MUTUAL FIXATION || WINRINA

PRELUDE

At exactly 3:00 AM, the witching hour, I stirred from inside my bed to meet the silence of the night. My sleepy eyes somehow wandered through the familiar corners of our home before finally being pitched on the room adjacent to mine.

I pushed the door open gently and went into the room almost with reverent quiet. I then ensured that the door was well locked behind me before walking, quite gingerly, to where my stepsister, Winter, was sleeping on the bed.

I stood over her, a tender smile wending its way onto my face. Stooping low, I pushed back a few stray strands of hair that fell across her face. My fingers drew a tender path along her cheeks; the skin so soft sent tantalizing ripples in their wake.

"You're driving me to the brink of insanity, Winter," I murmured, my thumb outlining her lips. My gaze would not leave hers; the thought swirled inside my mind.

"I don't care about those societal norms that make you my step-sister. You're mine, Winter—to me, you are only mine," I declared, my voice suddenly full of possession.

I drew back my hand from her lips and moved over to the single couch placed next to her bed. I sat down in sort of a casual cross-legged position, but my eyes did not leave her.

It wakes me up every night, right at 3:00 AM, from my bed and into her room, where I always sit watching over her while she slept. Some may refer to it as madness; well, it's a madness I had painfully lived with for the past three months.

She evoked an interest in me which nobody else did. "I love the innocence that graces your face, darling," I whispered, watching her stir a bit in her sleep.

This has been my routine for three months now. I'm not sure what's happening to me, but one thing's for sure—the craving for her, the need to make her mine, only mine.

The thought of making her completely mine did tantalize my mind. Getting up from the couch, I leaned over closer, then lightly planted a kiss on her lips.

The instant our lips touched, my heart raced in my chest. I lingered for a few, most treasured seconds, then pulled away.

A couple of minutes more, I allowed myself—she drank in her peaceful visage—before I exited her room, back to retire into my own.

"Winter... you're fueling an obsession within me," I mumbled to myself, the echo of her name lingering in the silence of the night.