Separate Weddings, Separate Lives novel Chapter 71

When Louisa woke up, she was nestled against Elijah's chest.

Last night, after carrying her back to her room, he left her there and headed out to make a call. Meanwhile, Louisa went to bed after showering. She hadn't expected herself to be unaware of when Elijah came back. He even went to sleep beside her.

They were supposed to be married only in name. Yet, they seemed like a real couple now.

"Mrs. Holten, you're a fiend for cuddles, as expected."

Elijah's voice made Louisa shiver.

She immediately tried to extract herself from his embrace. Yet, the second she moved, she realized her hand was around his waist. That meant…

Perhaps because she'd grown up without her parents, Louisa was deeply insecure. When she slept, she usually cuddled up to her stuffed toys, despite her age. She had a huge teddy on her bed, and only slept soundly when holding it.

Louisa had treated Elijah as her teddy.

Of course, Louisa couldn't tell him that, not wanting to start a fight first thing in the morning. She got out of bed as she said, "Elijah, in the future, if I'm in bed, you'll take the couch and vice versa."

Suddenly, she thought of something and grabbed her phone, checking the time before glancing back at Elijah. "Aren't you leaving today? Why haven't you headed out?"

"So eager to chase me away?" Elijah had picked up an implication in her question she hadn't even intended.

Louisa knew that it was impossible for him to walk home as he'd said last night, so he could only take a flight. It was clearly late into the day already. "Are you not leaving?"

"Are you disappointed?" Elijah wasn't on the same wavelength as Louisa. How exhausting.

Once again, Louisa thought of the hovering waiter. She must've caught something from him that made her stick her nose into his business early in the morning.

When Louisa came back out, Elijah had left the bedroom. One of the helpers stood by the door and said, "Mrs. Holten, Mr. Holten has asked me to help you with packing."

Louisa had guessed that Elijah would be taking her with him. Allowing her to stay was nothing but an empty promise.

But Louisa was used to Elijah going back on his word and couldn't be bothered to get angry over it. She didn't question him about it, either. Instead, she just replied, "I can pack myself. You can work on your other tasks."

The helper didn't leave. She said, "Mrs. Holten, someone's looking for you downstairs."

Looking for her?

Other than Thaddeus and Danica, there could be no one else. However, Louisa didn't want to get all tangled up with them.

Just as she was about to turn her down, the helper said, "It's Mr. Zachary."