My Second Marriage with the Mafia Kingpin novel Chapter 165

Chapter 165: Did I wake up in an alternate reality?

"Ugh..." Ashley’s head throbbed painfully.

Before she opened her eyes, she clutched her head. When she peeked through one eye, the curtains were still closed. Her brows knitted as she sat upright.

"How did I get home last night?" she mumbled to herself, her head pounding.

Even so, she crawled out of bed toward the bathroom. But even after splashing her face with cold water to ease her headache, it barely helped. Dragging herself back to the bedroom, she paused as she noticed the items on the bedside table.

"What is this?" she wondered, picking up a small bouquet and some hangover medicine.

Ashley tilted her head to the side. "Did those guys buy this for me?" she wondered, then focused on the flowers. "But why would they give me flowers?"

"..." She pressed her lips into a thin line as she studied them.

Shrugging, she set them down and didn’t think much of it. She picked up the medicine and popped one into her mouth, hoping it would help.

Ashley was about to crawl back into bed to rest until her hangover passed. But before she could, she paused as a faint aroma hit her nostrils.

"Huh?" She looked toward the door, confused. "Is Nolan cooking downstairs?"

At the thought of food, her stomach grumbled. She had eaten a lot of instant noodles the night before, but somehow she was already hungry again. Besides, the water on the bedside table wasn’t as cold as she wanted.

Thinking that food might ease her hangover, Ashley made her way out.

The second she opened the door, she stopped.

"Huh?" She looked down at a bouquet on the floor. "Another one?"

She picked it up and glanced back at the flower in the bedroom.

"That’s weird," she whispered, hearing faint noises from downstairs. "How did these end up here?"

Ashley scratched her head — this flower mystery was only making her headache worse. She shook her head, holding the second bouquet as she headed toward the stairs. Before she even reached the landing, she stopped mid-step.

There, draped over the curved railing, was another bouquet — a different arrangement, but the same size as the one in her room and the one in her hand.

Ashley picked it up, utterly confused.

"Did Nolan think filling the house with flowers would make it prettier?" she mumbled, shaking her head as she continued down.

By now, she knew it wasn’t her neighbors who had brought these. Aside from that being impossible, they wouldn’t waste their money on her like that.

It took Ashley only a moment to identify the culprit when she reached the dining room and saw a figure busy behind the kitchen counter.

Lucian.

Her brows furrowed as she watched the tall figure rummage through some drawers. Her eyes drifted to the pots and pans on the stove, then to the tray on the counter already set with bowls and a side of fruit. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Ashley dragged her feet slowly toward the kitchen.

"Lucian," she called, her face a picture of genuine confusion. "What are you — are you cooking?"

Her voice snapped Lucian out of his thoughts. He turned to where she stood — eyes still a little swollen, cheeks and lips puffy, hair all over the place. None of that surprised him. What struck him first was the image of the meals she had prepared last night and how she had eaten alone.

He had been trying to finish everything and bring it up to the bedroom before she woke. She had gotten up earlier than expected.

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