Inside Cassidy’s head at that very moment, she thought that Adrian was probably Sonic the Hedgehog in his previous life.

She knew for sure that he was still a few good steps away from her when she looked back earlier. Yet before she knew it, he was already towering over her from behind, which threw her completely off guard.

​​

“Y-You…” Cassidy breathed out as she got embraced from the back, recoiling in chagrin at their intimate contact.

“You freaking cheater! That’s not fair!”

“It’s unfair that I was born with longer legs than yours?” Adrian retorted with a teasing smirk before pulling her closer to his chest. 

“No! The way you sped up your counting, you idiot!”

“I don’t remember laying out a rule on how exactly I should count.”

“Well then, I also don’t remember agreeing to this deal of yours. So, I’m going!”

“The moment you ran you already did.”

“But it’s you who made me!” 

“Doesn’t change the fact that you ran.”

“Ughhhh…!!!”

Despite her will, Adrian only continues to lock Cassidy in his arms. He tightens his grip just a bit as soon as she starts squirming around to break free. But then, it ends up to be just tight enough to make her want to throw up again.

She leans forward and makes a gurgling noise for a second, but nothing comes out. Instead, she only feels a little more lightheaded and abruptly staggers. 

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” Adrian apologized frantically before loosening his grasp around her middle. 

However, that turns out to be a wrong move.

Cassidy almost lurches to the side the moment Adrian tries to release her. Before she does so, though, he hastily catches her and encloses her in his arms once more. She then leans back against his chest in return, heaving a sigh in exhaustion at the same time. 

“Seriously, now… You’re really going to bed,” Adrian sternly muttered as he picked her up and carried her bridal-style, intently peering down at her all the while. 

Cassidy decided not to fight back anymore as she already felt herself draining out of energy at this point. She thought for certain that she’s still sober, but it seemed like that only lasted for a brief moment. With that, she just shuts her eyes closed and lets him carry her limp body.

“Hey, bossman…” she called out to him weakly.

“What kind of good demon is possessing you this time?”

“Huh?” he blurted out in surprise and confusion.

“You should have just let me be. Knowing you, you would’ve been extremely miffed at this point. Just what got you doing this even after I puked on your shirt?”

“Seemed like you weren’t actually listening to me when I was talking earlier.”

“You said something?”

“Nevermind.”

At the last minute, Adrian abandoned the idea of taking Cassidy back to her bedroom again. Instead, he went to the sofa in the living room and gently laid her down there. There’s more space to breathe and a cooler temperature down here, which may help her settle down more comfortably.

“Want some water…?” he offered to which she simply nodded her head in reply. 

“You promise you won’t leave the living room?” he then added while she just nodded again. 

With a soft smile gracing his features, Adrian takes a moment to reach out for her head and pat it gently before eventually standing up. Cassidy only watches him head towards the kitchen with a blank expression on her face, not really understanding what’s with that uncalled-for gesture of his.

“The heck was that? Do I look like a pet to you…?” she grimaced silently before casting down her gaze.

“Perhaps, I was so pitiful earlier in the rain that I managed to humanize him.”

She rarely appears this vulnerable in front of others – much like how rare it is for someone to offer her a merciful hand. But then, being pitied on is something she doesn’t enjoy. It’s not only because she feels like they’re just looking down on her, but it’s also for the reason that she hates appearing weak in front of people.

“When I still have my memories, I probably hated myself at some points – considering how other people pitied me so much back then.”

For now, though, Cassidy decided to just let Adrian have his way tonight.

As soon as tomorrow comes, she wants to be up and back on her own feet again. She will also definitely take note of her low alcohol tolerance from now on. 

Besides, the spell that got Adrian acting this magnanimous will most probably be broken by dawn, and with that, both of them will return to their normal way of putting up with each other.

—

For that entire evening, Adrian looked after Cassidy with gentle care.

He provided her everything she needed in each spurs of the moment. Aside from serving her a glass of warm water, he gave her a shoulder to lean on when she ended up vomiting again. While he also assisted her in holding the bowl, he gathered her hair and held them gently to keep any strand from falling and blocking her face.

All in all, Adrian is acting like a proper partner for once – or at least, with how he has taken care of Cassidy the whole time. 

As she was about to fall into slumber again, she could feel him stroking her hair tenderly. His solacing caresses are lulling her to sleep much like how a lullaby does the thing. It’s another moment that she finds very hard to take in. 

But then, Cassidy knows that this will be the last time that Adrian will act this caring. When she wakes up in the next morning, she’s already expecting that things between them will go back to how they usually are –

With him treating her coldly and her reacting hot under the collar. 

At least, that’s what she expects. 

As soon as dawn breaks on the next day, she ends up having her expectation flipped over time and again. 

Cassidy is the first one to wake up between the two – with the cause being her husband’s lack of sleep. Adrian barely got a wink even, which was why he’s sleeping like a log at this very moment.

What’s more, he had even taken it upon himself to lie beside her on the sofa.

“W-W-What in the…” Cassidy found herself blurting out first thing in the morning.

She opened up her eyes to find her husband’s breathtakingly flawless face right in front of her. As if already by reflex, she backed away in an instant but to no avail. That’s when she realized that he had his arms locked around her body.

With one of them around her waist and the other below her head, he is cuddling her during their sleep. That explains why she feels warm all over and a little heavier than unusual. 

If anything, though, all this did to Cassidy was miff her. 

“This shameless big baby… Just what does he think of me? First a pet, and now his teddy bear?” she thought with her eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

Sure, Cassidy admits that she’s knocked out of breath and momentarily dazzled by her husband’s handsome profile, but she still hasn’t forgotten what’s behind that perfect mask of his. Adrian may look like an angel with his lustrous light brown hair messy – or perhaps, god himself as his toned figure gets cloaked by the sunlight that’s penetrating through the window near them. 

But once again, Cassidy knows better than to be fooled by the cover.

“Hey, bossman, can you please wake up? Stop this absurdity. You’re holding me like a plushie – which if I’m indeed one, I’ll be the cutest plushie out there…” she babbled while struggling to squirm out of his grip. 

“Let go already. I’m serious. I wanna go to the bathroom.”

All Cassidy got in the end was a peeved groan from Adrian. He didn’t budge nor even showed any sign that he heard her, which only vexed her even more. 

In the first place, she has no idea why he’s hugging her. As far as she recalls, their beds back at home are meters away from each other.

They’re always at war whether they’re inside or outside of the house. Then again, that’s exactly why she had went ahead and built a fortress of pillows at one point.

Right now, though, Adrian seemed to have really taken a one hundred eighty turn all of the sudden.

Certainly, Cassidy wasn’t the one who invited him there. Between the two of them, he is the only person who’s sober enough to initiate such a misleading physical contact.

“Alright, I’ve had enough…” she then grumbled underneath her breath, pausing for a moment.

“You asked for this, bossman.”

With a mischievous look on her face, Cassidy scoots away for a bit and gets ready to shove Adrian all the way down from the sofa then onto the floor below, but before she can do so, she finds herself suddenly pausing again, taken aback by the sound of the doorbell ringing.