Chapter 2
The servant was busy tidying up.
I walked along the hallway and saw that the house had been cleaned overnight, now looking spotless, stripped down to black and white.
The cute rabbit chair at the dining table had been moved to the door by the servant.
My bunny slippers and the pink floor mats had been tossed into the trash.
Even the bouquet of pink roses I had carefully watered for so long-the ones I’d nurtured until tiny buds appeared- had been thrown to the floor, crushed underfoot.
At the party, they said roses meant love. I didn’t get it.
But Raymond had said that if I could make these pink roses bloom this season, he would agree to marry me. Now they were dead.
I dropped to my knees and picked up the ruined flowers, tears pouring down my cheeks, my heart aching.
This book had been
I didn’t notice when Raymond came downstairs. Tadded on your
bookshelf.
He looked at me and said, “It’s just some roses. Why are you crying again?
“How many do you want? I can have someone buy more.”
“This is different,” I said.
My mother had told me before she passed away that I had to marry Raymond and always be good to him. Otherwise, she would worry even if she went far away.
I tried to follow her wish.
But if these roses die, Raymond would never marry me.
“Stop crying.” Raymond’s eyes showed irritation.
He hated seeing me crying.
I held back my tears as best I could, though my sadness was overwhelming.
The pretty girl came down as well. “I’m sorry, Elea. I don’t know if these were yours.
“I only said I don’t like pink, but Raymond changed everything. Did I mess things up for you?”
I swallowed a sob. “But this is my home with Remy.”
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Chapter 2
Raymond had said before that I could have anything I liked. Why has everything changed now?
Raymond frowned as he looked at me. “It’s hard for her to stay at a hotel, so she’ll stay here for a while.
“Eleanor, stop being unreasonable.”
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I didn’t understand what he meant by unreasonable. I only knew the house suddenly didn’t feel like mine anymore.
Angry, I went upstairs to hide in my room like usual. But when I opened the door, my room had changed too.
All my stuffed bunnies were gone. Some had been replaced with blue ones, my least favorite color. I took a step back in shock.
Raymond held me steady and explained, “She wants to stay closer to me.
“You can stay downstairs.
“She’ll only be here for two months. Be good, and I’ll get you all the dolls you like.”
I looked at him, my eyes red with tears. “Why here? Why not somewhere else?”
Raymond had so many houses. Why did it have to be this one?
There are many things in my head that I can’t understand, yet I somehow understand them.
He didn’t come to get me last night because he packed up all my things for that pretty girl to stay.
He didn’t pick me up because he was afraid I’d make a scene.
At that moment, I shoved him away. “You’re a bad guy!”
I hid in a small room on the first floor where my things were scattered everywhere.
I sat on a cardboard box, clutching my big bunny, sobbing until sweat drenched me.
But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find the white bunny doll my mother gave me or the porcelain doll my ther had made.
I walked upstairs and knocked on the door. Raymond opened it and stepped out.
I said, “Remy, my mom and dad’s things are missing.
“I want to go inside and look for them.”
Raymond blocked the door.
“You can’t just barge into other people’s rooms. Don’t you know that?”
I stared at him, confused. Why could they enter my room anytime, but I wasn’t allowed in theirs?
His tall frame completely blocked the doorway.
“If you say I’m a good guý, maybe I’ll let you in.”
fa-
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I said blankly, “You’re a good guy.”
Raymond’s expression softened, and he was about to let me pass. But suddenly, a loud crash came from inside.
I turned and saw the black wooden box fall to the floor. Inside, all my cute porcelain dolls were shattered into pieces.
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