The Woman From Hell

After a long time, he got into bed, embraced me from behind, and stroked my long hair with one hand. He asked softly, "Did you really mean it?"

"... What?” I asked. I said too many things just now and was not sure what he was referring to.

He turned my body over so that I would be facing him. Cupping my face in his hands, he said, "That you love me so much you can't leave me."

My cheeks were burning and I was terribly embarrassed. It was the first time I said such things and I did not expect him to repeat them.

"Okay, I won't ask." He chuckled before continuing," But, you can't do silly things like that again. Don't you know what will happen if you do that? You’re so silly, aren’t you?" Having said that, he gently knocked my forehead with his finger.

I frowned in pain but did not say anything.

I did not know what overcame me then. I just could not control my emotions when I saw Cindy standing there.

Thinking about it now, it was really silly of me to do that. Cindy was not worth sacrificing my whole life for!

He embraced me so tightly that I struggled to breathe.

At that moment, his phone rang. He fished it out from his pocket and I saw Cindy's name.

He looked down at me, then put the phone on the bedside table without answering it.

The phone kept ringing. A little annoyed, I sat up from the bed.

He got up as well and embraced me, saying softly," Ignore her. She'll stop calling in a while. Get some sleep.”

I did not say anything.

After a very long time, the ringing finally stopped but then came the beeping of WhatsApp messages. I swept my eyes across the screen. [Theowy, don't you care about me anymore? I've lost my parents and my home. You're the only one I have now!]

The same words. I laughed. Though in my heart, I knew that this was Cindy's trump card. It would always work.

Theo picked up the phone, his countenance a little dark. Then, he switched it off.

He got up without a word and went to the balcony to have a smoke. He rarely smoked and would only do it when he was in a particularly bad mood.

Look at just how capable Cindy was that she could control his emotions with a single message.

Exhausted by the whole ordeal tonight, I ignored him and lay down to sleep.

I awoke with a start by the thunder and opened my eyes to see that it was still in the middle of the night. The thunder outside the window was deafening, and flashes of lightning would strike, lighting up the dark room from time to time. It made the empty bedroom seem a little sinister.

I was not a timid person. I had always been alone whenever there were thunderstorms in the past.

Though ever since I got pregnant, I seemed to have become a timider person, especially during this time when I got used to having people around me. It made me even more afraid of being alone.

I looked around me. Theo was not in the room. There were a lot of cigarette butts on the balcony. He had smoked a lot. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

He was probably in the study doing his work. I got up and pushed the bedroom door open.

The study was dark, but the living room downstairs was bright.

I walked to the stairway when I heard Theo's helpless voice. "What are you doing here when it’s raining so heavily outside? What will you do if something happens to you?"

Downstairs, Cindy's white dress was soaked through. The rain dripped down her hair onto her face, making her delicate face seem a little pale.

"Theowy, will you be worried if something happens to me?" Cindy looked fixedly at Theo, her eyes determined and stubborn.

Theo did not reply to her question and pulled out his phone while saying, "I’ll ask Zedd to come pick you u p."

"No." Cindy squeezed a smile, looking somewhat forlorn and pitiful. “Please don't drive me away, Theowy. You know I've been afraid of thunderstorms ever since my parents died because of what happened that day—"

"Don't say anymore. Go take a shower and change your clothes." Theo frowned, finally giving in.

Cindy's guilt-tripping methods were certainly tried and true.

When Cindy heard what he said, she chirped, "Can you get me one of your shirts, Theowy? I didn’t bring a change of clothes."

"There's one in the guest room that you brought here before. Go and get it yourself."

Cindy nodded and went to the guest room on the first floor.

I stood rooted at the stairway and listened to their conversation, my heart barren.

Back then, Grandma had said that this villa was too big and there were too many empty rooms, so she asked us to have more children to not make it seem so

empty. I had disagreed then, but now it seemed that there were indeed too many rooms. There were so many that I did not even know Cindy had a room of her own.

"Theowy, I think there's no hot water in the shower." Cindy's voice was heard from the bathroom.