Imperfect Desires

-Next Morning-

It was 8 in the morning when Darren's eyes fluttered open slowly. He usually didn't sleep in like that but last night, he was honestly exhausted. And all because of a troublemaker who was peacefully sleeping snuggled up against him. Darren turned his eyes to look at her face that seemed to be glowing differently in the morning and smiled.

But as he was reminded of what he had to go through last night because of her, he pinched her cheek and said, "You! My little mischief-maker, let me see how you drink again!"

He had yet to know what she actually did last night, but he was certain that he didn't want her to drink again. With such an innocent face, she turned into a seductress from whom even he couldn't escape. He really had to keep this little demon of his chained up right beside him. 

Reluctantly, he held her head and pulled out his arm from under her head. His arm was numb, but he didn't complain at all. He silently withdrew from the room and came to the living room. Last night, he didn't pay attention to cleaning the mess but now he had to.

He was just glad to see that even in her intoxicated state, she was sane enough to not place any candle on the carpet. Otherwise, he was bound to have a hard time. While he got to cleaning the living room, his eyes finally caught sight of that square box that he had seen last night but were forgotten since someone was being naughty.

He decided to clean the living room before dealing with that box and that was exactly what he did. It took him about an hour or maybe more to clean his living room merely because of his slight obsession with seeing everything prim and proper that was acting up suddenly.

Later, he took the box and placed it at the kitchen counter while he perched down on that high chair before it. As he took of the ribbon wrapped around it, he opened it with a curious feeling. What came into his view baffled him before he frowned and held two photo frames placed neatly inside. 

Even more surprising was that both the frames were empty. What did it mean? Why would she give him two empty photo frames? What was she planning to do with it? He really couldn't answer those questions at all. When he noticed that something else was also in the box, he placed the photo frames at the side and took out something wrapped in a paper bag.

Darren calmly unwrapped it and his brows immediately quirked up in surprise. Inside were two ceramic mugs. But those weren't ordinary mugs. It was a pair of couple mugs. On one of the mugs was written, "I love his eyes." There was a small heart drawn underneath. While the other mug had, "He loves my smile," inscribed on it.

Darren chuckled at her cheekiness and shook his head. He was about to put the mugs down when he noticed that something was written on the other side as well. But he had to put both the mugs side by side to read the whole sentence which read, "You will forever be my always. And you'll always be my forever. Because you're my always and you're my forever. Yours, Sweets."

Darren held a hand over his mouth as he read those words. A strange emotion surged inside of him. He rubbed a hand on his forehead as if in distress but when his lips lifted, he only whispered, "She's really my idiot. Childish!" Even though he said that he was secretly really glad to see this gift which meant a lot to him.

He went inside the bedroom to check on her saw her sleeping even now without any care in the world. As if it was a weekend and she could sleep all day long. Darren poked her cheek and said, "Aren't you planning on waking up today?"

Xiu rolled her body over and kept sleeping. Darren shook her shoulder, "Aren't you hungry already?" As if on cue, her stomach growled in response. She had only eaten ice-cream last night and it was expected that she'd be hungry. Because the only proper meal she had was also with him and that was yesterday morning. Darren chuckled at her stomach's response and said, "I think now it's really time to get up."

Xiu fluttered her eyes open and rubbed her eyes saying, "I'd love to do that but my head is hurting. Also, my whole body is aching. I don't want to move." 

"Well, no one asked you to drink like there's no tomorrow," replied Darren in a strange tone making Xiu's eyes open wide and all sleep was instantly lost. 

Xiu smiled sheepishly as she said, "About that..." she licked her dry lips and went on, "That was me being silly." She took a pause before she held his arm and acted coquettishly, "I'd really love it if you could bring me a coffee and something to eat right here."

Darren touched her nose as he knew she was trying to escape from the previous topic and said, "Why? Can't this independent and strong woman get up?" He actually had a strong impression of how she always liked to remind him that she was an independent and strong woman.

Xiu scratched her head in a silly manner and said, "Although I am a strong and independent woman, I'd still love it if you'd bring me a coffee. Because I'm wrapped up in a blanket and don't wish to move."

"So much for being strong and independent," said Darren before he got up and left the room. Xiu held her head as she tried to remember what had conspired last night. She couldn't recall everything for now because of her groggy state but the soreness between her legs told her about what could have happened. And call it her intuition or maybe she knew herself very well, but she could tell that whatever happened last night was initiated by her own self.

But was she feeling any guilt? No! She was in fact very pleased with herself. She patted her own shoulders as she whispered, "See, I'm a strong and independent woman who knows what she wants. And if I want my boyfriend, who can stop me? No one!"

Just then, Darren entered the room with a table full of food as he placed in right before her on the table. Xiu looked at the bowl of fruits nicely cut, delicious looking pancakes with blueberries and there was even a steaming hot mug of coffee. She almost had tears in her eyes receiving the treatment she never even dreamed of.

But all of sudden, something caught her attention. It was the mug of coffee in Darren's hand and she abruptly looked at her own mug carefully this time and her eyes widened.