"Either I'm sleep deprived or I'm sleepwalking because I'm seeing things that I'm sure I would never see in the right state of mind. Just why am I seeing you carry Amara inside our house bridal style?"

Along with this comment, Tiana's first reaction was utter shock, as soon as I entered my home, carrying Amara in my arms. She was dead drunk, her neck hanging backward like a lifeless body and her hands dangling down.

"She's drunk and I couldn't bring myself to bring her to her place in this condition. Now, could you please help me sober her up?" I muttered as walked past her into one of the guest rooms.

"Whoa, okay. Let me google some instant hangover reducing remedies." Tiana rushed after me inside the room. "It says water helps with a hangover."

Wow, that was quick.

I deposited Amara on the bed and stood up, leaving her giggling to herself. At least she didn't throw up on me.

I faced my sister. "Yeah, okay but first help her change into some comfortable clothes of yours."

Nodding her head, she rushed out of the room and I took the opportunity to sit next to Amara, beside her head. I delicately brushed her hair strands that were masking her gorgeous facial features behind her ear, making her look into my eyes. All of a sudden, her smile faded, and her lips curled down into a frown as she mumbled,

“Thảmị khuṇ t̄hụng mī xarị bæb deīywkạn kạb c̄hạn kạb ṭhex mị̀ dị̂ thảmị khuṇ t̄hụng mị̀ h̄ĕn d̂wy kạb c̄hạn māk k̄hnād nī̂”

"Why can't you have the same thing with me that you have with her? Why do you disapprove of me so much?"

My lips curled up in amusement, then I laughed. She had learned Thai from her mother and only used the language when both, mother and daughter were mad at uncle Xavier. Knowing that he did not understand the language, they kept him on his toes. I too wasn't familiar with that language at all.

"What? What did you say?" I questioned amusingly.

She groaned, looking at me as if mocking me for not knowing the language.

"You didn't understand a word I said, did you?" She frowned, looking up at me.

I laughed at the cute pout she had formed with her lips. I bopped her nose. "How will I understand when you speak in a language I don't know?

"Well, that's your problem, not mine."

"How about speaking in the language I know?" I spoke calmly as though I was talking with a child.

She huffed and shifted away from what it seemed like in frustration. "You wouldn't understand anyway. You have never."

"Who said I never understood you?" I questioned almost immediately.

Glaring at me, she pointed a finger at herself. "Me."

"You are cute." I ruffled her hair, making her groan and throw her hands in the air in protest.

Just then, Tiana came in with clothes for Amara and I left the room to give them privacy and went to the kitchen to get some water for her. After ten minutes, I phoned Tiana and asked if I could come back in and when given the green signal, I went in, only to find Amara wearing a thin strap loose top and short shorts pajama set, leaning against the headboard of the bed.

I offered her water but she refused, saying, "I am not thirsty."

"Well, ma'am, this bottle of water is for your hangover; it has nothing to do with you being thirsty. Now, drink it. And before you throw tantrums let me tell you something very straight. I will not move an inch until you have downed this whole bottle down your throat. Also, if need be, I'll tie you up like a sack and make you drink it." I stated firmly, leaving no room for an argument, bringing the bottle near to her mouth.

"You are barbaric! Sometimes I think you are after my flesh and blood." Scowling, she snatched the bottle from my hand and began drinking the water. Irritation flowed through her eyes as she stared at me.

"Wow, it's weird to see her listening to you without fighting back. Alcohol surely has crashed her system." Tiana laughed. "Anyway, it's evident that you can't drop her off at her home. So, what are you gonna say to her parents?"

"That's exactly what running through my mind," I muttered as I stood up. After running my mind for a short while, an idea popped up in my mind, prompting me to look at my sister, as she was the one who would be executing it.

"What, why are looking at me that way?" She questioned me with skepticism, studying my face for answers. When she realized what I needed her to do, she quickly raised her hands in surrender.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, No. I am not going to try to persuade uncle Xavier to allow her to stay here. God, he's so damn possessive about her; convincing him is a difficult task, far more difficult than my math exams. So, no. Count me out."

