When Miles Sterling returned ho, it was already past three in the morning. His clothes were disheveled, and he carried the scent of alcohol and fatigue.
The house was silent and dark. The balcony window was left open, allowing the cold wind to seep in and chill the entire room.
Miles Sterling sat on the sofa and fished out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket in the darkness.
With a "click," the light from the lighter cast a warm orange glow on his face, making the cold environnt seem a little more cozy and gentle.
"ow~" In the quietness, the soft cry of a little kitten drifted out from Vanessa Sterling’s room. Only in such silence could one hear that faint owing.
Miles Sterling flicked the ashes from his cigarette into the ashtray on the coffee table and got up to head towards Vanessa Sterling’s room.
"ow~" The kitten’s voice seed to co from near the door, perhaps in response to the noise outside.
Miles Sterling placed his hand on the doorknob and gently pushed the door open. The kitten’s soft wing imdiately beca clearer to his ears.
Maybe because it had been spending ti with Vanessa Sterling, it was no longer afraid of people. When Miles walked into the room, the kitten circled playfully around his feet.
Miles stood by the door, choosing not to switch on the light mounted on the wall, so as not to disturb the sleeping Vanessa Sterling.
After standing for a few seconds, he slowly moved towards the bed. The moonlight cast a cold glow in the room, and the dim light made it difficult to discern the shapes and outlines of objects.
The two-ter bed appeared too large for petite Vanessa Sterling, her small form curled up under the covers, occupying just a small area.
"ow~" The little black kitten let out a cry, lightly leapt onto the bed, and made its way to the pillow next to Vanessa. It kneaded the pillow with its little paws, then settled down, curling up comfortably on the pillow.
Clearly, this little creature wasn’t sleeping here for the first ti.
Vanessa Sterling seed used to the kitten’s presence; even with its antics, she didn’t wake up.
Standing at the bedside, Miles Sterling let out a deep sigh, took a drag from his cigarette, then skirted around the foot of the bed to sit on the edge, facing the window.
Feeling the sudden dip in the bed’s weight, Vanessa Sterling woke up.
She rely opened her eyes without any significant movent.
Seeing a figure sitting by the bed with his back to her, with a faint scent of cigarette smoke filling the room, she couldn’t see his face, but Vanessa knew clearly who he was.
Heart tensed under the covers, she quickly shut her eyes again, pretending to remain asleep, hoping that Miles would leave soon.
The room was exceptionally quiet, so quiet that she could hear him exhaling smoke, along with the rustling of his clothes as he moved.
Miles simply sat quietly at the bed’s edge, gazing out of the window as if lost in thought or contemplation.
No one knew what he was thinking, and Vanessa had no interest in guessing his thoughts. Faced with Miles’s unpredictable nature, her mind was filled with unease, making it impossible to think clearly about his odd behavior.
After about twenty minutes, footsteps sounded near her ears, gradually moving toward the door, eventually being cut off by the sound of the door closing and slowly fading away.
Only then did Vanessa’s tightly wound heart relax slightly. She sat up to look for Blackie, relieved to find the little black figure still beside her. Vanessa laid back down.
She stared out the window for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes...
The next day, Vanessa Sterling got up at her usual ti and made so dumplings in the kitchen.
She saw Miles Sterling’s shoes still by the door, knowing he was still ho, so after cooking, she took her bowl back to her room to eat.
Just as she was about to head back with her bowl of dumplings, she ran into Miles who was coming downstairs.
Vanessa glanced up at him, their eyes eting for just a fraction of a second before she hastily lowered her head and quickly walked back to her room.
Miles didn’t stop her; neither of them spoke, as if they couldn’t see each other.
"Bang!"
Miles walked down the stairs, staring at the door that had just closed, standing motionless there.
He recalled seeing Vanessa earlier, noting the swelling on her face and the bruises on her neck, left by Quentin Sterling’s hands.
Miles thought, after Quentin treated her like that, she must have given up on him, right?
But even so, it didn’t seem to change his relationship with Vanessa...
He found himself increasingly unable to understand himself, his recent agitation and unrest seemingly all tied to Vanessa.
After that night, regardless of who the woman was beneath him, Vanessa’s image would appear in his mind, like an obsession, impossible to discard...
"Bang—" Vanessa heard the door close outside, stayed in the room for another two minutes, and confird Miles had left after hearing no further noise.
Only then did she open the door, cup in hand, and make so oatal.
The weather seed nice today; the blinding sunlight was already visible outside by a little past eight.
Shane Warner had been showing up increasingly late for work lately. Before getting married, he would arrive at the office by seven a.m. Once newlywed, he initially arrived just on ti. Now it was common for him to arrive after eight-thirty, or even nine or ten if there were no morning etings.
The past few days, Starfield had been preparing to launch a new product line, and intense preparations were underway. There was a eting scheduled for nine in the morning.
Shane Warner arrived at the company at eight-fifty, parked his car, and headed straight to the eting room from the parking garage.
Upon reaching the eting room door, he saw Morgan Quinn standing with a phone in hand, furrowing his brow while talking anxiously.
Seeing Shane arrive, Morgan imdiately approached and said, "Shane, Faye isn’t with you? I thought you two might have co together."
Shane frowned in confusion, "Why would I be with him?"
Morgan explained, "I haven’t been able to reach him all morning. He’s already been late for work, and he didn’t ntion not coming today. Did he request leave from you?"
Shane replied, "No. Let’s start the eting, we’ll talk afterwards."
Morgan put away his phone and followed Shane into the eting room, muttering, "Could it be that he’s lost in so lover’s embrace and can’t get up?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers