Chapter 1 Mr. Lancaster Returns
Chapter 1 Mr. Lancaster Returns
A man appeared in Alexia White’s nightmare, looming over her.
“Go away… Don’t touch me!” Alexia cried in terror.
She flailed her arms as she desperately tried to crawl away. Her hands brushed the man’s cheek, but there was nothing there the next second.
The man originally standing over Alexia suddenly disappeared, leaving her alone with a sore body.
Alexia’s eyes snapped open, the crystal chandelier hanging on the ceiling calming her fear. She was in her room. Safe. Was it a dream? She got up, gasping for breath and feeling a tearing pain below her waist. She glanced down, and the fear returned at the sight under the blanket.
What happened?
A thought popped into her head that she was, perhaps, raped by a strange man at her own home.
“Aunt Song!” Alexia cried as she threw on clothes and ran downstairs to the living room. Aunt Song wasn’t really Alexia’s aunt, but the family’s housemaid.
Aunt Song turned off the vacuum cleaner and looked at Alexia in surprise. “I'm here, Ms. Alexia. What has gotten you so flustered?”
“Did you see any stranger upstairs this morning? Perhaps someone entered my room?” Alexia asked, her face pale.
Her body shook uncontrollably when she remembered what happened in the dream.
“A stranger?”
Aunt Song put the vacuum cleaner down and rushed toward Alexia. “Are you sure? I got up early this morning and noticed nothing amiss.”
“No, I’m not sure,” Alexia almost cried.
She was about to ask Aunt Song to check the bedroom with her before a deep, throaty voice cut her off.
“Aunt Song, the throat lozenges are almost gone. Buy some when you have time.”
The door near the wine cabinet closed with a dull click. The voice grabbed Alexia, and she recognized it almost immediately. A man in a white shirt entered from the side hall with a bottle of red wine. He adjusted the collar of shirt casually, nearly exposing his chiseled collarbone.
Her husband, Chaim Lancaster, entered the room.
He didn’t hear what she said. He took a cup and poured a glass of wine.
“W-why are you here?” Alexia’s eyes widened in surprise.
She had met him only twice in the past three years–at the wedding and now.
Taking a breath, she regained her awareness. This was his villa. She gradually forgot that, seeing as he hadn’t been there at all over the past three years.
“Oh! My terrible memory.” Aunt Song exclaimed awkwardly. “Ms. Alexia, I just forgot to tell you. Mr. Lancaster came back last night.”
“Last night?” Alexia stood in shock and suddenly understood everything.
Dear God! The man in her room last night was Chaim.
She had been exhausted and had no extra strength to resist him. Did that mean she actually had sex with him, just like in the dream?
“Ms. Alexia, the stranger you mentioned... it wasn’t Mr. Lancaster, right?” Aunt Song asked, remembering what Alexia had said.
“Aunt Song, maybe I made a mistake.”
Alexia turned around awkwardly, not daring to look at her husband in the face.
What a terrible question for Aunt Song to ask in front of him. ‘Does she want to destroy my comfortable life?’
Alexia was distracted by thinking about how to avoid the matter as the steady footsteps came up behind her.
“Aunt Song, buy throat lozenges please,” Mr. Lancaster said in his deep, husky voice.
“Yes, Sir.”
Still unaware of the situation, Aunt Song took off her apron and headed for the front hall, the door shutting quietly behind her.
And just like that, it was only the two of them in the spacious living room.
Chaim looked down at the small woman in front of him and his face darkened as he noticed she was trying to escape.
He heard what she said to Aunt Song and discovered he wasn’t in her heart.
“Don’t want me back?” he asked, shouldering past Alexia and heading toward the couch.
“Ah, no, not at all!” Alexia smiled stiffly, “I just didn’t realize it was you at the moment.”
It was true. Over the past three years, Alexia used to look forward to his return day and night, but she was disappointed every time. As a result, she gradually stopped looking forward to it.
However, he came back without any warning now, even going as far as having sex with her when she slept. How else did he expect her to react?
Alexia carefully sat opposite him, trying to behave how she thought a wife should.
But she didn’t get a look, only heard cold but long-awaited words, “From now on, I will live here.”
“What? … Eh-hem!” Alexia choked on the words, her face flushing as she sat looking at him in disbelief. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
Upon seeing Chaim’s unhappy look, she covered her mouth, not wanting to make him even more cross with her.
After waiting for a response and not getting one, Alexia couldn’t hold her question in any longer. “What brought this decision on so suddenly?”
Chaim frowned at her question, as if her question was inappropriate. If he remembered correctly, it was his villa and the woman sitting opposite was his legal wife.
Why was his wife asking why he wanted to live with her? She even confused him for a stranger.
With a sullen face, he put the glass down, got up and said, “Aunt Song has prepared breakfast. You should have some. I’ll drop you off for work later.”
“Oh, okay…” Alexia was scared by his cold tone.
He left her in the villa for three years without any attention, but now he wanted to live in the home and, what’s more, send her to work? What was wrong with him? She wondered but didn’t have guts to ask him.
Was he crazy? Or did Cupid, the God of Love, finally discover her?