At the moment, I couldn't be any more happier that at least he wasn't naked. His tuxedo clunged to his body like a second layer of skin.Surprisingly, he had remembered to take off his shoes, which were lazily placed by the door. Water soaked every inch of his clothing but he didn't seem to care. His head was right under the shower, water droplets raining down his hair, then down his eyes which were closed. One of his hands was placed flat on the wall right in front of him, while he used the other to swiftly push back his hair away from his face. He seemed to be less clumsy now, but as soon as that thought appeared in my mind, he stumbled, gripping on the wall as if it'll hold him up. Somehow the wall managed to do so.

I didn't know what to do, do I get him out? Or just leave him there, I mean he will eventually decide to dry himself and go to bed, right?

I discovered that the sound of something being dropped came from the bottle of body wash that lay flat on the floor. His eyes finally opened and they found the body wash too, then what he did next, left me confused if I should let out the laugh building up in my chest or make my presence unknown.

"Hey! Get up. I'm talking to you!" He pointed his finger at the bottle, "you dare disobey me? I'm your freaking king!"

Not wanting him to be furious and take his anger out on me, I stepped inside the tub, and tried to drag him into the room, "Come on, you need to sleep."

I didn't care if my clothes got wet, it's better than the wrath I will have to face by him if he found out in the morning that I just left him there. And apparently he wasn't helping me much since he put his weight completely on me to carry. I tried to push him out of the tub and he finally obeyed after making some annoyed sounds.

He paused when we walked right by the mirror on vanity. He looked at his reflection and said, "Woh, I'm wet."

And then he let out a laugh as if he just heard the most funny joke. I just stood there with a straight face, debating on if I should just go to sleep and let him be.

"I'll go out so you can change. Here, let me bring your clothes."

I let him lean against the vanity as I ran to the closet and grabbed the first comfortable shirt and some sweatpants I could find. Carrying the clothes back, I placed them onto the small table in the huge bathroom.

I began to walk outside the bathroom but a hand stopped me by grabbing onto my wrist. I turned back and looked at it, my eyes following the slightly visible veins on his arms, but before I could make room for those thoughts to settle in my mind, I stopped looking at him and dropped my eyes to the floor.

"I can'ttttt, the world is spinning, you do it."

I raised my eyes, "do what?"

"Change my clothes."

He said it as if it was the most simply thing in the world. I hope he didn't noticed the blush making its way onto my face.

"I can't. I'm going to sleep."

Before I could even take a step away from him, he pulled me against him by grabbing onto the side of my waist. I hated to admit it, but a warm feeling spread everywhere he touched, even though it wasn't a skin to skin contact. I tried to push him away but failed. Since when did he gain back his strength?!

"Dam- Your Majesty, let me go. Please."

He guided my hands close to him until they were touching the top button on his tuxedo. My fingers started slightly shaking, perhaps from the touch of his cold hands. Having the first physical contact ever since he gave me his blood, it sent waves of electricity down my body, filling me with a newfound adrenaline rush. My eyes followed the buttons of his suit up towards his damp shirt, the soaked tie, until I found his closed eyelids.

Hurry up already.

My eyes widen slightly as I heard his voice in my head. Thinking I was going crazy, I started to open up the buttons with my shaky hands, I can go sleep after this and forget anything happened. I don't know why I was being so nervous.

When the last button came lose, I finally released the breath I didn't know I was holding. The king struggled to take off the tuxedo. The thought that he might only be doing this to torture or annoy me made its way into my mind for the tenth time.

I helped him shrug off the jacket from his shoulders, and he lazily threw it on the floor. The King's hands came up to open up the buttons of his white shirt, which clung dangerously onto his abs, highlighting every single muscle under the thin white material. Watching his failed attempts, I realized his mind couldn't seem to concentrate so I gently pushed away his hands, and decided to undo them myself. The quicker I do this, the quicker I can get away from him and this weird fuzziness in my stomach will dissappear.

One of my fingers brushed against the naked skin of his chest, and I felt him shiver under my touch.

It must somehow be the fact that I have his blood inside me, I told myself.

I looked up at him, and this time, really looked at him. I now realized how big of a mess he looked. It seemed like he hasn't shaved in a couple days, there were dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep. A pained line replaced the usual frown on his forehead.

He looked like he just woke up from the dead. Which is kind of funny since he is dead... But he always looks far from it. I'm sure if he ever smiled, it would bring life to this place.

