"Jian?" I asked.
He shuffled in his seat. The hand stroking DJ Muffin stopped.
"What if they were?" Jian asked.
I laughed. "What?"
"What if unicorns were real? Or any other fantastical creature?"
Maybe Jian changed more than I thought during the past decade. He'd always been so down-to-earth and logical. Now he was talking about unicorns like they walked down the street.
"That would be pretty cool," I said, playing along. "Like, hypothetically, I'dloveto see a unicorn."
He smirked. "That's quite open-minded of you."
"What can I say? I'm an open-minded—"
A sudden crash from the TV startled me. Not just me, either. DJ Muffin yowled at the noise and abandoned his post, running into the quieter bedroom. Meanwhile, I yelped loudly and my whole body jerked with fright, sending me careening right into Jian's lap and taking up DJ's recently vacated spot.
My heart was racing. Not just because the movie scared me, but because I was inJian's freaking lap. I stayed put, frozen.
"Nikolas!" Jian cried. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," I squeaked.
I was too embarrassed to look at him, so I watched the screen instead. Except the movie had taken a dramatic and dark turn. The horror was heating up as it reached its climax.
And fuck, despite the unicorn thing, it was scarier than I thought it would be.
Jian hit pause. I was still stiff with fear in his lap. Secretly, I didn't want to move. I was comfortable where I was. I felt safe.
"If it's that bad, I can turn the movie off, Kola," Jian said gently.
Dammit, I didnotwant him to know that this horny horse movie was genuinely terrifying me. But there was another thing. Jian hadn't moved me off his lap yet.
"No, I want to see the ending," I said, mostly being honest. Despite freaking me out, it had also engrossed me.
And in the back of my mind, I knew that if we kept watching, I could continue cuddling up close to Jian.
"If you're sure," he said.
I nodded.
Then, with an amused tone, he added, "And you're comfortable in that position?"
My cheeks heated up. "I, er—is it—I mean, do you want me to move?"
"No, it's fine," Jian said a little too quickly. "Whatever works for you."
My face flushed hotter. He didn't ask me to get up. He seemed strangely okay with the fact that I was curled up on his lap like a cat.
Jian cleared his throat softly. "I'm going to unpause it now, all right?"
"Okay."
The movie rolled on. Blood, gore, et cetera. My eyes were glued to the screen, but my mind was elsewhere.
And so was my body. My skin tingled with electric sparks, hyper-aware of the fact that I was laying right on top of Jian. His warmth melted into me. The presence of his strong body surrounding me like a protective cage was amazing.
