Chapter 2 I Have Seen You In My Dreams

• Samantha heaved a long sigh. “Again with that dream.”
• Lately, Samantha had been having these inexplicable dreams. Could it be because it's spring? Is that causing even my dreams to become romantic as well? But that doesn't seem right. After all, I'm already someone's girlfriend. If I were to have such dreams, I should be dreaming about my boyfriend, Maverick Langley, not some other man.
• “Argh... What's going on with me?” Samantha sighed in exasperation, shaking her sweat-drenched hair with force. With the art assignment due the next day in mind, she didn't dwell on it further. She reached out, lifted the blue velvet blanket that was covering her, and got out of bed.
• After a quick freshening up, Samantha grabbed her sketchpad, left her house, and drove her little Beetle to Nightbeam, a luxurious private club in Cheville.
• Samantha entered Nightbeam, making a beeline for the swimming pool. The assignment the teacher had given this time was surprisingly to sketch a man's contours.
• “Honestly...” Samantha had already vented her frustration a thousand times in her mind. What's all this talk about sketching a man's contours? Isn't it just a fancy way of saying I have to draw a man without his clothes on?
• She was just a young girl in her early twenties. Out of sheer desperation and helplessness, she brought her sketchpad to the swimming pool to covertly observe the men there.
• Her feelings of heartache had become immeasurable.
• Samantha, with a sketchpad strapped to her back, hunched over and nestled carefully in a corner of the swimming pool. Her eyes darted quickly to the man in the pool. Despite her efforts, a hint of blush spread across her fair, petite face.
• “There are so many men. Which one should I choose?” Samantha's eyes scanned the men in the pool like a radar, filtering each one. Those with unattractive bodies that didn't meet her standards were all disregarded.
• Splash!
• After a splash, a man unexpectedly surfaced in the pool. From a distance, Samantha found herself involuntarily staring at the man's well-built back, her eyes wide in surprise.
• His skin had a warm tan and was glistening with a moist sheen. Droplets of water, smooth and glossy, playfully traced the texture of his skin, sliding down in a steady stream.
• His undeniably perfect physique had a silhouette comparable to that of a bodybuilding champion's. With not an ounce of excess fat to be found anywhere, his Apollo's belt was subtly visible. Every inch of his skin was near perfection. His physique, his height with its golden ratio, was exactly what Samantha had envisioned for her ideal model.
• Gulp!
• Upon seeing him, an involuntary gulp escaped from Samantha. Silently, she made up her mind. The challenging subject of her current project would be none other than the man before her eyes.
• He's perfect! He's definitely the one!
• Samantha's eyes followed the impeccably built man as if they were tracking devices, tracing his every move. Not only was his physique near perfection, but even his swimming style could be deemed flawless.
• Such a flawless man had stirred a flutter in Samantha's heart, causing her to lose her composure a bit. Deciding to close her eyes, she focused on regulating her breathing.
• Huff, huff, huff! “You're already taken, Samantha! He's just a model! There's no room for wild imaginations here, so don't let your mind wander!”
• Samantha swiftly gathered her scattered emotions. When she opened her eyes again, she found that the man with the perfect silhouette was no longer by the pool. She hurriedly looked around in a frantic search.
• “Huh? Where is he?”
• “So, spying on me wasn't enough? You want to stalk me now?”
• The man's devilishly charming gaze was filled with an air of disdainful pride and solitude. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Samantha's frail silhouette. The faint curve of his lips sketched out a chilling intent that was compelling to the soul.
• His voice was low, carrying a chill that seemed to originate from the peak of Aeru. It was so cold that Samantha felt her entire back was on the verge of freezing. With trembling uncertainty, she slowly turned around.
• “Oh my—” Bam!
• Observing the robust man standing before her, Samantha's sketchpad slipped from her grasp, clattering to the ground. Her eyes widened in shock, her expression frozen. The man's face, his icy, intimidating gaze reminiscent of a hawk, mirrored the man from her dreams perfectly.
• Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump!
• In that moment, the only sound Samantha could hear was her own heartbeat. I actually met the man of my dreams! This is simply unbelievable!
• Samantha was completely taken aback, staring at the man's face that was both familiar and foreign to her. The dreamlike image that had once made her blush and her heart race inexplicably resurfaced before her eyes.
• As expected, a blush crept up on her delicate face.
• “I've seen you in my dreams!” Without thinking, Samantha blurted out what was on her mind.
• “Heh.”
• The man's thin lips twitched slightly, a cold sneer carrying an icy chill surfaced at the corner of his mouth as he asked, “So, this is how you flirt with men? In your dreams?” he asked.
• The man's voice was icy cold, cutting to the bone. His words dripped with endless sarcasm as he added, “Are you so desperate to get yourself a man?”
• Throughout the years, Cassius Lockwood had encountered his fair share of infatuated women, but the way the woman in front of him was making her advances was clearly something he had never experienced before.