Dreaming... of him?

Cree silently paced about the mansion, recalling her visage before tucking her under the covers. His heart was still pounding, and pacing would help. She had appeared indignant, but her face was red like beetroot, and desire had been evident from how she had gazed at him. Unfortunately, she probably didn't have the control over she was thinking at that time, under the influence of alcohol. She had pulled on the sleeve of his tee in her intoxication. However, he hadn't wanted to take advantage of her vulnerability at that moment.

If she helped him in his problems with the Yes, she would also be his benefactor. He might be cold and distant with people who didn't know him out there, but this woman had struck a sensitive spot in his heart and had caught his attention with merely a few gestures. She was feisty, attractive, and simple-minded but had her flavour. Moreover, she wasn't like the women who had thrown themselves at him. Despite being reduced to having to implore him to consent to her interview, she hadn't gone all the way to do anything to appease him. She had maintained what she could of her dignity. But what made him admire her had been how she spoke her mind and was straightforward about what she wanted. Cree hated liars with a passion and had she continued to pretend to be someone else and not revealed her plan, and he probably would not have let her off.

He entered the bathroom and doused the heat emitting from his body with intensely cold water from the shower to calm himself, and then contemplated how he should surprise her in the morning.

...................

Qiao Ruo was strolling among a zigzagged path with a combination of pink and red rose bushes. She deeply loved roses but had yet to receive a bouquet in her life. In her dream, she picked one of the roses and pricked her finger on a thorn. She pictured blood gushing out of her finger like a waterfall. All of a sudden, a man materialised out of nowhere. To her surprise, he eased the bleeding immediately by taking her finger in her mouth and sucking on it vigorously!

Eventually, the man stopped sucking on her finger and gazed into her eyes, and she fell backwards in a bewildered state upon realising, it was Cree!

BANG! She had fallen from the bed due to her shock from the dream and hit her head on the hard and cold tiled floor of Cree's guest room. Who could she ever blame but Cree, she gritted her teeth and grudgingly pulled herself up from the floor. But why had she dreamt of Cree, of all people? Did she have something for him?

It was such a weird dream, to dream of your favourite flower and then pricking yourself, she thought in a half-awakened state. But she still wanted to see Cree in her dream a bit longer. Did she intend for him to suck her finger in real life? She blushed and was about to return to sleep when she heard knocking on the door.

Was it morning already? She peered down at her smartphone on the bedside table and tapped it to unlock the screen. It was already nine in the morning! Hastily she got to her feet and opened the door.

Cree smiled broadly to see Qiao Ruo with her hair ruffled standing behind the door.

"Breakfast is ready, sleepyhead."

She smirked, and then he handed her a face towel, accompanied by a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush. "Here, go get cleaned up."

She took a typical twenty-minute interval to get herself ready for breakfast. In between bites of her food, she watched Cree slowly spoon food into his mouth with etiquette and began visualising the man sucking on her finger again.

Cree took his final bite and smugly told her, "Xiaoruo, it's rude to stare when someone is eating. I can't imagine how I have to tell a grown woman this." He utilised his classic Cree icy tone, which unfortunately was turning her on. "Sometimes, you never cease to amaze me with your...uniqueness." She didn't appreciate how sarcastic he was.

She snarled at him. "Don't use the cold attitude on me, Cree Ye."

"Oh, what can you do? Turn me into a frog with your magic?" he teased coldly.

She finished the rest of her food and walked away from the table, poutingly staring out of the window at the park below Cree's floor. It all seemed so attractive right now, mostly when she was mad at Cree for his sarcasm and coldness earlier.

He surprised her with a hug from behind, brushing his cheek against hers amorously. His body was warm against hers, but she unyieldingly refused to budge. "Ah, someone is as hard as a rock today," he teased.

"Take back your words earlier, Cree."

"What did I say? Ah, you meant the part about staring when someone is eating."

Qiao Ruo remained silent, embarrassed that if she said a word, it would mean that she acknowledged she was staring at him when he was eating.

He spun her around smoothly and coaxed her eyes to look into his. "Xiaoruo, you know... if you want to convince my mother, you need to know how to act."

She gulped and responded in surprise, "Are you proposing something?"

"Let's practise," he said and held her small face closer to his. She closed her eyes and felt his lips gently touch her, and without hesitation, she allowed his tongue to enter her mouth. The kiss turned out a lot longer than she had expected. Even the longest of their kisses, which happened in her office, had not felt as never-ending as this. From standing at the window, he carried her with ease to continue their practice on the sofa and then gradually landing on the soft rug on the floor of the cinema room.

He chuckled upon seeing her face flushed and poked her on the cheek. "You're blushing."

"I'm not," she argued. "It's hot."

"Do you mean, you're hot?" he played back at her. She realised she was sitting atop him and struggled to get up, but then he flipped her to end on top of her.

"You're hot," he taunted, and pulled on her hair band to release all her hair, and noted how she looked even more tempting this way. His heart raced, and he indulged in a wild kiss on her lips, which she gladly returned with passion.

Practice makes perfect, she reminded herself, but recalling the dream she had last night, she was unsure if it was just a practice to her.

She sensed her body burning like coals as he kissed her senselessly. In her embarrassment, she attempted to break the kiss, but his lips latched on even more tightly to hers and rendered her efforts futile. She was gradually succumbing to the intensity of their kissing, and again, she felt fearful that something inappropriate was about to happen between them. She signalled to Cree, but he playfully ignored her and explored her limits further by stroking her collarbone sensually.

She closed her eyes and braced herself, but to her surprise, his teasing came to an end, and he just kissed her on her forehead.

"That... is enough practice for today."

She caught her breath, and staring at him intensely, interrogated him, "Have you ever kissed a girl before this?"

"No, you were my first kiss," he answered truthfully.

"You seem to know what you were doing."

"There are lots of ways to learn to kiss, or to learn how to pursue a woman," he declared.

"Are you...pursuing me?"

"You're already my woman," he said.

"Then what are the limits between us?" she asked. She knew that if Cree continued to kiss her like how he had earlier, she might not be able to handle it in the long term. This fact was mainly due to her sensitivity to his kisses and how she realised it was now different between them after she had almost lost self-control earlier.

"You set the limits, Xiaoruo. I'm giving you the chance to take the reins in our relationship."

Relationship? It wasn't right, was it? But why had her heart fluttered when she heard him pronounce the word relationship?

"You meant our mock relationship, Cree," she said, tempestuously crossing her arms across her chest in defence.

"It all depends on what you want us to be, Xiaoruo," he said with a seductive smile.

What did she want them to be? She asked herself. She was twenty-one while he was twenty-six, and even if he wished for her to be his, considering if he even did at all, she was still young and had a long way to go in her life before she was ready to start pursuing a romance. And given her aunt's schemes, it might probably not end up well.

She didn't know what she wanted at all, but every time he kissed her, she felt over the moon. She was smart, and she didn't want to dive headlong into something that didn't seem realistic. Yet, she wanted to continue their amorous actions, while masquerading as his mock girlfriend. And so she responded with a confident voice, "I love how things are like right now. I don't want anything to change."

Qiao Ruo didn't see Cree's disappointment in his eyes as he turned in the opposite direction towards the door. He didn't know where he had gone wrong, and why she didn't like him. He had thought that earlier, she was staring at him in admiration and that she had kissed him due to their mutual attraction to each other, but perhaps he was wrong. He had always figured that they had a connection, and what she said proved otherwise.

It hurt, but perhaps with time, she would eventually like him. He had to hold on for her.