Ariana slowly opened her eyes to the ceiling above her which had an artwork that looked like it belonged in the Renaissance painted on it.
She turned sideways, not finding Azaiah on the bed.
Her brows furrowed and she sat up, looking around the room "Azaiah" she called out a few times.
"He must be somewhere else" she said, standing up from the bed and heading towards the bathroom.
Opening the door, her eyes fell on Azaiah's bare body. The man was washing himself in the shower.
"Sorry" Ariana said, closing the door. Azaiah had seen her open the door and shut it just as quickly.
Ariana's heart skipped a beat after seeing Azaiah's bare body. Her eyes had caught sight of things she wished she hadn't seen.
She walked back to the bed and waited for him to be done with taking his bath.
After some minutes, Azaiah walked out of the bathroom with a towel hanging loosely around his waist and his bare torso.
Seeing him, Ariana tried to control where her eyes wandered.
"Good morning" Azaiah said to her as he approached his closet.
She quickly walked up to him and tried to look only into his eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in there" she said to him.
Azaiah smiled and patted her head "It's okay". His well sculpted muscles came to her view once more as he moved his arm and she closed her eyes tightly.
Azaiah smiled as he found her behavior funny. He put on a crew neck t-shirt and said "You can open them now Ariana". Though he hadn't asked her to close her eyes.
She opened an eye first and after seeing he had indeed put something on, she opened the other.
She walked into the bathroom and had her bath. After she was out, she couldn't find Azaiah in the room anymore and she sighed in relief. After what had happened, she was too shy to face him.
She didn't have anymore clothes to change into so she remained in Azaiah's clothes. Walking out of the room, she looked left and right as she tried to figure out her way downstairs.
Azaiah had led her to his room last night and she didn't really take note of the turns they took before they got to his room.
The Hawthorne mansion was big and had many parts to it. Ariana was new to it and could barely find her way around.
She turned right, hoping it would lead her to the main stairs which they had come with. But instead, she found herself moving deeper into the mansion and before she realized it, she had wandered far.
Passing through the corridors of the mansion, she reached a place where several paintings were hanged on both sides of the walls.
The paintings had names written at the bottom of each.
She walked closer to one of the paintings and looked at the names written below it. "King Warren Hawthorne and Queen Tiana Hawthorne". Ariana's brows furrowed in confusion "These are his ancestors?" She asked herself as her eyes moved to the painted portrait itself.
It was a painting of a man and his wife, the man had shiny dark skin and dark hair while his wife who was seated beside him was pale skinned and had blonde hair. The couple was clad in royal medieval clothes and Ariana stared in awe.
She was dumbstruck by the beauty of the king and the Queen and wondered who the painter was because the portrait was meticulously done.
She moved on to the next portrait and this time, it had the couple painted with their children.
Ariana was looking through the names of the children written below the portrait when she felt the hair on her skin stand on end.
She looked up to see it was Azaiah who was standing afar, staring at her with his arms crossed.
She sighed in relief as she had been frightened but seeing it was Azaiah, she calmed down. Though, the man had an aura that scared her sometimes.
"I was waiting for you at the table" Azaiah said as he walked closer to her.
"I'm sorry, I missed my way" Ariana said, turning to him.
Standing before her, Azaiah stretched out his hand "Let's go".
Ariana sighed, slightly disheartened because she wanted to see more portraits which would make her know more about Azaiah's life.
She placed her hand in his as they walked out of that passage and then to the main stairs. Ariana looked around carefully, trying to crest every turn into her mind so she wouldn't miss her way some other time.
She bit the insides of her jaw as she tried to compress the urge to ask Azaiah about the paintings but she couldn't contain her curiosity for long and then said "I didn't know you came from a royal family".
"I didn't want anyone to know" he responded.
"Anyway, it's actually cool" Ariana said excitedly, like a kid who was given her favorite meal.
"It is but not entirely" Azaiah said and Ariana felt her joy slowly dissipate because she understood why he made that statement.
They finally reached the dinning room and old man Hawthorne was already seated, waiting. Ariana immediately felt guilty that she had made both Azaiah and his grandfather wait for her.
Eden Hawthorne sighted her and a smile appeared on his face. "Good morning Mr. Hawthorne" Ariana said, taking her seat beside Azaiah.
"Good morning sweetheart. How are you?" Eden asked.
"Oh I'm great. Thank you" she answered.
"Hope you had a wonderful night?" Eden emphasized on the word "wonderful" as his eyes slightly moved to Azaiah before looking back at Ariana.
Azaiah knew what his old man meant and he wanted to face palm himself but didn't.
Ariana blushed as she remembered Azaiah held her tightly throughout the night.
"Yes, my night was pretty good" she answered.
Eden wasn't hoping on sexual thing happening between the two the night before but he hoped that at least there would be some form of body contact between them both.
"That's good to know" the old man said with a smile.
After a while, the cook brought their breakfast before them.