I Spiked His Drink, He Drank It Anyway Chapter 03
I stayed in the dance studio for a full two hours.
Figuring Stellan had to be asleep by now, I quietly eased open the door to the master bedroom.
Truth was, we’d slept in separate rooms for our entire first year of marriage.
A couple of days ago, Mrs. Gable accidentally left the bathroom faucet running while cleaning my room.
The place flooded.
The furniture and mattress were ruined, and replacing the custom pieces would take about a month.
So for the time being, I’d moved into Stellan’s room.
A bedside lamp still glowed softly.
Stellan looked like he’d already fallen asleep.
The comments floated back into view.
[Tamsin’s the worst. She left Stellan in here to deal with it all by himself.]
[The last two hours have been torture for him.]
[He took an ice-cold shower and even bit the back of his hand until it bled just to fight off the drug.]
He bit his hand until it bled?
The image of Stellan lying in the same bathtub I’d just used, teeth digging into his hand as he forced himself to endure it, made my face burn.
In the dim light, I couldn’t help studying his sleeping face.
It wasn’t just his hand.
Even his lower lip had been bitten open.
There was something hauntingly beautiful about it, the evidence of restraint etched into his skin.
His robe hung open just enough to reveal the outline of his broad chest.
I swallowed hard, then carefully slipped under the covers, terrified of waking him.
I didn’t know how much time had passed.
Just as I was about to drift off, a warm hand settled lightly against my waist. I clutched the blanket tight.
Thankfully, he didn’t make another move.
Little by little, I relaxed and fell asleep.
The next morning, I headed to The Aurelia Dance Collective.
Word was, a highly accomplished ballet dancer was joining the company today.
Our head Ramona introduced her to everyone.
The woman smiled with calm confidence.
“Hi, everyone. I’m Iris Chenoweth.”
Iris… Wait, the Iris from the comments?
The comments exploded.
[She’s here! The female lead’s finally back!]
[This’s the one. The woman Stellan could never forget.]
[They were classmates in elementary school. After Iris moved away, they lost touch, but Stellan never stopped thinking about her.]
[Even after all these years without contact, she’s an acclaimed ballet dancer now. It wouldn’t have been hard for Stellan to track her down.]
[If his grandfather hadn’t forced him to marry Tamsin, he and Iris would’ve reunited long ago.]
[Tamsin’s a ballet dancer too. She reminded him of Iris just enough for him to agree to the marriage.]
I stared at Iris.
She was beautiful without being showy—graceful, composed, with a quiet, natural elegance that couldn’t be imitated.
In that moment, I finally understood.
No matter how perfectly I’d played the part I thought Stellan wanted, I could never be what Iris simply was.