Spice

3 || Cardamom

A blaring alarm straight from the pits of hell woke up the two people slumbering on the bed with a start. It was a ghastly six in the morning, and the sun was just breaking over the horizon for the first sunlit hour of the day.

Blueish golden rays of light began to rise over the cityscape, reflecting off the shiny surfaces of skyscrapers and motor vehicles.

Silver blinked groggily and yawned, reaching one of her arms up over her head to stretch like a lazy cat. Her stiff joints popped and she was enjoying herself immensely when the back of her hand brushed against something hard.

Her eyes turned up to meet two pools of dark coffee, which were glaring down at her in contempt in the dim morning light.

At some point during the night, the two of them seemed to have wormed their way toward the centre of the bed, and their limbs had tangled up. In the end, Silver woke up snuggled cozily into Jared's side with his arms around her waist.

But that was not the worst part. Oh no, no, no. The other arm that wasn't stretching was curled up under Jared's t-shirt, and her fingers were splayed over the sculpted abdomen there.

Her skin instantly felt like it had been scalded, and the realisation of what she had done made her expression slacken.

When...? And how...?

Why?

At what point had she moved into such a compromising position? When did she become the type of person to go touching someone else like this?

"Get the fuck off me, Bailey."

Silver awkwardly moved to the side, too mortified to even meet Jared's eyes. Her movements were stiff and her expression had fallen back into its normal deadpan, smothering any uncomfortable feelings she might have been experiencing.

The gremlin didn't even glance at her before getting up and locking himself in the bathroom. How embarrassing.

So, instead of the luxurious post-break-up vacation she was beginning to wish she'd taken, she was in an inexplicable predicament. No part of her could explain why or how she had ended up cuddling with Jared.

Wonderful.

For the sake of her own mental health, Silver decided to pretend that nothing had happened. She chose her outfit for the day and put a shower cap on her head in advance. Everything was fine.

Really, it was fine.

When she was checking her phone, Jared came out of the bathroom, chest bare and wrapped in nothing but a towel. He acted like she didn't exist, and Silver turned her face away to avoid getting an eyeful of what she shouldn't see.

Her cheeks burned, but her mood was undoubtedly ruined.

Of course he would have no qualms about exposing himself like this. When one took his illicit activities into consideration, this was the most mundane thing that he could possibly do.

Silver grabbed her things in a white-knuckled grip and zoomed into the bathroom, keeping her eyes trained to the floor. She had the habit of taking a cold shower in the morning to wake herself up. Not only did the cold water help her become alert, but it wouldn't risk any humidity spoiling her hair.

After showering, she spent her sweet time applying makeup on her face, smoking out the subtle triangles on the inner and outer corners of her eyes that played up her features.

She dressed herself in a violet knee-length dress with a cinched waist, and a tailored white blazer that accentuated her figure and made her look taller than she actually was.