Waking up with a stranger in bed?

After an exceptionally long nap, Dahlia's eyes finally fluttered open.

She was still buried in the covers. She squirmed around in nonsensical delight feeling something like a sense of accomplishment.

Now that her mission was accomplished and she'd successfully won against the horrible salesgirl, she didn't mind being discovered anymore.

Having lost all sense of time from sleeping, she wondered what time it was.

Dahlia sat up and pulled back the sheets. She blinked to adjust to the low light as she examined her surroundings.

Hmmm? Strange, she thought to herself...am I still dreaming? This cannot be the clothes shop...

Sure enough her surroundings had drastically changed. The furniture has disappeared and so had all the brightness and coziness of the shop she remembered.

There could only be two possibilities: either she was still dreaming or she was awake and the bed had been moved somewhere.

Whack! Ouch!, she exclaimed.

Yes, the slap hurt so this was definitely reality.

In that case then... where was she?

She examined her surroundings again.

The light was dim coming from the edges of the thick blinds. It illuminated the room somewhat scantily but there was still enough detail to show that it was a bedroom.

A bedroom...? A bedrrrrrrr- ah? A bedroom??

Had the bed been sold? Had she been sold with it? All these thoughts rang through Dahlia's mind.

A masculine voice spoke first.

"Lincoln, where did you put my bed?"

"Sir, we had the one in your bedroom swapped out and put the new one there"

"Did you change the sheets?"

"Yes, Sir. I spread over some clean grey sheets"

"Well done. I don't trust the level of thoroughness in these shops"

"Don't worry, Sir. I have already checked everything"

"Alright then. You can leave. I'll take a shower then head down for supper"

"Yes, sir. Excuse me sir"

Dahlia pressed a hand to her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

This had to be a nightmare. Someone had bought the bed!

And he'd bought her with it.

Aaahhhhh what to do what to do...think think think Dahlia.

But an answer wouldn't come.

Dahlia cursed her luck as she lay in the bed.

The man took a shower and and went downstairs. By then, her stomach was already growling.

Driven to desperation by the dire situation, Dahlia successfully got out of the bed.

Her jaw dropped as she stood in the centre of the bedroom.

The room was big enough to fit their whole barn.

Themed with grey and navy blue tones, the room had an imposing but quiet vibe to its occupants. The walls were dark blue with heavy grey curtains covering the windows.

The floor carpet was a charcoal grey pattern. The furniture of no doubt top quality wood was dark blue and overlaid with gold leaf. There was a set of light blue sofas taking up some space in the side of the room with light grey coverings.

The walls were covered with dark themed art pieces. Above the bed was hung a picture of the most handsome man she'd ever seen. His hand was on his cuff and he seemed to be preoccupied with fastening it.

Dahlia subconsciously reached out a hand, how handsome. It would be amazing to have such a handsome boyfriend. She'd show him off to all her neighbours.

She wondered if he was an actor or just a model.

There was a dresser in the corner with a cushioned chair before it. On the dressing table were scattered masculine cosmetics in lots of expensive brands.

Dahlia could smell money in each and every item in the room.

But then it made sense. Someone who bought a bed for one million couldn't be just anyone.

Suddenly she heard steps and a vaguely familiar voice.

Oh, no he's back! What to do? Hide!

She jumped into the bed once more.

The door opened and closed

"I understand what you're saying. I made a promise to my mother. I'll keep it"

"..."

"No it's not necessary...okay fine. You can come and check on me first thing tomorrow morning."

"..."

"No, the date is in the afternoon. Fine. Whatever you say"

"..."

"The bed? Yeah, it's blending with my room quite well. I'll pick some nice curtains for the poster frame on Monday. No, not from your shop. You'll rip me off again"

"..."

"Yes. I'm going to sleep now. I'm covering my feet. Yes, it's comfortable. I'll just listen to a podcast before I sleep. Yeah yeah whatever, good night."

Dahlia pushed herself over to the opposite side of the bed and tried to be as out of his way as much as possible.

