Grace didn’t sleep well. Her forehead got sweaty.
It was a really long dream.
She dreamed about the old days when her grandfather was still alive. She dreamed about her chasing Caden. She dreamed about her best time when she was eighteen.
Suddenly, she dreamed about her miserable prison life.
She dreamed about Leona’s death. She dreamed about the day when she regained freedom, her bitter life after that and that man she could not escape from.
She also dreamed about her parents. But she couldn’t see them clearly.
“Grace, Caden want to be with you forever! Caden want you to be happy forever!”
Suddenly she heard an innocent voice.
She opened her eyes at once and looked at the snow-white ceiling. After a long while, she finally came to her senses and realized that it was just a dream.
She sat up from the sofa. The door of the balcony wasn’t closed. The cold wind blew in. She trembled with cold sweats.
She raised her hand to wipe the sweat off her forehead. Then she sat motionless like a statue.
That dream was so real, like a movie about her whole life.
It showed the ups and downs in her life.
It showed how she became frail and weak.
Thanks to that dream, she recalled a lot of things.
When she was very young and her grandfather was alive, she was still innocent. She knew that her grandfather was very strict with her, but he cared about her more than her parents did.
She went to the same elementary school as her brother.
Grandfather never put her under the spotlight. His brother had always received more care from parents, so they lived a different life.
A chauffeur would send her brother to school. But she didn’t go to school with him.
She looked very ordinary at that time. She was bullied soon after she entered that school. Those bad kids played tricks on her all the time.
Grandfather asked her not to threaten others with her family background. She should deal with those who bullied her on her own.
But at that time, she wasn’t strong. The seniors always ganged up to bully others.
Every day, she went home with some contusions on her body. Those seniors were not stupid. They hit her on her body part that was covered by clothes.
Therefore, neither grandfather nor the servants discovered the contusions.
One day, after she finished dinner and went upstairs to do her homework as usual, her brother stopped her and dragged her into his bedroom. Suddenly, her school uniform was pulled down and he saw the contusions. She still remembered that she was so angry that she shouted at him.
She still remembered that her brother secretly took out a medical kit from under the bed and silently put medicine on her contusions. At that time, she lost her temper. She didn’t want others to know she was bullied, so she sneered at her brother and told him not to meddle in her affairs and not to tell her grandfather.
She did not hang up the phone, nor did she answer it.
She quietly stood up from the sofa, picked up her backpack and walked to the entrance.
However, she suddenly stopped. At the entrance, two pairs of slippers were placed side by side.
She stood upright and looked down at the slippers for a while.
She fell into silence.
After a long time, she slowly squatted down, picked up the slippers and threw them into the trash can.
She also threw the couple cups on the bar into the trash can.
And toothbrushes, toothbrush cups, towels ...
Looking at the trash can that was almost full, she smiled mockingly. No wonder he was playing the fool.
He managed to take over her daily life step by step.
She didn’t realize that there were more and more things in pairs until now.
If she hadn’t noticed the slippers, perhaps she would never notice.
She turned around and left without hesitation.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: I've Been There Before (Grace and Caden)
How can a woman suffer so much? How can a man be too cruel initially robbing her of dignity and all, then deceiving her after he knows he loves her? How can they not remarry, making their offspring illegitimate? The line between love and hatred is truly fine indeed! Thank you for this story....