~ HAZEL ~

“Is Tristan still asleep?” I asked Mike, who seemed extremely excited this morning. 

“The boss still hasn’t gotten out of his bedroom today, so I can’t be certain.” He replied.

“That’s strange. He has never slept this late before, as far as I remember. I hope my effort doesn’t go to waste.”

“Your effort is really evident. You look way too hot today; I almost got blind when I saw you this morning. Can I have your number, baby?” He said, clearly as a joke.

“My husband will murder you.” I laughed and he only rolled his eyes. “As if.”

“Oh, we'll see.” I smirked then decided to check up on Tristan. I had made breakfast for him and had tried to dress sexy, wearing a very short, red, hip-hugging skirt with a little slit, a crop top that had a knot tied below my breasts to show off an indecent amount of my cleavage. I planned to gain his attention, but he was still asleep, and now that I made lunch, it was probably going to turn out to be lunch in bed or something. 

Grabbing the tray, I left for our bedroom in long strides, calling for another man to open the door for me to get in. 

Tristan was still sprawled on the bed, not moving an inch. 

I sauntered to the bed, placed the tray on the nightstand, and sat beside him, tapping him gently. 

“Tristan,” I tapped him incessantly till he finally woke up, mumbling something to himself. “Finally! Are you sure you're okay?” 

He squinted his eyes, stretching slightly. “Hazel, you startled me.” 

“Why are you still asleep by this time? You aren’t going to work today?” He shook his head with a yawn. “That’s great. We can spend some time together. I made you breakfast and now lunch.” I crossed one of my legs over the other— you know, just for show off.

“Seriously?  Is it that late?” He sat up straight and checked the time, brushing his fingers through his silky black hair. “Wow.”

“Did you sleep late?”

“Yes. I had to work till midnight, then I had a very long discussion with Nikita till this morning.” He explained. 

“Oh…” speaking of Nikita, I hadn’t seen that little monster today. That obviously explained the day's peace. 

“I think I’ll brush my teeth and have a bath first.” He rolled out of bed, grabbed his clothes and towel from the wardrobe then left for the bathroom. 

“He didn’t even notice me.” I frowned, got on the bed and rested my back against the headrest to reach for a book I was reading earlier this morning and resumed reading it in annoyance. Wasn’t I seductive enough or something? He just didn’t notice anything different? Was I that less attractive to him? 

While waiting for Tristan, I received a phone call from Charlotte. We chatted for a while till Tristan got out of the bathroom in his shorts and a towel around his neck.  

“Bye, Charlotte.” I ended the call and dropped the phone on the nightstand, my frown returning to my face. 

He dried his hair then walked up to the tray, still not paying any attention to me, then started eating like he had never eaten before. 

He was constantly making compliments about the food— but not me— which only made me roll my eyes multiple times. 

After he was done eating, a worker was called in to clear the table. 

“You seem to know what I'm in need of.” He smiled, but I didn’t feel the need to respond to him and only continued reading the novel I had lost understanding of. 

I watched him walk away then slip on a shirt and leave the room. 

“Wow. What a waste of time.” 

I was starting to feel extremely bad... Didn’t I dress well enough? Wasn’t I attractive anymore? How could he not even spare a glance at my body? Was I being dramatic? 

After a few minutes of wondering to myself, he came into the room, “I think I left…” he trailed off, walking up to me. “Wait. Why are you being sulky?” 

“Nothing is wrong, not at all.” I said sarcastically and closed the book. 

“You know I don’t like it when you’re upset. Do you want to torture me intentionally?” He held my bare sides, and gently pressed his lips on mine. My worry almost completely swam away from his minty breath.  

“I had a very great dream about you.” His hand slowly traced my outline till it rested on my thigh, giving it a slight caress. 

“Really? What dream?” I smiled, loving his touch on my bare skin. 

“Multiple sweet dreams.” He said in a deeper voice, kissing the nape of my neck. “Your beautiful face everywhere…” he kissed my jawline and my neck.

He continued planting multiple kisses on my neck, permitting soft moans to escape my throat, my entire body loving the intense pleasure I was feeling.

“I’m in love with the way our relationship is progressing.” He said, gently pulling the sleeves of my top down to also plant kisses on my shoulders. 

“Me too.” 

“I’m growing very possessive of you, I’m growing very used to you, my feelings for you are growing everyday, and I’m becoming a happy person everyday because I’m with you.” He stopped to stare directly into my eyes, smiling. “I hope our marriage never breaks and continues to strengthen... I always feel the need to do something extra; it always feels like a random man will come and steal you away from me one day, because someone as special and wonderful as you feels too good to be true for me to have.”

“You think I’m special?” My ears were about to explode. 

“Yes, no one has ever made me this happy in life. I think I’m starting to...” He trailed off, smiling, his eyes were shimmering with the greatest joy I had ever noticed. 

“To what?”

“Just don’t ever break my heart. I’m trying my best to be a good husband, and I think I’m doing great, am I?” He lifted an eyebrow. 

“Yes, you are. I won’t break your heart. You need to know that I don’t just have a mere likeness for you, I love you so much.” I smiled, wounding an arm around his neck and gave him a long kiss. 

