Chapter 13 Rebooting the Heart

          The waves crashed against the white sandy shore in a steady, rhythmic beat. The freezing night breeze swept in from the ocean, making her pearl-white slip dress flutter wildly. Yet, Lalita didn't feel the biting cold in the slightest. The scorching heat radiating from the muscular body of the man currently caging her in his arms melted everything completely away.

Bhakin's deeply cut lips continued to press and claim Lita’s plump ones with demanding dominance, yet beneath the surface, the kiss was undeniably pleading and profound. It wasn't a violent, invasive attack meant merely to conquer. Rather, it was a kiss that slowly, methodically stripped away the seductive PR queen's sanity, letting it drift away piece by piece. Lita's body went utterly limp. Drained of all resistance, she had to raise both hands to clutch the Hawaiian shirt over his broad chest just to keep herself anchored.

Her delicate eyelids fluttered shut. All she could perceive was his signature cool mint scent perfectly blending with the salty ocean air. The soft, sensual taste on her lips ignited a roaring fire of desire, sending her stomach into a chaotic spiral as if thousands of butterflies were frantically fluttering inside her.

The large hands that had previously been planted against the rocks behind her slid down to firmly grip her narrow waist. He pulled her delicate frame even closer against his broad chest, eliminating the space between them until barely a breath of air could pass through.

Lita gasped softly when his slightly calloused fingertips trailed lightly along the bare skin of her back, just above the edge of her dress. The scorching touch caused her lips to part involuntarily, granting his thick tongue the perfect opening to invade and taste the sweet nectar inside even more intimately.

The processing system in Lita's brain threw up a blue screen of death and shut down completely. She had no idea how much time had passed. All she knew was that her entire world was spinning wildly, and the man in front of her was the sole center of gravity keeping her from free-falling into the abyss.

It was a long time before Bhakin finally, lingeringly pulled his lips away. Yet, he still refused to back off. His scorching breath continued to fan across her small, upturned nose. The fierce, hawk-like eyes that used to look at everything with glacial indifference were now blazing with a trembling, white-hot desire that Lita had never seen before.

"Your system is so much sweeter than I processed, Lita."

His husky voice whispered directly against her lips. The compliment, delivered strictly in IT terminology, made Lita's face burn so hot it threatened to combust. She stood frozen stiff. Her freshly crashed brain desperately tried to reboot itself back online. Her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson, and her large, trembling eyes stared up at him helplessly. The sheer, off-the-charts embarrassment utterly demolished the confident armor she had painstakingly built.

"Kh-Khun Bhakin..." she stammered his name, fighting to locate her voice. "What... what the hell are you doing?"

"I am merely verifying my identity. Confirming that I now have absolute access to your personal space."

As her senses slowly rushed back into her body, the top-tier PR queen's survival instincts kicked in. The firewall of sheer arrogance was frantically restored for emergency use.

Lita took a deep breath. She quickly, albeit gently, pushed against his broad chest and took a step back to re-establish a safe distance. She tilted her chin up, trying with all her might to plaster her seductive hot-girl persona over her internal panic, even though her lips were still swollen and trembling.

"My, my... you really went all out for this act, didn't you?"

She forced a faint smirk, feigning a slightly haughty, nasal tone to mask the tremor in her voice.

"Going as far as a real kiss—Krit must be absolutely convinced that we're actually dating. I'd say your status update plan to chase away my ex was a gorgeous success."

Lita pretended to brush imaginary dust off her skirt to avoid his gaze. She was desperately trying to reframe that intense kiss as just a decoy tactic to save face. She flat-out refused to admit that she was swooning over a man who spent his days glaring stoically at a computer monitor.

Bhakin narrowed his eyes. His sharp jaw clenched so hard the muscle ticked visibly. The faint smile on his face vanished completely. The tall man swiftly closed the distance again, forcing Lita to stumble backward until she hit the exact same rock. Her escape routes were utterly obliterated.

"You think that was just a decoy plan?" His voice dropped to an icy, lethal register. The atmosphere around them began radiating a suffocating threat that sent a shiver straight down Lita's spine.

"W-Well, yes," Lita stammered, trying to put on a brave face against the lion. "We already agreed that we'd humiliate Krit. You were just playing along to help me out."

"Lalita."

Bhakin reached out and gripped her delicate chin, forcing her to tilt her head up and meet his eyes directly once again. His thumb gently stroked her lower lip, as if to deliberately remind her of the brand he had just stamped there.

"A programmer like me never writes code to deceive himself. And I certainly do not play games with my own feelings just to humiliate a piece of trash like him."

His eyes were so fiercely serious and resolute that the young woman's heart lurched.

"If you still think that kiss just now was an act..."

The tall man leaned his face in so close that their foreheads rested against each other. His breathing seamlessly synced with hers.

