Chapter 4

Today I worked my usual shift until 3 AM. When I got home, I pulled out my key.

The door was locked from inside.

I pressed the doorbell. The maid's voice came through the intercom.

"Sir brought Miss Aurora home and specifically instructed that no one is to be let in tonight."

The night frost was heavy. Shivering from cold, I begged through gritted teeth:

"Can you just let me in for a moment? I'll just grab a coat and leave, okay?"

"Please don't make this difficult for us."

Clutching my still-aching stomach, I slowly slid down along the door and curled into a ball.

The maid muttered something inside. The sound wasn't loud, but the soundproofing was poor—I heard it.

"Coming home reeking of cooking oil every night. I don't know why the master married someone like her in the first place."

My stomach started cramping again.

Crouching by the door, cold sweat streamed down my forehead.

My vision kept going dark until I finally collapsed, unable to control it.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying on the ground.

I don't know how long I'd been lying there. My clothes were soaked with dew.

I climbed up and wiped the corner of my mouth with my sleeve. Blood.

A wave of desolation swept through me.

I hugged myself, curled up on the front steps.

Trying to find some warmth this way.

I thought of the year Henry and I lived in that basement.

That winter was especially cold too. The basement had no heat.

To warm my hands and feet, Henry would go jogging outside every night. He'd come back steaming with body heat and dive under the covers to wrap me up.

His body was hot as a furnace, but his hands and feet were freezing. He'd deliberately press them against my waist, making me shrink from the cold.

I asked why his hands were so cold. He said the wind got to them while jogging outside.

I said then don't jog anymore. He held me tight: "No way. If I don't jog I won't have body heat, and you'll be cold while sleeping."

And now, looking at the luxurious mansion before me, I felt nothing but alienation.

When the maid woke up and opened the door, I was leaning against the doorframe, face pale green, lips white, half my body stiff and numb.

I dragged my stiff legs into the living room. The house was silent.

When I reached the entrance, the gossiping voices of two maids in the break room were especially grating.

"She froze all night and still didn't leave?"

"Right? Miss Aurora already spent the night upstairs, and she's still clinging here. Really shameless."

I said nothing and walked straight into the kitchen.

After searching for ages, I finally found a package of stale oatmeal deep in the cupboard. I mixed it with water and put it on the stove.

Just as the ginger water finished cooking, Aurora walked in wearing a silk bathrobe.

Her exposed snow-white skin was covered with faint red marks, painful to look at.

She wore delicate no-makeup makeup. When she looked at the shabby bowl of oatmeal in my hands, her eyes filled with disgust.

"Henry's already planning to give me this villa as an engagement gift.

If you're smart, pack up your junk and get out now. Save yourself the humiliation of being thrown out by security later."

I ignored her and tried to walk around her with the bowl.

The moment we passed each other, Aurora's peripheral vision caught the staircase.

She suddenly cried out and slammed into my arm.

"Ah!"

The bowl in my hands immediately flipped over, the entire bowl of scalding oatmeal spilling onto my hand and thigh.

My skin instantly turned bright red, searing pain drilling into my core.

Aurora fell to the floor in a sitting position, covering the back of her hand with a sob in her voice.

"Miss Hudson, I was just trying to help you with the bowl. Even if you don't like me, you shouldn't splash hot porridge on me..."

Urgent footsteps came from upstairs.

Henry came down with a dark expression, striding over to help Aurora up. Looking at the ceramic shards and water on the floor, his gaze was sharp as a blade.

"Hudson, what are you doing?"

"I didn't splash her." I endured the severe pain on the back of my hand, my voice dry.

Aurora hid in Henry's arms:

"Henry, don't blame Miss Hudson. Maybe I said something careless earlier and she misunderstood."

Only a small patch on the back of her hand was red.

But large blisters were rapidly forming on the back of my hand, which Henry completely ignored.

"Apologize."

I looked at him and said coldly, "She ran into me herself."

"I'll say it one more time. Apologize to Aurora." The disgust in his eyes nearly overflowed.

"A woman with poverty in her bones like you—what else can you do besides these lowlife tactics?"

I looked into his eyes and didn't argue another word.

I just lowered my head and pulled out a bankbook from my pocket, its edges worn fuzzy.

I held the bankbook out in front of Henry.

"You said before that to get divorced, I'd have to return everything you gave me over the years in cash."

"This is all the money I can come up with. See if it's enough. If it's not enough, I'll work to earn the rest and pay you back slowly."

Henry looked at the bankbook without reaching to take it, his brows knitted even tighter.

Aurora moved first, swiftly snatching the bankbook from my hands.

"Oh my, looks like Miss Hudson has saved quite a nice 'nest egg' behind Henry's back these years."

Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she opened the bankbook. The smile on her lips froze instantly when she saw the number.

Then she laughed mockingly: "Three thousand one hundred and twenty-six dollars and five cents? Hudson, are you giving charity to beggars or putting on a show here?"

She tossed the bankbook onto the coffee table in front of Henry. Henry's expression looked terrible.

To someone worth three hundred billion like him, this probably couldn't even buy a single bolt on his car wheel.

"Hudson, are you mocking me with this pocket change?" He raised his head, eyes cold as ice. "Or do you think asking for divorce will get my attention?"

"This is all the money I have."

"If it's not enough, I'll work more. I'll pay you back two thousand a month. Eventually I'll pay it all off."

Henry stared at the bankbook, an indecipherable irritation flashing in his eyes.

He suddenly stood up.

"This little money? I'd be embarrassed to take it out. I can't believe you'd pull such a pathetic stunt."

Aurora hummed delicately from the side:

"Henry, don't bother with her. My hand hurts so much. I hope it doesn't scar."

Henry didn't spare me another glance. He put his arm around Aurora's waist and walked toward the door without looking back.

"Come on, I'll take you to the hospital."

The sound of the engine gradually faded. The villa fell silent again.

Enduring the pain, I went to the medicine cabinet and found a tube of burn ointment that was about to expire.

The ointment on the red, blistered skin triggered piercing pain.

I gritted my teeth and wrapped the back of my hand in gauze, layer by layer.

After treating the wound, I took the bankbook upstairs.

The study door wasn't locked. I pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk and pressed the bankbook under several hundred-billion-dollar contracts.

He found this money embarrassing, but I had to repay it.

Late in the evening, my phone vibrated on the table. It was Aurora calling.

"Hudson, Henry's at 'Nightfall' bar. He said since you want to earn money to pay your debt, here's an opportunity.

If you can make him happy, he might waive the rest of what you owe."

After she hung up, I laughed self-deprecatingly.

Even if there was only a thread of hope, I wanted to clear my debt to Henry before I died and leave with a clean slate.