Chapter 116: I Might Have Fallen In Love With You

She was suddenly awash with a strange feeling. She never relied on other people for protection, but that was only because she had no one willing to truly protect her.

She was used to facing things on her own, the people who cared about her, she truly cherished them the best she could, but she had always learnt that the only person who could truly save her from distress, was herself. However, his words awakened a dormant part of her.

’…no one will dare to hurt you like that again.’

“Are you alright?” His voice jolted her from her thoughts and she looked up, then immediately discarded the emotions that must have surfaced in her eyes.

“I’m fine.” She hurriedly replied.

“You don’t seem fine.” He was staring intently at her as if trying to see through what she was hiding, “Does it hurt anywhere?”

She didn’t want to get used to the gentleness in his voice, nor that look of concern in his eyes.

“No.” She replied plainly.

He tilted his head watching her assesively, then without another word he got off his seat and strode towards her.

Celine closed her eyes releasing a discreet breath as she tried to calm down her frantically beating heart and the warmth welling up in her chest.

Why was he talking to her like this? It was making her think things.

When he came near her, she stiffened as he leaned down, his face inches away from her own.

“Don’t lie to me, your face is turning red. Are you really not feeling anything?” His words were a hoarse whisper, but she barely heard them against the sound of her own heart thundering like a deranged bird trying to burst out of a cage.

She was lost in his eyes, her lips parted as she held her breath, he was too close.

“I do.” She muttered, unaware of her own words herself.

She was feeling something, actually she was feeling everything.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, staring at her even more intently.

“I feel like…” She trailed off and he urged her on with his gaze.

’I feel like my heart is about to explode, and if you keep being this nice to me, I might have no choice but to admit that…I might have fallen in love with you.’

The words she was about to say woke her up.

What the hell had she been thinking? Had she really almost said that to him?

She wasn’t in love with him!

What she felt for him was…

No, she actually didn’t feel anything for him but the lingering attraction from five years ago. That night it had been attraction and right now it was still attraction and she could fight it. She shouldn’t allow her mind to put meaning to such casual feelings.

“You were saying…?”

She snapped back to the present, meeting his gaze.

“Nothing, I was saying that I feel really good now. Thank you for bringing me to the hospital, but I can take it from here. You may leave now, Mr Grayson.” She didn’t disguise the dismissiveness in her voice, clearly sending him away.

She expected his expression to turn cold, expected him to be annoyed by her shooing him off after he’d helped her, but his facial expression remained the same.

“It’s Tristan to you.” He said before adding, “You should get some sleep.”

Celine was surprised that she hadn’t infuriated him. “I’m not tired, I just woke up.”

He smiled, a small upward tilt of his lips that revealed his dimple faintly.

“You won’t be stepping a foot out of this hospital if you’re not well rested, Celine. You wanted to go home so badly didn’t you?”

Her eyes widened, was he threatening her?

“You can’t keep me here, I’m not sick!”

He said nothing, the look in his eyes level, as if telling her that he would and he could keep her here and she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

She was outraged, wanting to say something but she couldn’t find the words, in the end she bit her tongue, laid down and pulled the blanket up. “Goodnight.” She uttered with a sharp, controlled annoyance and she heard him chuckle lightly then returned to his seat.

He seemed to be having the time of his life playing bodyguard and telling her what to do.

Silence descended into the room again, several minutes passing by but she couldn’t fall asleep.

“You don’t have to stay here all night, I won’t leave.”

He said nothing, remaining focused on what he was reading, his silence evidently telling her that he did plan to stay all night.

“Aren’t you going to sleep?” She asked again, mainly because the silence was deafening and it was making her thoughts drift.

“No.” He replied curtly, seemingly fully engrossed in the magazine pages.

She frowned at that. He always leaves the office late, then comes in really early the next day, sometimes, she could perceive exhaustion from him but he never showed it on his face. Celine concluded, perhaps he was the type of person who barely got any rest at all.

“Don’t you ever feel tired?” She asked again.

“No. Now go to sleep.” He replied like someone speaking to a child who liked to talk too much when they were supposed to be sleeping.

She fell silent for a bit before saying, “You should get some sleep too, I won’t be able to fall asleep with someone watching over me.”

He lowered his book then fixed his gaze on her, about to reply when he suddenly stopped, eyes narrowing subtly as he shut the magazine and kept it aside, “Alright.” He said, but then suddenly got off his seat.

He unbuttoned his coat then took it off and strode towards her in the bed.

Wait, why was he coming to her?

Before she could say anything, he climbed into the bed right next to her, catching her of guard. His large body making the averagely sized bed feel extremely small, he pulled her flush against him and her eyes widened even more.

“Tristan… what are you doing?” She was panicking, immediately pushing against his chest but the hand around her waist was fixed, keeping her firmly in place.

“Relax, I don’t bite.”

His face was close to hers now, and she held her breath, her eyes shutting really tight.

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