Could It Be You? |✓

(29) More than

"Wake up!"

Emma feels a hand nudge her shoulder, urging her to get up. She tries her best, but her lids are still heavy and she groans. She has not slept enough. She needs more. Finally, after a long insistent shake, she blinks open and lets in the sharp light.

Ethan's face looms above her, just beneath the ceiling. Suddenly realising how horrible she must be looking with her morning face -eyes sticky with boogers and face swollen, Emma drags the covers over her head again.

"Go away! Don't look at me!"

Ethan laughs and attempts to pull her shield away. "It's not like I've never seen your ugly morning face before."

"I don't care!" Emma whines. Her voice is probably muffled under the covers. She desperately tries to cling onto them, while Ethan does the exact opposite of getting them away from her. She simply refuses to let them go without a wrestle.

Ethan must have run out of patience because he simply rolls her into a wrap. He snakes an arm around the part where her waist is and throws her over his shoulder. He places another arm over the back of her thighs to stabilise the load, then carries her like that into the bathroom.

"The alarm in your phone has been put on snooze for the past hour! Don't you have work today?"

That wakes Emma instantly. She opens her eyes in bewilderment. "NO! You should have woken me up earlier! I'm gonna be late!"

Panicking, Emma wriggles aggressively in an attempt to break free. Ethan quickly places her down before the sink and unwraps the covers. Emma grabs a toothbrush - the one she's always used - and Ethan runs the faucet to help her fill the cup.

Emma gargles and brings the brush around her teeth. She glances through the mirror and sees Ethan leaning back against the wall, watching her with an amused grin. The sunlight drips onto his brown hair giving it a warm glow.

"Actually, there's something I want to let you know," she says. She realises that she hasn't told him about her secondment to Prague, which she had submitted a confirmation for a few days ago.

Ethan raises a brow. "What is it?"

"I'm going on a secondment. Prague. For the next year or more. It was for half a year originally, but due to the nature of the projects..."

He shrugs. "Isn't that great?"

Emma nods. "I know right." She narrows her eyes at him. "I'll be missed, right?"

She considers what it might be like to not have Ethan a drive away from her. She has grown such a dependence on him over all these years.

Ethan smirks. He approaches her and brings a hand over her head, ruffling her hair. "That's a given. But when you ask outright, it's gay."

Emma gives him a glare, affronted by his comment. "Rude!"

His eyes soon roam to her collarbone. He furrows his brows, and Emma follows his gaze, wondering if she had dripped Colgate onto herself.

"Where's the necklace?"

Emma brings a hand to her neck and rubs it a little.

"I removed it," she reports matter-of-factly.

"Oh. I thought you lost it," he remarks. "Considering how absent-minded you are usually."

Emma bends over and spits out the mouthful of toothpaste. She runs water over the toothbrush and watches the foam swivel down the sink.

"Breakfast's on the table. I'm gonna go to the gym. See you soon, Em. Call me if there's anything!"

When Emma turns, she only catches a glimpse of his back as he disappears. After dabbing her mouth clean with a towel, she saunters into his bedroom and pulls out the wardrobe's bottom-row drawer - the one that keeps all of her spare clothes. She picks out a slim-cut black dress and pulls off the oversized shirt she borrowed from Ethan for the night. The soft scent of his clothes overwhelms her nose when she lifts it over her head.