I woke up feeling so chilly, unlike my normal temperature. I don't know where I am right now, but all I could see was a white ceiling, and when I moved sideways, I saw a floor-to-ceiling window that was opened enough to let the light touch my face. I tried to get up from lying on the bed, but all I felt was pain all over my body. I tried to remember what happened, and as I recall everything, I heard the door open and let out Cooper, who was half naked with a towel wrapped around his lower body.
When he saw me, he immediately walked towards me and asked.
"Are you feeling well now?" He asked with so much concern in his voice.
"A bit," I answered shortly.
"You should rest for a while now; I've told the university that you'll be away for about two weeks time after the incident," he said as he stood up again to go to another room, which I suspect was the walk-in closet.
"How long did it take for me to wake up?" I asked him.
"It's been two days now," he said as he got out wearing pajama pants and a white shirt that hugged his body.
"How did it manage to stop them?" I asked worriedly.
I think about the people in the venue when it happened. I know a lot of people died, and even innocent ones got somehow affected by what happened. It should've been stopped by me, but it turns out that someone used Mathilda as a bait to get me distracted that night out of anger toward her.
Of course, I'll get mad about it.
She ruined my entire reception.
"What happened was all over the news that night, and there's even a lot of media who covered the whole story about whatever happened that night; luckily, she got caught, and now she's handed over to the authorities, but it turns out that one of the police who caught her was one of them, so she's been free up until now," Copper explained while he's setting up the table for the two of us on my side of the bed.
I smell eggs, bacon, fried chicken, and even pancakes. I also smelled the salted air from outside, and when I stood up to come near the window, I gasped softly as I saw the white beach in front of us.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"We're in the Maldives," he said as he finished preparing the food for us.
"When did we get here?" I asked, before I got back to bed, to sit beside him. I'm still in pain, but I can manage it this time.
"I told my father that night to get you treated as soon as possible, and when they finished up, I told some of my staff to get the private plane ready for us. I just want you to get away from the place for now," he explained while he cut the pancake and offered it to me.
I just eat for a moment before I get to talk to him again. I don't want to stress myself, but I just wanted to ask a few more questions.
"Will we be safe when we get back?" I asked.
"Not anymore; you're right about what you told me that day. It's also my fault that we're here too. I just want you to hide from them right now; I don't want them to know where you are. Only the closest family members, or ours, know where we are, and I'll just let them know when we'll be going back," he said as he looked at me intently.
I lowered my head and realized that this will never happen if we don't get ourselves into that shitty arranged marriage. I don't even know why he would think of that knowing that I always express to myself that I will never marry unless it's the only thing that could make me alive in this fucking world.
As I noticed, he's quite talkative now, unlike what I remembered from the day of our wedding. He only spoke to me a few times that day, and now I can't even get to know why he's acting this way all of a sudden.
I just looked at him for a while, and when he sensed that I was looking at him, he asked.
"Do you need anything?"
I shook my head and just ate for a while. I shifted my gaze and just watched the beach from our view. I've suddenly got an idea. Since we're already here, we might as well take this opportunity to have fun. After eating the pancakes he gave me, I pulled his shirt to get his attention. He instantly looked at me, so I asked.
"Can we still go outside, right?" I asked, and he nodded about it.
"Then can we go to the beach?" I asked again, but this time in an excited tone of voice.
He first looked at the injury I have, so I quickly defended myself.
"I can manage now, and besides, I'll be wearing a rash guard just to cover up the bandage," I said just to assure him. He still looked so unsure if he would agree to my idea, but I insisted again.
"Please?" I said it was the last option.
He then sighed and pulled me first for a quick hug and even touched my nape to reach for my forehead, which he kissed.
"We can do that while we stay here," he said, agreeing to my idea.
I immediately get out of bed, even though my back is still aching from the gunshot I had. Gosh, I could say that I have battle scars now, I guess?
As I roamed and found something for myself to wear, I found a long-sleeve rash guard paired with a black bikini for the bottom. I wore it, and it just fit perfectly for me. I tied my hair in a ponytail, and when I got out, Cooper was already wearing a black knee-length beach short with a white polo that was open, revealing his whole naked top in front of everybody. When he saw what I was wearing, he immediately asked.
"You said you'd wear a rash guard?" He asked.
