Chapter 199 Only Loneliness Remains
"Mom, I'm home..."
The iron gate creaked open with a squeak, then clanged shut softly.
Rebecca skipped up the steps with light, quick footsteps.
The villa door opened just in time. Rebecca went inside and disappeared from view.
The world suddenly fell silent.
Tap, tap, tap, someone knocked on the car window. Frederick turned around, as if only then remembering that Alex was still in the car, and walked straight around to the driver's seat.
The car turned around and headed toward Pinewood Mansion. The silence inside made things feel a bit uncomfortable.
Glancing at Alex in the rearview mirror, who had lost his smile, Frederick asked in a low voice, "Want to watch a movie when we get back? I'll watch with you."
Alex shook his head: No!
Frederick: "...Then, should we finish that Lego set from this morning?"
Alex gave him a strange look: We can't, I already put it together as roses and gave them to Rebecca. Are you really that forgetful?
Frederick fell silent.
The car stopped in front of the Pinewood Mansion villa. The two entered one after the other, then both froze in the entryway.
The villa was still the same villa.
In fact, because the weekend was coming, all the lights upstairs and downstairs were on.
Fruit wood crackled and popped in the fireplace, filling the air with a sweet woody fragrance.
The huge villa looked like a castle, magnificent.
But looking at it now, it didn't feel like a castle at all.
It felt like a gorgeous, quiet cage.
The cage had originally held three happy birds, content with their little world.
But the lively one had flown out to enjoy freedom, leaving the other two with nothing but loneliness.
Alex stood dazed for a moment, gave Frederick a complicated look, then trudged back to his room with drooping shoulders.
Belatedly, Frederick understood what that look meant: Aren't you two married? Isn't Rebecca your wife? If you can't even keep your own woman, what good are you?
His phone dinged. Frederick looked down to see a Facebook message from Rebecca.
[Frederick, I'm going to sleep, good night. Moon.jpg]
Frederick's lips curved up.
It wasn't even 8 o'clock yet, and she was already saying good night. Was she planning to play games and didn't want to get so caught up that she'd forget to say good night, only to have him make a fuss about it the next day?
Frederick put away his phone and headed straight upstairs.
Pushing open the bedroom door, he was met with a faint pear fragrance.
And a subtle scent of wild roses.
The two fragrances, one rich and one light, mingled together, scratching at his heart like fuzzy little paws.
The moment the lights came on, Frederick's eyes fell on the half-open dressing room door.
A burning sensation rose from within his body.
Rebecca, soft and sweet, was clinging to him, calling "Frederick" over and over.
The soft, white curves were changing shape in his palms.
And her arms wrapped tight around his waist, then being pressed down hard by him, that tingling sensation shot up from the base of his spine.
He couldn't keep thinking about this.
Taking a deep breath, Frederick frowned and went into the bathroom.
When someone knocked on the door, Frederick, in the bathroom, almost thought he was hallucinating.
He paused, remembering that Rebecca was at the Getty family villa, and that only he and Alex were home right now. Frederick's heart sank heavily as he put on his bathrobe and went to open the door.
Alex stood at the door, his little face flushed red, a few damp strands of hair stuck to his forehead.
His eyes were downcast.
He looked completely listless.
"Are you feeling sick?"
Frederick froze, reaching out to touch his forehead, but Alex stepped back to avoid him.
He shoved a thermometer into Frederick's hand.
Frederick looked at it, then looked back at Alex, and laughed despite himself.