Lenny and Scarlett novel Chapter 32
Scarlet's fingers had been cut by the broken pieces, and they were still bleeding. Kyra just kicked little Scarlet out, without even helping her bandage them.
Scarlet's mother had been sick and hospitalized at that time, and Kyra had taken the chance to live in the Brown household with her daughter. With Scarlet's mother not being around, Kyra often bossed Scarlet around.
That night, Scarlet knelt outside as demanded, and in the process, bruised her knees doing so.
Not only was it bad enough that she was kneeling outside in the dark night, but it started raining heavily, with flashes of lightning and thunder. God was so cruel!
She had a fever for several days and almost died as a result of the pneumonia she was ultimately diagnosed with.
Even the doctor was marveled, and believed Scarlet was lucky to have fought off such a fatal fever.
Since then, Scarlet had been traumatized and scared of such stormy nights.
Now, it was another dark and stormy night. Time passed slowly. Every second felt as long as a year.
Suddenly, a streak of lightning flashed across the sky, brightening up the room for a nanosecond. Scarlet saw a shadow on the windowsill and screamed.
"Ghost!"
She huddled herself up in the quilt, shivering in fear.
At this moment, Lenny came out of the study and saw a maid pacing back and forth in front of Scarlet's room.
"What are you doing here?"
"Mr. Foster... Mrs. F... Miss Brown is really afraid of stormy nights. I used to accompany her through them, but tonight, she didn't allow it. She said she was an outsider in the Forster family, and so it would be inappropriate to seek such help. I just heard her scream and got a little worried, but the door is locked from inside and I can't get in."
"Why is she afraid of such nights?"
"Well, Miss Brown told me her stepmother had made her kneel outside during a thunderstorm once. She had been there the entire night, shivering in the cold rain. Then, the next day, she got a high fever, and it stayed for several days. Apparently, she almost died."
Upon hearing what the maid said, Lenny felt his heart skip a beat.
He couldn't imagine the pain that Scarlet had undergone kneeling outside on that rainy and cold night. She had such a delicate and frail body after all—how could she have withstood it?
"Find the spare key," he ordered at once.
The maid quickly found it, and Lenny immediately opened the door and rushed in. Scarlet had tightly wrapped herself within the quilt, and she was trembling inside it.
"Scarlet..."
Lenny called out to her and pulled off the quilt, only to find her face pale and her forehead covered in a cold sweat. Her eyes were tightly shut together.
She seemed to be in a trance and hadn't recovered from the shock yet.
"Scarlet."
It was not until Lenny called her again that she came to her senses.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning lit up the sky and thunder rumbled again.
"Ah!"
Scarlet was so frightened that she threw herself into Lenny's arms, with her skinny arms tightly wrapped around his neck.
Lenny was stunned, but the woman in his arms didn't seem to know what she was doing.
He calmed down and felt her petite body trembling. It was clear she was terrified.
He gently put his big hand on her back and began to rub it up and down. "Don't be scared. It's just thunder."
His voice seemed to work like magic; she immediately felt her pulse slow down.
It was not until she came to herself that she realized something. She was hiding herself in Lenny's arms.
Immediately, she pulled back and looked up at him sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"Bring me a glass of milk," Lenny ordered the maid.
The maid brought a glass of warm milk and closed the door on her way out.
"Drink the milk and rest up," Lenny said.
"I can't fall asleep." Scarlet shook her head.
"Then I'll stay with you until you do," Lenny said lightly and sat on the edge of the bed. The two of them did not speak or make eye contact.
He began to look at his phone, scrolling through files and reading his emails, but... somehow, Lenny felt at ease.
A safe distance, a safe relationship.
If only nothing had happened that night abroad. But things didn't seem to be that bad as well.
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