By God's grace, we got to the hotel without any issues. The hotel staff were more than eager to offer us help in any way that they could and I found out that Trevor had also made arrangements to stay in the same hotel. Well, I wasn't surprised.

I entered Ro's room for the first time; it was just like mine except that it had darker colour themes. A physician was called to take a look at my Adonis and thankfully, he confirmed that Rowen would be alright by the next day.

The relief that coursed through me at that disclosure was profound as I had previously feared the worst and continuously muttered prayers to the Lord for his well-being.

"Thank you very much, doctor." I verbally expressed my gratitude as he packed up to leave.

Trevor sat on a chair close to Rowen's bed with an overly grateful expression on his chiselled face. I was sitting beside my fiancé and holding his hand. By then, his suit jacket and foot coverings were gone, leaving him in only his dress shirt and pants.

I had also put Ro's phone on airplane mode and left the device on the nightstand after having spoken to the bodyguards. Their leader, Sandoval, was anxious to know how and why we had vanished from the ball before it even ended.

After informing him that an emergency had made us leave, I took time to assure him that he and his group wouldn't be losing their jobs any time soon even though one of them had indeed laughed at me.

The leader of the goons wanted to speak to Ro—obviously, and since I didn't owe them any explanations, I just said that he(Rowen) wouldn't be able to speak to him at the moment. Trevor had offered to help me talk to Sandoval and I agreed.

Apparently, the head of Rowen's security detail and Trevor were acquaintances. They conversed in fluent Mexican over the phone, prompting me to wonder if all of my fiancé's close friends were fluent in different languages.

When Trevor finished, the matter was settled. It was as clear as day that Sandoval didn't quite trust me and I understood that. Hopefully, as time went on, all of that would change.

At a look, one would conclude that Ro was unconscious but he really wasn't. I observed that his lips moved rather subtly as though he muttered things only intelligible to himself. 

Finally, the doctor left, quietly closing the door behind him. My gaze returned to my fiancé's mesmerizing visage and I watched his brows twitch before a short screeching noise interrupted the silence. The noise came from Trevor as his seat dragged against the floor while he was trying to stand.

I tried not to feel annoyed since he had just lent me a hand in reasoning with the security detail. Still, I hoped that he would be more bearable immediately after he became completely sober.

Once he finally stood upright, he ran his hands through his long dreadlocks. "S-s-since we're s-s-sure that Wendy's going to be fine… I'll go to my room n-now. Goodnight, ma chérie."

I nodded, watching him shuffle towards the door with his folded jacket in his arm.

"Goodnight. Thanks for everything."

"Don't mention i-it. Wendy…owes me a b-big explanation when he wakes up," he uttered sluggishly.

After Trevor exited the room, I gave a wistful sigh and shook my head. We had all indeed gone through a lot that night and to say that I was exhausted would be putting it lightly.

Having decided that it was time to call it a night and leave my fiancé to recuperate, I leaned forward and pressed my lips briefly onto his forehead. As soon as I made a move to stand up, a hand shot out and clamped down tightly on my wrist.

Before I could fully grasp what was happening, he pulled me. Gasping, I realized that there remained nothing I could do against gravity and the collision happened, followed by a long, low groan.

An unpleasant memory from my past flashed before my mind's eye and I began to take deep breaths to calm down. Ro probably didn't anticipate that my slamming into him would bring about a series of painful sensations and I had to remind myself that he wasn't exactly himself at the moment.

Because of this fact, his actions were out of place and capable of inciting shock. He had been trying hard to restrain himself however, it seemed that his control waned with every passing moment. My fiancé continued to groan as I slid my form off him.

"Don't go, please." His enchanting silver-grey eyes weakly fluttered open and I saw such vulnerability in them that I couldn't look away, nor could I refuse to honour his request.

Recalling what had taken place the last time that I lingered in a man's room, I shuddered. Rowen wasn't going to take advantage of me like Jared had done…right?

"Don't be ridiculous, Carina. Get it together."

I shook my head to get rid of those fearful thoughts. Ro needed me right then and I wasn't going to leave him on his own because of my wild imagination. With this, I rested my back on the upholstered headrest despite the burning need in my bones to change out of my dress.

At the moment, I was sure that the corset was cutting off my air supply and making me increasingly uncomfortable. My hairdo was also another nuisance but the dress would completely suffocate me if I spent more time in it. Yet, I had to bear this for Ro's sake and hopefully, my lungs wouldn't be completely squeezed by the time he fell asleep.

Ro lifted his hand to touch the fabric of my dress before he put his head on it. Apparently, he decided that my dress would make a better pillow. He was indeed laying his head on my lap but that was all he did. I didn't know why I felt all apprehensive before even though I knew deep down that Ro wouldn't do anything to me.

For a moment, I forgot all about the uneasiness my dress was causing me and began to trace the lines of my fiancé's face. Slowly, I ran a finger down the bridge of his nose and while I was outlining his jaw, he grabbed my hand. Again, a sharp, short squeal fled my lips.

"Wasn't he asleep just now?"

In place of his vibrant orbs were nothing but dull embers and he stared at me for some time before a peculiar sound sprang from him. Rowen put a hand to his chest once I realized that he was having hiccups.

Reaching out to the nightstand, I retrieved the bottle of water on it and made him drink. The hiccups went away as soon as they came and I used the hotel's communication system to request for some more bottles just in case.

After some minutes, there was a knock on the door. I got out of bed to answer it.

"Thank you," I muttered, taking the bottles from the hotel staff hurriedly.

By then, I was practically struggling for air since the corset of my dress had become unbearable for me. My original plan was to endure it till Ro had slept off so I could return to my room, take the dress off, and shower. Ro wasn't quite asleep yet and I could no longer stay in that dress or I would suffocate.

For fear of something else happening to my fiancé in my absence, I went through his bags to find something suitable I could put on before going into the bathroom to remove my dress and take out all the pins in my hair. Changing into some cobalt blue silk pajamas and wearing my hair down, I came out of the bathroom, holding my folded dress.

I dumped the dress on a chair before getting back into Ro's bed. Luckily, he hadn't moved an inch from where I left him. My clutch was nearby and I took hold of it, got my phone out, and opened my Bible app. The physical one I came with was still in my room and since I couldn't leave for certain reasons, I had to make do with what I had there.

I was near the edge of the bed, with some distance between Ro and me. He was lying still with his eyes closed yet I couldn't be sure that he had gone to sleep. Soon, I began to hear Ro's breaths quicken, turning instead into wheezes.

Despite feeling a bit sleepy, I spurred into action once again. "Ro?!"

I called his name repeatedly, gripping his broad shoulders and shaking him. I continued this till he eventually snapped out of it and opened his eyes. I was no longer feeling sleepy by then and with the way things were going, I didn't think I'd be able to get any sleep that night.

"Are you okay? Talk to me." I addressed him frantically.

Blinking tiredly, Ro spoke: "Ni-nightmare."

I sighed, thankful that it wasn't anything serious.

"I'm sorry about that. You're better now, right?" I inquired.

Instead of answering, my fiancé's eyes veered to my raiments. "Y-you look good… in those."

"Thanks." 

"N-n-no, you a-are ju-just so precious." He continued, his silver-grey eyes gazing into my green ones. I didn't need anyone to tell me that everything my fiancé was saying right then was being influenced by whatever concoction that he had taken earlier.

"Oh really?" I decided to indulge him a bit. "And what else?"

A faint grin curled his sensual lips. "What I see when I-I l-look at you is a t-tom-mato."

"A tomato?" I was very confused. What was I expecting from him in such a state?

Stretching out a hand to my face, he began to speak: "W-when Mr. Isaac ev-eventually brought you to me after all those…years, I was so excited to m-meet you again but y-you l-looked so scared and out of pl-place. Y-you even thought I w-w-would make you lose your job for s-s-ome rea-reason. I thought you were cu-cute."

I blushed, shaking my head. Ro's tapered fingers moved from my face to my hair and next thing I knew, he was curling locks of my hair around his finger.

"I like it w-when y-your hair is red. Not… Black or yellow or p-purple or blue or neon—oh! A-and your g-g-green eyes ar-are so green. They're so bea-beautiful l-like life its-itself. I want y-you to be t-the mother of m-my children, Stella M-mea—I promise I'll be a good f-father. I'll be there f-f-for them—I'll ne-never leave. Y-y-you won't h-have to take over th-the company b-b-because I'm gone o-or homeschool th-the kids. I p-promise."

Nothing out of all the words my fiancé had just spoken made sense to me. What did he even mean by any of that? Before he could say something worse, I made a suggestion.

"How about you go back to sleep?"

Without responding, Rowen's captivating eyes once again left mine and instead, strayed downwards to my lips. Then, he proceeded to glide his thumb across my lower lip before I stopped him.

"W-will you k-k-kiss me g-goodnight?" He muttered, his gaze meeting mine once more.

"I will." As long as he went back to sleep and stopped saying crazy things, I would do anything he wanted.

"And si-sing me that nice song l-like y-y-you used to?"

That request had me recalling my days as his personal maid back at the Numman estate. Back then, I was just his caretaker—fast forward to some years later and I was engaged to him. Who would've thought that we'd end up together?

"Okay."

It was settled and I began to sing to him before dozing off too. There was sunlight streaming in from between the parted curtains when I woke up. My first instinct was to look around for my fiancé and all I found was an empty bed.

I also saw that someone had tucked me into bed, covering me with a duvet. Only one person could have done that but where was he? Sounds of rushing water coming from the bathroom interrupted my train of thought and alerted me to the fact that Ro was in the shower.

At that point, it was clear to me that he had become sober and I wasn't sure if I wanted to face him right then due to various obvious reasons. There was only one thing left to do: escape before he came back out. Swinging my legs off his bed, I lifted my body and began to tiptoe towards the exit.

Without realizing that I was barefooted, I reached the door. My hand was hovering over the knob when I heard the sound of a certain door opening. I blanched…