Arnold settled into his new bed. He admitted silently to himself that it was quite comfortable. He placed his phone on the bedside table and sank into thought about his date the next day.

He wondered how he'd treat the girl from Swish and Co. Most importantly how would she treat him.

He had no idea what to expect. He'd been through many blind dates. Girls who wanted to win his heart, girls who were standing in for someone, girls who had no interest in him, girls who wanted autographs for friends and even girls who wanted to sign a contract with his company on behalf of theirs.

He never told his mother though, for the sake of her friendships.

Arnold didn't know when he fell asleep. He flung his hands into the bed and drew the closest pillow to himself.

He hung onto it and fell into a comfortable sleep.

Dahlia waited for his soft breathing to confirm that he had fallen asleep.

She got ready to climb out of the bed and run away.

Suddenly a powerful pair of hands grabbed her and she was immediately crushed to a powerful chest.

Oh, no!

She'd been made into a human pillow.

Dahlia bit a lip to stop herself from screaming. Her precious body was being clutched like some bag of down. In any other situation she would have gotten angry but here she was in no position to call on her right seeing as she was no doubt trespassing.

Now she could only wait for him to turn over and let go of her.

Dahlia fell asleep while waiting.

*************

Arnold Mallory could not remember when he had last had such a good night's sleep. He sat up and spread his arms in a morning yawn.

A beam of morning light shone through the gap in the curtains. It was indeed a beautiful morning.

He lay back down and brought the sheets to his face, taking a deep breath of morning bliss.

He wondered if Roland would come early or be late.

He couldn't wait to tell him how well he'd slept.

He turned onto his side and yawned.

Hmmmm this bed has amazing powers... definitely worth a million. Should I just sleep all day today?

Arnold was about to close his eyes when something caught his eye. It was something dark and long- was that a strand of human hair.

He reached out a hand and grabbed it. Sure enough there was human hair in his bed. Lots of it. An entire head.

Heart pounding he began to wonder...was someone in his bed? He pulled back the covers and gasped at the sight infront of him.

There, in his bed was the loveliest face he'd ever seen. A beautiful woman lay there breathing softly, fast asleep.

An ethereal beauty... Arnold turned over his thoughts, could it be...

The 30-year old genius's mind went blank for a full minute and then an unpleasant thought came into his head.

Was this another attempt to set him up with women? Was Roland in on it too? Who could he trust now?

Dahlia opened her eyes slowly. She met Arnold's heated gaze that was a mixture of inexplicable emotions startling both of them.

Each with a scream they both scrambled out of the bed in a hurry successfully falling on the floor on either side of the bed.

Dahlia gathered the blanket to herself. She looked down at herself to check for any mishaps.

There were none.

Luckily she was still fullly dressed. .

"Who are you?" She asked groggily, assuming a defensive position and crossing her arms over her chest. "Where am I?"

"I should be asking that question. Who are you? What were you doing in my bed?"he crossed his arms over his chest. "Who sent you here? Was it my mom? Was it Aurora?"

His voice was colder than icicles. His gaze pierced through her heart. Suddenly Dahlia felt very unsafe.

She scrambled onto her feet.

"Uhh, listen brother this is all a misunderstanding. I think I walked into the wrong room or something. I'll just go now. Since nothing happened last night there's nothing to be responsible for... let's just part ways. Good day, Sir", with these words she attempted to walk out of the room.

Arnold blocked her path and held up a hand.

"Not so fast. You're not going anywhere until I get a satisfactory answer. How was it that you were in my bed? Are you one of those shameless women who just climb into a man's bed because he's rich enough and has pleasing visuals?"

Dahlia was enraged. She immediately forgot herself and her surroundings. Her eyes flashed daggers at the man infront of her and she hotly defended herself.

"Excuse me! What right do you have to give such accusations? In all my life- I have never been insulted or accused as such. I may be many other things but I'm not an escort!!!" She yelled at him.

"Oh, really? Then how do you explain yourself suddenly showing up in my bed?"

Dahlia cooled down and took a deep breath.

