The sky was still a little dark when Abi woke up. She blinked and stared at the ceiling. She remembered that she had been reading a book while waiting for Alex. Wait… she fell asleep?!

Shocked, Abi suddenly rose. 'Wahh! I fell asleep!!'

She looked around but he didn't seem to be in the room. Was he still downstairs?' she wondered. Or had he come and left because she was asleep? What time was it now?

Abi crawled out of her bed and grabbed her phone. Upon looking at the time, her big eyes became even bigger. Oh no! It was already morning?

After facepalming herself, Abigail buried her face on the pillow. She was done for. Would Alex punish her for this? But… but this was his fault! He was the one who took too long and he should've woken her up when he had the chance! But then, she was to blame too for not keeping herself awake!

Abigail was pretty worried that Alex would punish her for last night so she thought that she might go out and take a walk to clear her mind and prepare herself for the day. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and headed for the door. It was still quite early and she thought that Alex was probably still asleep so even though he probably couldn't hear anything, she still tiptoed out the door and very carefully closed it behind her.

However, to her surprise, the moment she turned towards the stairs, she saw some movement to her left and her eyes landed on Alex. He looked as if he was just about to enter his room.

Abi was confused. She looked at his clothes and his hair and they told her that he didn't seem to have just woken up. Was he just about to go inside? Where did he come from? 'No, don't overthink Abigail! He might have just left his room and forgot something,' she reasoned to herself before she walked towards him with a bright smile.

"Good morning, Alex," she greeted.

"Why are you up so early?" he replied, wearing a little indifferent expression.

"Uhm that… last night… I fell asleep. Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Because I could see that your energy was already depleted. How could I wake up a hibernating little fruit? I don't have any use for a limped and exhausted little lamb," he smirked. Ah… this man was at it again. She couldn't believe that he was greeting her so early in the morning with those words.

As Abi approached him, Alex pulled closed the door he just opened. It was as if he didn't want her to peek inside it, causing Abi's brows to crease for a second.

He faced her and held her chin.

"Now that I think about it, you're too frail, Abigail. You should exercise more to build up your immunity and stamina," he suggested and Abi's gaze looked everywhere but at him. E-exercise?

Abi was a little worried. She didn't really like exercising. The only exercise she did was walking.

"Okay, it's still early so we can go for a short exercise," he said. He then looked at what she was wearing and he instructed her. "Go get changed into more appropriate sports wear," he suddenly said, even holding her shoulders and turning her around to face the other way, towards her room.

"Move quickly little fruit or, do you want me to be the one to peel your –"

"No, I can do it on my own!" she immediately protested and thus, just like that, Abi dashed towards her room and slammed her door a little harder than normal, causing the man to just smile in amusement.

However, after he stared at her door for a while, his smile slowly faded as he faced his room and opened it.

…

As the sky slowly changed from shades of black to brighter shades of blue, two people could be seen outside the huge house heading towards the empty street.

Alexander was walking right beside Abi and if anyone saw them, those people would think they were one of those couples who exercised together. But if one were to observe them close enough, the two actually didn't seem like a couple taking a sweet walk together; It almost looked like Alex was out walking his lazy pet.

"Walk faster, Abigail! Jog!" he ordered as he nonchalantly walked with his long legs. His hands were in his pockets and he didn't even need to jog to keep up with her. Actually, it was she who needed to jog to keep up with him! He was just walking casually, cool as a prickly cucumber, as always.

"Little fruit, it hasn't even been five minutes yet." He halted and looked at the already panting little lamb trailing behind him.

"I don't like exercising, Alex," she complained.

"You have to like it, Abigail. How can you tame my little brother four times daily when you're this weak?" he asked as he leaned in on her. "This is one of my ways of raising a good girlfriend. You will forever be an unripe little fruit if you don't exercise. This is one of the ways to make you ripen up a little quicker."

"Please stop referring to me as a fruit! I'm not a fruit or a lamb!" she argued but Alexander just chuckled at the look on her face.

"Sure. I'll stop calling you those names once you graduate from being an unripe fruit and a na?ve little lamb," he countered and Abi could only bite her lips and started jogging again.

After another five minutes, the little lamb suddenly clung onto Alex.

"Alex, let's rest please…" she begged in between breaths. Her lungs felt like they were burning but all Alex could see was the glistening sweat falling from her face down to her neck.

"What a little weakling. One more minute, Little fruit."

"You're like a strict coach!" she cried but she still let go of him and continued running as he said.

She looked ahead and when she saw a bench, she excitedly ran towards it and sat there before the minute was up!

Alexander could only sigh as he saw her sprint towards the bench and sit down. He gave her the water bottle he was holding. "Why do you look like you just participated in a marathon? Now I'm starting to doubt your stamina, Abigail. There's no way a weak little fruit like you could do it twice, let alone four times a day! I think our deal is –"

Before Alex could even finish what he was going to say, Abi cut him off. "You already promised! Our deal is already settled," she immediately retorted, panting. "You can't take back your words anymore, Alex."

Alex slammed his palms on the bench behind her, wearing his killer smirk as his face hovered over hers. Then, his eyes seemed to caress her wet lips, which was moist from the water he just gave her.

"I really think that these lips of yours need to be disciplined. Because if not, I am worried that these lips of yours will be the end of you," he warned, both seriousness and mischief playing in his eyes.

His intense gaze swept through her lips as his face moved closer and Abi's heart began to thump even wilder. W-was he going to kiss her?