Chapter 2

What Serenity had said at the time was, "If you keep beating him up like that, he'll die!"

"So what?" Jackson peered down at the man who was laboriously struggling to get up from the ground, his gaze piercingly cold.

Serenity was taken aback. It was only then that she had a good look at the man's face.

He had a flawlessly handsome face with a straight nose and lips that were thin but shapely. His facial features were delicate, but there was not a trace of emotion in his expressions. One could even say that his eyes were dead calm, almost as if human lives meant nothing to him at all, and he had no qualms about either taking someone else's life or even his own life!

Serenity took a deep breath and told him, "It's not worth losing your freedom to a scum like him."

The man stared straight at her for a while before releasing his grip on Travis.

Knowing that he had just narrowly escaped, Travis hurried away with a face smeared with his own blood and quickly got into his car with his female companion before fleeing.

In the car, he gritted his teeth and vowed, "I'll bring my men over and teach that b*stard a lesson!"

However, the woman beside him who had been silent all along suddenly widened her eyes as she finally realized why that man just now had seemed so familiar. She remembered how she had seen the very same man in the banquet earlier from afar, and that man was...

"Jackson Valor! That man just now was Jackson Valor!"

"Jackson Valor?!" Travis turned pale as if he'd just seen a ghost. "The richest man in Solaria? Impossible!"

"But he really did look a lot like Jackson Valor..." the woman insisted.

They stared at each other, both turning just as pale as death...

***

Serenity looked at the man in front of her and stammered, "Thank you for... just now."

The man said nothing. Instead, he just walked over to the other side and sat down on the ground with his back against the wall.

Was he not... going home? The temperature could go down as low as 10 degrees in this weather at night. If he stayed here all night, Serenity was not sure if he would still be alive the next morning!

Grateful that he had just saved her earlier, Serenity stepped toward the man.

"Aren't you going home?" she asked as she stood in front of the man. "What about your family? Do you have their contact number? I can make a call for you and ask them to come get you."

The man slowly raised his head. His dull and somber eyes met hers, yet he still would not answer her.

Serenity was suddenly struck by a deathly chill.

At that moment, it was as if she could see exactly what she looked like after being sentenced. At the time, the whole world seemed dark and bleak. Though she was still alive, her life was bereft of any hope.

"If you have nowhere to go, you can come home with me."

Those were the words that flowed effortlessly out of her mouth.

***

Serenity could never have imagined that she would have the boldness to act on a sudden urge to bring home a man she did not even know. Perhaps it was because the man had just saved her, or perhaps... it was because she saw herself as she used to be in this man.

"This is where I live," Serenity said. "If you don't mind, then I'll lay a mat on the floor for you to sleep on."

Hearing no objections from the man, Serenity riffled through her place and got him a clean towel and a new toothbrush.

"You can clean yourself up a little in the bathroom, but I don't have any clothes in your size, so you'd better not get your clothes wet."

As she waited for the man to clean up inside the bathroom, Serenity began to lay out a mat on the floor and took out a spare quilt blanket.

Her rental room was not very big at all. It only had an area of slightly more than a hundred square feet, and it only consisted of a small room and a separate tiny bathroom.

When the man re-emerged from the bathroom, he was still wearing the same shabby clothes, but his hair was dripping wet as he had just washed it.

Seeing that the man's hair was still dripping with water, Serenity picked up a towel and said, "Lean down."

The man stared fixedly at her.

"I'm only trying to dry your hair," she explained. "I have no other intentions. If you leave your hair dripping wet like that, you might catch a cold."

The man stared intently at her for a long time before asking, "Are you concerned about me?"

His voice was frigid, but it sounded inexplicably appealing.

"That's right." Serenity did not avert her eyes from him as she continued, "Since I brought you home, I just don't want you to get sick."

His long eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he slowly leaned down toward her.

Serenity then covered his hair with the towel and began drying it as she asked, "What's your name?"

After a long silence, he simply replied, "Jack."

"Jack," she echoed him, thinking it must be a nickname. "My name's Serenity Lewis. Where do you live? Where's your family?"

"I don't have any family," he replied.

Her movements stiffened abruptly. Was this man an orphan? Was that why he was on the streets?

She then reflected how, although she did have a family, she might as well be an orphan too. The only difference between them, perhaps, was that she had managed to rent a place, so she had a roof over her head.

"Looks like we've got a lot of things in common," she smiled bitterly, then continued drying his hair.

Once his hair was almost dry, she put the towel away and began to comb his hair. After brushing his hair back and revealing his forehead, she realized that the man was, in fact, even more handsome than she thought.

His exquisite features were striking and sharply defined especially his eyes, which were now focused on her. No longer were they dull and lifeless. They were now filled with a trace of curiosity.

"Are you hungry?" she asked. "I'll get you something to eat."

All the while as she was sweeping the streets that evening, she had never noticed him eating anything.

She grabbed a packet of instant noodles and an egg, then cooked him a simple bowl of noodles with her induction cooker.

"Here you go," she said. "But be careful, because it's hot. Don't slurp it up too quickly or you'll scald your tongue."

The man lowered his head and quietly tucked into the noodles.

As she silently stared at him, she could not help but feel that the loneliness that had been filling her rental room had somehow suddenly dissipated. Could it be because there was now another person in here?

Once the man had finished the food, Serenity cleaned up the dishes and said, "I have to keep the lights on when I sleep. I hope you don't mind it."

Ever since she was released after serving her sentence, she had developed a habit of sleeping with the lights on.

"Okay," the man replied simply.

Serenity then got into her bed while the man lay down on the mat laid out on the floor.

She closed her eyes and tried very hard to fall asleep. At some point, she had begun to be afraid of falling asleep because as soon as she fell asleep, she would always dream of the incident three years ago, of the painful memories that made it hard for her to fall asleep...

In fact, she often thought that she would eventually die in that tiny room where the air was thick with the mustiness of mold.

Strangely though, that night, she slept soundly till the break of dawn, undisturbed by any nightmares.

Serenity stared at the figure lying on the floor beside her bed, still in a daze of sleep.

Was it because of him? Was it because there was not only her in this room anymore? Was it because there was someone else with her now... staying by her side?

She could not help herself from getting out of bed and kneeling next to the sleeping figure before resting her hand on the man's face. She could feel his warmth spreading to the palm of her hand.

So, he was real. She had not just imagined him. Last night, she really had brought a man back to her rental room.

When she returned to her senses, she realized that the man was already awake, though she had no idea since when. Those striking eyes of his were now staring intently at her.