Chapter 3
“Are you hungry?”
His dark eyes studied her and he tilted his head. “What?”
When he still didn’t reply, she wrung her hands together. “I’ll get you something to eat.”
Grace moved to the tiny stove and threw some noodles and eggs into the pot to make a simple bowl of noodles for him. She didn’t have any meat, but she chopped what vegetables she had and added them too.
She set the tiny table and poured them both a glass of water from the sink. He moved cautiously to take a seat when she set the bowls down.
“Eat, but don’t eat too fast. It’s quite hot,” she said.
She didn’t mean to treat him like a child, but his presence made her nervous even as there was something incredibly calming about him.
He lowered his head and ate his noodles quietly. Grace also stared at him in silence.
Normally, she’d come home and hate the feeling of being alone, confined in a tiny space. For some reason, the loneliness that she’d usually feel seemed to have disappeared. Could it be due to the presence of another person in the room?
After he had finished eating, Grace cleaned up the plates. “I usually sleep with the lights on. I hope you don’t mind,” she said. Ever since she was released from prison, she had gotten into the habit.
“That’s fine.”
Grace took her pajamas into the bathroom and shut the door to brush her teeth and change. Was it weird having a man alone beside where she’d sleep? Yeah. Probably.
But she didn’t feel triggered by his presence of fearful.
If he’d wanted to hurt her, he wouldn’t have defended her on the street.
When she exited and lay down on the bed, he took his position on the floor.
The room was silent save for the sound of the heater. If she listened hard enough, she could hear each breath he took.
It was a steady rhythm, peaceful even.
Grace closed her eyes and focused on sleeping. This was her routine every night because it was almost impossible for her to relax. Even being out of jail, at night she would always dream of her time in prison.
She would be beaten, shamed, and abused… and every finger would burn with the pain of being broken and the nails being torn off…
She’d wake up screaming, fingers curled, terrified, and heart pounding.
However, oddly, that didn’t happen tonight.
She slept until sunrise and was not visited by her usual nightmares.
As she awakened, she rolled over to look at the figure lying on the ground beside her bed.
Still here.
because of him? Because she was no
out of bed, squatted down, and placed her hand on his
and not something from
taken a strange man
herself, she found that he was already
that… If you don’t have anywhere to go, you can also live
but after she had said it, she
eyes widened with a trace
I didn’t say anything,” she added,
mouth finally opened and he spoke quietly.
this had been said by some other man, it
of “want” or “don’t want” and she assumed he meant it to mean his presence here. She didn’t read any ambiguity into his words, even if there had been, she realized her answer would be the same. Grace pursed her lips. “Yes,
stared at her, and a smile slowly formed on
Although it was very light… it
***
money on the table
gone, the room was eerily
the space. He rolled up the
to look around, maybe snoop a bit. But he didn’t want to intrude on
the apartment, there were already
him come out, they respectfully
go,” Jason responded
black Bentley was parked in front of him. Jason got into it and looked at the twenty-dollar bill in his hand. It had been many years since someone had given him money like this. On the contrary, for as long as he could
the rearview mirror. “The woman who was with you last night is a contract worker of the Sanitation Service Center.
“Prison?”
and killing Jennifer Atkinson. She was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and had
kept his expression bland. “Grace…” he whispered.
was also a good political marriage candidate, he thought that if he had to marry someone, then she wouldn’t
Jennifer would end up dying in a car
Grace knew about his past relationship with Jennifer,
considered that
cared for him? Taken his hand, brought him into her home,
information you can
“Sir, are you interested in
***
go home. He said that since she had been released from prison, she should go home to pay her respects to
when
months after mom died, and her stepmother
her being sent to live with her maternal grandmother in the countryside. Grace’s grandmother cared for
been in college and at the top of her class, her father finally warmed to her. He eventually started to show
the best it had ever been. Her father regarded her as an honor, and her stepmother cared about her well-being, even if only out of pretense. Even her half sister tried to get on her good side—something that had never happened before. From the moment Evelyn was
because he was the heir of the Stevens Corporation. However, at that time, she still couldn’t help but long for
To be loved.
realized that everything was just her
she stepped into her father’s
Pictures of the three of them. Not a single
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