The kiss slowly became intense with strange sparks occurring from it. He continued trailing kisses on my neck and shoulders, but not so gentle kisses anymore. He planted a kiss on my bare tummy before returning to my neck, giving it a satisfying nibble, with his hands making wonderful movements on my thighs to make my stomach fill with ecstasy. I felt like my entire body was going to implode from this delight. 

“Tristan,” I moaned his name, feeling the need to feel more of him. 

“Gosh, your body always intoxicates me, Hazel.” His kisses trailed down to the top of my breasts. Was this really happening or was this another stupid dream? 

He was about to untie the knot of my top when the door was kicked open. 

We flinched away from each other and I quickly pulled my sleeves back up as Nikita strolled in, frowning. 

“Don’t you know how to knock?” Tristan grumbled. 

“Were you guys planning to make babies or something?” She asked with a disgust-stricken tone. How dare this annoying girl ruin the moment? “That’ll be a terrible idea.”

“Don’t be such a hater. Hazel and I would make the most beautiful babies, right Hazel?” He smiled, placing an arm around me. I shuddered away from his arm immediately. 

Nikita only looked irritated by us being together while my body was still trying to recover from the shock and frustration of her intrusion.

“I need to speak with you.” She demanded. 

“You’ve clearly pissed Hazel off. You should apologize to her. One should never barge into a married couple's bedroom like that.” 

“I’m not apologizing to her.”

“Of course you won’t.” My body still hadn't recovered from what Tristan’s kisses had caused and my brain was still reeling around the possibility of what could have happened if she didn’t interrupt us. 

“There’s always a next time, sweetheart.” He teased me, rising from the bed and held me to my feet. 

I didn’t even know how to respond to him. Was I supposed to be happy? Gosh, how could Nikita just destroy everything when I could’ve finally achieved my dream. 

“You can leave with your 'sister'.”

“Nikita, we’ll talk later. Leave us alone.” 

“So you can continue—”

“Nikita, go.” He added authoritatively. 

She muttered words to herself then shuffled out of the room. 

There was complete silence between us as he stared at me while I tried my best to not look at him, still frowning so hard and suddenly feeling uncomfortable under his gaze.

“We should go on a walk. I’ll be really busy at work for a week and we might not really have enough time to spend together.” He broke the silence. 

“Okay.” I mumbled. 

“Are you that pissed off by the interference?” He burst into laughter. “I don’t know what got into me. You just looked really sexy and I lost my mind completely. Wait,” he squinted his eyes. “Did you intentionally try to seduce me?” 

“What?! No way!” My eyes widened at him. “Let’s just go on a walk.” I held my breath as nervousness slid into my body system. 

“Hazel. You’re such a cheeky temptress.” He smirked, taking a step closer to me. “What exactly was on your mind? Have you been—"

“Shut up! I’ll go to the bakery if you keep bothering me.” I stopped him from moving closer.

“Okay, fine, fine. A walk. Just wear something else. No other man should see you like this.” 

“How can you say that when you only have men workers here?” I wondered. 

“So you’ve been dressed like that all morning?” He asked with widened eyes.

“I thought you were going to be awake earlier.” I shrugged.

“Hazel!” He rumbled. 

I walked away from him. I couldn't stop the crazy feeling I still had from his touch. I could still feel his hands on my thighs, his lips on my body. This has only ever happened in my dream, so it still felt so good to be true. 

*** 

“Do you know we have a lot of fan pages on social media now?” Tristan asked as we strolled on the roadside hand in hand. 

“Yes. I was so surprised to see so many of them. There were even multiple cute photos of us I didn’t remember taking.” I replied, grinning. 

“Yes... Like Lucy and I, we have so many cute pictures on social media and so many fan pages.” The fact that he mentioned her name and was smiling like he was lost in thoughts of her pissed me off so bad. 

“Uhm…” I cleared my throat. “It seems like you both have more fan pages than the two of us. Does that mean most people still prefer you two together?” 

“Yes, many people still prefer me with Lucy.” He replied indifferently. 

“Uh…well…okay.” I let go of him, scratching my arm. “So… it’s okay as long as you don’t prefer—”

“Mine and Lucy's relationship was a very beautiful one.” He cut me off, still smiling. I could feel my blood rising to my head. 

“Oh, yeah, a very beautiful one.” I replied sarcastically. 

“It felt so unbreakable, it felt like my hope was being restored. I tried to ignore every red flag so much…” how on Earth could he still be smiling?

I decided to walk a bit faster to avoid hearing him talk about her and frustrate me even more. 

“Hazel, slow down.” He said, but I only increased my pace. “This is supposed to be a walk.” He ran shortly to keep up with my pace. 

I turned to him to yell, but bumped into someone. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so—” I said and paid attention to the figure in front of me. 

“It’s o— Hazel?” My eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I saw Indy. My deafening shriek clearly startled Tristan as I pulled her into a hug. “Oh my gosh!” 

“Why the fuck is she back here?” Tristan said hostilely. 

A/N: Hi, everyone. 

Once again, I'm sorry for the delay in updating this book. I discovered I have to write another exam and had to begin studying. 

I'm taking a Christmas break now, so there'll be more updates. 

I'll also try to balance my schedule to be able to update a few chapters while studying too. 

Don't forget to leave your comments on this chapter and on this book. I really appreciate your comments. 

Love y'all, and Merry Christmas in advance.