Alicia stilled for a moment. She did not expect to be placed in this position. That he would make her use his lap as her pillow this time. And the warmth of his touches, his large palm covering her eyes like an eye mask and his lap serving as her pillow, all these temporarily distracted her from the thoughts that were buzzing busily around in her head.

  　　She lifted her hand and placed it over his that was covering her eyes. "I don't want to sleep. And you're obviously not alright. You're hungry." She declared gently, deciding to not talk about what she badly wanted to talk about for now. It was fine if she changed the topic for now.

  　　"I'm telling you again for the nth time Alicia. I. Am. Fine. A simple hunger won't do much damage to me. Even if my vampiric side is starving and weak, I still have my demonic powers with me." He explained to her as patiently as he could, and she could sense that he had his eyes closed again. She did now know how she knew it, but she just somehow did.

  　　"Alright. I won't insist anymore. But… I really don't want to sleep." She gently pushed away his palm that were covering her eyes and looked up at him. Their eyes met and she continued. "Don't put me to sleep…… please, Ezekiel." She blinked slowly at him as she pleaded with eyes going as puppy-dog as she could make them, and she felt Ezekiel turning into a statue.

  　　He did not make even the slightest movement. He just froze, looking down at her as if he could not believe what he had just seen nor heard.

  　　Well, Alicia screamed within her as well at what she just did. She never does that but… she had thought that she must try a different approach in dealing with this man or else she would just end up spending the rest of her last nine days sleeping it away.

  　　But she did not think his reaction would be like this. That he would react this strongly to her persuading methods. For a moment, she was afraid that he would bark out from laughter at her silly attempt to act cute to sway him but… oh goodness! Was it actually working on the high and mighty lord Ezekiel? The triumph she felt was just so strong she could not stop herself from grinning. Making this man react like this was just simply damned satisfying. There was no way else to describe it.

  　　He tore his gaze off hers when the corners of her lips lifted. He looked sideways, clearing his throat, but Alicia was already beaming with joy.

  　　"No." he said, jaws clenching as he stared to his side. "It's better for you and I to stay asleep, Alicia. We need the rest, too. This is the only better choice for us to do…" he trailed off when Alicia suddenly moved.

  　　She had changed her position to kneeling on the couch with her straddling him between her spread out thighs. Her hands were now wound around his neck as she cocked her head to the side where Ezekiel was facing. Then she blinked at him again. "Please? Ezekiel?" her voice came out light and breathless.

  　　His lips parted. And Alicia did her best not to grin and blink at him again instead. She could feel him tensing up minutely under her and pleasure and pride filled her. It thrilled her at how he was so receptive to her every little action.

  　　"Fine, damn it…" he groaned as he swiftly covered her eyes with his palm. She did not know if he did that so she could not blink at him again or so she would not be able to see his reaction. "Don't sleep then if you wish… but don't disturb me." He sounded so firm as he said that before he retracted his hand. "Do what you want… you stubborn woman. But be good and let me sleep."

  　　When she looked down at him, he already had his eyes shut closed and was leaning his head back against the couch.

  　　Alicia bit down on her lower lip. The urge to tease him further and see that incredibly human reaction of his again was strong. But she held herself back. She did not want to overuse her newfound effective tactics, right? And he seemed to really need sleep right now. Did he not sleep well?

  　　Now that Alicia thought about it, she actually did not have any idea whether Ezekiel had actually been sleeping all the time when she was asleep. Could it be that he was not even sleeping and had been pretending to do so? Could it be that that was why he always looked so tired even after just waking up? But what had he been doing instead of sleeping?

  　　She was about to climb off him so she would not disturb his rest as he said, but his hand that was wrapped around her waist did not seem to want to let go. He instead pulled her tighter against him, holding her head over his chest. "Be good and stay still. I can sleep peacefully only if you're this close to me." Alicia flushed at his words. This man! Even at this point where he claimed he needed to sleep and rest; he could still flirt and throw out such heart thumping words!

  　　Alicia blinked, surprised once again. "R-really? Why do you think that my closeness is able to give you peace?" she asked, truly curious as she questioned him. She really wanted to know.

  　　"Honestly… I'm not certain on this as well. However, I don't intend to figure any more of it out." His answer only made her want to pull away and glare at him for being both fire and ice again. But she did not respond impulsively and continued asking instead, keeping her calm.

  　　"Why? Is it because you're afraid of what you might find out?"