That night, J City experienced a torrential downpour.
The air, thick with drunkenness and intimacy, was washed anew by the rain, leaving speckled marks on the glass panes, and at dawn, the first light of day shone through.
Thankfully, it was Saturday.
Even with a hangover, she could sleep in.
So Dakota indulged herself, snuggling deep into the warm bed, sleeping soundly without a care.
Unexpectedly, at eight in the morning,
a phone call rang like a bomb, jolting Dakota awake from her dreams.
"Mmm..."
Dakota frowned, pulling the blanket over her ears.
But the phone kept ringing, so she irritably opened her eyes a crack, reached for the phone, put it on speaker, and tossed it aside, closing her eyes to try and go back to sleep.
"Hello... Who is this?"
Dakota, thinking it was probably one of her friends calling, answered lazily and somewhat irritably, her voice still heavy with sleepiness and annoyance at being woken up.
But she didn't expect,
Reagan's gentle voice to come from the other end, "Kota, are you and Curtis up yet?"
There was a two-second pause.
Recognizing the voice, Dakota's eyes snapped open in shock. She grabbed her phone and sat up abruptly, "Mom, Mom!"
Clearly, she had just been startled awake.
Reagan chuckled gently and indulgently, "Looks like I've disturbed your sleep."
"No, no..."
Dakota rubbed her tousled hair in frustration, "Mom, why are you calling so early?"
Mother-in-law!
How could it be a call from her mother-in-law!
Dakota screamed inwardly, wishing she could bury herself for her earlier irritation.
"There's nothing much."
Reagan's voice was filled with amusement, seeming not to mind the earlier interruption, "I was just thinking since it's the weekend and we're not working, we could come visit you at Whispering Pines. You and Curtis should be home now, right?"
Whispering Pines!
Dakota felt her mind suddenly buzz.
Of course, she wasn't actually at Whispering Pines!
Her heart leaped instantly, and her first reaction was to throw off the covers and run, to get back to their marital home before her mother-in-law arrived to avoid any slip-up.
But just as she stepped barefoot onto the soft cashmere rug, she suddenly realized something was off with the decor...
Huh?
Dakota blinked confusedly, rubbed her eyes again, and upon reopening them, found the same scene, gradually realizing it wasn't a hallucination.
How strange.
Why was she sleeping in Whispering Pines again!
Dakota held the phone, returning to the bed in a daze, "Yes, we're definitely at Whispering Pines."
Reagan turned to look at Andre beside her.
She seemed a bit surprised but didn't show it, unsure whether Dakota's words were true.
"That's good."
Reagan blinked, pretending not to know about their living apart, "Your father and I are almost there, could you open the door for us in five minutes?"
Five minutes!!!
Dakota jumped out of bed again.
She was about to rush to the adjacent room to find Curtis but then noticed the mess in the master bedroom. So she hurriedly placed the phone aside and began tidying the bed in a panic.
Reagan hung up with a "slam."
Dakota's mind was a tangle, and she thought of many things in an instant…
Oh no, oh no!
They can't find out they're sleeping separately!
Ah ah!
Where's the wedding ring! It's at Maplewood Lane!
Help...
Dakota, rarely acting like a diligent little hamster, sped through making the bed and rummaging through her personal items.
But in this critical moment, she suddenly thought of a perfect solution!
As the light bulb lit up in her mind, Dakota didn't hesitate a moment.
She gathered her few personal items and rushed to Curtis's room, like a bandit, quickly setting up duplicate items.
And then she dashed to Curtis's bed—
Jumped right in after pulling back the covers!
Meanwhile, Curtis was still asleep.
He had kept Dakota up late last night and had no idea his parents were planning a surprise visit.
But in his sleep, things felt a bit odd.
He seemed to hear a lot of strange noises.
Like a little mouse had sneaked in while he was asleep, rummaging through things and making noise.
Curtis lightly furrowed his brows.
He lazily raised his arm to his forehead and slowly opened his eyes to see what was going on.
But before he could fully open his eyes, he felt the mattress bounce and was then enveloped by a fresh, sweet scent that took his breath away.
Curtis nearly woke up instantly.
He opened his eyes to see a pair of clear, innocent eyes staring back at him. Dakota had burrowed into his bed, only her head peeking out as she blinked at him.
"Hi!" She waved enthusiastically at him, "Good morning, Mr. Pineda! Surprise!"
Curtis: "..."
He was clearly just coming out of a deep sleep, his sharp eyes drooping at the corners, with a hint of lingering drowsiness in his deep pupils.
"Kota."
Curtis rubbed the bridge of his nose, "What are you up to at eight in the morning?"
"Shh, shh, shh—"
Dakota put a finger to Curtis's lips, lifting her head to look toward the window, "Keep your voice down! Don't let your parents hear you!"
"Parents?" Curtis's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Yes." "Yes." Dakota, like a rabbit, burrowed under the covers, flipping over and turning her head to look at him, "Didn't you get the call?"
Curtis only felt a chill.
Thankfully, he wasn't in the habit of sleeping naked, and his clothes were still intact, but the wind Dakota caused by moving the covers made his abdomen tighten.
Curtis's expression changed slightly.
An unusual sensation surged downward and then suddenly rushed back to his brain.
...Damn.
While he hadn't fully woken up yet, something else had woken up before him.
Curtis's expression shifted as he looked at Dakota, tightening his grip on the blanket and pulling it towards him, "What call?"
"It was your mom's call."
Dakota lay beside Curtis, trying to crumple the sheets with her hands, then fiddled with her hair, dropping a couple of strands as evidence of having slept there.
"She called saying she's coming over, and she'll be here in five minutes!"
Dakota rolled over and lay back down.
She nuzzled the pillow, looking up at him, "I'm trying to create evidence that we slept together in this bedroom last night!"
Curtis: "..."
His throat tightened, smelling the fragrance Dakota exuded as she moved around, and seeing her lying on his bed blinking at him, he felt—
The morning's urge was harder to suppress than usual.
Curtis clutched the blanket and subtly retreated, but Dakota reached out and pressed his abdomen.
In that moment, Curtis felt a spark in his brain, even the muscles in his back tightened.
Yet, Dakota didn't realize what she'd done. She looked at him oddly, "Why are you moving away?"
