed tears streaming down her cheeks, so he continued what he was doing, but he had no choice, he gave Charlotte a strong slap, which immediately woke her up, and looked at him as if frightened, moving away from him.

"I'm sorry. You wouldn't wake up." She breathed quickly, looking like she had a terrifying dream. "Are you okay now?"

"Why... am I here?" She looked around the room.

"I took you from inside the car."

He was about to approach Charlotte, but she raised a hand. "Don't come near me!"

He sighed and arose; he was unable to sleep anymore, so he wouldn't go back to bed.

"Just continue sleeping, sorry for what I did, I just woke you up, that's why I slapped you."

She took the blanket and wrapped it around herself, seeming to know what she had dreamed about.

"I'll go out now; you go back to sleep."

He turned away and left the room, not walking right away after closing the door. He also heard Charlotte crying inside the room. If she remembered what he did, what would be the consequence for them?

To make sure, he would just buy things for Charlotte's room. It seemed like they couldn't sleep side by side or together in one room because he didn't know what was going on in Charlotte's mind. She might even get sick every time they were together in one place that wasn't spacious. He left the front door and went downstairs for coffee, but his head was already hurting because of lack of sleep.

Charlotte stayed in Elijah's room after he left. She had a terrifying dream where Elijah's actions replayed in her room. It felt like she was back in her room while Elijah was doing something. She was even more scared when she woke up in the position he had left her in earlier while trying to wake her up. Perhaps it was because she was lying next to Elijah and she didn't realize that he had already carried her into the house and placed her inside the car. She glanced at the clock, it was already six in the morning.

She stood up and looked at what she was wearing. She hadn't changed clothes, so she wondered why she was still lying in Elijah's bed, especially since he didn't like dirt or changing clothes.

Surely, the bedsheet, blanket, and pillowcases would be changed later.

She went to the bathroom to look for an unused toothbrush. She opened the cabinet above and found one. She took it out of the plastic wrapping brushed her teeth and washed her face. Then she went out with a wet face. She couldn't find a towel inside. Didn't Elijah wash his face? Why wasn't there even a tissue?

She went out with her face still wet, thinking it would dry eventually, so why bother looking for a towel?

She went downstairs to the kitchen to make coffee. She paused at the door when she saw Elijah looking at his phone. He glanced at her briefly, then returned his gaze to his phone screen.

She quietly went inside while he was still busy. She even tried to mix the coffee quietly, although it was difficult. She paused. Why was she doing this? Whatever, if Elijah gets annoyed by the sound of a spoon, it'll take a long time.

"You're taking too long to mix your coffee. Is that a whole pitcher? No wonder you're having a hard time mixing it."

She glanced at Elijah, but he wasn't looking at her, he suddenly turned to see what she was doing.

"It's already cold from stirring so much, drink it while it's still hot."

Elijah said so much, but she was the one drinking the coffee, even if it was already cold.

When she finished, she put the spoon she used in the sink and sat opposite Elijah, with a narrow table between them.

"You're leaving now, right?" She nodded. "What time will you be back?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know."

"Give me the exact time you'll be back because I need to go to my company, I have something to check there."

"I don't know."

"You should be back before 5 pm if you don't want to give a time."

She turned her head, her face wrinkled. "I'll be back, even if I don't give a time."

He looked into her eyes. "You don't know what could happen outside, Charlotte. You can't come home late."

"I always come home late even before we got married, at my mom's house."

"In my house, if you're not coming from school, you can't come home late."

"What if my friends and I have plans and it gets late?"

He leaned back in his chair. "I'll pick you up, but don't come home with your friends."

"Why?!" She asked, annoyed.

"Are all your friends female?"

She shook her head. "There are guys too."

"So, just follow what I want so we don't argue. So we can treat each other nicely."

"You're not forbidding me from what I want, are you?"

"As long as you're okay with it and you'll follow what I want, you can do what you want. But just don't come home late, and if you do, I'll just pick you up. But if you're afraid of people finding out you're already married, just tell them that I'm your brother's friend and Christian is busy, so I'm the one picking you up."

She stared at Elijah as he spoke while looking at the screen of his phone. If nothing bad happened, Elijah would be okay to be a friend or even a brother, given their age gap. She was eighteen, while Elijah was 27 years old, the same age as her brother.

She lowered her gaze to his lips, they were red as if he had lip balm with color on them. Her eyes squinted.

"Do you like using lip tint?"

He looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Like... lip balm, lipstick... stuff like that." She said while moving her hands and raising her eyebrows slightly.

She saw his eyes widen. "Are you saying I'm using women's products on my lips?"

"W-Well, I just noticed?"

"Tsk... My lips are naturally red. Why, are yours dark that's why you're admiring mine?"

Her eyes widened, while her mouth hung open. "Hey! My lips aren't dark!"

He stared at her lips for a long time, so she covered them with her hand to remove his gaze from her lips, it was taking too long.

"Okay, it's fine, but because you're drinking coffee, that's why they're not very red."

"You're also drinking coffee."

"I don't know, but maybe even if I drink it, they won't darken."

It's unfair, if you think about it, Elijah's lips are prettier than hers.

He took her half-filled cup of coffee. "You have creamer in your coffee." He drank from her cup, paused, and looked at her.

"Why?"

"The taste of your blend is familiar."

"Huh?"

"Do you prepare it every time the maids give us coffee in your parent's house?"

She nodded. "Yes, it's me, the maids just serve it to you."

"You have a future in coffee blending, the taste never changes no matter how many times you brew it, it's always the same."

"I've estimated the amount to use, that's why."

"You're studying engineering, right?"

"Yes."

"This one's probably cold now, here."

He stared at the cup for a long time, then drank it all and left nothing behind when he placed it in front of her.

She didn't react and just looked at Elijah.

"Sorry, I finished it. My saliva might be in there, maybe you don't want that, it would be a waste if you just throw it away."

"N-No... I'll still drink it even if you drink from the cup."

His eyebrows raised. "Really? Just make a new one if you still want coffee."

"No need, maybe later."

He stood up. "Do you want to come with me? I'll drop you off at your friend's."

"I'll just commute."

"Okay, please just wash my cup, include it with the cups and spoons you'll wash, so the maids won't have to do it." He left while she looked at his cup, Elijah didn't make that cup earlier. Her cup was empty when she arrived in the kitchen.

She stood up and took the two cups to wash, she didn't have clothes either. She might just borrow something from Elijah that fits her.