Bedmates Soulmates novel Chapter 147

A Pain No Min Could Beur 

‘Young Master! Young Madam! Welcome back! I was getting worried. 

Elsie was there to greet them when they reached the villa. 

The housekeeper hurriedly put out slippers for Austyn and Kira. 

Kira nodded at Elsie. 

Austyn changed his shoes and went upstairs without a word. 

Kira wanted to call out after him; she owed him an apology. 

But the man had already disappeared on the stairs. 

‘What a temper,‘ Kira thought, shaking her head. 

She offered the housekeeper a proper greeting. ‘Elsie, you’re back!” 

‘Yes, I returned in the afternoon.‘ Elsie gave her a hug. ‘What’s wrong with Young Master? He seems to be in a bad mood.‘ 

Kira shrugged. ‘Isn’t that his default state? When’s he not in a bad mood?‘ 

“Uh–oh, you guys had a fight?” 

Kira pulled a face. “The man’s got an ultra–short fuse. The smallest thing sets him off. How did you manage to stay under the same roof as him for so many years?” 

Elsie pinched Kira’s cheek lightly. ‘Oh, Young Master’s not that bad. He may look like a difficult man to get along with, but underneath that unapproachable exterior is a good man with a caring soul. You should try and get to know him. 

better.‘ 

A good man with a caring soul? 

Kira shook her head. 

The housekeeper must be looking at her young master through a pair of ginormous rose–tinted glasses. 

Kira knew better. 

Whether that man had a caring soul or a stone–cold heart, it wasn’t her place to explore. 

She was unsure if Austyn was still angry. 

Afraid to face the music, Kira remained downstairs and chatted with Elsic. 

Elsie’s nephew suffered from a severe case of stomach flu. 

The housekeeper stayed by his bedside for four days and a half and hardly caught a wink of sleep. 

The prominent dark circles under her eyes told of her ordeal. 

Kira commiserated with Elsie. 

She also couldn’t help feeling a little envious of the four–year–old boy, as she wondered what it was like to be taken care of by a motherly figure. 

When she was a kid, it was always her father who tended to her when she fell sick. 

Then Gideon took over the duty after he came to live with them. 

He was just two years older than her, but he seemed to know everything. 

He could fix a blinking TV screen with a paperclip, pick the door lock with a library card when she forgot her key, and could even tell the difference between a flu and a cold. 

When she got her first period, Kira had been so scared. 

She was too bashful to pay attention in sex ed class, and thought the bleeding was a sign of some terminal illness, like 

cancer. 

Didn’t all the female leads in Korean dramas vomit blood before a grave–faced doctor announced they had leukaemia? 

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A Triple Threat 

Kira shrugged. ‘He’s not bad, I guess.‘ 

He always took care of her father’s medical bills promptly. 

She was deeply grateful for that. 

As for the other husbandly stuff, Kira offered no comment. 

“Are you in love with him? Giana went straight to the point. 

‘Didn’t we go over this at the hospital? Kira looked around. ‘What smells so good? I think it’s from that table over there. I don’t think we have that dish. The chef must be holding out on us.‘ 

‘Don’t try to change the subject, like you did at the hospital. Answer the question are you in love with him, yes or no?” 

Kira took her time chewing and swallowing the pork belly kaluni. 

Giana didn’t let up her direct gaze. 

In the end, Kira had to give an answer. ‘I kind of like him. I mean, the man’s got a handsome face, a hot bod, and enough money to buy over a small country. A triple threat. What kind of woman won’t go all googly–eyed over a man like this?‘ 

Giana wasn’t convinced. 

Kira was getting better at beating around the bush. 

She knew what Giana was asking but gave what was essentially a nonanswer. 

‘He does seem to be quite a catch,‘ Giana said. ‘It’s perfectly normal for you to develop feelings for him.‘ 

“Uh–huh,‘ Kira smiled. ‘He’s good to my father, and he’s good in bed. My heart’s not made of stone, so…yeah, I like 

him.‘ 

“Why do I sense there’s a “but” coming?” 

