Match Made in Quarantine

10. Day Three

The sun was not shining, the birds were not chirping, and it was not a good start to a new day.

Not that I could actually be sure of any of that considering I was still lying in bed with the covers pulled over my head. My alarm had gone off a whole hour ago and I woke up covered in sweat. The memory of Maddox chasing me with an assortment of leather whips and chains while repeating the words "game night" was still echoing through my head. I suppose I should have been instantly worried about my sanity since it was the start of a pandemic and yet my nightmares revolved around a boy.

To be fair, it's not like I could control my subconscious and Maddox was a total wild card. I had no idea what came over him when he made that kind of a rule. The point of those was to keep a substantial distance between each other. Instead it looked like we were going to be playing games together.

With a shudder I got out of bed. It's not like I could exactly spend the entire morning hiding out. In hindsight, I probably should have.

I opened the door of my room and relaxed a bit when I noticed the quiet. Letting out a happy sigh I started walking toward the kitchen but stopped abruptly in front of Maddox room.

The door was slightly ajar and inside I could hear Maddox talking to someone. But, that in itself wasn't what stopped me in my tracks. The reason I stopped was that from outside in the hall, with sound muffled, it sounded like Maddox was speaking gibberish.

Mildly concerned for his sanity but largely just increasingly curious I tiptoed to his bedroom. Leaning slightly against his door I tried to decipher what he was saying but quickly realized that there was no way I could.

Maddox was speaking in Chinese. And with the speed he was talking, he was more than just conversational in it.

Did I wake up in a parallel reality?

I'm ashamed to admit that I was completely entranced by how serious he sounded as the words flowed from his tongue effortlessly. So entranced in fact, that I hadn't even noticed he'd stopped talking....

Until the door to his room suddenly opened and I almost fell flat on my face in surprise. My cheeks burned hot in embarrassment as his strong hands steadied me and kept me upright.

"Honing your stalker skills, I see?" His voice sounded both amused and surprised so I knew I was in trouble, "If you want to come inside my room, all you have to do is ask."

I was pretty sure even stepping into his room would give me an STD.

Carefully, and full of regret, I looked up at his face. Once he caught my eyes he wiggled his eyebrows, deepening the smirk on his lips.

I realized then that his arms were still on my shoulders so I quickly pushed them away and cleared my throat.

"I was on my way to the kitchen and," Quick Aimee, think! I had to come up with an excuse that he would believe, "I saw your door was open, so I was just about to close it for you..." Lame. That was just so incredibly lame.

"Sure you were." He clearly didn't believe a word I said and to be honest, I couldn't blame him. I was more see through than glass.

He gracefully manoeuvred around me and walked to the kitchen, leaving me alone in my shame. I couldn't believe I got caught listening in on him. At this rate he was seriously going to think I had a crush on him. Ew.

I let out a sigh and followed him to the kitchen; feeling both deeply disturbed by my own actions and incredibly curious about the situation I'd encountered. He rummaged through the fridge while I debated on whether I should start with an apology.