Listening to the steady thump of his heartbeat, Mirabe''s fingers curled slightly. Whether she admitted it or not, this feeling wasn''t half bad.


    After leaning against him for a bit, she suddenly lifted her head and said casually, "Let''s see how you do."


    "Let''s see how I do?" James looked at her, trying to catch the drift of her words. Was this the breakthrough he''d been hoping for all this time?


    Mirabe raised an eyebrow but didn''t say anything else. On a whim, she leaned down and nted a kiss on his chest.


    The moment her lips touched him, James froze, the warmth from her kiss spreading all over, leaving him momentarily speechless.


    Mirabe rolled off him, nced back to see his bathrobe hade undone, and quickly turned away, clearing her throat. She grabbed her phone from the table and made a swift exit from the room.


    The click of the door jolted James back to reality. He touched the spot where she''d kissed him, a soft smile ying on his lips, feeling an indescribable joy. Despite theck of sleep over the past couple of days, he felt rejuvenated, no trace of fatigue.


    After lounging around a bit longer, James got up, noticed the slightly torn wound on his side, and shook his head, maybe understanding what it truly meant to be bewitched by beauty. He picked up the bandage from the floor, wrapped it around his waist a few times, and went to the closet to find something to wear.


    Soon enough, James made his way downstairs.


    ...


    Mirabe had just set the takeout on the dining table, wondering whether to call him for dinner, when she saw Jamesing down. She headed to the kitchen and brought out two sets of cutlery.


    They ate infortable silence, no hint of awkwardness between them.


    "Oh, by the way, Niki popped by Riverdale. He wanted to grab dinner with you a couple of days ago, but you were busy, so I let him know you couldn''t make it," Mirabe remembered as she looked up at James.


    "Yeah, I saw your message on Messenger after getting back from the Wildwood.


    Is Niki doing alright?" James asked.


    Mirabe finished herst bite of rice, put down her chopsticks, and replied, "He seemed pretty upbeat."


    As if on cue, her phone buzzed with a message from Niki. She checked it, her brow furrowing a bit. James noticed and asked, "What''s up?"


    Holding her phone, she replied, "Niki just apologized to me out of the blue."


    "Apologized? For what?" James asked, clearly puzzled.


    Mirabe shrugged, "I''m not really sure."


    She reyed theirst meeting in her mind. Besides him being a bit distracted after a phone call, everything seemed normal. She couldn''t figure out what warranted an apology.


    After mulling it over for a couple of minutes, Mirabe decided to message him


    back, asking if something was wrong.


    But no reply came.


    Though it felt odd, Mirabe didn''t want to push it, so she tucked her phone away. Once they finished eating, she cleaned the dining table and checked the time. "You should get some rest. I''m heading back to campus," she said.


    James didn''t have much to say, but he did ask her, "Hang on a sec."


    "Hmm?" Mirabe looked at him, curious, but saw he was already heading upstairs. She blinked, choosing to wait downstairs instead of leaving.