"About that it was truly my mistake. I-"

Downstairs the door bell rang.

"Hold that thought. Stay here, I think Sleeping beauty is here. Don't let him see you"

He hurried out of the room.

Dahlia blinked twice. She remembered what she'd heard from his call the previous night.

He had a date today.

Now she'd ruined it. She wondered if the other girl would beat her up or if she'd get angry and cancel the date...how would he treat her then?

Would he kill her quietly and dispose of her body?

Luckily she was still wearing the necklace her parents gave her. She touched her collarbone.

Oh, no, Where was it?

Dahlia went down on all four and began to search for her necklace.

It was unnecessary really since she hadn't been to any other parts of the room but she couldn't help herself.

She checked the bed but it was so vast she'd have to spread it afresh to look so she took down the sheets and made the bed.

Her necklace was not there.

Could she have left it at the furniture shop? Or the salon?

Now what could she do...there was no hope of her parents finding her. She'd have to depend on herself and escape.

She walked over to the window and gasped at what she saw.

This house had to be at least three floors up and surrounded by the most vast grounds she'd ever seen. For as far as she could see there was only greenery for yards around. The house seemed to be perched on a bit of high ground- maybe a small hill?

Two cars were parked in the driveway, a blue Maserati and a white Fortuner. The driveway snaked through the yard to the gate like a silver serpent in the vast green lawn.

There were landscaped shrubbery and flower rockeries strewn randomly about it the lawn.

The view was breathtaking.

Suddenly taken over by curiosity, she forgot what she'd been told and went out of the bedroom.

The rest of the house was a sharp contrast to the modern bedroom she'd been in.

It was all wood and gold overlay and inlay. Painting hung on the wall. Art pieces were on display in the corridor.

The wooden staircase wound down in a spiral to the last floor. It turned out the owner's bedroom was on the third floor.

Her mouth dropped in wonder as she looked around. Was this the lavish lifestyle of rich people?

She reached the last floor.

Three maids in smart uniform passed by her and recognising her as a guest, curtsied before continuing on their way in a neat single file.

The staircase led her to the dining room which opened up on either sides to the living room and the kitchen.

She heard voices floating from the living room and decided to heard there.

The dining room set was an exquisite antique set of dining table and chairs belonging only in a palace.

Music instruments were in a cupboard in corner. She wondered if he played them all himself and sighed. How nice it must be to be both talented and handsome.

She stood in the archway to the living room and caught sight of the owners of the voices she'd heard.

There were two men sitting on the sofa one of whom was the owner of the house. He seemed to be livid with anger as he spoke. The other one seemed not at all daunted. These two were no doubt, best friends.

There was no sign of the girlfriend anywhere. Dahlia wondered if she was the one banging pots in the kitchen.

She could hear a bit of their conversation from where she stood.

"You would throw our friendship of thirty years out the window for a girl?" the friend was saying

"Excuse me,it's only been fifteen years and it's not 'for' but 'because of' a girl"

"Well even though it's half our lives it feels like a lifetime to me"

"Well, I'm comfortable enough to say that your sentiments are not requited!"

"Arnold Mallory you've gone too far!"

"Well, Roland Smith it's about time someone got you into hand"

Roland was about to burst into tears.

"I swear, it had nothing to do with me, okay. I know you better than anyone, I'd never do that"

"Them what was all the talk about a comfort goddess and whatever else?"

"It's just a rumor but...eh? I'm more concerned about how you slept last night" Roland who had bowed his head in a weepy gesture straightened up and looked at his friend with a sly smile.

Arnold placed his hands on his hips.

"Alright, I'll admit it. I slept pretty well last night. It was so warm and comfortable. I haven't felt so cozy in years."

"See, I told you it works!"

"All was well until I saw her face this morning...uh, Roland? Are you listening?"

Roland was standing up slowly. He'd caught sight of something.

"I...is that her?"

"What?" Arnold turned his head and fair enough there stood the girl he'd found in his bed ,"Yeah "

Roland rushed to her.

"Are you the beauty my brother spent the night with?"