MUTUAL FIXATION || WINRINA

CHAPTER 5

Winter's Point of View

Equally confused, I watched Karina walk back towards the living area, bottle of liquor gripped in her hands.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Drinking," she said.

I had to raise an eyebrow and ask, "Why?"

She shrugged only, a mischievous smile playing her lips, and retorted. "Nothing in particular, sweetheart. Today is just a day to indulge." And with that, she settled herself on the nearby single couch. "Wanna join me?"

I hesitated for a moment, looked at the expression cast upon her playful face, then nodded my head. This time, a satisfied smile spread across her face.

She put another bottle of hard liquor into my hands, and I tasted it. "Hmm, not bad," I said tenderly with satisfaction.

I leaned back in the seat, crossed my legs, and took a drink. Karina had been keeping her hands busy with her cellphone, but I had a feeling that she was peeking in my direction from time to time, which just started to very lightly bother me.

"Stop that, Karina," I finally said, breaking the silence.

Innocently raising an eyebrow, she replied, "Stop what? I'm not doing anything."

I rolled my eyes, feeling a little embarrassed, and shot back, "Stop glancing at me from time to time; It makes me uncomfortable."

She giggled, and her eyes twinkled mischievously. "I'm just talking to mom; they're heading home tomorrow," was her explanation.

A smile broke on my face, and I went, "Really?"

"Yeah, she's wondering if you might like anything from them," Karina said.

"It's okay; just tell them to have a safe flight," I replied once again, touched by her care from the deep of my heart.

"You sure?" She inquired, her eyes drenched into mine, in search of something. I nodded, and she just shrugged at me before turning her attention to her phone.

As I straightened my appearance, observing Karina typing away on her phone, I couldn't help but notice how she eventually put it away and pinned me down with a stare. Composing herself, she leaned back in the couch, mimicking my posture with legs crossed, which exposed her legs, her wearing a red silk nightgown.

I admitted grudgingly to myself that she was ridiculously hot.

I shook my head and turned away, successfully quashing that line of thought, and breathed out hard before I drank deeply from the liqour.

Well, they would all coming back tomorrow. I just hoped Karina would stop making fun of me from then on.

I felt her eyes on me so I opened my eyes to meet that commonly cold, aloof stare of hers.

After a few minutes, I finally worked up the courage to ask, "How come you've been acting so sketchy about everything since I got here?"

Her eyes shot up, and she said, "Are you really asking me that?"

"Yes, I am. So please, answer my question," I insisted.

"I have told you, Winter," she replied truthfully.

Shaking my head, I persisted, "No, you didn't."

With a deep sigh, Karina put the drink on the coffee table and paid a hundred-percent focus to me.

"Because I'm trying to control this madness," she confessed, her tone devoid of its usual coldness, sending shivers down my spine. "The first time I saw you, I felt an overwhelming desire in me to possess you, to have you all to myself. I thought it was wrong, but as the days passed, the intensity grew to a point where I couldn't control or suppress it anymore." There was the ultimate seriousness in her voice.

"Why?" I murmured, completely captivated by her revelation.

"I don't know," she breathed, her face contorted with real perplexity. "There's just something about you that sets all these feelings off inside me," she went on, shaking her head. "But don't ask me to stop, because I can't and I won't." A smirk appeared on her lips. "You can't stop me from claiming you," she murmured provocatively.

"But you should," I declared, my voice filled with uncertainty.

"Oh, honey, even if I should, I would never," she declared, a mischievous little grin playing with her lips.

"Why?" I asked, desperate to know.

"Because I've already started, honey..." she announced, the playful tease in her voice.

I started noticing a pattern here, in the way she was speaking to me. When she was serious, she used my name; when she was in this playful mood, she used that endearment.

"And, uh, I won't stop after I've tasted your lips, honey," she added, her voice laced with desire.

"Shut up," I mumbled, turning my head aside, my cheeks turning a shade of red.

Karina chuckled, shaking her head in amusement, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her stand up and walk towards the dining section. She came back holding a bottle of wine.

"Are you trying to get drunk?" I said, raising an eyebrow at the wine.

"Don't worry; I barely get drunk," she assured me with a playful smile.

I nodded and put down the liquor in front of me, instead reaching for a glass of wine. As I took a sip, her eyes never left mine, waiting for my reaction.

"This is far better," I said, appreciating the smooth flavor on my palate.

She couldn't help but chuckle at the sound of her laughter filling the air with melodic resonance deep inside me.

She suddenly stood up from her place on the single couch and gracefully sat beside me. Her body heat pressed on mine as she rested her head on my shoulder, making my heart race.

"Breathe, honey," she whispered playfully into my ear, soft like brushing breath against the skin.

Confused, enticed, I furrowed my eyebrows a little as I asked inaudibly, "What are you doing?"

I just hoped she wouldn't hear the violent thumping of my heart at that moment, which gave away unsaid desires.

"Nothing, just let me rest my head for a minute," she said mucilaginously.

I could not help myself; I merely nodded, hoping she would hold on to this proximity. I sipped wine from the glass in front of me, but my mind was not free to really feel its taste. When she was next to me, my head would light up with such a flurry of ideas that it became hard to reason.

It's suffocating.

She lifted her face, and our eyes met. Her lips were smiling mischievously, her gaze extremely unabashed, but her stare to the very depths of my soul sent a shiver down my spine. That look just did something to me. Like light a fire when I was very much trying to contain it.

"Calm your heart; it's only me," she returned, a thread of amusement and tenderness suffused into her voice.
Irritated that she could read me so easily, I rolled my eyes in response, a habit that seemed to irritate her.

"Didn't I tell you not to roll your eyes at me?" she chided, raising her eyebrow in playful admonishment.

Caught off guard by this, I couldn't help but retort with "What's the harm in a little eye-rolling?"

She muttered softly, looking at me with her creased forehead, "Cut that eye-rolling thingy; I hate it."

Suddenly, a mischievous thought crossed my mind, and a playful smirk curved my lips. I leaned over closer to her and whispered back, "What would you do if I continued rolling my eyes at you, hmm?"

Her own smirk broadened, and she rose to her feet in a quick motion, not once taking her eyes off mine. She sat facing me, her legs bracing my lap as she positioned herself in front of me. Her arms wrapped around my neck, drawing me into her very presence.

She leaned forwards, her breath dancing about my ear as she whispered, "Try me."