CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Immediately she stood from him, he turned his head and spoke.

"You should thank me for absorbing all your cold," he said with a wink and she felt flustered.

"Good Morning," she greeted without looking at his face.

"Morning, you slept quite well. Since you feel quite uncomfortable, you should leave" he stated.

He acknowledged that most respectable women would feel bashful being intimately exposed to a man for hours on end, particularly when they were not romantically involved. Yet, Ezekiel felt a renewed sense of calm; he had never imagined that slumbering beside Elena would be so restorative. It had been he who had carried her to the bed, her unconscious body clinging to him as he navigated their way through the night.

*******

As soon as Elena arrived at her room, she hastily secured the door behind her. Thankfully, it seemed that nobody was stirring just yet, or at least nobody was loitering in the corridor outside. Her room was conveniently located adjacent to Ezekiel's, and she