Chapter 40
According to the real-time weather forecast, it will rain in P City tomorrow, and the temperature will plummet to 8 to 10 degrees Celsius. Please keep warm and travel safely.
The temperature would drop sharply tomorrow, but the weather had already started changing at night.
Ripples appeared on the Moonshadow Lake. The fallen leaves outside the house were swept up by the wind on the late autumn night, forming a hazy, bleak scenario against the backdrop of the warm yellow street lamps.
Josh Hunter didn't go back to his bedroom all night, nor did he head to the guest room either. After making the call, he leaned on the sofa in the living room and rested his eyes.
The four-pane windows on the south side were half-open. The sparse wind blew in at night, and the sound of rustling leaves could be heard. One could even hear the sound of insects if listen closely.
It was quiet upstairs.
After he locked the door, Diana didn't cry in despair, nor did she yell in anger. She didn't try to kick open the door and struggle in vain.
She was tired. After crying for the whole night, she felt heavy in her head. It was as if a heavy lump of paste accumulated in her head, and it kept shaking when she moved, making her feel dull and painful.
There were also some tingling sensations after being kissed fiercely on her lips, neck, and cheeks. It felt like there was still some lingering warmth from Josh's lips.
She curled up at the end of the bed, held the pillow in her arms, and buried her face in it.
Initially, she just wanted to calm down and recover from the discomfort after having an emotional meltdown. But she turned out to be falling asleep after hugging her pillow.
As the saying goes, a dream is a reflection of a person's mind.
She dreamed of Mandy Lee all night.
Mandy's father was the driver of the Swift family. Together with Diana's parents, they died in a car accident on their way out to a lovely date.
After he passed away, the Swift family took pity on his widow and his orphaned daughter. So, they gave him a generous amount of compensation.
But Mandy's mother didn't want it. She said that her husband's death was considered a workplace accident and that the Swift family didn't have to feel sorry for them. She and her daughter had no reason to accept the huge compensation. If the Swift family really wished to make it up, she hoped that the Swift family would offer her a job instead, so that she could make a living with her hard work.
Since she had said so, the Swift family agreed to her terms of course.
The Swift family took care of everything when Mandy and her mother first arrived at their house. Since Mandy's father had worked for the Swift family for so many years, their friendship remained even after his death. When Mandy reached school age, Mrs. Swift even spoke up and let Mandy go to the same school as Diana.
It didn't matter whether the Swift family did it out of altruism or they simply didn't want to lose their reputation of being unkind, Mandy's life had changed for the better because of the Swift family.
During their childhood, when Diana quarreled with Mandy, Diana would be so provoked that she would point at Mandy angrily and yell, "You are the daughter of a nanny. How dare you point fingers at me!"
Unfortunately, Mrs. Swift heard it, and Diana would get scolded and beaten on her palm.
At that time, Diana didn't understand the reason why Mrs. Swift punished her. It was not because she scolded Mandy Lee and hurt her feelings, but because Mrs. Swift did not allow the ladies from the Swift family to speak so crudely.
She only knew that she was so angry. She didn't provoke Mandy. It was Mandy who came to ridicule her first for playing with dolls at that age. However, it was Diana who got scolded and punished in the end!
Similar situations had happened many times when she was a child. It did not happen only at home but also at school. Diana learned her lessons over time and became smarter. Slowly, she would no longer be easily irritated by Mandy Lee anymore.
In middle and high school, everyone was not as unworldly as they were when they were kids. They learned to look at their family backgrounds.
At this point, Diana Swift had a natural advantage. Sometimes, she didn't need to say more, and a group of people would stand by her side naturally.
But this did not mean that Mandy had no other way to pester her in middle and high school...
When Diana and her roommate trimmed their uniform skirts, they would be caught and get demerit by Mandy, who happened to be on duty the next day;
Diana did not like sports, so she'd run slowly. Mandy would overtake her by a lap and ridicule her with disdain when she passed by;
When Diana told her friends that a certain senior looked handsome, Mandy would chat the senior up, joke around with him, have lunch together at the cafeteria, and discuss high school subjects with him...
All these scenes were repeated in Diana's dream.
The scenes in the dream changed and became bizarre. In the second half, Josh appeared by Mandy's side.
Diana seemed to be looking at Mandy and Josh from a non-existent third-person perspective. She watched them holding hands at the night market next to the school. She saw Josh brushing Mandy's hair gently with a smile on the corners of his lips.
Through the point of view of an invisible floating existence, she could feel the bitterness in her heart.
Josh didn't know what Diana was dreaming about. He could only see her lying across the bed, curling up her body like a small shrimp, furrowing her brows together. She clenched the pillow tightly in her hand.
He didn't turn on the lights in the room nor make any noise. Under the dim moonlight outside the window, he carried Diana to lie her down on the bed properly and gently tucked her outstretched arms into the quilt.
After that, he sat quietly beside the bed and looked down at her sleeping face.
