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04

She flipped back her wet hair and took a whole glimpse of him, what did he mean? Rolling her eyes angrily at him, Aranya pointed at the door of the bathroom, “Whatever it is you’re thinking of doing, don’t even try doing it, I’m warning you. Now, if you’ll get out of my bathroom and the room in general, I need my privacy.” What was his name again? Yes, “Lorcán, get out!” She thundered, and that was when she realized maybe she hadn’t fully recovered from the alcohol she had taken, she was still tipsy.

He scoffed and flashed her an unbelievable look as if he had never encountered a woman that thought and acted like her. “I’m telling you this and I don’t want to say it twice, this is my room. And if anything, you’re the one that should excuse me not the other way!” He thundered back at her. He hated the guts of this woman, he still hadn’t forgotten what she had done to him this evening, and she even had the guts to come to his room and say this?

Aranya splashed more water on her face and somehow, she felt at ease, the hotness of the water was surely calming enough, but the face of this man wasn’t. Sure enough, he wasn’t ugly, but she would have to hate herself first before she would admit to the fact that he was handsome and about his eyes, even though she was drunk, she was doing al it took in her might to not look into them.

“Get out!” He repeated himself and that was when she realized she had to put this man back into his position. Something of this sort had never happened to her before, no man dared stood in her way and acted as if she was the one that did the otherwise. And even if she did that, all the men she had ever had an encounter with would surely be happy she did and none of them ever raised a voice at her, but it was different with this man.

Moving to the other edge of the bathtub, Aranya made sure there was a reasonable distance between them before she spoke, “I don’t have to say it twice either, get out of here whatever it is, your name.” Her tone was hard and it carried an air of command and power that even before she closed her lips, Lorcán wondered who she was. Because she seemed to be so much sure of herself as if she knew he would have to do what she said without thinking twice.

Trying so hard to take his eyes off her now clear face and the dark hair that rested on her bare shoulders, he pulled himself out of the tub. Just before the smirk fully carved itself on Aranya’s lips, she felt lifted and she nearly screamed when he scooped her into his arms. She was trying to get out of his hold when he pinned her tightly to the point that she had no other choice but to lean her head on his chest. No, she would rephrase that, on his bare and wet chest, her whole skin shuddered.

“What do you think you’re doing? Do you have a death wish?” She glared at him and he ignored her, fixing his eyes on the path he followed. She caught a glimpse of her dress in the living room and when she lounged to get out of his hold again, Lorcán pinned her back that she wondered how could a man have such strength?!

Before she got out of her trance of thoughts, Aranya felt herself being thrown roughly on what felt like a bed and she quickly wrapped her hands to cover her chest, thankfully she hadn’t taken off her inner wears. “What do you think you’re doing? Will you get out of my room or you have a death wish?!” She clamored again and he chuckled. His deep husky voice that was rich with masculinity and what she would love to refer to as enigma, chuckled. She didn’t know how she felt a shiver ran down her spine and she shuddered a little. Was it because she was cold?

“Look around, I get it maybe you’re drunk but I believe you’ve sobered enough. Look around, is this your room?” She was trying to argue with him once more when her eyes caught his belongings at the far end of the room and she gulped down her words. Still, even though she wrongly got into his room when she was drunk, that didn’t give him the right to do what he did to her. No man ever did it to her. Moreover, she wasn’t interested in taking him to Zinambra, she would have endured and gone with whatever flow it was, he was playing with.

She looked up at him, taking the chord of wet hair that had blocked her view of him. “I don’t care whether it’s your room or mine, as you said, I was drunk.” She hissed softly and got down from the bed, and the only way she could get out of the room was blocked by him, “Now, if only you’ll excuse me.” She asked with a hard tone and the smile at the edge of his lips made Aranya realized that he wasn’t just ready for that.

“And why would I do that?” He asked, taking a step forward while she took one behind her. What was this man trying to do? She wondered.

“What do you think you’re doing, I get it I mistook your room for mine, I need to get to my room. Get out of my way.” He kept walking forward while she moved backward until he cornered her to the wall. He used his hands and made a wall for her, and to Aranya, it came to her like a deja vu, just that she wasn’t in her red dress anymore and they were both naked and wet. No, half-naked, that would much be appreciated by her.

“What is your name?” He asked with a deep voice and she looked up for the first time since she had gotten into his room she allowed herself to look into his eyes, the blood colour was a bit darker than what she had seen in the evening, it was, even more, unnerving her now. Who was this man?

“Why do I have to tell you my name? Will you please excuse me?” She asked while glaring at the strong arms she knew without her powers, would never be able to break through unless he intentionally let her do that.

“Because you know mine and also you’re in my room right now.”

She stubbornly shook her head, “That’s still not reason enough. I’m warning you for the last time, let go of me.” She was afraid that maybe because of this man she would make the mistake Betla had always been warning her about, she might have to unleash the powers Betla left for her in case of emergency, even though she knew this wasn’t the emergency Betla meant.

Surprisingly, he let his arms down, and with a glare at his way, she moved and began to walk out of his room. She could feel the way the soft and chilly wind was caressing the areas that were bare in her body and she felt slightly cold, which made her shivered a bit. She walked to the living room all this while thinking that she had frightened him enough after she got into her red dress, Aranya stared at herself through the only mirror in the living room and pulled the hair away from her face.

Without knowing how he did it, she felt his strong arms wrapped around her waist. She looked at his face through the mirror and realized he had worn his clothes now, just like her. “What do you think you’re doing?” She asked through gritted teeth. And what annoyed her more was, with each attempt of hers to get his hand away from her body, he tightened his hold on her.

Staring at her through the mirror while all she did was avoided his eyes, Lorcán noticed and wondered why she didn’t look into his eyes. He had caught her times without number trying so hard to avoid his eyes. “You know we have unfinished business, right? No one has ever done that to me, no one has ever slapped me and you don’t expect me to let go of you easily.” He noticed, for what he would like to call a nanosecond, something flicked in her eyes. Something like fire, blood, darkness, whatever it was, it was mysterious.

And when she turned to look at him, she looked so determined as ever, strong and her whole body depicted the mysterious aura around her, “And if I may ask, what do you think you can do?”

“Make you regret doing that for the rest of your life.” He said with a tone that would have shaken her if not for what she felt a few seconds ago.

“That would have been a little bit late, I think you’ll owe me two times,” she said with an enigmatic grin and before Lorcán got a hold of what was happening around him, she had banged his groin with her knees so hard that he yelped and his knees went down. “I guess no one has ever done that to you too.”

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