(A/N - The text written in Italics usually denotes Jasmine's inner voice.)

Jazz's POV :

I groan as I feel my body ache from soreness. I groggily open my eyes only to come face to face with a sleeping Xander's face. I look at my hands which are intertwined with his hands. I try to pry them away but that only tightens his grip on them.

Sighing I look around his room, while the prince sleeps on the bed, poor little me had fallen asleep on his carpet near the bed in sitting position. Yes, I slept while sitting since someone won't leave my hands and I had no option but to sit down. Well I could have slept on his bed, but I doubt either of us would have appreciated....

Cuddling?

What?

You know the position, when you are giving an affectionate embrace to someone.

I know what cuddling is dumbo.

You just called yourself, dumbo.

What?

You know how we are the same person.

Ugh, I can't deal with you early morning.

Same here. Now focus on the handsome there.

Sighing, I look at Xander.

Flashback -
(Yesterday night)

I woke up on hearing Oreo's constant barking. When I woke up, I got two shocks. First, I was in the guest room when the last thing I remembered was sitting in the living room. I think Xander tucked me in, which I am thankful for. Second shock was seeing Oreo so aggravated that not only was he barking, but also scratching the door as if to open it.

I quickly scrambled out of the bed to open the door. As soon as I had opened the door, Oreo ran down the hall and slammed into a door. I quickly followed him and saw the matte black door. It seemed familiar but then again all the rooms in this house had the same type of door. I knocked the door, but seeing as no response came and the fact that Oreo was literally growling at the door, I decided to open it. Slowly I peaked inside, as I realized it was Xander's room.

Oreo walked past me whining as he sat down on the floor beside Xander's bed. I too, invited myself inside only to come face to face with a thrashing and mumbling Xander. He kept turning left and right in his state of sleep. Beads of sweat started to appear on his forehead as his whispers became louder.

"Stop! Please Stop!!"

He continued to scream and thrash around the bed till I finally couldn't see anymore. I gently held his waist in order to stop his movement. Bending down, I cupped his cheek as I whispered, "It's going to be okay. You are going to be okay. I am here for you."

As I whispered these words, he stopped squirming under my grip and went back to his sleep. Sighing, I started to get up, only for Xander to hold me down by gripping my hands.

"Don't leave me," he barely whispered but the voice was so scared that it broke my heart. It reminded me of someone, who I should have helped, who I was supposed to protect. Shaking my head, I try to get rid of my darkening thoughts as I look down at Xander. I wasn't there for that person, but I'll be there for Xander.

"I'll always be here, Xander," I said more to myself, as I sat down on the carpet. That was the last thing I remembered as I let myself fall asleep to the peaceful sound of Xander's breathe.

(Flashback ends...)

Now, this brings us to how I got myself in this situation, though I wonder what Xander dreamt about. Obviously, it was a nightmare and I knew better than anyone what power nightmares held over our unconscious selves. A shudder passes through me as my thoughts start to wander to the darkest corner of my mind.

A yawn broke me out of me reverie. I look at Xander as his ocean blue eyes filled with daze of sleep stared back into my brown eyes.

"Cocoa?" he asks as he rubbed his eyes and pushes his black hair away from his eyes.

"Wha-- "

Xander stops midway as his eyes zoom in on our intertwined hands which he was still holding quite firmly, may I add.

He clears his throat as he slowly releases my arm and starts to sit up. As the blanket falls I come to face to face with his bare shirt.

Damn are those six packs or what? Also insert whistling sound, and is that a v-

I quickly block out my inner voice as my cheeks redden at the thoughts of my alter ego.

I look up at Xander to see him staring back me. He freaking caught me staring at his --

Actually you were totally checking him out and damn who won't, that's one well defined chest.

The sound of a throat clearing brings me back to the present, where Xander is still looking at me with a questioning gaze.

"What are you doing here, Cocoa and um why were we holding each other's hands?" He asks looking unblinking at me.

"I actually am sorry for intruding onto your privacy like that-- "

"What are you doing here, Cocoa?" He asks again, a frown marring his face as I detect a hint of anger in his voice.

"I, actually, Oreo woke me up last night and ran to your room. I followed him here. You were having a nightmare. I tried to wake you and um help you. But when I decided to get up, you caught my hands and wouldn't let me leave. And yeah, I don't exactly remember when I fell asleep, but that's how I ended up in your room," I quickly said, mumbling the last parts as I look at him through my eyelashes.

This was the most tense I have ever seen Xander. His shoulders were buzzing with tension as a permanent frown marred his perfect face while he had his arms crossed across his chest, bringing out his bicep- Wait? What, ugh I am spending too much time hearing my inner voice. Damn, that's impurifying my virgin thoughts.

Oh Puhleasee, I am an influencer, sweetie. But I am not the one responsible for your astraying thoughts, rather a certain blue eyed hottie is.

"Cocoa?" I look up at Xander who seems to be observing me intently.

"How about you go take a shower while I take one too and then eat some breakfast?" He asks smiling, but something was amiss, the smile didn't reach his eyes.

Deciding to give him some place, I nod and go back to the guest room. I quickly take a shower, brush my teeth and dress back into my own clothes which thankfully had dried.

I exit the room as the smell of pancake hits me. Following the odour, I enter the kitchen where I see Xander cooking some pancakes while Oreo sits beside him munching on his dog food.

"Good morning," he greets me as he places a stack of pancakes on my plate and some on his plate as I decide to be useful and make some hot coffee.

Mhmm, that's the only thing that I have the energy of doing early morning.

"Good morning," I reply back while placing two cups of coffee on the dining table beside my plate.