He felt a desire to reach out and touch her face, but for some reason, his hand stopped on the side of the bed and was never lifted.
After sitting for a long time, he got up again, tucked Diana in, and exited the room silently.
At three o'clock in the morning, the night wind stopped.
Beside the windowsill, the begonias couldn't sleep.
-
When Diana woke up the next morning, her eyes were still sore and swollen. When she touched it, she could feel that her eyelids were slightly swollen and tingling.
Emotions were temporary. She cried a lot last night, but after waking up, her heart was empty. When she thought of the scene in her dream, her desires became frail.
Sitting on the bed for a while, she got up and went to the bathroom to wash up.
The phone on the bedside was on silent, but since yesterday afternoon, the screen had lit up every then and now because of new notifications.
After washing up, she picked up her phone and scrolled it through.
There were too many messages. Some of them were close to her, while some of them were not. Some of them were comforting her, while some of them were digging for information. Nobody missed the chance to text her.
She swiped down. Before she could scroll till the end, she scrolled back up again and saw late-night messages from Bonnie Smith and Betty Miller insulting Mandy Lee and giving her ideas to beat her. Diana couldn't help feeling warm.
Bonnie Smith didn't know the change in Diana's feelings towards Josh. She thought that Diana was only angry because Josh and Mandy humiliated her. Bonnie even created an emoji named [Diana shall not back off.jpg].
Bonnie's message said: It's rumored that you are going to get a divorce?! Absolutely not! How could you let that jerk and his little bitch to get away with it?! Don't his grandparents like you very much? Go to his grandparents and cry about him! His grandparents will definitely come forward to teach him a lesson! Don't get too angry because of him, babe!
...
She read all the messages one by one, and the corners of her lips curved slightly upward. She sent a message to Bonnie and Betty: I'm fine.
After this message was sent, her fingertip suddenly paused. She glanced at the bed headboard subconsciously.
Wait a minute, she slept directly on the bed last night without a quilt. Besides, she was curled up at the end of the bed. It was unlike the position where she got up earlier today.
Some thought seemed to come to her mind. She put down her phone, walked to the bedroom door, and twisted the knob.
Last night, when she twisted the knob, it didn't move no matter how hard she tried. However, she only had to twist the doorknob lightly, and the door opened.
The moment the door opened, she was immediately relieved. Fortunately, Josh wasn't so sick that he would lock her up at home.
She poked her head out quietly.
It seemed like there was nobody out there?
Walking down the spiral staircase, the rain outside the house was pattering.
There was a faint smell of porridge coming from the kitchen island. When Diana walked over, she found that there was warm congee inside the small casserole. It was century egg congee with pork.
She hadn't eaten for nearly 20 hours, so she couldn't help but pick up a ladle and take two spoonful of congee.
She was quick. After finishing it, she immediately put down the ladle and looked around. After confirming that no one was there, she opened the lid again and continued to scoop the congee.
Diana wasn't full, but she restrained herself. She drank a small portion of it, washed the ladle, and put it back in its original place. One wouldn't notice any changes without looking closely.
Her phone was still getting messages. She read it carefully, and none of them came from Josh. She even checked the text message box.
What did he mean?
Had he figured out that he shall let her go wherever?
Was this congee a farewell congee?
Diana sat in the living room for a while. She was still thinking about what happened yesterday.
But too many things happened one after another, each with great contradictions. She couldn't make up her mind.
There was a very clear voice in her mind telling her not to fall into the trap. Do not think about the sudden kiss from Josh last night. Do not think about why she was lying properly on the bedhead.
In fact, he did many things merely out of convenience, or sympathy at most. Who cares? If she read more into it, she might make a fool out of herself accidentally by showing one-sided feelings.
It was not a good habit to reading too much into an act of kindness. Otherwise, others could easily give her a slap in the face, reminding her to know her place.
Hadn't he taught her enough last night? Those words that blurted out from his mouth were exactly what he was thinking.
Recalling these, Diana felt that the air in the room became stuffy and depressing.
She didn't take anything, and she got up suddenly.
At the same time, Betty woke up from her sleep.
Betty glanced at her phone drowsily. When she saw Diana reply her message saying that she's fine, Betty got up immediately from her bed, sat up on her bed, and focused on typing on the keyboard.
Betty's text said: Transferred X dollars to you.
Betty's text asked: Are you really going to divorce your husband? Where are you now?
It went on and on: Your family gave my dad a heads-up. They didn't want me to take you in. And to prevent me from taking you in, my dad restricted my card limit. I've transferred some to you in case of emergency. Don't worry! I'll support you whatever your decision is!
Betty sent a gif: Don't worry, babe. [I-steal-bikes-to-raise-you.jpg]
Reading the texts while walking toward the door, Diana wanted to laugh.
But the moment she grabbed the doorknob of the front door, she was stunned.
The bedroom door was unlocked.
But the front door was locked?