The Bound Between Us

Chapter 912

Anastasia sat on the hardwood floor, hugging her knees, as time slipped by in slow, silent drops.

Her legs were numb, but the weight in her chest had finally started to ease. The storm inside her was quieting, little by little.

Suddenly, a flash of light flickered across the window. Fireworks?

Who on earth sets off fireworks this late?

Curiosity pulled her to her feet. She crept over to the window and peeked out- then nearly doubled over with laughter.

There, in the backyard, was Herman, waddling around in a fat, puffy orange mascot suit. He looked like a giant tangerine come to life, straight out of a cartoon. In each hand, he clutched a sparkler, waving them around and sending showers of sparks into the night.

He glanced up, caught her watching, and lit up with the goofiest, brightest grin.

As the last sparkler fizzled out, Herman-still in his absurd orange getup-broke into a dance. Not just any dance, either: this was full-on preschooler mode. He made heart shapes with his arms, spun in wobbly circles, kicked his feet, flapped his arms, and wiggled his behind.

Anastasia had never seen this side of him. She felt her throat close up, her eyes sting. This was all for her-just to make her smile.

Then, out of nowhere, Herman tripped and toppled over. Anastasia's heart jumped, but before she could even call out, he'd tucked his arms and legs inside the suit, turning himself into a perfect, oversized orange. And then—he started rolling around the grass.

She let out a snort, then burst into helpless laughter, tears streaming down her face.

Herman came to a stop, sprawled on the lawn with his limbs sticking out. If she squinted, he looked more like a turtle than the CEO of a tech company.

a series of silly, cutesy poses, flapping his arms and making faces, determined to keep her

imagine that the big boss of Elysian Technologies would be out here in the middle of the night, making a complete

laughing, it

his arms and legs back into the costume and went completely still. From Anastasia's window, it looked

few minutes, but he didn't move. Curiosity won out.

squishy surface. “Hey, you asleep

her. Then, like a magician, Herman's head popped out of the top, a flower between his teeth. He

he puffed out his cheeks and, with a silly burp, spat out a handful of colorful jelly beans-like some sort

went wide. She poked at a jelly bean, grinning. "Seriously, Herman? Since when do you do magic

a jelly bean-yep, it was real. "Are you secretly a PEZ machine? Emmie

had set off fireworks, danced around in a giant orange suit, and conjured up

since... well, since everything changed. This was the first

a moment, the pain faded. All

the costume and plopped down cross-legged in

looking more like a giant teddy bear than

looked up at her, his eyes soft and full of mischief. "This is my secret weapon. Can't let it out of

gaze made her heart

"Okay, pulling a flower out of thin

but how'd

you eat a