Chapter 92: Sharing a Bed
Julian returned to the bedroom after his shower, a full twenty minutes later.
During that time, since Eleanor Rhodes hadn’t replied, Vivian Lowell could only kill time by scrolling through video sites or browsing lifestyle apps on her phone.
’Time is passing so slowly!’
Vivian’s eyes and fingers were glued to the phone in front of her, but her ears were still trained on any sounds coming from the bathroom.
’Does Julian like to sleep on the outside or the inside of the bed?’
’If I place our pillows really far apart, will that seem weird?’
’If I sleep right on the edge of the bed tonight, given my bad habit of tossing and turning, will I fall off?’
Vivian mulled it over and over, but she couldn’t come up with a good answer.
Just then, Julian entered the room.
The moment he pushed the door open, Vivian nearly leaped out of the small armchair at her vanity.
!
Vivian whipped her head around.
And there he was. Julian, wearing shorts with a bath towel wrapped around his torso, walked in slowly, a few drops of water still glistening on his Adam’s apple.
Julian had a fair, cool-toned complexion.
The tips of his hair were still damp, which only enhanced his aloof, almost cold, aura.
And yet,
this otherworldly, aloof man was now walking toward her, one step at a time.
Vivian swallowed hard. Her gaze swept from Julian’s Adam’s apple down to the faint outline of his abs beneath the towel before she asked, "Are you heading to bed?"
"I... I haven’t washed up yet! I need to take a shower, do a face mask, and an essential oil spa and everything before I go to bed. You don’t have to wait for me!"
She was so nervous!
Vivian felt like she was stumbling over her own words.
As for Julian,
he glanced up at Vivian, then used the towel wrapped around his body to wipe away the remaining water droplets from his neck.
The movement was incredibly fluid. Vivian could clearly see the toned lines of his arm muscles.
And as he lifted the towel, his full eight-pack was revealed.
"..."
Vivian averted her gaze, but her mind uncontrollably flashed to some of the fan-art of male leads from the otome games she’d seen online.
’Oh my god!’
’Those are the kind of abs only a 2D character could have!’
Vivian screamed internally. She was afraid that if she kept looking, she wouldn’t be able to resist reaching out to touch them and see what that eight-pack really felt like.
’Julian really isn’t treating me like a stranger at all!’
’They were—they were just a married couple in name only!’
’The kind who would eventually get divorced and go their separate ways!’
’Now that she’d seen Julian’s abs, no other man would ever measure up if he didn’t have a body like this!’
After holding it in for a long time,
Vivian squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and finally managed to force an awkward yet polite smile. "Well, I’ll be heading out then."
Vivian practically fled in a panic.
Only after she left the bedroom and was outside did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Omg... Eleanor, you have no idea, Julian has an eight-pack! It’s even more impressive than that young heartthrob you used to like!"
Vivian typed frantically.
Eleanor replied almost instantly. "Go for it, Vivian! Hmm... I just have to remind you, if you’re not ready to have kids yet, then you should... you know!"
’The hell I do!’
Vivian felt that she and Eleanor were on completely different wavelengths right now.
’She was just sharing the sight of some incredible abs with her best friend.’
’Why was Eleanor’s mind always in the gutter?’
Vivian felt the conversation was a dead end. She put down her phone and went into the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom, the motion-activated exhaust fan was still running. The lingering scent from Julian’s shower, a light, cool fragrance, hung in the air.
It was clean and refreshing, the same scent that always seemed to cling to Julian.
Vivian stood before the vanity mirror and looked at her reflection. Her cheeks were faintly flushed, and she looked like a schoolgirl with her first crush!
??
Vivian almost rolled her eyes at herself.
"What’s with that expression on your face!"
Vivian finished scolding her reflection fiercely, then sighed.
’Seriously.’
’Could Julian be doing this on purpose?’
’What would he gain by seducing me?’
Vivian couldn’t figure it out and didn’t want to think about it anymore. She started drawing a bath while brushing her teeth.
’She couldn’t take a quick bath. If she finished in a few dozen minutes and went back, it would be troublesome if Julian wasn’t asleep yet.’
’The two of them, a man and a woman all alone, lying in the same bed... It would be way too awkward.’
’It would be best to linger in the tub for a while, put on a face mask, bring over a facial steamer, and have a nice, long essential oil spa before going back to the room.’
’By then, Julian would be so tired he’d already be asleep, and things wouldn’t be so awkward for her.’
Vivian thought her plan was absolutely perfect, so she hunkered down in the bathroom, intending to take her sweet time.
「Who knew how much time had passed.」
Vivian had actually fallen asleep in the bathtub. A soft knock at the door startled her awake.
