Chapter 13%
I’ve been in my room for the last three days now. It’s like time is passing slowly, not like it does when I’m with Vincent.
There was a timid knock at the door. Before too long, Elena entered the room bearing a silver tray of food.
“Miss Scarlett, I brought your favorite meal,” she cooed, smiling at me.
Instead I merely shook my head, and indicated the table. “Just put it over there.“2
I’ve lost my hunger, I don’t know where. Perhaps ever since Jessica came to this mansion.
Elena set the tray down on the table, and then lowered herself carefully to the edge of the bed. Her glances were sad and full of concer that she could not hide.
“Miss. If you keep going on like this, you may damage your health. Please, just eat a little.”
I was silent, staring at my wrist. Watching the leather bracelet with a moon symbol, which Vincent gave him.!
So at that point, this bracelet seemed like it was bridging that gap. Whenever Vincent was in Italy, every time my bracelet vibrated, I knew he was giving me a signal. I’d press the bracelet back, transmitting a signal to it. Then we talked on the phone, and laughed, though miles away
He doesn’t have time for me anymore. Not even to check in and say hey, how you doing.
I took a deep breath and then looked at Elena.
“Elena. You can’t possibly tell me who Jessica really is?”
Elena looked surprised. For a moment, her shoulders stiffened and she dropped her head unwillingly.
“Miss, that’s not my place. Mr. Vincent is the one who should tell you.
I got up from the bed 8
“Vincent hasn’t said anything. He’s just silent. “Elena, please…just tell me a little.“8
Elena paused, looking me over a very long time, apparently about to decide something. Then finally, she nodded hesitantly 8
Elena lowered her head for a moment, reordering memories long–stored away. And then there was that long breath before she spoke: At length she further proceeded I know it must have been a terrible effort for her
“Before you entered Mr. Vincent’s life. Miss Jessica, that is what used to fill his heart.”
I was silent. Just looking at her with a look that said, more.
They y were a perfect couple when they left. Mr. Vincent and Miss Jessica laughed a great deal together, and they had even decided to be married. “E
Something tightened in my chest. I held my breath.
“But everything fell apart when Mr. Vincent leamed that Miss Jessica was in a relationship with his own enemy. That betrayal occurred the moment Mr. Vincent was most vulnemble with his family. And he was shattered. Disappointed and very angry.”
Elena took a deep breath.
“Mr. Vincent has swom revenge ever since. He hunted Miss Jessica across the entire regiment, meaning to make her pay for all of it. But unfortunately, she disappeared.”
I hung my head, unable to look at the Elena. There is so much to process all at once.
“Now that Miss Jessica has come back. She was discovered thin, sick and dying.”
I slowly lifted my head. “So, does that mean she was playacting this entire time pretending to betray him?“8
Elena nodded slowly, “Yes, Miss. I believe that she was not willing to admit her illness, Miss Jessica. She feared she didn’t have much time left, and when she left, she was pregnant. And she carried it all by herself, not wanting Mr. Vincent to sullied by it
I was silent. My heart was pounding uncontrollably. “Now I notice that the revenge Mr. Vincent sought for years seems to have vanished, just like that. Because here is the truth: It is far more painful than the betrayal itself.“!
The room became quiet. The only sound came from the tiny tick of the clock on the wall.
I took a deep breath. A buming combination of bittemess and pity stung my chest
I listened to the end of Elena’s story and then I decided to close my eyes and pretend to sleep. To shut up my thoughts that wouldn’t stop wandering.
But the sound of knocking on the door roused me. I thought maybe it was Elena. But when I opened it, the figure that greeted me in the doorway was enough to steal my breath away.
“Jessica? Why are you here?” I asked, my lips trembling. The woman had been sitting by herself in a wheelchair. No servant by even one
Servant!!
“May I come in?” she asked softly.
For a moment I hesitated, then I shrugged my shoulders.&
She wheeled in on her own. When she stood still in the center of the room, her eyes were resting on me tenderly.
“So, you already heard my name, I’m sorry to keep you up at this hour. I just want to speak, woman to woman.” Her tone sounded so gentle.
Jessica smiled faintly and stared through the bedroom window.
“You know, looking at Vincent now takes me back to the old days.”
3.50 PM
d
“You know, looking at Vincent now… takes me back to the old days,”
I attempted to smile, tried to sound composed. But it was like being on ice that was starting to crack.
Jessica glanced at me and smiled a little.
“I prefer not to be negative, but it’s hard to accept the fact that the doctor’s verdict says I’m not far away. Now when I see Vincent and he still remembers me. It feels like I haven’t really lost everything.”
Her words were like slow, soft needles – just right.
Jessica looked around my room.
“Scarlett, you know, this is the room that used to be mine. And even the very clothes and things in it were for me. And guess what, Vincent still has them, so now you’re the one who wears them.”
I was momentarily struck, at the sight of the clothes that I had been wearing since I had set foot in this mansion. Somehow, I just wanted to pull them down.
“There is something I want to show you now, Scarlett,” she spoke quietly.
“Come with me, just for a second.”
I don’t know why, but I listened to Jessica’s advice. I was rolling her wheelchair, she was leading the way inside the mansion. She sounded, for all the world, like someone who knew every rusty coated corner of this mansion.
Jessica led me to a storage room in this mansion, Inside, were old things and tattered cupboards aligned.
Part of a white cloth concealed something, and when Jessica’s hand lifted the cloth the picture stood before us.
A great picture of Vincent and Jessica with her long gorgeous hair. Their faces were pointed toward one another, Vincent gazed at her as though there were no bounds to the world.
I froze as my increasingly uncontrollable feelings overwhelmed me.
Jessica turned to me.
“I know, we’d were in love once,” she said, peering into the painting as though it were marathon calloused hands.
“You see, Scarlett. I think Vincent is nothing but using you. His father is urging him to get married and have children shortly. But his love?” She paused, caught her breath. “His love has been lost already, to someone from the past, me.”
My hand clenched slowly. My breath caught.
Jessica grinned a little tight grin.
“So, what will you do? Do you know that Vincent will dump you here soon enough for me? Or will you continue to stay as an interim warmer without ever really being wanted?“”
I couldn’t answer. I had a dry throat, and it was as if my entire body was laid naked by her words II
I’d thought Vincent had been harboring feelings for me all these years. It appears I was a placeholder for when Jessica was absent.!!
