Chapter 4

Briar was truly like a songbird. The moment she arrived, the entire Hayes estate filled with laughter.

I silently listened as I chopped vegetables in the kitchen. Distracted, I sliced my index finger, staining the entire cutting board red with blood.

I walked out of the kitchen and heard Julian inviting Briar to stay over.

“Julian, darling, Eleanor, um, won’t be unhappy if I stay here, will she?”

Briar, again, saw me first. She asked Julian the question, but her eyes were deliberately fixed on me.

Julian replied, “Of course not. What’s wrong with a little sister staying at her big brother’s house for a night? Let her try to frown, I dare her!”

Briar tilted her head, a smug smile on her face. “Oh, Eleanor dear, why are you out here?”

I replied flatly, “Cut my hand.”

Julian immediately jumped in to defend Briar. “I bet you just don’t want to cook for Briar! Such a tiny cut, and you’re already being dramatic!”

I thought Julian must have bad eyesight. Briar had clearly seen my blood on the floor.

“Alright, Julian, darling, let her deal with it. It doesn’t look good to have blood everywhere. I’d rather go out to eat with you~”

Hearing Briar say that, I started walking upstairs.

Julian roared, furious. “Eleanor Vance, stop right there! What’s with the attitude?! And don’t you dare give me that look!”

Heaven knows, I wasn't.

“Julian, you two go out. I’m going to bed.”

“Eleanor Vance! If you go back to your room, don’t you *ever* come out again!”

Forever again.

He always uttered ‘forever’ so casually. Anyone with a modicum of sense would know he couldn’t actually lock me up forever.

If I wanted to leave, even if it meant jumping out a window, I would do it.

Briar came to find me privately, telling me to leave Julian quickly so she wouldn’t have to deal with me.

I was curious. Had she really loved Julian for twenty years just because of a verbal engagement?

“What business is it of yours?!”

Of course, it wasn’t my business. I told her I wouldn’t be leaving Julian for now.

I’d promised to be Julian’s girlfriend for three years. I always kept my word.

Integrity wasn’t a mistake.

She scoffed. “I think *you’re* the one who’s been in love with him for twenty years.”

She walked away, then suddenly turned back. “Oh, right, Julian, darling, asked me to call you downstairs.”

I didn’t know what Julian’s latest fit was about. He pulled me into his car, said nothing, and floored the accelerator harder than he did when racing.

“Where are you taking me?”

He didn’t answer. The car screeched to a halt in front of a hotel.

His face was grim. I had a creeping sense that something bad was about to happen.

The next second, I heard him ask, “Eleanor Vance, do you like me?”

I countered, “What about you, Julian? Do *you* like me?”

“…How could I possibly like you?”

“I like girls like Briar. As for you, no education, no background – don’t be delusional.”