✿𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 || 𝖡𝗋𝗂𝖺𝗇 𝖬𝖺𝗒 ❥𝑶𝒏𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈✿

❀𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐎𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠❀

The next morning, you'd risen early, as usual - even though it was more so that you'd pulled an 'all nighter' rather than it was 'you'd risen early'; for even though you had later returned to lay back down with your husband, you still hadn't quite been able to fall asleep.

Not properly, at least.

But, even though you'd been up for most of the night, you didn't feel as exhausted as you thought you would, mainly because you didn't have to prepare for work that morning - which, strangely enough, had proven to be a relief for you.

You would never have imagined that you'd have been happy to have fulfilled a day off from work, under your present circumstances - yet there you were, all too content to not have to be at the clinic that day.

The only reason you had been in agreement with taking a day's absence from the clinic was that you did not want to see Brian just yet - and there had been no doubt that he would show up at the facility to see you, which you weren't ready to entertain. The events from the previous night were still raw in your mind, exacerbated by the lie you'd wound up telling your husband.

Nevertheless, seeing Christian unhurt was all you wanted, you realized that even more clearly when you'd almost revealed the truth to him - so if you had to lie to keep him from being destroyed by your slight betrayal, you were going to do it.

As long as it doesn't ever happen again, right?

At the present moment, Christian had only just left for work, bidding you an affectionate 'goodbye' when he'd left - but not before he reminded you to take appropriate rest, and to call him if you found yourself too overwhelmed.

Yet again, his reassurances left you feeling safe and secure, healing you, in some way.

Now that it was nearly nine, and given that the day outside was beautiful, you'd decided that you wanted to take a bit of a walk in the vast courtyard, where nature was lush, and where the fresh breeze held the unfailing promise of renewal.

You were casually pacing down the staircase, intending to head straight toward the front doors when you'd spotted Maria, who appeared to have been reorganizing the items on one of the bookshelves in the foyer - as per her duties.

When she'd heard your footsteps, she glanced back to get a glimpse of whom it was, and when she saw that it was you, she ceased her movements, turning to face you as you reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Good morning, (Y/N)," she managed to enunciate your name with respect, even though she was much older than you.

"Good morning, Maria," you gave her a small smile, returning her courtesy.

You took a few more steps forward, just so that you weren't too far away from her, for the area was huge.

Upon noticing your gentle smile, she did her best to give you a smile back - but she didn't seem as though she was used to smiling. It almost appeared to be a bit of an effort for her to do so.

Still, you were rather impressed to see that she was very attractive when she smiled - her high cheekbones becoming more pronounced when she did so.

However, you also descried the observation that she looked oddly familiar when she smiled, but you couldn't put your finger on it. You were certain that she reminded you of someone that you'd seen before - when she smiled - but you couldn't distinguish whom.

Before you could ponder any further, though, Maria's voice snapped you out of your thoughts.

"How are you feeling this morning?" she inquired. "Better than last night, I hope,"