Noe even wondered if he was hallucinating.
He lifted his eyes in a daze, ran his hand through his hair, and muttered, "I must have misheard... I must have misheard!"
Curtis didn't say a word.
But Dakota realized she had spoken rashly out of panic and almost given herself away to the sharp-eared Noe.
She nervously gripped the edge of the blanket, too afraid to contradict and too embarrassed to speak, her quickened breathing barely audible.
Curtis lifted his eyelids to look at her.
Seeing his wife in such a state of deception, he couldn't help but smile softly.
"You must have misheard," he defended Dakota gently, "It's my mom watching an eight o'clock idol drama."
Noe was enlightened, "That's what I thought!!"
He must have been hallucinating; it was the middle of the night, how could Curtis be with Dakota!
But then Noe thought of something else:
"Wait—"
Noe snapped back to reality, "Damn, Curtis, so you're not at the southern suburbs right now!"
They had talked about it when they went to the hot springs.
So Noe knew that Curtis had been staying at a house he'd set up in the third ring area, and Dakota lived there too.
He figured they were close by.
That's why he called Curtis to rush over to help her.
Curtis: "..."
He slowly glanced at Dakota, to cover for her, he lied to his buddy, "Yeah."
"Oh no, oh no, this is bad!"
Noe smacked his forehead in frustration, "I thought you were close to Dakota, but it turns out you aren't staying there tonight either, what are we going to do—"
"Is Dakota going to be okay tonight?"
Dakota chuckled silently beside him.
Dakota thought, she might have been fine originally, but now it was a real mess!
If it weren't for the fear of giving Noe more clues, Dakota would have pounced on Curtis, snatched his phone, hung up the call, and deleted the messages.
Oh no…
But Dakota could do nothing now.
She simply pulled the blanket over herself again, looking like a helpless and adorable doll, cute yet utterly desperate.
Curtis chuckled, "Why are you so worried about her dating a man? Do you have a crush on her?"
Noe: ???????
"Curtis, don't lose your mind. With all these years of friendship, me having a crush on Dakota is as likely as you marrying her, which is impossible!!"
Dakota: "..."
Noe: "I'm just worried. After all, Dakota has never dated before, and suddenly she's asking Lailah about... that kind of stuff..."
This is moving way too fast!
As a boy who has never dated, Noe was genuinely concerned about his friend's safety!
"Forget it," Noe muttered to himself, "I'll think of something else, or maybe I'll just call the police!"
Curtis: "..."
He clicked his tongue, about to say something, but Noe hung up the call decisively.
All Curtis could hear was the busy signal.
He raised an eyebrow, looking at the phone with a complicated expression, then turned his gaze towards Dakota.
Dakota was buried under the blanket.
The blanket covered her head, and she weakly extended a hand towards Curtis, "Do you think it's possible for me to ask you for your phone to delete those chat records?"
Curtis looked at her calmly.
Dakota didn't expect any hope from her question, not believing Curtis would be so kind.
Sure enough, the blanket was pulled down.
Dakota felt a sudden chill, the loss of security making her lift her eyes helplessly.
Curtis leaned down slowly.
A man with eyes that seemed to seduce when smiling, he stared straight at Dakota, his dark eyes deep and intense, inviting one to drown in them.
"Consulting about precautions for the first time?"
His eye corners raised, leaning closer, "So Mrs. Pineda was urging me to take a shower tonight for this reason?"
"No, no, no!!!"
Dakota's cheeks were flushed, her fingers gripping the blanket tightly, as if she wished to embed her fingertips into the cotton, "It was you who made me misunderstand..."
Curtis was slightly stunned, "Me?"
Dakota's ears were red now.
She had no idea how to explain, she had noticed that Curtis's gaze today was overly suggestive.
And the atmosphere between them seemed more intimate and ambiguous than ever.
That's why she assumed...
But now it seemed Curtis didn't mean that, or perhaps he did want to, but ultimately decided to take a cold shower instead.
Saying this would be too embarrassing.
It made her seem overly eager.
"I don't care!"
Dakota pulled the blanket back, covering her head again, her muffled voice came out, "I suggest you reflect on yourself."
Curtis couldn't reflect at all.
After this incident.
The air seemed to be filled with restless energy.
Curtis lowered his eyes, seeing Lailah's messages in the group, realizing she had really...
He couldn't help but chuckle silently.
But at the same time, the feelings that had been suppressed by the cold shower resurfaced.
No normal man wouldn't think about such things when facing his wife; he was no exception, but he had thought Dakota wasn't ready.
Curtis's Adam's apple moved slightly.
He turned his gaze to the lump under the blanket, feeling inexplicably thirsty.
He took a deep breath and leaned close to Dakota, pressing his lips near her ear and asked, "So..."
"Mrs. Pineda," he called her.
Such intimate familiarity.
Dakota felt her earlobes tingle, a sense of foreboding rising, her limbs going weak even before she heard what Curtis was about to say.
Sure enough, his hoarse voice whispered into her ear, "Do you still want to do it now?"
