Pampered Like A Princess

Nelissa and Edward were only half an hour away from his villa when she dozed off.

Through the rear-view mirror, Edward glanced at Nelissa, who was curled up in the back seat.

Edward steered the car onto the highway at the next exit.

……

“We’re here,” Edward announced as he pulled up in the garage. Then, receiving no answer from Nelissa, he got out of his seat and opened the rear door.

He frowned, “Get out.”

Nelissa’s eyes fluttered open, and she glared at him, “No!”

It seemed like she was trying to be fierce and hard-bitten. However, in truth, Nelissa was a sheep, and he was the wolf that preyed on her.

Since Nelissa refused to cooperate, Edward pulled her towards him by her feet and carried her in his arms in one swift move. To which she, naturally, struggled, “Put me down!”

The next second, Edward withdrew his hand around her waist without any warning, leaving her unsupported. She immediately grabbed his neck to keep herself from falling.

“Stop wriggling,” Edward gave her a good smack on her bottom before going back to support Nelissa’s weight. “You can do all you want on the bed later.”

Flustered by his words, Nelissa stopped struggling and let Edward carry her into the villa.

Despite the late hour, Eliza was still awake. She came forth to greet Edward upon his return, but she couldn’t help but gasp when she saw Nelissa in his arms.

Nelissa looked miserable and disheveled, and one of her shoes was missing. Perhaps that explained why Edward was carrying her.

Nevertheless, Eliza was still surprised to see Edward bring Nelissa home. It seemed like Nelissa was indeed his new girlfriend. Eliza wondered if Penelope played any role in this budding relationship.

Edward walked straight towards the living room with Nelissa playing dead in his arms. He instructed, “Eliza, bring me a big towel.”

“Y-Yes, right away,” Eliza quickly did as she was told.

Edward was already seated on the couch with Nelissa on his lap when she returned to the living room. He was combing and untangling her hair with his fingers. Then, he took the towel from Eliza and wrapped it around Nelissa, treating her as though she was a delicate china doll.

Eliza, looking from afar, couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She had never seen Edward taking care of anyone, let alone a woman.

It took Edward only a brief while to make things headed in another direction. His fingers slipped downwards from Nelissa’s hair, tracing her brows, her cheeks, then to her lips.

Lightly caressing her red lips, Edward asked huskily, “Have you warmed up yet?”

The red on her lips spread to the rest of her face, and she pushed his hand away. She turned to find Eliza and said, “Eliza please help me. Edward is terrible at this!”

However, before Eliza could answer, Edward pulled Nelissa into his embrace and pressed her hard against him. Then, he gave Eliza another order, “Nelissa dropped her shoe in the car. Go get it.”

After seeing Eliza headed off to the garage, Edward whispered into Nelissa’s ears, “Do you think that Eliza would be able to spare you from what I have in mind for you later, hmm?”

Biting her lips warily, Nelissa didn’t answer him, but she tried to pull away from him.

Yet, Edward would never let her go. He stood up with Nelissa clutching on him like a koala clutching on a tree and headed upstairs.

They were met with Eliza near the bottom of the stairs as she had just returned with Nelissa’s shoe.

Edward stopped to speak to Eliza, “Make some hot chocolate and dinner for her before you end your shift tonight.”

Then, he turned to Nelissa and asked, “Anything you want for dinner?”

“Just a plan sandwich will do,” Nelissa replied. She asked for something easy to make so that Eliza could rest early.

Eliza nodded and left for the kitchen. Edward then continued to make his way upstairs with Nelissa.

When they were alone in his bedroom, Edward put Nelissa down on his bed, to which she struggled to get up, “I was caught in the rain. I’ll make your sheets dirty.”

However, he pinned her back down on the bed and began rummaging through her bag for the photo album. Nelissa immediately jumped up to grab it from Edward’s hand, but he subdued her effortlessly.

Nelissa could only complain, “Give it back to me! There’s nothing to see!”

Edward remained silent. Despite what Nelissa thought, there was a lot for him to see in the album.

There were pages of photos of Nelissa and Zayden together, mostly dated back to years ago. He didn’t know that Nelissa and Zayden had known each other for such a long time.

