âYouâre enough.â Purple Summers brushed away his hand, disgustedly saying, âYouâve buttoned it all wrong!â
Alexander Summers laughed, âIâm indeed not good at dressing.â
What he implied was that he was good at undressing.
Purple had become numb to his shamelessness. She undid the buttons and re-fastened them properly, saying, âAlright, now get going. Tomorrow is such an important day. Having bags under your eyes will look terrible, and I need to sleep tooâ¦â
Alexander had finally squeezed out some time to come back, so how could he be willing to leave? He picked up Purple and laid down on the bed, holding her intimately in his arms.
âThere will be many guests tomorrow, and you will be with Sarah,â Alexander chatted with her about the next dayâs family feast. âIf someone tries to hit on you, ignore them. Youâre also not allowed to drink and chat with strange men. I will arrange for someone to protect youâ¦â
Purple sarcastically said to him, âYouâre about to get engaged to someone else, and youâre still worried about me. Arenât you tired?â
Alexander pinched her nose, not allowing her to speak angrily.
Purple glared at him, puffed up with anger.
Alexander then laughed, leaned down, and kissed her on the forehead, saying, âIâm not tired. I wish I could die on you, the exhaustion would be worth it.â
âYouâre disgusting!â Purple raised her hand to hit him. Her soft punch landed on his chest, neither painful nor itchy.
Alexander grabbed her hand, and seriously discussed with her, âOnce Sarah is pregnant, Lily Howard and Sarah will return to France. Letâs go too. There, as long as you are at least fifteen years old, you can get married. We could register abroad first and then, whenever you turn eighteen, we could have another ceremony at homeâ¦â
He really couldnât wait any longer.
Purple leaned into his embrace, her eyes twirling, and then she broke into a bright smile, âI donât want to! Iâm still a child!â
Alexander rolled over on top of her, gritting his teeth as he threatened, âBut Iâm not.â
âWell, I donât care.â Purple said with a smile, pursing her lips. âAnyway, I wonât go. If you canât wait, you can find someone else to marry.â
âYou little rascal.â Alexander retaliated by sealing her lips with his, their bodies pressed tightly together, as if wishing to meld into one.
The two fooled around for a while and both grew a bit tired.
Purple, leaning on him, dozed off in a daze.
Alexander held her for a while but woke up in the middle of the night and gently let her go.
In her sleep, Purple stretched out her hand and fumbled in the air, catching nothing. With her eyes closed, her lips puckered, as if she felt a bit aggrieved.
Alexander then stuffed a pillow into her arms. Purple felt something solid in her embrace, settled down, and lay still.
In Alexanderâs chest, there was a warm current trickling out. He felt that might just be happiness.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âYou love me, right?â He gazed at Purpleâs quiet and innocent sleeping face, feeling utterly content.
Finally, he kissed her cheek gently before turning to leave, heading back to the manor.
â¦
The next day, when Purple woke up, she found that Alexander was not there.
The place next to her was cold, which meant he had left in the middle of the night.
She sat up, and noticing that she was holding a pillow, Purple was completely confused, having no memory of what she had done the night before.
After getting up and washing up, she went downstairs for breakfast.
Atra Blanc asked her confusedly, âPurple, did your brother come back last night?â
Purple lowered her head and sipped her porridge, ââ¦I donât know.â
Atra Blanc became even more puzzled, âI heard voices in your room last night and thought your brother had come back. I made an extra portion of breakfast this morning just for him, but there was no one in his roomâ¦â
Feeling guilty, Purple explained, âYou must have heard wrong. I was video chatting with a classmate last night.â
âOh, is that soâ¦â Atra Blanc nodded thoughtfully.
Then Purple felt she couldnât eat anymore.
Rushing through a few bites, she went upstairs back to her room. Looking at the beautiful dress hanging on the coat rack, Purpleâs mood unaccountably sank a few degrees, as if plunging to the bottom of a lakeâcold, suffocating.
Perhaps the greatest obstacle was not the so-called engagement reception.
â¦But rather the actual social status of being siblings that weighed heavily above them.