Arranged •{ONC 2020}•

《 Chapter Twelve 》

When Wesley woke up, the bed was cold.

He lied still, staring into the darkness, barely able to make out the patterns on the textured ceiling. A glance at the clock told him he had a solid ten minutes before his alarm went off. He'd gotten used to waking up early to untangle himself from Ashlynn. The fact that it only took three days to establish the habit, almost as if it was natural, had somewhat unsettled him.

He wondered how long it would take for it to go away.

It was still too dark outside for any light to filter in through the curtains. Was it not for the red glare from his alarm clock, Wesley could've fooled himself into thinking he was floating in space.

Alone.

Once the family left on Saturday—after spending two days shopping and visiting—Ashlynn began moving her stuff back into her room. It made sense, really. With the family gone, they didn't need to pretend to be married. Besides, she made it quite clear that she wasn't ready to spend more time with him, and he knew she needed her space. They were both coming to terms with what had happened between them, but Ashlynn had a lot more to get over than he did. And she didn't have medicine to stave off the nightmares, like he did.

Wesley looked at the clock again. Four more minutes.

He knew he shouldn't have been surprised by her actions, but it stung a little to see her carrying away boxes of clothes and books mere minutes after Jamison and his family left. She hadn't even hesitated. At least he knew that things would go back to normal—whatever that was—until the family visited again.

Her family. Not theirs, and certainly not his.

The alarm clock beeped, and Wesley slammed the off button a little harder than necessary. He started to carefully slip out of bed and immediately chided himself for trying to be sneaky. Ashlynn wasn't here anymore; he could be as loud as he wanted. Yet, he still found himself quietly rifling through his drawers and padding over to the bathroom for his shower.

His lips quirked up in a small grin. Her toothbrush was still in the cup next to his.

《♡》

Ashlynn dug around in her bag one last time before sighing in annoyance.

She left her toothbrush in Wesley's bathroom.

"Of all the things," she muttered, to no one in particular. She'd been so focused on getting out of there so she could finally breathe, she'd completely forgotten about it. "I needed a new one anyways."

That was a lie. That toothbrush was brand new. But that didn't mean she had to admit it, nor that she would.

Ashlynn finished getting dressed and made her way downstairs for breakfast. Aunt Leah sat at the head of the table, humming something to herself as she smeared quince preserves on a biscuit. Wesley sat next to her great aunt and cast a glance up at her before shoving a forkful of waffles into his mouth.

"Morning."

Wesley mumbled something incoherent and Aunt Leah gave her a wide grin. "Good morning, Dearie. How'd you sleep?"

"Just fine." Another lie. Even under a mountain of blankets, she'd been miserably cold. Ashlynn hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night.

"I see," Aunt Leah arched her eyebrow, seeing right through Ashlynn's lie but saying nothing about it. "You'd better eat quickly; you can't be late to the office during the holiday season."

"Yeah, I know. I was busy looking for something and lost track of time."

Wesley's eyes darted up to meet hers. He held her gaze, waiting for her to mention the toothbrush.