She attempted to exit the room but I quickly slammed the door before she could leave. Plastering my hand on the doorknob, I reasoned out to her, "Hey, listen, I am not asking you to call her father. Aunt Ariana, call her; she'll not interrogate much."

She gaped at me as though I had said something unimaginable. "Yeah, then why don't you call her and make some excuse?"

Sighing, I approached her and grabbed her shoulders. "Listen, If I could, I would have done it. You know she will read right through me; I am terrible at lying or making excuses for that matter." 

Her eyes narrowed and her face squinted. "Are you insinuating that I am a professional lier and excuse maker?"

"Not lier but you do ace at making excuses and you know that pretty well, or need I remind you how many times you have escaped mom's wrath by making excuses. And how many times you have had dad skip schools meetings by—"

She raised her hand in my face. "Alright, alright, no need to go into details." She then moved away from me, swatting my hands from her shoulders, then pressed her forehead with her fingers.

All this while, Amara, for whom we were getting all worked up, was laughing as if she were seeing a comic act unfold before her Majesty.

"You are scared of my parents." She laughed. "C'mon they won't eat you alive; they are not cannibals. Just call them already."

"Yeah, and tell them your daughter is dead drunk so please come and take her with you?" I snapped at her. "Do you even know what situation we are in right now? I am trying to save you from punishment. Now, please do us a favor, just drink that water, okay?"

My outburst caused Amara to squint her eyes, conveying her drunken fury for me.
"You don't have to take the trouble for me; just drop me home."

Tiana glared at me. "Why are you yelling at her? She's drunk. She doesn't know what's happening around her. Stop being rude to her!"

I, Rude? Wow, I was being called out by these two girls while all I was doing was trying to help her. Never had I ever been in a situation where I felt like I was at someone's mercy and I swear these girls were pushing me over the edge.

It took some more persuading and an agreement to do Tiana's homework for two days for her to somehow agree to help.

Tiana anyhow managed to convince Aunt Ariana to let Amara stay at our place without much questioning, but a concerning situation developed at the end of the call.

"She wants to talk to Amara. What do we do now?" Tiana panicked once she had muted the call.

I grabbed her phone and again sat beside Amara on the bed. "Now Amara, your mother is on call waiting for you to speak to her. You will not speak much and try to answer in one word or two. She must not get the hint that you're drunk, got it?"

She firmly nodded her head, somehow understanding the seriousness of the moment. "Got it. Gimmie the phone."

Instead of handing the phone over to her, I put it on speaker mode in case the things needed to be handled.

"Hey, mammaaaa."

Tiana and I groaned when she spoke like singing a song. We shot her a pointed glare for her to act right. She smiled sheepishly in return, apologizing insignificantly.

"Hello? Amara, sweetheart, you okay?"

Amara fixed her gaze on me before replying. "Yes, I am."

"Okay?" She mouthed for me to approve of her. I nodded my head in affirmation and she smiled proudly. And she argued why I called her childish.

"Why didn't you call me to ask for permission? I wouldn't have said no, you know that right?"

"Ah, I know, mamma. I, well..." She and I looked at my sister for her to quickly come up with an excuse. Tiana quickly typed something on her phone and flashed the screen for Amara to read it. How could she have miraculously typed so fast?

Amara squinted her eyes and read with obvious stutters, "Yeah, umm, I was in the bathroom and had instructed Tiana, err, to connect the call with you for me until I come out but she went a step ahead, uh,  and asked for permission by herself."

"Okay...but why are your words not coming out clear?"

I quickly pointed at the water bottle she had been holding, mouthing to tell her mother she was drinking water.

"Oh, I am drinking water as we speak."

"You must not talk while drinking or chewing. Anyway, you may stay there."

I threw the phone on the nightstand as soon as Aunt Ariana hung the call before Tiana and I slumped on the bed.

"God, it felt like we were setting up a plan to rob a bank." Tiana huffed, then jumped off the bed, muttering, "Alright, now I'm off to my room and I'm ordering Pizza for all of us."

Letting out a breath of relief, I leaned against the headboard and shut my eyes, mumbling, "That was one hell of a task."

