Just when Damon felt his last bastion of sanity was about to crumble, Jeanette finally returned. After a day and a night of being missing, Elias sent her back to the Godfrey mansion.She came back in a new set of clothes, fresh and washed-up. The only things that could give her traumatic experience away were the obvious blue-black marks on her arm and her forehead. She looked fine otherwise.“Mommy!” Felix cried out in tears, lurching and throwing his arms around her.Jeanette’s expression se
He reached out and patted her shoulder.She did not react.‘Asleep already, Jeanette?”“Mm.”That answer alone was enough. She was awake, but she was reluctant to talk.Damon let out a quiet—almost imperceptible—sigh and sat in silence at the edge of the bed.She had laid down there for the whole day. Felix was concerned, so he poked around their room to check in only to have his father shushed him away.Damon remembered how Jeanette had lied down like this without moving a muscle before—
Two days later, Jeanette returned to work in Leighton Inc. on time.Damon’s initial intuition was one of discouragement—he still saw a frazzled psyche behind her pretense of normalcy and was reluctant to let her tire herself at work. It did not stop Jeanette from ordering her driver to send to work when the early morning broke.Damon had no choice but to let her do what she liked. He convinced himself that maybe mundane work could keep her grounded.Either way, Damon found his mind still wres
He giggled. “Well, when was the last time you stressed over my wellbeing? Aww, I’m moved.”Jeanette set the first-aid medicine in front of him. “Here. You address your wound yourself. I mean, you’re the expert here.”Elias unscrewed the lid and doled its content on a cotton swab. He worked on his wound for a bit as he remarked, “You know, I’ve decided to return to my old calling in the hospital.”“Oh yeah?”“Yeah. I thought hard about it and realized I liked being a doctor more than doing bu
Jeanette had been having nightmares lately.The things that had happened that night kept coming back to haunt her. It would always wake her up in the middle of the night, trembling and bathed in a cold sweat.The man sleeping next to her never seemed to stir. Tonight was no different.Jeanette clasped her hand over her mouth to stop even the softest pip escaping her and wake him up. With featherlight dexterity, she descended her bed and crept into the bathroom.The time was two in the mornin
It was from Mimi Norton looking for a companion for a shopping trip. It startled Jeanette. She could not tell why Mimi would ask her on a hangout.Nevertheless, she agreed. She met the other woman with the expectation of some purpose, but her motive turned out to be genuine. She really just wanted to do some shopping. Or rather, window shopping—she did not buy anything on her trip, as it was dominated by the two strolling around while chattering endlessly about all kinds of novel topics and adv
“Mimi, you really…”“Jeanette, I’ve misunderstood you a lot and hurt you many times because of my feelings for Elias, but you never blamed me for it, and you’re still willing to be my friend. I’m very grateful to you. Now, I think that after struggling for so long, I have no regrets.”Jeanette could see her sincerity. It didn’t look like she was joking at all.‘Has she really let go of Elias? Well, that’s good too.’Mimi smiled casually. “I don’t want to care about Elias anymore. We’re just friends now. I think that’s pretty good too.”Just then, someone passed them by in the shopping mall, paused for a while, and stared at Mimi. “You’re Mimi Norton!?” he cried.Mimi was wearing a face mask and hat. She quickly lowered her head. “No, you’ve got the wrong person.”“It’s you! I recognize your voice! Oh my God!” The passerby was excited over his rare sighting of a female celebrity. He whipped out his phone to take a picture with Mimi.The passerby was a little loud and drew the at
Damon sat on the ice-cold bathroom floor, not moving a muscle.Parker approached him worriedly. “Are you alright, sir?”He shook his head and looked at her. “I’m sorry… I lost my composure just now,” he said apologetically.“Mr. Godfrey, what happened between you and the missus?”Parker immediately realized that she had spoken out of turn as soon as she uttered those words. A secretary like her had no right to pry into her boss’ personal affairs.Damon wasn’t annoyed. He gave a bitter, drun