Trashes of the Counts' Families || Trash of the Count's Family || OC

59

[Mentions of suicide]

Adara wasn't sure when she woke up, but she had the memory of staring out the window. To look at the sky. 

It was still dark, the stars twinkling slightly before they faded to make room for the sun. Soft shades of lavender and violet lingered near the horizon, trying to hold on before they needed to leave. Pale wisps of gold and pink slowly pushed the lavender out of the way. But no sun was in sight yet. She had woken before the sun, as she had done often before.

She remembered looking at Cale, not remembering why her thoughts went to him or why she stared at him for so long.

He was sleeping undisturbed, his beautiful features bathed in a gentle glow coming from the sleepy sky. His vibrant red hair flurried all over, a few strands fanning his face in a ticklish way that made him twitch. She pushed the strands away, letting her fingertips lightly touch his warm skin. She could not see his reddish-brown eyes, the ones she loved, the ones that seemed to melt until they were one with the golden rays of the sun, but she knew they lay underneath his eyelids. She would only need to wait a bit longer until she could see them.

She doesn't remember what made her put her head back on the pillow and sleep. But she knows that she did. Enjoying her slumber for once. She hasn't had a dream in a while.

She woke up a few hours later due to the sun streaming across her face. The sun was too bright in the sky to fall asleep again.

Her eyes widened as all sleep evaded her. She had slept in. She turned to her side to see that Cale was not yet awake; it wasn't that late.

She wanted to throw the blanket off of her and start working. Start writing the letters and making the calls. But she forced herself to stop.

Work... is not what I should start the day with, she thought, trying to convince herself. The work will be done more efficiently if I am properly awake and if I have breakfast. So I will wait. I will slowly wake myself up.

She looked around, now sitting upright, trying to find something to do that wasn't work. She saw her discarded book on her nightstand. She hasn't opened it in a while, her work pile too high. But she picked it up now, remembering the page she was last on.

She sat there, reading her book, until Cale started to stir into consciousness. "Good morning," he murmured.

"Morning," she mumbled, on the point of finishing the chapter. As soon as she did, a big plot twist just having been revealed, she forced herself to put the book down and look at Cale.

"How long have you been awake for?" he asked her. 

"5 chapters."

Cale chuckled, sitting upright in the bed and stretching his back. "And how many times did the maids come to ask if we wanted breakfast?"

"13 times. 2-3 times per chapter," Adara responded.

He sighed. "Maybe we should have asked for some peace and quiet as our reward."

Adara put the book on her nightstand, looking at him with a face he couldn't distinguish. "Everything we are doing right now is to get that peace and quiet. I think we can deal with the Crown Prince's obsessive desire to know what we're doing if we'll have a lifetime of peace."

Cale had to agree with her, but something made him pause. "How is being in charge of a County as large as yours peaceful and quiet?" He was constantly reminded how her end goal was quite different from his, though they both had many similarities.