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Chapter 7
“I’ve got nothing to lose anyway.” Kayla shrugged. “If I don’t see him again, then so what? You get to laugh at me? You’d like that anyway.”
Bowen narrowed his eyes. His handsome face was contorted into something angry.
Kayla’s mother winked at her quickly. “Kayla, Bowen’s your brother, and this is for your own good. Don’t get so angry at him. You should apologize to him, quickly.”
Kayla opened her mouth, but this had made her so upset that the words wouldn’t come, so she just turned and left.
Bowen grabbed her by the arm. Kayla tried to pull away, but it was useless–and then she heard Mr. Jones. “Let’s all calm down and eat dinner.”
The food tasted like cardboard in Kayla’s mouth. She ate a couple of bites, wished Mr. Jones a polite happy birthday, and left the mansion as fast as she possibly could. She didn’t feel like staying inside for another second.
The next morning, Lillie took Kayla to a cafe and introduced her to Herman, then left them to get to know each other. Herman smiled at Kayla across the table.
“I never thought I’d actually be sitting across from such a pretty girl on a blind date.”
Kayla looked him over. He really was as poised and refined as everyone said, and something about him made her loosen up slightly.
“You shouldn’t have any problems finding a girlfriend,” Kayla said, tone teasing. “Why are you on a blind date in the first place?”
“I could ask you the same,” Herman said.
The topic changed after that, switching to things that they were both interested in, and the lunch went by quickly. They stopped to see a movie later in the afternoon, and when evening fell, Herman escorted Kayla back to her place. They exchanged Instagram handles before Herman left.
He asked Kayla out regularly after that. Movies, exhibitions, walks in the park–and each time, he’d give her a gift. Kayla never refused a single one. It was nice to be wanted and valued, rather than being thought of as an object at the mercy of others.
They made it official not long after. One day, Herman let Kayla know he’d made previous plans and wouldn’t be back in time for dinner, so she went straight back home after she was done with work for the day.
She was about to head to bed when she got a text message from an unknown number.
Is this all you’re looking for in a man?
It had to be Mr. A, whoever he really was. He’d probably discovered that she’d blocked his number, and changed to another number to keep
harassing her.
Kayla didn’t reply. If she ignored the texts, maybe he’d think he had the wrong number.
Then another text came in. If you keep avoiding me, I might do something you’ll regret.
Kayla frowned and thought about this. What do you want?
Break up with Herman.
I won’t do that.
Why not? If you break up with him, I’ll satisfy you a thousand times better than he ever could.
Kayla laughed angrily and set her phone aside. There wasn’t any point in entertaining a pervert like this. But it was still horrifying to think that somebody out there knew everything about her, every detail of her life, so she picked it back up irritably.
What did I do to you? Are you trying to punish me for something? Are you trying to drive me crazy?
There was no reply. Kayla thought he’d given up, or that maybe she was onto him and he’d gotten scared off, but then a text longer than all of the previous ones popped up on her screen.
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You’re the one who’s driving me crazy. I’ve tried to ignore you, I’ve tried to give up on you, I’ve tried to stop paying attention to you, but it doesn’t work. Every night, when I close my eyes, I see you. I want you to be mine. I can’t help it. I want to kiss you, fuck you hard… Your body belongs to me. Nobody else can touch you. Kayla, did you put a spell on me? Why am I so obsessed with you?
Kayla’s phone fell to the ground with a thunk. She didn’t bother to pick it up, sitting frozen on the bed as she thought about the maniacal text.
This Mr. A was insane. He reminded her of the fans who’d chase after celebrities like stalkers, and it sent a shiver down her spine.
She finally reached down to pick up her phone.
If you like me so much, why don’t you just come meet me in person? Sneaking around and harassing me from the shadows is just gonna make me bored.
