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.

Was it because of him? Because she was no longer alone in this room?

she even knew it, she had gotten out of bed, squatted down, and placed her hand on

real, and not something from her

really had taken a

found that he was already awake. His beautiful eyes were fixed on

If you don’t have

after she had said it, she felt

widened with a trace of

I didn’t say anything,” she

he spoke

by some other man, it would’ve

him, it was like he was just asking a simple question 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

her, and a smile slowly formed on

seen him smile. Although it was very light… it looked extremely beautiful

***

go back to work. When she left money on the table for him to buy himself some food, he

gone, the room was

somewhat nervous energy filled the space. He rolled up the quilt

he’d be tempted to look around, maybe snoop a bit. But he didn’t

left the apartment, there were already

out, they respectfully greeted

Jason responded

Jason got into it and looked at the twenty-dollar bill in his hand. It had been many years since someone had

“The woman who was with you last night is a contract worker of the Sanitation Service Center. She started renting her current residence here a month ago, and

“Prison?”

Jennifer Atkinson. She was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and had her lawyer’s license revoked,” Terrence said as he

his expression bland. “Grace…” he whispered. “Well, this is

him and that she was also a good political marriage candidate, he

who would’ve thought that Jennifer would end up dying in a car

about his past relationship with Jennifer, how

considered that twenty-dollar bill

brought him into her home, and

I want all the information you can find on Grace Cummins on my

“Sir, are you

***

she got off work, Grace got a call from her father asking her to go home. He said that since she

died when she was

after mom died, and her stepmother gave birth to

always clear that Grace’s father favored his “new” family, which led to her being sent to live with her maternal grandmother in the countryside. Grace’s grandmother cared for her until third grade, but had to leave her. Fortunately, her

top of her class, her father finally warmed to her. He eventually

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 born, she’d taken the role of the favorite child, and she’d scarcely bothered to

made her worthy of love in her family’s eyes. She knew it was only because he was the heir of the

To be loved.

realized that everything was just

home, she stepped into her father’s

was mostly the same. Pictures of the three of them. Not a

Same couches and tables.

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