"I told you don't have to take the trouble for me. You don't care anyway."

You don't care anyway.

My eyes snapped open and I sat upright instantly after hearing what Amara had just said. My brows drew together in a frown. "What do you mean I don't care?"

Her intense, agonizing gaze smoldered into mine, and her shoulders sagged. "Yes, you don't give a damn about what I feel. All you do is reprimand me for one thing or the other. Amara, don't do that. Amara, this is not how it's done. Amara, stop being childish. Amara this is wrong, that is wrong... This is all you do!"

Admittedly, I took the responsibility for doing that to her but everything I did was for a reason.

Tilting my head a little, I questioned, "Alright, I get your frustration, but has it ever occurred to you that the things I do could be my way of showing care for you? I do not like stopping you from doing things, but considering you can be reckless, I merely warn you so you don't do anything irrational and get yourself into trouble. And I challenge you to bring out the best in you."

Her forehead creased as she went into her thinking wonderland pondering over what I had confessed, making me smile a little. May it be in her drunken state, but this was the first civil, heart-to-heart, the real confessing session we were having. 

"I—" She scratched the back of her ear. "No, I never thought that way but still. And this doesn't justify your care. You did not enquire about my ankle injury, did you?. You just ghosted away on me, leaving me wondering if you even have an ounce of care for me."

That made me gape at her. "How can you say that when you don't know a thing? You were the one who did not return my calls; you were the one who shut me out. I figured I might have done something wrong that's why I gave you the space you required."

I shifted closer to her. "And for your information, I kept tabs about your health through my mother."

She groaned and threw a pillow at me, making me flinch. "You dumbo, this is not how it works! You have got to work a little to grab someone's attention; the way I do. I grab your attention by annoying you. I do not shut you out. Never."

She was about to throw another pillow at me but I grabbed it from her hands, placed it aside, and gently cupped her face, bringing her closer to me.

"Alright, I am sorry for not knowing how it's done. I am new to all this. I promise I'll be good next time." I smiled at her, roaming my eyes on her beautiful face. "And Amara, I do care about you, more than you could ever imagine."

She placed her palms over my hands on her face, looking at me in utter surprise. "You do?"

I nodded my head. I thought we were getting somewhere but she swatted my hands away. "Even if you do, your care is just another thing you have for everybody else. You care for everyone out there. The thing is you don't like me, like... like me. You don't have any feelings for me, do you? No, you don't."

This time, taking her by surprise, I tackled her to bed beneath me, pressing her hands on either side of her head so she couldn't throw her hands at me. She gasped at my sudden moment, staring at me with her wide eyes and open mouth.

"This is where you're wrong again, baby."

I whispered, pinning my gaze with her, smiling at her stupefied expressions that appeared after being called baby by me.

"This is something we should be discussing when you're sober, but seeing that you have a completely wrong idea about me, I have got to clarify a few things right now," I muttered before inching my face closer to hers, our lips almost touching.

"I do have strong feelings for you. I do care about you and I do like you, like... like you."

Her gaze lingered on mine, her breathing became ragged, before she spoke something unexpected.

"Then prove it. Prove it that you like me the way you don't like anybody else."

Releasing her hands, I balanced myself on my elbows, gazing at her with a small smile. "What do you want me to do?"

I was curious as to what would it take for her to understand that I did like her and that I wasn't fooling around. It was not a volatile infatuation any longer. I had never felt more connected to her before the way I did now.

I was feeling excited, was smiling uncontrollably, and felt proud of myself for having confessed my real feelings to her. However, what she asked me to do chilled me to the bones.

"Kiss me."

Her startling request held me tongue-tied and had me gaping at her. Never in my wild dreams, which I barely had, I had ever expected her to ask me to kiss her. The implicit passion radiated through her dark eyes had my stomach doing tingling flips.

My breathing turned heavy. "What?" I whispered, bewildered, yet inching my face closer to hers, our lips almost touching.

"Kiss me and prove to me that you like me."

The same request again made me gulp the apprehension started to build inside of me. I licked my lips in anticipation. Yes, I had a strong desire to kiss her.

