Lily
I felt a stinging pain in my hands, and there was a small wound on my palm. I wasn’t used to doing this because, back home, someone else did everything for me. Even if I wanted to help, our household staff wouldn’t let me because they were afraid Grandpa Williams would scold them if he saw me.
“You really are a stubborn child. I told you earlier to take it easy, but you didn’t listen,” Katerine scolded me.
She went inside and got cream for my hands. When she came back, she gently applied the cream to my small wound, making sure not to hurt me.
“Your hands look like they’ve never done any work, Lily,” she remarked with a smile.
I just smiled back because she didn’t know the truth about me. I wanted to tell her the truth—that I was in hiding—but I hesitated. I was afraid someone in their town might find out. Only Violet knew who I really was.
I looked up from the pain and bit my lower lip unintentionally when Katerine pressed on my wound. She quickly apologized.
That night, Katerine went to bed early, probably from exhaustion. I was left alone in the living room, watching a show on TV. I was eating a ripe mango. I cried because of the show. I don’t know why, but no matter how many times I watched this movie, I never got tired of it.
While I was eating mango, I was startled by a noise outside. The neighbor’s dog was barking continuously. I felt scared, so I peeked out the window to see what was going on. When I saw a car park outside, my heart raced. I almost jumped out of my skin from the loud thumping of my heart.
I turned off the TV, grabbed my phone, and tried to calm myself. I almost cursed when my phone suddenly rang. It was Violet on the other line. I became even more nervous, fearing Grandpa’s men had found out where I was. My hands trembled as I answered the call.
“H-hello,” I stammered.
My knees and hands were shaking. Violet didn’t answer right away, which made me even more anxious.
“Lily, how are you doing there?” Violet asked.
“I’m okay, Violet. How are you and Ethan?” I replied.
“We’re fine. We miss you. We’re not used to you being away. You’re so innocent, you know. The other day, I saw a car at the Emerald Shores Hotel, where you used to work. I thought it might belong to one of Grandpa’s men,” Violet said.
“Violet, there’s also a car outside near Katerine’s house,” I said.
Even Violet became nervous when I told her that. I asked her to stay on the line while I checked to see who owned the car. I turned off the lights so I wouldn’t be seen.
Violet asked me several times on the line, but I couldn’t answer because my eyes were fixed outside. When I finally saw the man who got out of the car, he was wearing a gray blazer with a black t-shirt underneath. My brows furrowed because he was incredibly handsome.
The men hanging out on the corner approached him. I breathed a sigh of relief because it wasn’t what I thought it was.
“Lily!” Violet shouted on the line.
“Violet, my ears!” I complained, pouting.
“If I hadn’t yelled, you would’ve given me a heart attack. Who was outside?” Violet asked.
“Thank God it wasn’t Grandpa’s men,” I said.
“That’s good. Is Katerine asleep?”
“Yes, she went to bed a while ago…” I couldn’t finish my sentence because Katerine was standing there, hands on her hips, staring at me.
“Hey, are you still there?” Violet asked.
“Bye, Katerine’s awake,” I whispered and hung up.
“Why aren’t you asleep yet?” Katerine asked.
“I’m not sleepy yet,” I replied.
She nodded and went back to her room. Once she was gone, I peeked outside again and saw that the car was still there, but the handsome man was gone.