Edward’s face fell, “Why do you want it back then? Don’t tell me you’re going to just put it up the shelf? Or do you just want something to look at when you miss Zayden?”

“No!” Nelissa broke out in cold sweat. “Just give it back to me!”

She had initially thought that it was unfortunate for her to only retrieve this particular album from the Quest family home. Thankfully, this wasn’t the one that had all her photos with Mary, otherwise, her identity might risk being exposed.

However, there were still chances that Edward might find out something from the photos. After all, some of them were taken in the garden of the Quest family home.

All she could do now was to pray that he had never been to the Quests’ home.

“If that’s the case…,” Edward opened a window in his room “… we could just throw it away, yes?”

He threw the album out of the window, and it landed with a splashing sound.

When Nelissa rushed to look out, the album already sank to the bottom of the swimming pool below.

She felt Edward hugging her tightly from behind. And he said, “I don’t like it when you keep anything related to your ex. He abandoned you, so you didn’t need these photos.

“If you cry for him now,” he forced her to turn and look at him. “I’ll make you cry while you beg me to stop.”

Her anger fueled by his words, Nelissa glared at Edward, “I’ve never seen any man as overbearing as you are!”

Edward’s lips curled into a smile, “Well, it’s normal, considering the fact that you indeed haven’t seen many men before.”

Irked, Nelissa wanted to retort, but Edward immediately tried to kiss her. She turned quickly, and his kiss landed on her freshly-washed hair.

Edward’s eyes darkened. He turned her head around and kissed her between her brows, murmuring, “Go take a shower. Your sandwich should be ready once you’re done.”Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

At this angle, Nelissa could only see Edward’s Adam’s apple moving as he spoke. She gulped, looked away, and complied.

……

While Nelissa was in the shower, Edward sat on his desk and stared at a photo. Nelissa was in her school uniform, standing in front of a grand piano with a trophy in her hand.

Edward liked her smile in this photo. So, he picked it out without Nelissa noticing before throwing the entire album out into the pool.

It was only then he noticed the words inscribed on the trophy.

“Champion: Nelissa Quest of Haleston High School”

Edward was confused. Nelissa and Penelope were classmates, but he knew that Nelissa didn’t study in Haleston High School. Also, Penelope told him that Nelissa had transferred from a high school abroad.

If his memories served him right, that would mean that Nelissa had transferred school twice in her ninth grade, from Haleston High School to some school overseas, then back to Penelope’s high school.

Why? He wondered.

Nelissa turned the showerhead off in the bathroom.

Being pulled back from his thoughts by the absence of the sound of running water, Edward kept the photo he had taken into the pocket of his suit jacket, the one near his heart.

Meanwhile, Nelissa felt a lot better after a warm shower. As she dried herself, she kept thinking about how she had almost got caught.

She didn’t mind having the photo album thrown away. There were only photos of her with Zayden in it anyway. Yet, if the one that she had had even one picture of her with Mary together, things wouldn’t end well for her.

Edward would have recognized Mary and, with his analytical skill, would have realized that Mary was her mother. He didn’t even need to ask any questions then.

Then, he would very soon figure out that she had had a fall out with Sean. And, no doubt, he would interrogate her for Anna’s whereabouts.

Edward wouldn’t hesitate to do anything just to fish out any bit of information that could lead to Anna.

However, the problem was that she had no idea where Anna was. Nelissa couldn’t help but grimace. Then, she realized that she was posed with another problem.

The bathroom had no bathrobe.

The place that usually had the bathrobe was now occupied with folded, clean hand towels. And the only things that Nelissa could wear, if at all, were her towel and Edward’s black silk night robe.

Edward already seemed like he was ready to devour her after the stunt she pulled earlier. She wouldn’t want to risk anything by leaving the bathroom in merely a towel.

The night robe was her only choice.

She had seen him wear it a few times before, usually after he had showered, but it would still be best if she had a bathrobe. So, she pulled the door slightly open and asked, “Hey, where’s the bathrobe in your bathroom?”

“I don’t know,” Edward answered off-handedly.

It left Nelissa no choice. She took a deep breath and continued, “Could I wear your night robe then?”

Edward immediately looked towards the bathroom with bright eyes.