Bringing a Woman Home

Sadly, Ashley didn’t tell her about it. He would rather have Gryphon tell her as if it was important to her as well. Then again, since it was Ashley who said so, Andrea just shrugged her shoulders. If anything, there was a lot to talk about. It had been more than ten years since they last saw each other, and for two birds with broken wings, their lives sounded a little identical.

Gryphon had gotten back to the hospital just a few minutes before visiting hours were done. He even looked like he was drinking before remembering that he had to visit a friend in the private ward. When he sat down and almost missed the chair, Andrea even frowned at him.

He then returned her frown, saying nothing for a few seconds. When the strange chime came as if warning visitors to conclude their stay, that was the only time he spoke: “I’m checking you out of this place tonight. You might have to crash in mine.”

“Really? Why? Did Mathias…?” Andrea clutched at the blanket. If Mathias had gone so close, then she might risk another encounter. Who knew when Mathias would bring a gun to their brushes?

“No, no… I just… I’m not willing to pay for another night. I will settle the bill in a bit. Just be ready to leave.” Gryphon took out his phone and checked the screen, but he seemed to have forgotten why he took it out. He just pocketed it again. “I’m fetching you as soon as I’m done.”

“Is something happening?” Andrea tried to move her legs. They were still sore, but she could already walk if someone gave her the time to take baby steps. “Are the rooms really that expensive? Not that I want to keep staying here.”

He didn’t answer anymore, but the nurse did come to see if Andrea could be discharged. The nurse would say something about how Gryphon looked, but his sharp glare was making the nurse twitch. The man was clearly drunk and was definitely a hazard. 

She just asked him to sit down: “Sir, you should stay here. You might fall and slip if you walk around like that. How did you even get inside the hospital?”

Gryphon didn’t even have the time to get to his feet. He just growled a little. “How am I supposed to pay if I continue sitting here?”

“…I’ll call someone to come talk to you, sir. Please stay here.” The nurse oversaw private wards, so she was not a stranger to hardheaded rich people. She was also aware that she would be blamed if something happened to any of them while in the hospital since she had already spoken to them. She could only bother someone to help with the payment.

“All right.” Gryphon moved his head and began nursing his head. “I can walk over there to get water, right? No, wait, I’ll just drag the chair…”

“Seriously, Gryphon? Why did you drink so much if you’re coming to see me?” Andrea rolled her eyes and slowly moved to collect a cup from the dispenser in the room. She sat back down and handed the cup to Gryphon. The nurse finished her call and started checking up on the girl… while the man was trying to keep himself sitting upright.

Before the nurse could smile and confirm Andrea’s good health, Gryphon already crashed to the floor.

In the end, Andrea still had to wait for Gryphon to wake up from his nap before they could pay for the bill and leave the hospital for good. Then again, he was already sleeping at the reception, so they were not incurring fees anymore.

…

The room was already hanging onto the last few moments of its darkness before giving way to the sunlight that forced its way through the curtains. A shaft of light was then cast on a face within the room. Gryphon was sleeping on his bed in his work clothes, Andrea only taking off his shoes and socks. 

As for the girl, she was sharing the bed with him, albeit she was staying on the edge. Even if she was supposed to stay on the couch for being the guest, she would fight Gryphon if he insisted on having her sleep there. It was his idea to bring her there, after all.

His hand then snaked toward her waist as if having the light on his face woke him up a bit. However, he was clearly not awake when he started murmuring behind her. His voice woke up Andrea, though. She hummed as she woke herself up on her own, not missing the noise made by her alarm one bit. It didn’t even help that they had gotten to that place past midnight.

“Hey, Griff, wake up…” Andrea sat up and patted his hand on her. When she realized that she was in a blue, fitting dress, she even had the urge to change into something looser.

“Let’s sleep in… there’s no classes today, Andy…” The man didn’t even bother with her.

