Cade got into the house, his mind thinking of how chaotic the day had been. The drama and how his grandfather handled the situation were very foreign to him. His grandfather had never reacted so childishly ever. He was a bit afraid of what his teacher could do. After all, she had the advantage of being publically declared the madam of the Vale family.
He was going to make dinner for Ophelia since she was so busy they could not go out for dinner, but it seemed as if the events of the day drained him so much that he decided to lie down in the living room for a moment, and somehow he fell asleep on the spot.
Ophelia felt so drained as she walked in through the door; she had been on her feet all day and had barely had any time to sit down and rest. It was so bad that she had gone from one meeting to another without fail. She was working so hard to show her dad that aside from giving him an heir to take over his company, she was more capable of taking care of it herself as well.
She walked up the stairs to change out of her sweaty clothes and soak in the shower before she wanted to see Cade. She had missed him all day, even though she constantly checked her phone to see if he reached out. She was sad each time she tried to reach him, but he was unreachable.
As soon as she got out of the shower and was wearing her robe, she went over to his door and knocked on it. When they were getting married, she thought that she had enough will to constrain herself from ever falling for him, but he was just that perfect man, as he walked out of a novel and straight into her life.
“Cade?” she said again when she knocked and did not get a response from him. The silence was defeating, so she held onto the knob and turned it, pushing the door back to meet a dark, silent room. It looked so neat, as if nobody had been there all day.
“I saw his car out front; where could he be?” She murmured as she closed the door shut and took her phone out of the pocket of the robe and tapped on it. “He had been unreachable all day, and I come home and I still do not meet him,” she said as she made her way to the kitchen to get something to drink.
As she walked down the stairs, she could hear the faint sound of the phone ringing in the distance. Trying her best to follow the sound, she found herself in the living room, and right there on the couch was Cade sprawled with his chest rising and falling rhythmically.
“This was where he was?” she said quietly as she took gentle steps to him. He stirred in his sleep and took the phone from the travel, swiping his finger across it to pick up her call. He placed it on his ears, chewing his mouth as she scratched his face.
“Hello?” he said, and she smiled to herself, cutting off the call. “Hello?” he said again to the dead phone. He took it off his ear and stared at the blank screen. “Who was that?” he murmured, dropping the phone to the table.
She took gentle steps toward him; she knew she would feel bad if she had to wake him up. He looked so gentle that to her it was an abomination to just wake him up like that. She sat at his head, using her eyes to trace out all of his features. She understood Harper and the reason why she could not let him go.
She wondered if she would have been as crazy as Harper if she were ever to lose Cade. He was just the perfect man, and somehow he fell into her lap. All she wanted to do at that time was snuggle close to him, so she took off the robe that was thick enough to keep her warm and dropped it on the armrest of the chair. She laid down beside him, putting her hand over his waist.
“Ophelia?” he murmured. His eyes fluttered as he caught a glimpse of her body from a top view. “When did you come home?” he asked.
“Just now,” she whispered, trying to be considerate.
“Have you had dinner?” he asked.
“I had something to eat earlier while I had a meeting,” she said, looking up at him. She had tried to level her body with him, but he was still hovering over her even while they lay down.
“You did,?” He felt a stab of betrayal go through his body, but he could understand. If any members of the boards of directors try to have dinner with him, he has no option but to eat with them anyway. She had even told him that she would not be able to make it for dinner, but he still hoped that they could eat together. “I haven’t had dinner yet; I was waiting for you,” he added in a whisper.
“But I…”
“I know what you said,” he said, shaking his head. “I just thought that we could… You know,” he said, bending his head and holding her face.
She snuggled into his chest and held him by the waist. “I am sorry that I missed our first date,” she said, and he laughed, his chest shaking and moving her head back and forth.
“First date?”
“You know as an official couple,” she said, and he shook his head.
“I forbid that from being our first date,” he said, like it was an abomination they could do better.
“Oh really?”
“Of course. How on earth can that be our first date? Imagine what everyone would think of me if they heard that,” he said as if he was most interested in pleasing others.
“So you care about others and not if I would like the date?” She asked, pulling her head from his chest so she could look at his face, which seemed like an impossible task, so she pulled her head upwards so they were staring face to face.
“Finally got to see your face since morning,” he whispered, and he smiled.
“You have a very pretty smile,” he murmured, and she did not even know that she was smiling until he said it.
“I do not care what our first date is or what we do; as long as I get to spend time with you, then I am fine,” she murmured, and he nodded.
“I will take that into consideration,” he said, tucking her hair to the back of her ears. She leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips.
“I missed you all day.”
“So did I”