The evil part of my mind propelled me to dive into the sensual passion she was offering willingly, but the righteous part of my mind reminded me that she was drunk and that she was not in the right state of mind. She had no clue what she was doing and what she was asking for.

With a heavy heart, I made the right and respectful decision. Rolling over from her, I sat up on the bed with my legs dangling down the bed as I faced her, caressing her jaw with my fingers. Her questioning gaze observed my movements.

"This is not right, Amara. You must sleep."

Instinctively, she yawned, closing her eyes. "Yeah, I must sleep. I feel dead tired already." She then turned on her side, facing away from me.

Yes, I did make the right decision.

Sighing, I stood up from the bed and covered her with the duvet up to her chin, and whispered. "Sleep tight, Amara. Hope you remember our little talk we just had and that you asked me to kiss you. See you in the morning."

Aroused, hot, restless, and carrying her sweet, intoxicating essence with me, I left the room.

_______________________________________

Amara Knight

I shielded my eyes from the glare of the morning sun peeking through the curtain, making me wonder who planted the glass windows to this side of my bed overnight. The window in my room was on the opposite side of the bed rendering me a comforting morning sleep by not throwing glowing sunlight right in my face.

My brain was still fuddled with sleep as I sat upright in the bed, rubbing my eyes as though I had fresh pair of eyeballs stocked up in my drawer. I felt a subtle pounding in my head which I tried to eliminate by pressing my head with my hands. Gradually, I opened my eyes and observed the room, which I instantly realized wasn't mine and I was not wearing my clothes.

Just then, the memories of last night came flooding back, making my eyes wide by breaking the barriers of sleep lingering in there. I remembered drinking fruit punch offered by Tory's friends, dancing my heart out, and then Ryan dragging me somewhere, accusing me that I was drunk.

Then the realization hit me as a football smacked by a baseball bat with force. Those obnoxious peasants! How dare they spike my drink. And Tory! Did he know the fruit punch was spiked before he forced me to drink it? If he did, he was so gonna have it from me.

Another flashback of the night in the same room flashed before my eyes, making my face red hot. Could I have dreamt of having Ryan on top of me and asking him to kiss me, or was it all real? 

No, everything indeed was real because I could still feel him hovering over me. I had that silly giddy feeling inside that proved everything. I remembered the conversation we had. Yes, I was drunk but not dead drunk not to recall anything.

I jumped off the bed, squealing that Ryan liked me and he had feelings for me, however, one thing I couldn't recall was whether he kissed me or not.

There was only one way to confirm that: confront Ryan.

I quickly went to the bathroom, freshened up, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and without making any delay sprinted out of the room. Once outside, I bumped into Tiana.

"Oh, good morning, drunken queen. Do you still have a hangover or are you—"

I did not let her complete it because I was in a hurry and I impatiently asked her, "Where's Ryan?"

"Uh, in his room?"

I ran past her, upstairs, not paying heed to her calls to stop me for breakfast since I didn't have anything last night. What she didn't know was that it was the last thing on my mind.

I twisted the doorknob of Ryan's room and did a mental happy dance when found it unlocked. I took the liberty to barge into his room and locked the door behind me.

"What are you doing in here? Why did not you knock?" Ryan's startling voice reached my ears but his voice was not the thing that made my face go red. It was his half-naked, shirtless, ridiculously toned body that had me licking my lips.

He frantically picked up his shirt and was about to wear it when I put forward a question that had his hands hanging in the air.

"Last night. Did you or did you not kiss me?" I sauntered towards him, taking in the incredible sight of his nakedness. He plopped the t-shirt on the bed. Thank heaven.

"What?" He stuttered, looking everywhere but me. I stood near him, only at a hand distance.

"Did you?" I asked again, tilting my head. My heart rate elevated in wait for his answer.

He faced me and whispered, "No. You were drunk."

"Would you have kissed me if I weren't drunk?" I took a dangerous step closer to him, making him and myself nervous.

It was now or never. If he said yes, I'd launch myself on him and kiss the hell out of him, and if his answer came in a no, I'd walk back without a word and flush every ounce of feeling I had for him out of my