“You know me so well.‘ Kira sighed. ‘But I can’t get over the fact that he’s having an affair with another woman.‘ 

Possibly more than one woman, but Kira didn’t want to bore Giana with the sordid details. 

eam 

“I just can’t bring myself to love a man who’s sleeping with someone else,‘ she continued. “I want a soulmate, not just a bedmate. My man has to belong to me, heart and mind, body and soul. So a divorce is in our future. I plan to bring it up as soon as I graduate and get a job.” 

*Are you serious?‘ Giana frowned. 

“Dead serious.‘ Kira nodded. 

Suddenly losing her appetite, she pushed back the plate of tonkatsu and leaned against her chair. ‘If he can’t be the man I love, then he’s just my creditor. You have no idea how uncomfortable it feels to live under the same roof with the man to whom you owe hundreds of thousands of dollars.‘ 

She puffed out her cheeks. ‘It’s like I can’t have a backbone when I’m around him. I walk on eggshells, dare not talk back to him, and have to hold my temper in check because I can’t afford to piss him off. I do whatever he asks. I’m always at his beck and call, day and night! 

Kira heaved a long sigh. ‘If he says Jump, the only question I’m allowed to ask is “how high.” I’m like a puppet, and he’s the one holding the strings. I know I sound like an ingrate, with him paying for my father’s medical bills and giving me a roof over my head and all that, but I’m just not sure how much longer I can take this.” 

She lowered her eyes. ‘How can I love him if the price is my dignity?” 

She offered Giana a bitter smile. ‘Sorry to dump all this stuff on you. You just got out of the hospital. We should talk 

about happier things. Like, are you up for some gelato after this?‘ 

Giana, holding back a sigh, let her friend change the subject. 

Kira forced herself to finish the rest of the tonkatsu even though she could no longer taste its juicy freshness. 

No point letting perfectly nice food go to waste just because she was upset over a man, right? 

Besides, she was not upset. 

She was simply stating the truth. 

She would not allow herself to fall for a man like Austyn. 

And there was no way a man like Austyn would fall for someone like her. 

She was too unremarkable, an average Jane. 

Put her in a room with ten other women, she wouldn’t be the first to be picked, though she wouldn’t be the last, either. 

Kira supposed that the only advantage she had over other girls her age was a clear head. 

She wasn’t one to indulge in fantasies of a magical romance with Prince Charming 

Austyn was a perfect partner, just not for her. 

When Kira reported for work that Monday afternoon, she was kind of glad that Kayleigh had picked Friday for the 

ambush. 

She was arrested on Friday night, spent most of Saturday in jail, and watched over Giana on Sunday. 

Which meant she only needed to ask for Monday morning off when Giana was discharged from the hospital. 

Her private life might be a mess, but at least it was not affecting her work. 

Kira was grateful when Mariana, her direct supervisor, let her off with a slap on the wrist. 

Maybe it was because this time, she’d called ahead to apply for leave. 

Feeling guilty, nevertheless, Kira volunteered to stay back after hours to finish her work. 

‘Don’t stay too late, Lexi patted her on the shoulder before leaving. ‘It’s not safe for you to be alone on the street after dark. If you’re leaving after nine pm, get a taxi. You can claim the expense from the company.‘ 

‘Got it, thanks. See you tomorrow.” 

‘See ya.” 

The office soon emptied. 

Kira went back to her work. 

Lexi was a good teacher. 

She’d coached Kira, step by step, on how to do an investment risk analysis. 

Kira was at sea in the beginning. 

A major in Communications and Media Studies, she was baffled by things like p ratings, the Bradley–Terry model, the power law distribution, and so on. 

It turned out that evaluating a certain celebrity’s suitability as brand ambassador for their company was not just about doing background checks and trying to dig up more dirt on the said celeb. 

But Kira was nothing if not persistent.