Naughty Thought

Alfred's hand covered Selina's mouth, muffling her voice. He looked upstairs to make sure Jessica didn't hear anything. Less than a minute later, he let go of her mouth and let out a relieved sigh. "Phew, Selina what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping upstairs?"

Leaning her elbows on the back of the couch, Selina tilted her head. "Bro, just like how you two got together at the garden, I'm here to accompany my hubby. I woke up to a cold bed. Shouldn't you give me an explanation instead? You were with my bestie."

He scratched the back of his nape, trying to figure out a logical excuse. Before he could come up with a rational response, Selina jumped out of the bed. She pinched Jason's chin and pecked him on the lips. "Good night, hubby. I'll go back up now. Bro, you better not hurt my Jess or I'll hunt you down to the ends of earth. You know what I am capable of doing to your favorite special edition figurines if you ever bully my Jess."

Instead of walking up each step at a time, Selina took large steps. Within six steps, she reached the second floor and wiggled her fingers at everyone in the living room. Once she was gone from their sight, Alfred pointed his thumb at her room. "Your wife..."

Smiling, Jason replied to him in a gentle tone. "Your sister."

Alfred shook his head as he surrendered to this couple. "Brother-in-law, you're on my side, right?"

"I only stand on one side and it is my wife's side." Jason smiled at the way Alfred addressed him.

While Jason covered himself with his blanket, Alfred leaned on the couch and peeked to see if Bryan was awake. As soon as he saw Bryan looking up toward the ceiling, he wanted to ask for alliance. Before he could ask which side Bryan would stand on, Bryan's index finger landed vertically on his lips.

Then, he pointed at the figure in his arms. Seeing Celinda sleeping peacefully, Alfred's mouth was left dangled open. Soon, his lips sealed. Quietly, he went back to his bed and started calculating how long it'll take him to get rid of his single status.

Back in Selina's room, Selina had successfully tiptoed across the short distance from the door to the bed. Right when she thought she had managed to slip into bed without waking Jessica up, Jessica suddenly jolted up.

"Roar!!" Jessica's hands were shaped like claws as the flashlight from her phone highlighted her facial features in a dimmed manner.

"Ahhh!!! Don't come at me! I know kung fu!!" Selina hopped a few steps backwards, making her spread her legs in a half split position. Her hands were in a karate-chop pose as she panted from the unexpected jump scare.

Sounds of laughter circulated the entire room. Jessica switched off the flashlight from her phone and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Hahahaha, relax. It's just me. I can't believe you're so easily scared even now. Where did you go?"

"Oh, it's only you. Jess You scared me! You know how easily scared I am at night. I went downstairs to drink some water." Selina tapped on her forehead, wiping the nonexistent sweat off her skin.

"I didn't see you downstairs earlier." Jessica didn't remember seeing anyone by the kitchen area.

"Oh? But I saw you clearly. How was the piggyback ride?" Selina had no intentions on letting her best friend off until she realizes her own behavior changes.

"You saw us?" Facing the unexpected inquiry, Jessica averted her gaze.

"Of course! I have three witnesses downstairs too. So, how was it?" Selina shamelessly gave away her allies.

"...How was what?" Jessica decided to act clueless since she wasn't too certain about her feelings.

Selina leaned forward, poking Jessica's chest with her fingertip. As she twirled circular motions on Jessica's chest, Selina smiled. "From the day we met till today, you've never let any guys touch you beyond a hug. Actually, even a hug is considered rare unless it is from your family. So, Alfred must weigh something over here. Doesn't he?" The teasing motion stopped, leaving her finger paused on Jessica's racing heart.

Jess stuttered, averting her gaze to the pillows in bed. "Silly goose, you watched too many dramas."

"Eh? So, I'm wrong? You sure about that? I'll give you another chance to answer me." Selina crossed her arms.

Hearing nothing but silence from Jessica's end, Selina's lips curled up. "Oh, then that's too bad. Someone is claiming Alfred soon. I mean, he is a single and available man. Quite caring for his age."

Jessica's eyes widened; she turned her attention back on Selina. "Who?"

"Do you really want to know? Do you really really want to know?" Selina questioned twice.

"Tell me, or I'll guarantee that you'll have insomnia for the rest of the night!" Jessica grabbed the pillow behind her and held it in an attacking position.

"Pffft. Jess, who are you trying to convince? Yourself or me? If you don't care, then you wouldn't react this way. You can beat me all you want with this pillow, but it won't change the fact that you're interested in Alfred. Since you want to know about who is claiming him in the future, I'll tell you." Pulling Jessica closer to her side, Selina whispered. "Y-o-u."

Before Jessica could give a reaction to her low whisper, Selina snatched the body pillow from her and tossed it aside. Without the barrier between them, Selina licked her lips and wiggled her fingers for some action.

In the following minutes, laughter echoed to all corners of the room as Selina toppled Jessica and began tickling her waist. At first, Selina only wanted to teach Jessica a lesson for threatening to keep her awake throughout the night. However, a naughty thought processed through her mind and the tickling grew out of hand.

Jumping out of bed, Selina reached for the knob and purposely provoked Jessica to chase after her. "Bleh! Chase the queen of tickles! You'll never catch me!" Selina stuck out the tip of her tongue as she caught a glimpse of Jessica's figure approaching her in a rapid pace.

Seeing her target had took the bait, Selina started running down the stairs to look for her knight. Of course, she didn't forget to shout out to Jessica in the middle of their mini tag game. "Jess! You can't run too quickly! You'll get cramps."

Earlier, Selina had peeked out to the garden. She saw Alfred kneeling on one knee with his hands on Jessica's legs. Under her attentive observation, she concluded Alfred must've figured out about Jessica's old injury. The areas he massaged became more accurate, which confirmed her suspicions of him knowing about her past incident.

Right after Selina's words were announced for a specific person to hear, Alfred's strict tone sounded everyone's ears. He took large strolls to where Jessica had paused on the staircase. Jessica stared at his approaching figure, yet she couldn't bring herself to move out of his sight.

"Stop right there! What do you think you're doing, Jess? Do you know how dangerous it is to run in your condition? What if you trip or end up getting cramps again?" Alfred's heart nearly stopped when he spotted the hurried figure roaming through the second floor from below.