(A/N - Picture above)

"Where's my cup of coffee?" Xander asks as we both sit down across each other on opposite chairs.

"Wait, you wanted to have coffee? Oh, my bad, I just made some for myself only."

"Ha ha, very funny, Cocoa," he replied sarcastically as he sneaked away the love of my life.

Stop being overdramatic.

Ignoring my curt inner voice, I sipped my delicious cup of coffee. As the familiar taste of coffee explodes in my mouth, my taste buds come back to life and my brain starts to work. Yes, my whole body works on coffee. It's my fuel.

So much for hating theatrics.

I am not joking, seriously if there was like a competition of who could drink the most coffee in the given time. I would have been the undefeatable champion. Huh, the perks of being me. I smiled thinking of the trophies I would have had but the dream is broken by the sound of laughter. I look at the source of the disturbance, Xander. Yup, he's the one laughing, but at what?

"Why are you laughing?" I ask as I pour a generous amount of chocolate syrup on my pancakes.

"Nothing, just I totally support you. You would no doubt be the undefeatable champion of coffee. Well, you already have the title of 'Official Caffeine Queen'," he replies with little to no effort in hiding his smirk as his eyes gleam with mischief.

Damn, I thought out loud again!

"Yup, you did," Xander replies as he continues to eat the pancake.

Ugh, I should go see a doctor. It's not healthy or normal how I can't keep my thoughts to me. How can I, myself, invade my own privacy?

I know right?! You should totally go see a psychiatrist. I mean obviously you should unless, you are a lazy, distracted person, too indulged in your own thoughts to realize what you are speaking. Oh wait! You ARE that kind of person.

I should go see a doctor and find how to shut you up.

Puhleasee, you love me, sweetie. You can't get rid of me. Insert winking emojis.

I block the annoying little voice and focus on the pancakes. We eat our pancakes in silence. I find myself sneaking glances at Xander, but he stays quiet, keeping his thoughts to himself. The gleam of mischief that had occured in his eyes was long gone replaced by a an emotionless blanket that draped over all his emotions.

"The pancakes were really good," I say as I get up and put my plate and cup into the wash basin.

"Thank you," Xander replies as he too stands up, collecting his plate and cup of coffee and place them in the wash basin.

"You're welcome," I mumble as I start to wash the dishes while he washes the cups.

Silently we finish washing and drying our self-assigned cutleries.

"Cocoa, thank you not just for the compliment but for yesterday night too," Xander says looking at me.

"You had a nightmare," I simply state, expecting to gauge any reaction, but he simply continued to look at me.

"Yes, I did."

We both stare at each other, each trying to figure out the other as we both refuse to remove the veil of mystery from our souls, as we both try to understand each other without allowing the other the leisure to know the hidden truths that lay behind the well built emotionless walls.

I know Xander doesn't wish to talk about the nightmare, well nobody likes to think about nightmares either, especially since his nightmare seemed to have totally rattled him. But I can't help wonder what it all was about. Before I could think about this more, alarm starts to blare from my phone.

Sighing, I quickly press the stop button. It was 8 o'clock, I usually come back from walk around this time. But I guess I forgot to do so.

"Do you wish to go out for morning walk? I am a bit late today," I ask Xander as we visibly relaxes at my question. I guess he expected me to enquire about his nightmare.

"Sure, I have to take Oreo out on a walk as it is. Give me a minute, I'll bring the key and lock the doors," he replies as he disappears down the hall.

I look at my phone, more like at it's wallpaper. It was a picture of me and Al. I was giving Al a piggy back ride, while sweat dripped from my face as I carried a mortified but excited Al. I remember Jay - Jay had clicked this picture at the annual race of our University last year. I wasn't excited to take part in it, but Al had literally dragged me into it. She really wanted to participate.

However, in the middle of the race, she had twisted her ankle. She looked so sad at her inability to complete the race that I did a spur of the moment thing which as you can guess from the picture - I carried Al through the rest of the race with a bit of difficulty. Okay, a lot of difficulty. But it was so worth seeing her ecstatic expression when we crossed the finish line. Technically, we came third but we were disqualified. Apparently, giving an injured person piggy back ride doesn't qualify you as a winner.

I smiled remembering how for the rest of the day, I couldn't move a muscle and yes, Al had sprained her ankle. We had laid side by side as Mrs. L, went on and on about how we should take care of each other and expressed her particular disappointment at, I quote "not able to witness her daughters bending the rules to their will". Well, she let us off the hook when we promised to keep her updated about the dramas n our lives. Yes, my fellow coffee sippers that's Mrs. L for you.

"You know you'll have to talk to her sooner or later?" I look away from my mobile to Xander who stood right behind me holding a water bottle, Oreo's leash and house keys.

"I know, I am going to talk to her. But can I just say, maturity sucks. Like why can't I just avoid it till the world ends?" I ask Xander as he laughs at my expense.

"Because my dear Cocoa, as you eloquently put 'Maturity sucks'. So, just deal with the sh*t life throws at you and move on."

"That's oddly making sense."

"What do you mean by 'oddly'? You wound me Cocoa, I always make sense."

"Yeah, sure," I reply sarcastically as I decide to finally meet with Alexia and face the troubles that Aman created for me.
______________________________________________________________________
Hello fellas!!
I know last chapter was a bit short but I hope I compensated for it with this chapter!

I tried to make this chapter a bit humourous. But only you can tell, if I did manage to make you laugh?

Also, this chapter is dedicated to a really good friend of mine queenof9realms, without whom I wouldn't have started writing again. Thank you so much for your constant support and encouragement❤️❤️

Till the next update, keep shining ;)

- Love Addy :)