When Teresa opened her eyes, she felt better. Her body ached, but her head throb had dimmed to a minute pain. It didn't feel important. The room she was lying in was more important.

Cause it wasn't hers.

Or the one assigned to her anyways.

She slipped out of the extremely comfy bed and observed her surroundings. The last memory she had was of Seth's face. That is all she remembered. Her natural first guess, therefore, was that she was in his room.

It smelled of wood. Wait. It was made of wood. The entire interior of the room was so much costlier and better than hers. She felt a twinge of jealousy. The woody smell reminded her of something, but she thought it was probably in her head.

"Why do I get the bad ones?" she muttered under her breath.

It was a large room. The flooring was of an expensive type of wood. She had seen it in advertisements and movies. There was a study in the farther corner of the room and a window just beside it. Even the study and window panes were made of the same type of wood.

A single closet with a mirror stood at the opposite side of the study. The bed lied on the farthest side of the room. It was attached to the wall, which was opposite to the study and the closet. It was a beautiful and spacious arrangement with enough space for Teresa to walkabout.

Ah yes, the bedroom came with an attached bathroom. The door to the bathroom was placed right beside the door of the bedroom. Teresa almost missed that.

Asshole or not, the man's room was simple but elegant.

Teresa observed the books this man read. All classics, some almost extinct. He read a lot of Shakespeare. She could see an old book of Romeo and Juliet stashed carelessly inside the bookshelf. She chuckled slightly to herself. The envy got back to her, and she stopped.

"Where can I get this from?" she whined, referring to the room.

"From the right sources," his voice answered softly.

Teresa was so startled she whizzed around quickly. A wrong move obviously because she went dizzy by the fast movement and almost fell on the rich wooden floor, but Seth caught her by the waist.

Dramatically.

He looked surprised too. His hair wasn't in its usual frizzy state. It was in an attractive mess and totally wet.

Did he just have a bath?

"Where am I?" she asked stupidly.

"In my room"

"Oh"

Seth laughed aloud. It was such a free and delightful sound that Teresa couldn't help but smile a little herself.

"Don't worry no one knows about what happened but me. They think you were shot or hurt," he consoled.

It wasn't comforting to hear.

"What happened?" she asked curiously.

A corner of Seth's lips twitched up as he recalled the incidents. It was so cute, Teresa felt physical pain in her stomach.

"You were dazed. I don't know what was wrong with you. As soon as the shooting started you reeled over and curled up in a ball"

Seth walked behind her. Teresa turned to face him, but he held her firmly in place by the shoulders from the back.

"I thought you were either shot or just pretending to be hurt," he continued to talk as he gently took her hair in his hands.

"Why would I-"

"Sssh sweetheart. Let me talk"

The word sweetheart sent rippled through Teresa's body, and she grimaced. There was a power of authority in his voice that she didn't want to test, so she let it go for the time being. It was best not to probe someone you didn't know too well.

"So naturally I rushed over to you. You kept yelling someone to 'shut up' and that 'this isn't real'"

Damn.

Seth kept on like he was narrating the 'Cinderella' to a small, confused and utterly dumb toddler.

"I really suspected you were all wrong in the head. I told everyone, or shouted, that you were hit and took you to the nearest safe place at the time. My room. I'm the only who has a room downstairs. The rest of the guys sleep upstairs."

Teresa didn't even nod. Seth was speaking so slowly and carefully she was afraid any interruption would make him lose his flow and cool both.

"I laid you on my very precious bed. You threw up a bit later. I had to change the sheets and I want you to wash it later," he concluded with equal calm.

Wait I-

"Yes you thought it would be absolutely funny to vomit on my expensive covers while I was busy shooting at potential killers"

"Sorry about that," Teresa mumbled even though she had no such memory.

"I even had to change your clothes because there was no way you were sleeping in tho-"

"What do you mean you-"

Teresa looked down slightly to see herself in a plain white, flowy nightgown.

"YOU CHANGED MY CLOTHES! HOW DAR-"

"-don't shout Teresa. I didn't enjoy it. It was an immense pain," he whispered with some subtle anger.

The lemony breath was intoxicating enough to shut a very embarrassed and flustered Teresa up. Instead, she breathed furiously and clenched her fists.

So a guy just saw me all pukey and naked. Beautiful.

"There! All done!" a while later, Seth exclaimed proudly.

Seth spun her to face him and tucked some loose strands of her hair behind her ear.

He beamed happily at his work and brought her before the mirror in the room. Teresa gasped slightly.

Wow.

Seth had braided her hair neatly without even using a comb and just his hands. She couldn't even achieve that by looking at a mirror, a youtube tutorial and five hands. Apart from the braid, she realized how tall the man was. She barely came up to his chin.

My insecurities are simply rising with time.

"I've always wanted to try that out," he satisfyingly heaved.

"This was your first time?!" she said in disbelief.

If that was true, she was packing her bags and going to Iceland to revive her pride as a woman.

Seth gave her a long look. His eyes sobered sadly, and he quickly removed his stare.

"No. I did it once before. You're my second trial. Looks better on the second one though," he remarked with seriousness.

Iceland it is.

Teresa couldn't bear to stand it anymore. She had to go meet people who were worse than her to make herself better, and she needed to get out of the room to do that.

"I should leave. Thanks for the help"

Teresa turned to leave, but instead, she met a brick-like chest.

"What?" she snapped as she rubbed her nose in pain.

"Well you're supposed to look hurt," he began. "And you look nothing short of a white-washed angel directly out of the Bible"

Teresa flushed slightly at that.

This man deserves death.

"And what do you suggest I do considering you like lying?" she retorted back despite all the visible blushing.

Seth didn't look like he was mocking. He stared dead into her hostile and defensive eyes.

"Not you. I," he corrected her.

Teresa was so confused she wanted to go back to school and re-educate herself.

"Sorry sweetheart," he apologized sincerely.

"I'm not your sweetheart so stop calling me that," Teresa riposted.

Seth visibly smirked. Teresa wanted to fling herself at him and kick him to shreds. But that was until she saw Seth, the asshole and the flirt, take out a gleaming ten-inch brutally designed blade from a knife holster on the inside helm of his pants.

Aww, this is gonna hurt.

*****

Hey! I'm back to updating all of my chapters yet again! It's great to look forward to your comments again!

I promise to keep uploading steadily and make sure to watch out for possible updates on Wednesday (27th of Jan) cuz that is when I turn 17!!!

KEEP VOTING HOOMANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!