"What are you doing?"
I was very surprised and wanted to pull out my feet. But Patrick held my feet with his hand tightly and warned me, "Don't move. Otherwise, I will regret it later on."
"Don't do this. My feet are cold."
I was in a dilemna.
I knew how cold my feet were. And I was very embarrassed as my feet, which were put side Patrick's warm clothes, directly touched his abdominal muscles.
Patrick squinted at me with a some warning on his face, "Why didn't you tell me that your hands and feet are so cold in winter earlier?"
I didn't say anything else.
But the next day, when Patrick picked me up after I got off work, he didn't take me back to my house. Instead, he parked his car downstairs in another building.
The building was located in the central position of Unit No. 1, City Y.
"This is...'
I was a little confused.
Patrick took my hand and put it into his pocket. Then he said mysteriously, "You'll be enlightened after you are there."
He took me all the way to the top floor by the elevator.
The elevator opened. In front of him, there was a wooden door of double-door style with a fingerprint lock to open the door next to it.
The first thing Patrick did when he arrived at the house was to operate relative procedures at the door and press my fingers on the lock.
"Beep!" A sound rang. Patrick turned around and looked at me, "From now on, you will be the hostess of this house."
He opened the door as he spoke.
After I went in, I was shocked.
The house was startlingly spacious. The big floor-to-ceiling window in front of me was curved, making the panoramic viewing at 120 degrees at least of the scenery outside the window possible.
At first glance, none of the houses outside were taller than this one.
I felt as if I were standing in a high mountain where I could see everything at a glance.
"This is..."
I stopped looking outside, looked at the decoration of the room, and found that the decoration inside looked simple and yet stylish. Moreover, the color matching inside the room looked very harmonious as well.
"Our home."
Patrick, who was behind me, answered.
As he said, he pulled my hands from behind and led me into the room. I took off my shoes, intending to get a pair of slippers.
But he pulled me so anxiously that I had to keep up with him.
When I stepped on the floor with socks on my feet, I sensed that the floor was warm.
"Is it floor heating?"
Patrick said naturally, "Yes. I've modified this house by myself. Setting up floor heating here was just a suggestion from a designer for decoration. I didn't expect it to be useful now."
I looked around. Patrick had never told me before that he had a house in my residential quarter as well.
I thought of the fact that I had run into Caroline when she left my residential quarter that day...
"Could it be that Caroline has often come here?"
I looked around, only to find that it seemed that there wasn't any sign indicated that other women had ever visited here.
Patrick seemed to have read my mind. He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, saying in a very gentle tone, "Don't worry. You are the first woman to come here. I have already asked the servant to put your things in the master bedroom."
I looked up at him.
Over the past few days, Patrick had been so nice to me.
He was so gentle that I even felt that it was a little unreal.
I looked up at him and asked, "Why are you so good to me?"
"Because you are my wife."
Patrick's answer was a standard one.
However, hearing this answer, I would rather hear he say, "Because I love you."
But as soon as I took a few steps, I leaned against something!
I called out to the speaker, "Mrs. White."
My voice was trembling.
The speaker was nobody else but the head of the gang sisters who abused me when I was in prison!
She was very good at fighting in the women's prison back then, making everyone called her Mrs. White.
This woman was the cause for all my pain.
When Mrs. White heard me calling her, she sneered and said, "Not bad. You still remember me. I heard that you are living a good life now. You live in a big house and have a good car. In that case, how can you forget to repay me with anything?"
As soon as she spoke, all the painful memory in the prison came back to me. Besides, my head was covered by something. And it was dark all around.
Fear rose in my heart.
I begged, "Mrs. White, I'll give you everything. Everything. Please let me go, okay?"
I was so scared out of my wits at that time.
"Let you go? You are daydreaming! After I brought you here today, you simply couldn't leave here alive." She paused and said, "But before you die, just let me enjoy torturing you. I could only hit you on two parts in the prison before, which I found boring!"
As she spoke, I only felt that a stick was coming at me.
A stick hit me in my face in the next second!
I only felt pain in my teeth as well as a stench of blood in my mouth. Then I spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground!
I lay on the ground in pain and said pitifully, "No, Mrs. White. Don't you want money? I can give you money only if I'm alive! My house is worth ten million dollars!"
At this moment, I was thinking about Patrick.
I wondered whether he, who was going to pick me up after I got off work, would be anxious if he couldn't find me.
I just started to get along with him. And I probably could get along with him better in the future.
I couldn't bear to part with him.
Mrs. White, who seemed to have heard I mention ten million dollars, stopped and said angrily, "F**k. Do you think I don't want money? If it weren't for the fact that someone wanted you to die, I would have asked you to give your house to me!"
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Substitute Her to Love You (Charlotte and Patrick)