“The bedroom will go to Valerie. Tonight, you just make do and sleep inside the guest room.”
Isaac made a direct decision. Worried that I might keep bothering him, he warned me, “Kendall, don’t forget, this house is mine.”
“You already don’t have a home in Oakland. You’d better stop showing those small tempers. If you keep causing scenes, how will that look?”
My chest felt as though it had been sliced open by a sharp knife, blood seeping, the pain unbearable.
Sure enough, the longer a person stayed beside you, the more they understood how to hurt your heart.
After sitting blankly inside the guest room for thirty minutes, I finally remembered that I had gotten caught in the rain and needed to shower to chase away the cold.
When heading upstairs to grab clothes, I heard the unclear and suggestive breathing of the two people coming through the crack in the door.
Valerie lay beneath him and spoke shyly, “Brother Isaac, you’re so good to me. I just mentioned wanting to come to your place for some fun, and you actually brought me in front of that long-faced woman.”
Isaac gently pressed a kiss onto the sweat on her forehead. “She has no family or friends in Oakland. If she leaves me, she has nowhere else to go.”
“She’s only a miserable and burdensome parasite. How could she ever match your scent, baby?”
The two of them stayed sticky-sweet, starting another round of their fight.
I stood by the doorway with cold limbs, the sharp pain making my throat unable to make any sound.
Compared with Isaac’s betrayal, what I could not accept even more was his line, “a miserable and burdensome parasite.”
From start to finish, it was clear I had never received his preference. Whether in love or in marriage, I had always relied on myself.
Anything Isaac bought for me, I would give back a present of the same worth to him.
Late at night, smoke choked me awake.
The instant I opened my eyes, thick smoke rolled everywhere, and the fire had already spread close to me.
I had no time to think. I pushed open the window, planning to jump out. The guest room was on the ground floor; nothing would happen.
But when I noticed the fully locked metal bars on the window, my entire body stopped in place.
These bars clearly were not there when I left earlier this morning!
“Kendall, does being stuck feel nice?” Valerie’s voice came from the doorway.
I grabbed the blanket and rushed into the washroom to soak it with water, threw it over my body, and kicked the weak door open.
Valerie was shocked by my move and shouted.
I did not even look sideways as I shoved Valerie away and walked straight out.
Just after stepping outside, I collapsed from having no strength.
In a daze, I saw Isaac standing in front of the doctor, coldly scolding, “Hurry and give Valerie a full-body exam. If anything happens to her, all of you will answer for it!”
The doctor paused. “But that woman is already three months pregnant, and she breathed in too much smoke and dust. If she is not treated quickly, she may end up with a lifelong coughing illness…”
Isaac said coldly, “Don’t bother about her. Hurry and look at Valerie first. Didn’t you notice Valerie’s skin has already been burned?”
I slipped back into unconsciousness again.
When I woke up, waves of numbness and pain spread through my arm.
Isaac pushed the door open and walked in, his face gentle. “How is it? Do you feel better?”
Thinking about the scene before I passed out, I opened my lips, but in the end, I said nothing.
Isaac set down the meal box. “I’ll help feed you.”
Just as his words ended, his phone rang again with that exclusive custom ringtone.
He gave me a guilty look, then lied to me, “Kendall, a client is asking for me. I might not be able to stay with you.”
“You be good, eat your food, take your medicine, and cooperate with the doctor’s checkup. After I finish my work, I’ll come see you.”
