I had never felt as betrayed as I was feeling right now. After everything that had happened between me and Garrett, for him to leave me so suddenly and leave without even a warning, and on top of that, he had gone with baby Arthur even though he knew how much I loved that baby. I loved that baby as if it were mine, but his father always insisted on taking him away from me, which left me very disappointed, sad, and frustrated. So I packed my suitcase and left.
After hearing from the castle cooks that Garrett had already acted with other women as he had with me and that he was only doing everything he did just to take me to his bed, that really left me floorless. I had truly believed in his words; he had said that he loved me, that he remembered his dead wife whenever he saw me, that he was trying to fight it, but it was impossible, and that I was the light that the haunted house was in need of. With those words, I let myself go; I truly opened my heart to him, only to have that tragic disappointment in the end.
So it was just for that? Did Garrett do all that just to lure me into his bed, so he could feast on me? Was that all the man was about? Had I been wrong about him? Was it really true that Garrett was just a pervert who went around flirting with his maids? I was so confused and sad, and what was worse was that all the evidence proved that all my questions had a yes answer.
To mean? What boss would fall in love with his own child's nanny? That only happened in the movies. Garrett Ward could have used every word and act he used with me just to take me to his bed and take advantage of me, and I, like a big fool and idiot, accepted him with open arms without even blinking, and on top of that, it had been my first time. It was a big deal, the first time things went down that way.
So that night, even though it was raining, I took a taxi from the nearest road and drove downtown. I knew that my friend Sue, my former colleague from the orphanage, would never deny me shelter. But I wouldn't stay at her house for long either; soon I would stabilize myself and manage to find another job, or maybe go back to the orphanage and ask for a job there, but at that moment I preferred to leave those plans for the future aside because my heart was hurt too much after Garrett abandoned me like he did.
For me, everything we had experienced had been so beautiful, from the day I saw him at the orphanage, in the car to the castle when I moved there, the walks we took with Arthur, all the countless times that he and I stayed watching over Arthur's sleep, how he and I protected him—those moments for me had been so deep that there was no way I could avoid falling in love with him; I really fell in love with him, and it wasn't a little, only to have such a huge and sudden disappointment.
I rang the doorbell of my friend's apartment in the center of York and waited for her to answer. I was feeling cold as my dress and hair were wet from the rain outside, but I didn't care. As soon as my friend opened the door for me, I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my face. "Lily… Oh, my angel."
"I'm sorry, I have nowhere else to go." She allowed me into her house and took care of me. First, she took me to her room where I could change clothes, taking a change of dry clothes from my waterproof bag, and I could also dry my hair with a towel. Inside Sue's house, it was very warm, different from the cold climate of rain outside. Once I was dressed in clean, dry clothes, I went into her office, where she handed me a mug of hot tea and biscuits, which would keep me from catching a cold.
We were both sitting on her couch now. Sue was looking at me intently with her dark eyes, trying to understand my situation, but she didn't have a judgmental look on her face. It wasn't like she was judging me; she just wanted to help me because she was worried about me. She was wearing simple jeans, a tight orange, red, and yellow horizontally striped blouse, and warm socks on her feet. She had her dark hair down today since she was home and not working at the orphanage. Sue and I were completely different people. .
I never had a family or anything like that because I was always an orphan, and I grew up in the Saint Laurent orphanage right there in York, but Sue had a family and even a boyfriend. She was older than me; she was 25 and trying to save money to move and go live in the United States because her boyfriend moved there for work. She loved her boyfriend, Ethan, very much. But for now, she was still arranging to move to America. Sue was the closest friend I had, and since the first day we met, we got along well. She said there was nothing special about it because I was a very easy person to get along with because of my docility, but I knew that deep down she also knew that our friendship was special.
"Take your time; if you don't want to tell me what happened, I'll respect that." She took my hand and rubbed the back with her big finger. I whispered, looking downcast at the cup of tea in my free hand, and sniffed despondently.
"It's not that; it's just that I... I feel so stupid." I couldn't even look at her anymore I was so ashamed of myself. "I fell in love with my own boss."
"Oh, Lilly, my friend..." she leaned closer to me with her worried face. "Did you fall in love with Garrett Ward?" Sit down and answer.
"I ended up getting involved with him; I thought he felt the same way about me, but really he just wanted to play with me." I wiped my cheek because a tear was rolling down there. My friend hugged me, feeling how sad I was.