TWELFTH RULE

     His smirk widened and she took in a heavy breath but it was his musky scent that filled her nostrils and it made her want to sleep off. 

       "Because, you broke a rule," he said, still standing there and looking into her eyes. 

       Since she couldn't control her pounding heart, she could at least stop her breath from coming out in pants. 

      "What rule?" she asked, managing to keep her voice firm. 

       "Rule number twelve," he said, his voice raspy. His gaze intense on her. 

        "There was no twelfth rule." 

        "I made a twelfth rule. No late nights. Look what the time is." 

        "You can't be serious," she said and finally found the willpower to break away from that spellbound. "I live my life the way I want to and I come in whenever I want to." 

       "You kept me worried about you, if you are okay and you came back reeking of alcohol." 

      She smelt herself. Was she reeking? "I'm not reeking! By the way, who are you to tell me what to do? You're not my father!" 

       "I'm not your dad, but I'm humane, whether you like it or not, you are attached to me and I am kind of responsible for you and so are you." 

        "You don't know what you're talking about. Stay out of my business." 

      He moved back and raised his hands. "I'm already out of it. Now, that you're back, I can sleep peacefully without worrying about a break in. Goodnight." 

     With that, he moved towards his couch in the room, took up the duvet, laid down and covered himself with the duvet. 

       She stood there arms folded, looking at him furiously. After standing there for a while, she sighed and went into the bathroom to wash up. Once she was done she started climbing the bed. 

       "What? Ain't you turning off the lights?" he asked. 

       "I sleep with the lights on," she replied. 

        "No way, I can't sleep with the lights on." 

        "I can't sleep with the lights off either. Come on you slept with the lights on last night." 

       "Me? That was because I was already asleep when you got back here." 

       "Well, I'm sorry, you have to put up with this or move out of the room." 

       Ethan stared helplessly at her for a while. "Could you at least give me a pillow to shade my face from the light?" 

      She hesitated for a while, then tossed the pillow at him. He caught it mid air and laid back, blocking the light with it. 

      Ethan woke up to the soft sobs of someone. He removed the pillow from his face and looked around, the lights were still on and Faith was not in the room. He strained his ears and noticed that the sob was coming from the living room. He quickly stood up from the couch, and walked on tiptoes towards the living room. He saw her, crying and drinking. He wondered what was making her cry and wanted to go ask her, but he stopped himself, remembering that she had warned him to stay out of her business. He just stood there looking at her.