Gavrael could not help but laugh internally at the cute way she had responded. But since they needed to keep as silent as possible, he only smiled at her. "Worry not, Evie… I would never let that happen." He whispered breathily in her ear and Evie's heart was jolted as it raced like a crazy horse.

She had even nearly forgotten about the maids who were now inside her room. It was not until she felt one of them approached the bed that she got startled out of her reverie. Oh no!

Her eyes widened, feeling like her heart was in her throat. Then out of the blue, someone lifted her blanket.

Evie's eyes flew wide open but to her surprise, the person who had teased her earlier and was just lying right by her side was already gone. It was as though he was never there in the first place! She swallowed nervously and then turned to look at the maid who was now blinking at her in shock as she stared at the empty space next tto Evie.

"W-what are you doing?" Evie asked, feigning an annoyed look.

"I… I'm so sorry young lady. I was just… I just thought…" The maid had not expected the young lady to suddenly open her eyes when she was just intending to check on the young lady. The way her eyes suddenly flew opened just gave her the fright of her life!

"You just thought what?" Evie pretended to grumble as though she was annoyed at being disturbed in her sleep.

"N-nothing my lady. Please forgive my rude action. I was only wanting to check if you were alright…" She bowed and Evie sighed she waved her hands to dismissed them.

The moment the door closed behind them, a long and deep sigh escaped Evie's lips as she fell back onto the bed. But she was shocked to find Gavrael lying right next to her again – in that exact same spot he was right before he disappeared into thin air.

Evie closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, feeling frustrated at this person lying next to her. "You know you're going to kill me with all these shocks you're giving me!" she scolded, her voice still managed to sound annoyed despite the fact that she was whispering.

But Gavrael did not bother to move nor speak. He did not even open his eyes and just laid there passively, causing Evie to bite he lower lip. She knew he was playing around.

"Stop feigning sleep and get off my bed!" She growled as softly as she could and shook him grouchily, her pink lips pursed into an adorable pout.

He sat up without opening his eyes and the next instant he fell back again, this time, grabbing Evie too. One arm wrapped around her waist and the other wrapped around her shoulders as they laid there.

"G-gavrael! Wha-what are you –" Evie gave a little shriek before clapping both her hands over her mouth to mute her own exclamations.

"Be still Evie, just a moment. Let's stay like this for a moment. I won't do anything you don't like." He whispered lazily, still closing his eyes and breathing deeply as he held her close. He then snuggled closer to her and buried his nose into her hair, drawing a deep breath that brought the unique scent of her personal fragrance into his lungs.

Evie was speechless but as she calmed down, she eventually gave in.

"I want to sleep like this but your heartbeat's really too loud." He said teasingly and Evie huffed.

"And whose fault do you think that is?!" Evie said as she huffed and turned her head aside, looking away from his distracting face.

He opened his eyes. A smile playing across his lips. "Are you saying that your heartbeat is like this because of me?"

Evie started at his question, realised what she had just said. She could not respond.

"They said your heartbeat only acts like this towards someone if you like that person." He added as his intense eyes fixed themselves on her. Evie felt the heavy gaze and could not help but swallow and turned to look at him.

"I… I don't think so… it… it might only be because of nervousness." She reasoned, unable to take her eyes off him.

"Do you want me to help you figure out if it's simply nervousness? Or maybe it is something else…?"

"H-huh? How would you even –"

Evie was not given the chance to finish her sentence before his warm lips swooped down and crashed themselves against hers like a fiery brand. She felt the sear across her own lips, and it was like time stood still and butterflies… she could feel butterflies fluttering and dancing around in her stomach.

When their lips parted, his eyes were much more intense and she held her breath, knowing that he was planning to kiss her again. But the kiss did not come as expected because Gavrael started to clasp his chest and wince in pain again.

He growled low as he cursed. She panicked at the sight of him doubled over in pain.

"Gav… what's…"

Just like that, he disappeared before her. Leaving her frozen still as she sat on the bed, eyes wide in disbelief. He had already explained to her that this happens to him every time he forgets about his time limit, and it had run out. She looked out the window at the dawn sky and she fell on her back.

She ran her fingers lightly over her still bruised lips over and over until her face turned red. She was still unable to believe that she had been kissed.

…

For the next two nights – as he had already told her in advance – Gavrael did not appear in her rooms the moment it got dark. Evie's life somehow did not feel the same anymore. She missed him terribly even though it was only two nights. She never would have thought she would, but in these past two nights, she found herself waiting for him, wishing that he would come – even though she knew he would not.