But the door didn't open. Caleb blocked it. "Your wife's already asleep. Don't cause trouble."
"Come on, don't lie to me. You're clearly still up."
"Besides, we haven't teased the newlyweds yet."
"I have to see whether this new wife of yours is really some fairy come down from heaven, if she can melt an iceberg like you."
"She doesn't like meeting strangers. Leave her alone."
Naomi couldn't resist a jab. "What, is she like that Winfield heiress, Serena? Is that condition contagious?"
Elliot quickly put on a pained, teasing face.
"Caleb, you really can't marry a woman like that. You have no idea how much of a headache Serena's been since we started dating."
"Enough. Go back to your room. If you're not gone by then, I'll freeze every card I've given you."
"Fine, fine, no peeking. I'll see her sooner or later anyway."
"Caleb, we were just joking. Don't be angry."
The door to the next room shut, and only then did I realize Elliot was staying right beside Caleb.
Then, a soft knock. Elliot's warm voice came through. "Are you asleep?"
I didn't answer. I walked to the door and pulled it open.
Caleb's worried eyes met mine, and I forced up a smile, wanting to tell him I was fine.
"Caleb, could you, could you stay with me tonight?"
I pinched the hem of my dress, head down, too nervous to look at him, sweating through the tension.
Caleb was silent for three seconds, then a clear, easy laugh sounded above my head.
"All right, Serena. But from now on, don't call me Caleb like that."
His last words came out soft and coaxing. It took me a few seconds to catch his meaning, and then my face went hot.
Once all the lights were off, the room fell pitch black, and yet I felt strangely at peace. I wasn't afraid to be near Caleb anymore.
He held me in his arms, so quiet I could hear a heartbeat pounding, though I couldn't tell whose it was, his or mine.
Just as I was drifting off, the faint conversation next door came through, clear enough to make out.
Naomi's playful voice carried through the wooden wall.
"Elliot, if you'd gone to that wedding, tonight would've been your wedding night."
"Aren't you afraid your precious Serena will run off with someone else?"
Elliot picked it up, full of confidence.
"Relax. That girl has anthropophobia. She's mine for life, no way around it."
"No idea why, but I'm the only one she isn't afraid of. She barely even sees her own brother."
"Love really does conquer everything. Her symptoms have gotten a lot better lately."
"I'd bet no one but me could ever marry her. She's stuck with me for the rest of her life."
Caleb suddenly whispered to me, "I'm sorry."
"When the house was renovated, the designer put a shared decorative false wall between the two bedrooms for the sake of the overall look. The soundproofing isn't as solid as a real wall. At night, when it's quiet, nothing stays hidden."
I shook my head and mouthed the words, "It's okay."
Next door it went on, but where it was heading turned more and more wrong.
"Elliot, do you, do you want to try, what a wedding night feels like?"
"No point. Serena can't even handle a kiss."
"Oh, why didn't you say so sooner. For all those years you washed my underwear, I don't mind letting you take a little advantage."
"You, you're serious."
"Don't make such a fuss. It's a normal need. You're twenty-three and still a virgin. Aren't you embarrassed to say that out loud?"
"Besides, haven't you heard women care a lot about the experience?"
"If you don't get used to it beforehand, I'm afraid you won't even find the right spot on your wedding night, ha."
"You said it, then. But let's be clear, just once. Don't tell Serena."
My face burned as I listened, and at the same time my heart hurt like it was being stuck with needles.
Elliot didn't know why I wasn't afraid of him, but I remembered it clearly.
The height of summer when I was fifteen, a boy walked into my home for the first time, following twenty-four-year-old Caleb.
The comical way he looked around at everything made me, standing upstairs, laugh.
