Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

"What happened to you?" Katherine wondered, a worried expression apparent on her face when she saw Damien's appearance – he looked like some lady had attacked him.

"Me?" He scoffed. "What happened to you?" His brows knitted together and his expression turned grim. Katherine could sense that he was angry with the way he talked. 

"As much as I want to look at you half-naked, you should cover yourself up or you'll get sick," he said in a cold tone.

She lowered her gaze as soon as she heard him and saw that she was only wearing her bra and underwear. Her hands immediately grabbed the clothing that was on her thighs and realized that it was Damien's suit coat. She hurriedly covered herself with it despite feeling a little disoriented about what was going on. 

"What am I doing here?" She looked inside the huge bathtub and found a few more items along with the chocolate smeared pillow and banana — a necktie, slices of apple that have already turned browned, a button and a piece of black cloth. She had no idea why those items were there.

Her head was pounding and she felt the urge to throw up but she held it down. Closing her eyes, she winced and tried to steady her breathing.

"You should wash up. I'll wait for you downstairs." Damien closed the door on his way out, leaving Katherine in a daze inside the bathtub. 

'He's definitely mad,' she thought.

Seeing her state and not remembering anything from last night after their dinner, she figured that whatever happened afterwards was probably the cause of his vexation. But for how mad he is, Katherine would never know.

She got out of the bathtub and went to the sink. She was horrified when she saw herself looking like a homeless person. There were some chocolate streaks on her cheek and she had smudgy lips that were red with lipstick – something that she didn't remember putting on yesterday.

"Oh god… I look horrible. And he saw me like this?!" She covered her face with her hands, she was very much embarrassed that she felt her chest tighten.

What else has she done that night?

She felt icky and wanted to shower so she quickly took one, making sure that she was clean before she stepped out of the bathroom to face him again.

Wearing a casual dress, Katherine walked down the stairs and found Damien cooking in the kitchen. He had already changed into a plain white shirt and dark grey joggers. He had tried to rinse off the lipstick on his cheeks in the kitchen sink earlier but with water alone, reddish marks were still visible.

"Can I help you with that?" She asked gently when she saw him stir the pot. She clutched her dress, unsure how she was going to apologize to him and maybe ask details about last night's incident.

Damien sighed and shook his head, "No. Sit." 

Katherine bit her lip upon hearing his stony voice. Though he would always tease her and would at times be bossy, this was the first time she felt Damien's cold treatment.

She swallowed and decided to obey him for now. She couldn't risk making him angrier so she sat down on the bar stool by the breakfast nook and watched him as he continued to work on his dish.

After five minutes, there was a bowl of steaming beef noodle soup in front of her. "Eat." Damien said as he took the seat next to her. 

The two of them ate in silence and though Katherine wasn't in the mood to eat anything, she did not dare protest and just ate quietly.

How could she complain though? The beef noodles that he cooked was absolutely delicious. The broth, the beef, the noodles — everything was just perfect. She wanted to tell him… but she was just so anxious to talk at that moment.

Actually, Damien wasn't mad at her. He was rather mad at himself for not taking care of her better. If only he had not allowed her to drink, then the hurricane from last night wouldn't have happened. How could he have known that drunk Katherine would resemble her past self, only, she was a little crazy?

And she purred… and she meowed.

He stifled a small chuckle and shook his head as he got off the stool. "Are you done?" he asked when he noticed that she had stopped eating.

"Um… let me wash." She offered and took her bowl with her to the sink. 

"It's okay. I'll do it." He insisted and took the bowl from her. "You can rest. You didn't sleep much." 

Katherine looked up to him and saw the shadow below his eye. It looked like he was the one who did not sleep.

If only Katherine knew that Damien spent the whole night cleaning up her mess since they arrived last night and had not slept a wink at all. Good thing that it was a Sunday and they didn't have to work.

She balled her hands into fists and muttered, "I'm sorry about last night."

Damien stopped washing and turned to face her. He studied the perplexed expression on her face and asked, "Have you finally remembered what you did last night? Which part are you sorry for?" He maintained an expressionless face. Though he wasn't mad at her, it didn't mean that he was happy about what happened too.

Katherine shook her head and looked at him feeling extremely guilty. "If… if I had done something unforgiving–"

"You'll accept any punishment?" he finished her words. And to his surprise, Katherine nodded. He wanted to laugh but he breathed in deeply instead. 'Silly, Kitten. How do you want me to punish you?'

His head started aching. He was probably having a headache because of her and not because of alcohol.

Seeing the expression on her face, Damien recalled how she looked and acted last night and wondered how that woman from last night and the woman in front of him today was the same person.

Last Night

It had only been an hour since they started drinking and partying but because Damien's employees enjoyed a lot, they got drunk faster.

Katherine, who had been initially guarded, felt like she was unleashed. With a bright smile on her face, she walked towards the table where Damien and Caleb were sitting. With three shot glasses of tequila in her hands, she placed two in front of them and saved one for herself.

"You!" She pointed at Damien, her finger swayed. "My handsome, good smelling boss," she chuckled and then pointed to Caleb, "And you, coffee!" 

"And me," she patted her chest. "One shot." She slurred.

Katherine already had a few glasses of beer and this was her third tequila. Damien, on the other hand, only had one shot and did not drink anything else. He was already set on keeping an eye on her that evening and he couldn't do any more drinks.

"That's enough. You already had too much drinks." He reached out to take the shot glass from her but she pulled her hand away. "Eh– you have your own, why do you want mine? This is mine."

Caleb chuckled upon seeing her like this. Drunk Katherine was so entertaining. "Alright, on the count of three…"

"Three!" Katherine called and swiftly downed her shot, surprising the two men in front of her.

Rubbing his forehead and then brushing his fingers through his hair, Damien got up from the couch and walked up to her. "That's it. You're going home."

He quickly took out a black card from his wallet and tossed it to Caleb.

"You're taking her home? Do you know where she lives?" Caleb asked but Damien only nodded. 

As soon as he held Katherine's arm, she felt her body weakened. It was as if her limbs have turned into jelly. Grabbing her bag, Damien held her up and guided her towards the exit, leaving the wondering gazes of his employees that continued to enjoy the night after they left.

When they came out of the place, Katherine stopped walking.

"We need to cross the street. Come on." He urged.

Lazily, she shook her head and squinted her eyes as she looked up at him. "Carry me," she said in a small voice like an injured cat.