Hiding Behind Her Superficiality by Kyla Olson

Early the next day, Elspeth was woken up by a call.

She rubbed her eyes, then reached out and felt for her phone below her pillow. Then, she answered the call.

Her eyes were swollen from the grogginess. It was already 10.00PM last night when she was done entertaining the guests. By the time she washed up and lay in bed, it was already past midnight.

The voice coming from the other end of the line was familiar and cold. The man’s hoarse voice sounded. “Elspeth.”

The woman woke with a start. She sat up on the bed, and the sunlight from the window coincidentally shone in her eyes. She hastily covered her eyes as she said, “Are you back, Gilbert?”

“Hm, I thought I told them to inform you yesterday. Are you still in bed right now? Are you slacking off because I haven’t trained you in a while?”

Gilbert’s voice was low and crisp, and it sounded especially nice in the morning when he was still half-asleep.

“Of course not! How could I possibly slack off? I woke up at 5.00AM and went for a jog, then went home for a nap. I never slack off.”

Elspeth lied, her eyes darting around as she did so.

When she saw that the quartz clock on the milky white wall showed noon, her face turned pale.

“That’s quite a long nap you took.”

Gilbert couldn’t be bothered to expose her. He was pulling his luggage behind him while he walked, and the wheels were rumbling on the ground.

“Where are you now? Shall I go fetch you?” Elspeth propped her phone between her ear and shoulder as she began rummaging through her closet. “Or just tell me your location, and I’ll go find you.”

When Gilbert heard the crashing noises on the other end of the line, he knew that Elspeth was probably bustling about again. He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “It’s okay, you don’t have to come and get me. I’m already at the rented house.”

“What?” Elspeth was slightly stunned. “It’s not like you’re lacking money; why would you stay at a rented house?”

As they spoke, Gilbert had already arrived at a slightly worn-down residential building. He proceeded to open the door with a key. It wasn’t a huge room, but other than the thin layer of dust, it looked clean and tidy.

“Before I was 18, I stubbornly moved out and started working. This is the very house I lived in back then, but sadly…” Gilbert narrowed his eyes as he began to reminisce. “Sadly, my parents passed away after that, and I never came back.”

Elspeth knew this incident had always bothered him, so she didn’t say much about it as she changed the topic. “Well, Harper and I will visit you tonight after 6.00PM. Let’s get some drinks.”

backpack and sat on the couch, propping his feet up. “Oh, what’s this? Is Mr. Winthrop willing to let his fiancée go out for drinks with

more, Harper is totally out

realized she had said something wrong as she

going to shower. Carry on with whatever you’re supposed to

she sat

heart was

was very light and based on its

in front of her. His lips were pursed, and there was a

going out

opened her mouth, but she couldn’t

must have heard their conversation and misunderstood

going out tonight to celebrate

normal as could be, but Elspeth saw a look of disappointment flitting across

matter?” Elspeth

his head and

gulped. “You’re not

How can I not

say those words

went back to the corridor,

great effort, he took out his phone and watched as

visited the amusement park, went on

he received a photo of a

letter was

looked at those photos, his heart seemed

and Arthur’s

don’t know that Elspeth liked someone when she was overseas,

is her mentor. They spent their happiest times together,

Elspeth isn’t completely ignorant about love. That love letter was written so well that even I found it

ever treated

a stop, and that was the last message in the

gaze, his