Andrea then stared at the man, who was even sleep-talking toward her. A devious smile curled her lips, and then she leaned down to whisper in an angry tone: “Gryphon Pearce, who’s Andy?”

Instead of bolting up in a panic, Gryphon only snorted as he recalled his hand. He then rolled to his other side. “Someone way better than you…”

Smack! Andrea ended up hitting the person’s shoulder with her palm. “How are you not slapped if you say things like that to another girl? Wake up, you little young master. What do you want to eat for breakfast? Do you even stock food here?”

“…why do you sound like Andy?”

“I am Andy!”

Gryphon rubbed his sore shoulder and realized that he was in a pair of uncomfortable clothes. He could even smell alcohol on his breath. The man begrudgingly sat up and groaned as his body began to hurt from the weird sleeping stance back at the hospital. When he remembered that someone was supposed to be in the room with him, his face lifted to see the supposed woman raiding his closet.

He didn’t call her out as he could barely see her bottom poking out from the door of the closet. She seemed to be looking for a change of clothes for both… based on how she scolded him for having his stuff so disorganized inside the closet.

Andrea finally pulled back and walked toward the man, who stared at her like he was seeing a ghost. She only snorted and placed his clothes on his head. “Wake up, Gryphon. You drank so hard last night you don’t even know what year you’re living in right now.”

“Right… I got you from that Mathias guy…” Everything started to come to him as he started unbuttoning his shirt. He changed into something loose and thin, trying to be comfortable in his own home. 

As he sat on the bed again, he wondered about something. Then, he went to face her… her bare back that was free from the bra she was supposed to wear. She then slipped the green shirt on her, the shirt looking so oversized for her. He watched her shake her hair, reminding him of how she would normally wake up next to him. That golden hair was so deep-seated in his mind that he only dated blondes.

Andrea felt the weight of his gaze, and she went to turn to him. She lifted her brows. “Uhm, breakfast menu, sir? What do I expect to find in your kitchen, mister?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember what I have in stock.” Gryphon shrugged his shoulders and got up to get his clothes in the laundry basket in his room. He then made a beeline to the kitchen, not caring what Andrea did in his room.

“Do you really live here? Why don’t you know?” The woman rolled her eyes and dealt with her own dress and intimate, but she figured that she shouldn’t just push her clothes inside the laundry basket. The laundry was not even segregated.

Perhaps because her previous boyfriend was a strict man, Andrea was appalled by how Gryphon lived outside the eyes of the maids of their family. Then again, it’s not like Gryphon was the type to manage small details. She just placed her clothes on top and made a mental plan about how to fix everything. If she was going to live there with him, she should at least make sure she survived the place.

She walked out of the bedroom in only the green shirt. Since she had safety shorts under the blue dress from earlier, she wasn’t flashing her underwear. Then again, it was easy to miss the notion when she got deeper into the hallway. 

For some reason, she was standing in a hallway of glass, showing off the garden outside and the grass underneath. Only one side had an opaque wall, and it was because it led to the other rooms in the house. She then turned in the direction of the bedroom, which was just a turn from a corner. It was as if this hallway was designed to show off the backyard of the property.

“…how could he even clean all of this?” Andrea felt like her weight would break the glass underneath her feet. She figured the house had a retracted floor and roof for the night, but since Gryphon raised to get out way earlier, he must have set the house up to greet the guest.

“Is this the high life?” Andrea chuckled as she stood in the middle of the glass hallway and saw how the sprinkles rose from the ground and watered the garden covering the backyard. She stepped closer to the wall and watched how the flowers dance at the tease of the water droplets. The sun shone from the side of the house, so it wasn’t too hot or bright in the hallway.

She only realized that the sun was already high up in the sky. She wondered if what she was going to cook would even count as breakfast anymore. Upon remembering, Andrea figured she should just watch the garden some other time.

However, when she got to the door, she heard Gryphon yelling at the intercom from inside the door: “What woman are you talking about? I didn’t bring anyone here!”