New World with Four Husbands-Chapter 585: Locked door

Coco slowly woke up, groggily rolling over on her bed, and opened her eyes, groaning softly at the morning light filtering in through the windows.

Slowly, reluctantly— she sat up, running a hand through her messy hair and stifling a yawn.

Coco rubbed her eye, still tired, as she absentmindedly patted the spot beside her, only to find the sheets cold and empty.

Her brow furrowed as realization set in.

She was alone in bed.

Coco groaned, shoving back the covers as she kicked her legs over the edge of the bed.

She padded across the room towards her bathroom, grumbling, because where on earth had her mother gone?

Coco paused mid-step to the bathroom, the beginning of worry starting to take root.

It was probably nothing, her mother was probably just downstairs— but still..

Coco sighed, entering the bathroom fully and grabbing her toothbrush and toothpaste from the holder by the sink.

There’s no use worrying. She told herself.

Her mother was a grown woman who could handle herself— so why was she even concerned?

Shaking her head slightly, she opened the toothpaste and squeezed some onto her brush and figured that she was just being paranoid.

Everything was fine.

Coco brushed her teeth on autopilot, still blinking away the remnants of sleep, her mind refused to cooperate, her thoughts hazy and slow.

She focused on the repetition of the familiar task, trying to ground herself. Everything would be fine. Her mother was just downstairs. And so, the toothbrush moved in circles, foam gathering at the corners of her mouth.

But the worry gnawed at her, like a persistent itch.

Coco spat out the foam in the sink and rinsed her mouth, feeling a little more awake now.

She put her toothbrush back in its place and gave herself a small nod in the mirror, flashing herself a smile.

See? This was fine. It was normal. She was just overreacting.

But even as she tried to rationalize her worry away, the nagging thought wouldn’t leave her alone which made Coco groan, shaking her head and deciding to focus on the task at hand.

She couldn’t let her worry dictate her every move— and besides, there was no use spiraling when everything was probably fine.

She quickly splashed her face with water, savoring the coolness on her skin.

It centered her, helped to clear her mind a little.

Coco stopped and stared at herself in the mirror. She will go downstairs to get breakfast, and she will see her mother sipping coffee and chatting away with her husbands, probably.

Coco hummed to herself, feeling a little fine now and walked to the door, about to exit the bathroom when someone entered, causing her to jump.

"Holy guacamole!"Coco screeched, her hand flying to her chest.

Heiren stood there, eyes wide and equally startled—like he’d been caught sneaking into a forbidden room, and for a split second, they just stared at each other in mutual shock.

Then Coco let out a breathy laugh. "Heiren! Don’t just barge in like that without making your presence known!"

He smiled, raising his hands in surrender. "Sorry—I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just.. Checking if you were awake."

His voice softened. "Your mom’s downstairs with others, they’re bonding with her."

Coco raised an eyebrow, her lips twitching with dread and amusement because mothers shouldn’t be left with their children’s spouses!

"Let me guess." Coco said dryly, stepping fully out of the bathroom and closing the door behind her. "She’s down there telling an embarrassing story about my childhood?"

Heiren gave her a slow, deliberate blink— completely unreadable for one long second.

"Only a couple of them." He admitted with a sheepish smile. "Including the time you tried to run away from home.. But got lost in the garden and cried because you couldn’t find the gate.."

Coco rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she walked over to the door of her bedroom. "I bet mum has been waiting years to have this kind of talk— the whole why don’t you have a partner thing, you know how it goes."

She paused at the door and turned to look back at Heiren, "And out of us three, I’m the only one who hasn’t brought a partner home to introduce. The ultimate disappointment, am I not?"

"What? You’re not a disappointment—" Heiren frowned and was about to scold her, but his thoughts suddenly interrupted by the sound of a faint click.

Almost immediately, Heiren tensed and his gaze darted to the door behind Coco, which definitely hadn’t made that sound earlier. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Coco herself, though, seemed completely oblivious, her back still turned to the door.

Heiren shook his head in disbelief, his mind still trying to process the strange situation at hand because he could swear he heard a click coming from the door just a moment ago.

Was..? Had she just locked the door?

His pulse thumped in his throat, uncertainty and confusion taking over, but as he looked over at Coco, he saw that she was still completely absorbed in their conversation, unaware of the locked door.

He cleared his throat, his voice low and cautious.

"Did.." He tried not to let the unease show in his voice. "Did you just.. Lock the door?"

Coco paused and tilted her head, before beginning to walk towards him. "I did, Heiren. I wanted us to have some time without risking my mother, or your friends walking in on us."

Heiren’s mind raced at an absurd speed, trying to process her words because she had locked the door.

And she had done it on purpose— for privacy.

He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry as he stared down at her, eyes wide. ".. Why?"

This was suddenly feeling more nerve-wracking than he had expected and dreamed of— a closed door and just the two of them.

Coco did not answer and stopped in front of him, her thumb gently nudging his lips apart.

She leaned in. "Can I kiss you, beautiful?"