Maxwell Peary had arranged matters and was about to go upstairs to call Rabina Mitchell for lunch when the doorbell rang.
"Young Master, the Sir asks you to return at once."
Opening the Grand Gate, he was surprised to find soone from the old residence.
"Young Master, you know the Sir’s temper better than anyone. Even if it’s for the sake of the young lady upstairs, you should go back."
Maxwell Peary thought for a long ti, then turned and went upstairs to knock on the Guest Room door. Nia Mitchell was still in bed, curled up in her blanket.
"I need to go out for a bit. I’ll grab lunch for you on my way back, alright?"
Nia Mitchell lifted her head, looking at the closed door. "Okay," she replied in a muffled voice.
"Okay," Maxwell Peary said. "I’ll be back in about thirty minutes."
Nia Mitchell perked up her ears, listening to the sounds outside. He was going downstairs. She heard him getting dressed and grabbing his keys. He was changing his shoes, and then he closed the door.
Slowly sitting up in bed, Nia Mitchell tiptoed barefoot to the door and carefully opened it a crack.
No one there!
She stepped out and went downstairs. The empty Living Room t her eyes, confirming that Maxwell Peary had already left.
Biting her lip, Nia Mitchell sank onto the sofa. Whew, Uncle Peary sure is busy, she thought, taking a deep breath. It felt so good to finally breathe freely.
Just then, a pleasant ringtone from her cell phone interrupted Nia Mitchell’s mont of relaxation. It was llisa Moreland.
"Nia Mitchell! Where the hell are you? Why didn’t you tell about this whole damn ss? I’ve told you a million tis, I’m your other go-to guy! If that damn Hendry Hampton doesn’t want you, you still have—"
Nia Mitchell winced, holding the phone as far from her ear as possible. The volu was so high it was like llisa was on a gaphone; she could probably be heard ten blocks away.
"Hey, llisa, my beautiful, ladylike friend..."
"Oh, please! If I were all prim and proper, how could I possibly watch your back?"
Nia Mitchell gave a dry laugh. "llisa, my dear beauty, I’m fine. Really."
On the other end of the line, the expression on llisa Moreland’s face slowly faded. She was stunned for a long mont before finally speaking, her voice low and hoarse.
"Nia, co back. We’re all here for you."
Those few words almost brought tears to Nia Mitchell’s eyes.
"llisa, my friend, since when did you get so sentintal? Are you possessed or sothing?"
llisa Moreland had been her roommate during their University days. In four years of friendship, they had laughed, cried, partied, and gone wild together, but llisa had never once been sentintal.
Before her engagent to Hendry Hampton, she’d had a huge fight with llisa. That was precisely why, even when she had nowhere else to go that night, she hadn’t returned to the Dormitory.
"Nia, let apologize, okay? You’re flat broke right now, for crying out loud! How on earth can you be doing well? Are you trying to worry to death?"
She’d rushed to him with her household registration, practically throwing herself at him, and he’d rejected her. Was she now supposed to be holess, wandering the streets?
"No, no, it’s not like that! Don’t apologize. I was the one who was wrong. The facts have proven it; you were all right."
Nia Mitchell curled up on the sofa, crying. In four years, this was the first ti she had ever heard llisa say *she* was wrong, the first ti she had heard an apology from her.
"I’m waiting for you at the Dormitory. Let’s make up."
"Okay."
Nia Mitchell bolted out as if possessed. She wasn’t destitute in this city; even without a man, she still had friendship!
Scenes from the past four years flashed through her mind. She cried the entire way, but when she stood at the Dormitory door, her face was wreathed in smiles.
"llisa!"
llisa Moreland shot up from her chair, rushed over to Nia Mitchell, and gave her a light smack on the shoulder.
"Are you trying to worry to death? Are you? You really are trying to... Oh, stop smiling, you look awful like that."
Before she could finish, she was already choked with sobs.
"I was wrong... but I’m okay now, llisa. I admit, at first, I couldn’t accept it. But later, I actually felt a bit relieved. Relieved that I didn’t end up marrying him."
A man who would grab her by the throat, wanting to kill her... How could he possibly be soone worthy of entrusting her life to?
"llisa, I don’t know how to explain everything that’s happened in the last 24 hours. My engagent to Hendry Hampton didn’t happen... but I married soone else."
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