"I did," I said as I pointed at the fitted cropped rash guard.
"And for your bottom?" He asked as he looked at it.
"It'll fit me fine, and people wouldn't even care about what I wear outside anyway, so, shall we?" I said, and he just sighed.
He held my hand as he picked up a picnic basket that I hadn't noticed earlier. We got out of our room just when the sun was up, and it doesn't even hurt my skin. I just realized when we got out that it's a two-story house where we are staying. Cooper told me that it was a vacation house for their group whenever they wanted to come here. As someone who recognizes Cooper, I can say that he's been here a lot of times.
By the way, my phone was being destroyed as it became the GPS that night for us. For now, I'll be using Cooper's phone instead since he didn't have to chance to buy one for me since he's already having a hard time waiting for me to wake up.
We arrived at the beach using a golf cart that most of the people used around here. There are a lot of houses around, and I'm pretty sure, by the way some of the locals move here, some of them are like Cooper.
There's a row of couches where you can rest under the row of umbrellas just meters away from the seashore. I'm enjoying the view and taking pictures of it, while Cooper, on the other hand, remains calm as he rests on one of the sun loungers. He's currently reading a book, so to distract him, I sat beside him, and when I saw sunblock in the basket he brought, I gave him the bottle of it.
"What do you want now?" He asked.
"Put sunblock on my legs," I ordered him, and he just looked at me for a minute before he opened the bottle. I immediately put up my legs in front of him.
He took off his sunglasses as he squeezed the bottle. He put a large amount on and spread it on my legs as he slightly massaged them. I'm taking pictures of him and the scenery right in front of us, but I almost gasped when I felt his hand almost close down there.
He almost touched it, and I saw how he smirked upon seeing my reaction.
"Why would you do that?" I asked almost angrily.
"Don't test me; I can do things you'll never imagine right here, right now," he said as a warning before he got my other leg and applied another set of sunscreen.
When he was finished, he put it down and got back to his reading.
I rolled my eyes when I felt my cheeks already turning red when he did that. I think he's not supposed to do that to me, but when he saw the opportunity to tease, he did it anyway.
I stood up to look for something good to look at because I can never go deep into the sea right now since I'm still healing the wounds I got from my own wedding reception. I think it will be funny to tell other people if they ask me where and when I got this. It's just so ironic to even think that I've got it on that day that I'm supposed to be so happy and so alive.
Gosh, it's so irritating to even think about it.
Fuck that, Mathilda. I'll get back to her once I've healed the wound she gave me.
My lips suddenly felt dry. I looked inside the picnic basket that Cooper brought. There's a packed lunch for us that I think he ordered somewhere earlier—some chips and even sandwiches. When I saw a bottle of juice, I tried to tease him for it.
"It seems like you're trying to be good husband material now," I said as I took a sip from the bottle.
"I plan to be like one," he said while still reading his book about business.
"If you're planning to be like one, then start entertaining your wife for now instead of reading that boring book," I said as I sat down beside him again.
"What do you want then?" He asked without even looking at me.
Just to get him looking at me, I said the most ridiculous thing I could have said to someone.
"I don't know, maybe sex?" I said it with a lot of nervousness coming from my whole body.
He put his book down and sat up properly. He looked at me like he never expected that word to come out of my mouth.
"Come again?" he asked.
I just rolled my eyes and ignored him for a while. You see, I really like the chase when he's getting curious, and I'm the one who's trying to make him feel so needy about something. I smirked upon thinking about it.
"Don't ever say that again," he said as he continued to read again.
But since my stubbornness never really tries to leave my whole body, I sat closer to him, and he just lost it when I eventually sat on his lap. He stopped reading and guided my waist as he got cautious, wondering if I might fall because of his sudden movement too.
"What the hell were you thinking?" He almost groaned.
I didn't respond to him, and I even got the book that he was reading a while ago. I feel like I won this time as he finally massaged the bridge of his nose and rested his head on the lounge, but that was just bait. He suddenly pulled me closer, to the point where I could almost feel his manhood. He grabbed my waist even closer, and that made me get close to his face too. He slowly caressed both sides of my thigh, and I even felt a sensitive feeling down there.
"Don't test me," he warned as he kissed my neck and eventually left me hanging as he rested his head on the lounger.
Just what the hell was that?