Shaking off my meaningless thoughts, I focused on taking off his shirt. Trying to ignore the fact that my face is probably red as a tomato right now, I pushed the wet shirt away from his chest so he could take it off.

He didn't respond, just stood there, leaning against the vanity so I decided to slid it off myself. My hands made feather like contact with his arms and I continued to ignore the tingles. I noticed everywhere I touched, the King's muscles would tense up too but his face now stayed neutral.

Once his shirt was finally off, I spoke up, "you change ur pants now. I'll be in the room."

Without waiting for a reply, I walked out of the bathroom, because I felt as if he has tortured me enough. Does he not know what being so close to him forces me to experience?

I shook my head angrily, as if that will clear it up. Grabbing a blanket and pillow, I walked towards the corner were I always slept, and settled down onto the soft yet uncomfortable rug.

I heard the King coming out of the bathroom and somehow managed to walk to his bed without falling over, he too tucked in and closed his eyes.

A moment passed by and there was only silence surrounding us but then, all of a sudden, the King got up. Using his unnatural speed he was in the bathroom in a blink, puking his guts out. I closed my eyes, thinking maybe he deserves this for drinking too much. But then the other part of me, the part that always gets me in trouble, took over as I pushed back the blankets and ran to the bathroom.

There he was, the oh so scary Vampire King, right in front of me, throwing up in the toilet and coughing once in a while. I ran towards him and kneeled down right beside him. An old memory made its way into my mind when Maria was patting and rubbing my back while I was throwing up. Without thinking much about it, I started doing that to the King. First he tensed up, probably wondering what I'm doing, but then he slowly started to relax under my touch.

His coughs died down as he whispered, "I'm okay now."

I took that as my cue to leave, so I got up and went inside the room to get him a glass of water. I came back to hand it to him, but found him brushing his teeth. I stood patiently in the doorway, and when he finished, he ignored my presence and walked towards the bed, sitting down on the edge. He put his head in his hands while resting his elbows on his knees.

I walked close to him and sat on the tip of my toes, my face was leveled with his chest due to his tree like height. I don't know what took over me, but I found myself resting my free hand on his knee.

"Are you alright?"

I don't know what made me ask that, of course he's not alright, Alexis. He looks like he's literally having a mental breakdown due to the way he keeps rubbing his eyes as if to make the tears suddenly dissappear, but they were still there. I still got a sneak peek and that one glance I shared with the water like substance right under his eye, my own heart twisted and broke into a million little pieces.

He was crying.

And I didn't know what to do. This was all so strange to me, I was so used to his cold ways, I didn't know how to handle this side of him.

I offered the glass of water again, and this time he gently snatched it. Without even drinking the water, he turned his face to look at me in the eyes, and for the first time today, he didn't seem drunk or wobbly, the only way to tell he actually was were the bloodshot eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" His cold tone was back again, and it made me doubt if he was ever vulnerable just a few moments ago in the first place.

"Doing what?"

"Why are you doing this, Katrina? Why now? I thought you didn't care about me."

Even though his eyes were looking right at me, I felt like he couldn't see me at all. I felt like he was talking to a whole different person. He never used that tone with me, as if he was almost begging.

And Katrina? Who is that?

Before I could hit him with questions, he let out a cry and gripped his forehead again. I decided to give him a break from any sort of interrogation and stood up. I guided him to lay flat on the bed because it seemed like his head was spinning.

His head hit the pillows and I sat next to him. My hand, as if having a mind of its own, reached out and removed his hand which was gripping his head.

My hand replaced his and I started to gently stroke his forehead like Maria did when I was sick. I felt like it might make him feel better, too.

And it did. He finally stopped crying and closed his eyes.

I softly ran my fingers through his hair, just because if felt so damn good. I know I shouldn't be doing this, he will surely be mad at me if he wasn't so drunk. I pushed those thoughts away and focused on now. The present. Where for once, I felt at a strange kind of ease. There was a peaceful melody in the atmosphere and I loved every bit of it.

The King's arm moved a little and it seemed like he was murmuring something, I couldn't make out what at first. But then a few words were clearly spoken and I knew exactly who they were meant for.

"Why did you leave me, Mom?"

I stopped breathing.

What am I supposed to say? I didn't have the heart to tell him it's not your mom touching your forehead. So I just sat there quietly, hoping he will go back to sleep, even though he did seem to be murmuring in his sleep.

I continued to smooth out the frown taking its place on his face every so often. And then sometime during that strange night, sleep overtook me and I welcomed it with open arms.

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