Bennett noticed the raised blanket shifting slightly, and a mix of emotions flickered in his dark eyes.

He paused for a bit, taking in the sight before he stood and headed toward the dressing room.

As the bathroom door clicked shut, Claudia peeked out a Little from her blanket fort, surveying the room. Seeing he was indeed in the shower. she slowly came out of her self-made hiding place.

Thinking of what she had just said, Claudia couldn't help but cover her face.

Oh, what was she thinking?

It was such a bold thing to say

Why did she say something so bold?

Gradually, Claudia managed to find her calm.

She felt the drowsiness creeping in stronger as she quietly eyed the bathroom door, starting to count in her head.

One hundred counts.

Just count to a hundred.

“If he's not back by the hundredth count, I'll sleep," she murmured to herself.

Despite her determination, she could only sustain until the count of 18 before surrendering to sleep, her eyelids giving way.

When Bennett came out of the bathroom, he found that Claudia had fallen asleep.

A playful smirk adorned his face accompanied by a light laugh.

She urged him to hurry with his shower, yet she succumbed to sleep so quickly.

However, he understood the depth of Claudia's fatigue. Even though Bennett wanted to wake her up, he chose to retract his hand to let her rest uninterrupted.

When morning dawned, Claudia was up before everyone else. Yet again, she managed to sneak in a kiss, although this time Bennett spotted her while doing it.

Caught in the act, she playfully cited a scheduled date to dodge the situation, rushing into the bathroom to freshen up.

Similar to the previous day, she left after breakfast and didn't return home until 8 o'clock in the evening.

Bennett had to attend the party on his own, and his friends, including Duncan, teased him for being neglected by his wife already.

During the following week, both Bennett and Claudia were extremely busy. They hardly had any time to spend together, except for a few brief exchanges of words at night.

Fortunately, this kind of life was about to come to an end.

It was a Saturday, the 16th of September. Bright and early, Claudia was on the high-speed railway heading to