The Coldest Man in the Room Melted Only for Me novel Chapter 421

"Yes, I'm downstairs. Do you want to come down and watch the snow with me?"

As soon as she spoke, she heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, followed by hurried footsteps. Then came his deep, joyous voice. "I'll be right down."

"Okay."

When Sebastian arrived downstairs, he found Riley standing amidst the falling snow. She wore a long white puffer coat that wrapped around her slender frame. Stripped of her usual crisp, professional demeanor, she looked incredibly soft and gentle.

With one hand tucked into her pocket, she held the other out to catch the snowflakes, letting the icy fragments melt against her pale palm.

Her eyes curved with a soft smile. The landscape lighting cast a delicate glow over her, making her look flawlessly pure, like an ethereal muse who had wandered into the mortal realm. Her every movement made the harsh winter feel tender.

For a moment, time seemed to rewind fifteen years.

It was on a snowy winter day just like this one. Riley had only been twelve years old.

He was fifteen. After escaping a kidnapping and fleeing to Riverport, he couldn't return to the St. John family. Hunted and powerless to fight back, he hated his own weakness. He had wanted to die but lacked the courage to end it, living instead like a walking corpse.

He had ended up in underground fighting rings, serving as a human punching bag. Only the agonizing pain reminded him he was still alive.

That winter day, he had stumbled out of the arena, beaten unrecognizable, to find it snowing. The freezing night easily triggered the darkest emotions. He missed his home. He missed his parents.

Limping through the snow, someone bumped into him, and his broken body crashed heavily to the ground.

He didn't get up. Watching the snow fall, he slowly closed his eyes. Perhaps dying right there wouldn't be so bad.

The twelve-year-old girl was too small to lift a fifteen-year-old boy who was already six feet tall. She tried several times, exhausting herself until her face was flushed and she was panting heavily.

But she didn't give up. She kept pulling with stubborn determination, the veins popping on her forehead and neck from the effort.

A flicker of emotion breached the deadness in his eyes. "Leave. Don't worry about me."

She dropped his arm. He thought she was giving up, but instead, she squatted back down and looked at him. "Let me tell you a story."

He had zero interest in a story and closed his eyes.

But she began anyway. "I'm an orphan. I grew up in an orphanage. My biggest wish was to have a home. It didn't need to be rich, just having a mom and dad who loved me was enough. I guess God heard my prayers because when I was seven, I got adopted. I finally had parents."