Alex placed her down by the end of the ladder.
He turned to her and said, “I’ll go down first. Make sure you hold on to the ladder so the wind doesn’t blow you away again,” he almost sounded worried about her but he was wearing a mischievous smile again as he said those words.
He quickly made his way down and the moment his feet landed on solid ground, he looked up and motioned for her to follow.
Abi swallowed. It was easy when she climbed up but looking down now, she felt a little scared. Thankfully, seeing Alex down there calmed her heart.
She then placed her feet on the first rung and Alex immediately noticed her feet were slightly shaking. He twitched as he became alert. This girl was simply unbelievable. How could she talk so tough and all that when she was trembling over something like this?
As Abi carefully climbed down, Alex didn’t realise it but he had been holding his breath the entire time he watched her and only let it out when she was finally at arms reach.
Abi jumped down to the verandah and clapped her hands together and beamed in satisfaction. ‘One more thing to tick off the list!’ she celebrated inwardly.
They headed back to the dining hall where dinner was already laid out on the table. She was surprised to see Mr. Black Leather Jacket sitting there, casually chatting with Alex’s latest visitor.
“Alex! What took you so long? Were you exercising or something?” Xavier said as he saw the two enter the room. He accompanied his statement with a couple of winks, clearly indicating what kind of ‘exercise’ he was referring to.
Kai nudged Xavier like a big brother does when their younger brother was being naughty and he went up to Abi and finally introduced himself.
“Hello, Abigail. My name is Skyler, but you can call me Kai for short.” He paused and looked at the guy next to him and introduced him also. “This guy here is Xavier… You can call him Zee or you can just ignore him, that’s fine too,” he said with a quick smile and a twinkle in his eye.
“Hi Kai. I finally found out what your real name is! I’ve been calling you Mr. Black Leather jacket this whole time,” she confessed with a shy smile.
The moment she smiled at Kai, she felt a chill coming from behind her. She immediately turned to Alex and made puppy dog eyes at him and tried to distract him. “Alex, I’m hungry… Can we eat?” Her stomach grumbled right on cue and the frozen iceberg melted a little.
Without a word, Alex strode towards the table and sat down and waited for everyone else to take their seat.
Abi was relieved that Alex didn’t ask her to sit on his lap again. Was it because Ezekiel Qin was not around? She noticed that the table was only set for four people – one for Alex at the head of the table, one to his right and two to his left. Maybe Ezekiel Qin wasn’t back yet.
Xavier walked towards the seat on the right so Abi and Kai took the seats to the left but before they could seat themselves, Alex looked at Xavier with cold daggers in his eyes.
Xavier knew that look but his expression clearly said he had no idea what he did to earn that look. The words, ‘what did I do wrong?’ flashed in his eyes.
Xavier racked his brain but could not solve the puzzle at all! Luckily a savior arrived. Charles the butler, walked towards Xavier and whispered in his ear. “Mr. Xavier, I believe that seat is reserved for Miss Abigail.”
His eyes became as round as a full moon as realization finally dawned on him. He immediately flew to the other side of the table and stood next to Abigail. “I’m sorry, Abigail. I didn’t mean to take your seat.”
Abigail, who had no idea what was happening, just stared at him. ‘Huh? My seat? I don’t have my own seat… What was he talking about?’ She looked at Charles, then Alex and at Xavier as he motioned for her to take the seat on Alex’s right hand side.
She was so confused but she did as he asked because, one, she didn’t want to upset anyone and two, she wanted to tame her grumbling stomach.
As she took her seat, the other two did also.
Dinner was comfortable and lively as the two men across her bantered back and forth, with Kai getting the better of Xavier most of the time. Alex sat quietly like he was away on a different different planet, while Abi ate her fill while observing Alex’s visitors.
Abi tried to drag her meal out for as long as she could because she knew what was coming. She was going to be sent back to her room while all the men talked about their ‘secret squirrel man business’ – that she now referred to as.
As expected, after she finished her meal, the order came. “Go upstairs and wait for me in your room,” he said and she just sighed in resignation.
Before Alex or Abi could say anything else, Xavier butted in in surprise.
“She has her own room? You’re not sleeping in the same bed?!” he was surprised. “Why?”
Alex wanted to glare at Xavier and tell him it was none of his business but Abi also looked at him, as if she, too, was curious about the reason. She too was quite surprised and wondered why she got given a separate room when she first arrived at the house. She fully thought that when he said that he needed his girlfriend to live with him, that he would expect her to sleep in the same room as him. So yes, she was definitely curious as to why he didn’t.
“Because this little fruit is still unripe…” he explained as he put his big hand on her head and rubbed it. “I don’t eat unripe fruits,” he added as he smiled at Abi.