KNOCK KNOCK.
Two soft knocks.
Vivian hadn’t been sleeping deeply. Hearing the sound, she froze for a moment before standing up in the tub with a SPLASH, finally realizing what was happening.
’She’d gotten so comfortable during her bath that she’d actually fallen asleep?’
Vivian instinctively glanced at her phone and saw that two hours had passed since she’d entered the bathroom.
’It’s past eleven. Julian should be asleep by now, right?’
’Wait!’
KNOCK KNOCK.
The knocking came again.
This time, it was a little louder than before.
A bad feeling suddenly surfaced in Vivian’s heart. Bracing herself, she asked, "Who is it?"
"It’s me."
Julian’s voice came from outside the door.
From his tone, it sounded like he was checking on something, and having confirmed it, he now felt relieved.
Julian said, "You were in here for a long time, so I got worried something might have happened and came to check. Are... are you okay? Nothing’s wrong, right?"
Julian had heard Vance Wyatt mention it before.
Someone had been taking a bath once without turning on the exhaust fan. The water temperature was high, and the entire bathroom filled with steam. The lack of ventilation led to a lack of oxygen, and they passed out.
Although Julian felt that...
...given Vivian’s cleverness, something like that probably wouldn’t happen to her. Still, there were always exceptions, so it was better for him to come check.
’Good.’
He’d only knocked a few times before Vivian answered.
’Otherwise...’
Julian glanced at the frosted glass of the bathroom door, seeing the faint outline of Vivian’s calves. He honestly had no idea how he would have gotten in if she hadn’t answered.
"I’m fine."
Vivian swallowed, her mind reeling with regret.
She truly regretted it!
’If she had known she would fall asleep in the bathroom and that Julian would come looking for her, she might as well have just gone to bed earlier!’
’Maybe if she had gone back earlier, Julian would already be asleep!’
"I, I just got too comfortable in the bath and fell asleep. Um... I’ll just rinse off and be back in the room soon. Julian, why don’t you go ahead and..."
"Achoo!"
Vivian hadn’t even managed to get the word "sleep" out before she let out a huge sneeze.
She sniffled.
Even though it was a heated tub, she had soaked in the water for too long with part of her body exposed to the air. It was inevitable that she’d catch a chill!
"Okay, I’ll head back first."
But,
even though Vivian hadn’t finished her sentence, Julian understood what she meant. With those words, he turned and left.
Vivian listened to the sound of his slippers on the wooden floor growing more distant and finally let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She returned to the vanity to tidy herself up.
’Her hands were all pruney!’
Vivian was exasperated. All she could do was dry them off and plan to apply extra body lotion later.
After spending nearly another half hour tidying up in the bathroom, just as Vivian was starting to worry that Julian might come looking for her again if she didn’t go back, she returned to the bedroom.
The heating was on in the bedroom, making it toasty warm.
As soon as Vivian walked in, she tossed aside the bath towel she had wrapped around herself.
She was different from Julian.
Underneath the towel, she was wearing a slip dress and an adhesive bra. All the important parts were covered, so Julian wouldn’t be able to see anything.
But Julian wasn’t looking at her anyway.
He was sitting up in bed, his back against the pillows, scrolling through his phone.
Phew.
Vivian breathed a sigh of relief. ’Good, he’s not paying attention to me,’ she thought, sitting down at her vanity to do her skincare routine before bed.
After applying her face cream and body lotion, Vivian felt pleasantly fragrant. As she turned to get into bed, Julian suddenly picked something up from the nightstand and handed it to her.
"To ward off the cold."
Julian’s tone was flat, yet tinged with a hint of gentleness.
Vivian froze, sniffled, and suddenly remembered something.
’She had sneezed in the bathroom just now.’
’So...’
’Julian must have heard her sneeze and, fearing she’d catch a cold, specially prepared some cold medicine for her?’
She...
Vivian wanted to say she was fine, but her disobedient nose started to run a little.
Vivian sniffled again. Being scrutinized by Julian like this, she felt like a guilty student standing in front of a teacher.
She felt so sheepish.
"Thank you."
Vivian took the bowl and drank the cold medicine in one go. She then rinsed her mouth with mouthwash before finally getting into bed.
Uh...
The moment she got into bed, Vivian felt something was off.
’What happened to the huge two-and-a-half-meter bed?’
’She’d rolled around on this bed several times before, and it had felt big enough to do a few somersaults!’
’How come now...’
’with her and Julian lying next to each other, the space between them felt so small?’
Vivian stared at the chandelier on the ceiling, but out of the corner of her eye, her gaze was already drifting unconsciously toward Julian beside her.