"Then I suppose I will have to rerun the command. I'll put it on an endless loop, running it all night long until you admit that your heart's system has been completely hacked and crashed by me."

His dead-serious gaze and his body language, fully primed to crash his lips down onto hers for round two, completely shattered Lita's confident facade into tiny pieces. Her eyes went wide. She frantically threw both hands up, pressing against his broad chest in absolute panic.

"N-No need to rerun it! I understand!" she blurted out in a flustered panic, her face flushing crimson all the way to her ears. "Let me go, please. I'm going back to my room. It's late. I need to go back and finish my report."

Her frantic scrambling, like a tiny panicked kitten, drew a low, soft chuckle from Bhakin's throat. It was a warm, deep, and incredibly magnetic laugh that left Lita staring at him in a daze. When this man wasn't wearing his stoic mask, he was an absolute, devastating hazard to her cardiovascular system.

The tall man finally withdrew his hand from her chin. But instead of backing away, he shifted to grab her slender wrist. He smoothly threaded his long fingers through hers, interlocking them tightly. He held her hand in a relaxed, yet profoundly secure grip.

"We can go back to your room. But I am walking you to your door."

Lita didn't dare refuse, nor did she have the strength left to shake his hand off. She simply let him hold her hand and lead her back down the sandstone path along the beach in total silence.

For the entire walk from the beach back to the pool villa zone, neither of them uttered a single word. But the silence wasn't awkward. It was dense with an overwhelming influx of emotion. The warm touch of his large hand enveloping hers communicated his feelings far more clearly than any words ever could.

Lita stole glances at his sharp side profile, alternating with looking down at their interlocked hands. A chaotic storm of confusion raged in her chest—a mix of trepidation and intense shyness. But deep down, she couldn't deny that she felt profoundly safe every single time this man stood by her side.

The moment they arrived in front of the massive wooden doors of Villa 101, Bhakin finally released her hand. Lita hurriedly dug the keycard out of her handbag, tapping it against the reader so fast her hands shook.

Beep...

The electronic lock clicked open. The young woman quickly turned back to look at him right before diving into her room.

"Goodnight, Khun Bhakin," she blurted out rapidly, preparing to slam the door shut to escape her embarrassment.

"Hold on, Lita." Bhakin planted one hand firmly against the door, stopping her from closing it.

"Y-Yes?" She froze, looking up at him warily.

"The report... you can do it tomorrow. Let your system get some rest tonight."

He spoke in an incredibly gentle tone before his mouth ticked up into a smirk—a smile that made the viewer's heart flutter and left room for a million different interpretations.

"And if you can't sleep tonight because you're too busy thinking about our kiss... my villa is right next door. The connecting door by the pool balcony? I left it unlocked."

With that, the deadpan IT boss removed his hand from her door. He casually strolled back to his own villa, whistling softly to himself as if it were nothing, leaving a colossal bomb behind for the listener to mentally explode right there on the spot.

SLAM!

Lita shoved the door shut and engaged the deadbolt instantly. She collapsed back against the wooden door, throwing both hands over her face, which was surely redder than a ripe tomato right now. Her little heart hammered so hard it ached.

That crazy man! That sly programmer!

She had gone out of her way to play it cool and pretend to forget about it, but he had ruthlessly backed her into a corner. And to top it off, he dropped a heart-stopping parting line like that!

Lita dragged her feet over to the large mirror in the bathroom. The reflection staring back was a woman with delightfully glazed eyes, severely flushed cheeks, and plump lips that were slightly swollen from being heavily devoured. She subconsciously brought her fingertips up to touch her own lips. His scorching touch still lingered there, refusing to fade.

Ding!

A message notification chimed from a chat application on her smartphone. Lita jumped. She quickly dug her phone out of her handbag to look. The screen displayed the name: 'Phakin_IT'.

[Phakin_IT]: Did you lock your door tight yet?

Lita bit her lower lip, typing back a rapid, exasperated reply.

[Lalita_PR]: Locked! Every single one of them is locked tight, including the pool balcony door! Unauthorized access is strictly forbidden!

The message was read in a fraction of a second. He then typed back a response that made Lita want to throw her phone directly onto the floor.

[Phakin_IT]: Make sure you lock them well. Because like I said, my side isn't locked. Which doesn't just mean you can walk over to me, Lita.

[Phakin_IT]: It means... if I can't endure missing you tonight, I might just hack the door's lock system, walk through, and come to you in bed myself.

[Phakin_IT]: Sweet dreams... darling.

Lita's eyes widened, staring at the phone screen in a mix of utter shock and terminal embarrassment. The young woman let out a silent scream. She practically sprinted to the sliding glass door facing the pool, yanked the blackout curtains shut, and engaged the deadbolts twice over just to be absolutely sure.

How on earth was she supposed to force herself to sleep tonight, when a vicious virus named Bhakin was wreaking such absolute, chaotic havoc on her heart's system like this?