Raeleigh was awakened by a terrible nightmare in the middle of the night.In her dream, she had been surrounded by agroup of people who were snatching her things away,leaving only her diary in her hands.


    Raeleigh could only stare nkly as even her diary wastaken away by Zorion.


    “Give it back, that’s all I have left.” In her dream, Raeleigh had pleaded for Zorion to return the diary to her, but he refused and tossed it into the sea. She watched as it was swallowed by the waves.She had jumped into the ocean to look for it, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. To make matters worse, she got a cramp in her leg. Within a matter of seconds, she had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.


    She had jolted awake, gasping for air.


    Raeleigh was trembling and had broken out in cold sweat.


    The nightmare was so unsettling that she had trouble falling back to sleep. Propping herself up against the bed frame, she tried to pull herself together.


    She felt suffocated, as if there was water trapped in her lungs.


    Scarlette was resting in a corner of the room.When she heard the noise, her eyes flew open and she looked around anxiously.


    Hastily, Scarlette turned the lights on. Then, she poured a ss of water for Raeleigh. “Was it another nightmare?”


    Scarlette recalled the petrified expression on Raeleigh’s face when they were in the car on the way to the hospital.


    “How did you know that I have nightmares?” Raeleigh asked in surprise as she held the ss of water.


    “I carried you all the way from our dorm to the school gate.Along the way, you kept muttering something about a fire. You looked as though you were in pain.Then when we were in the car, you repeated it over and over again while you were in… his arms.”


    Raeleigh froze for a moment. “I should be thanking you,” she said slowly.


    “No need to thank me. Hang on, have you experienced something like this before? When you were having a high fever, you kept saying the word ‘fire’. Did you used to have high fevers frequently when you were little?” Scarlette genuinely saw Raeleigh as a friend and was concerned about her.


    Raeleigh shook her head. “My health was good as a child. I’ve never been in poor health as I am now nor did I have to visit the hospital several times in a month.”


    “Hmm, how did you develop pneumoniathen? Have you ever beenseverely intoxicated before?”


    Raeleigh recalled that her grandmother refused to tell her about the fire at the orphanage. Shaking her head again, she said, “No, I don’t remember.”


    “That’s strange,” Scarlette mused to herself. “He…”


    Scarlette stopped.


    “Don’t worry, this isn’t a secret.” Raeleigh said with a smile. Scarlette sat down in front of her and rolled her eyes, “Even so, you have to pretend that you don’t know; otherwise, Jepherson will kill me for sure.”


    Raeleigh nced towards the door to the ward. “What if he already knows?”


    “I don’t think he does. He’s so short-tempered. If I don’t do something well, he’ll-”


    “So this is how others perceive me,” Jepherson said as he walked into the ward.Scarlette’s facepaled in shock as she stood up.She staggered a few steps backwards beforeshe fell andnded hard on the ground.


    Jepherson walked straight up to Scarlette and asked,“Am I that horrible?”


    “No.


    Mr. Jepherson, you misunderstood. I was talking about Hadrian. He’s the scary one. You, on the other hand, have always been very kind to me,” Scarlette stammered as she stood rooted to the ground. In response, Jepherson rolled his eyes and said, “The only mistake I made was hiring you. You can’t do anything right. I want you to write this sentence a thousand times?-‘You’re a useless fool that can’t do things right!''”


    With that, Jepherson went into the bathroom, mming the door shut behind him.


    Wanting to lighten her punishment, Scarlette rushed towards the bathroom. “Mr. Jepherson, I-”


    “Two thousand times,” Jepherson called out nonchntly.


    Scarlette stepped forward and Jefferson said from inside the bathroom, “Three thousand times.”


    Scarlette gave up and was about to dash out the ward whenRaeleigh called out to her.“Come back.”


    Pouting her lips, Scarlette threw a death re at Raeleigh.


    Raeleigh let out a sigh as she gestured for Scarlette toe back.“Come here. I have something to tell you.”


    With a deep frown, Scarlette walked towards her. Raeleigh gestured for her toe even closer and whispered something into her ear.Her words caught Scarlette off guard.


    “What if something happens?Are you going to take responsibility?” Scarlette mumbled softly.


    “Are you being ungrateful?” Raeleigh had a stern expression on her face.


    Scarlette waved her hand dismissively and said, “I know, you’re a good friend. Hold on.”


    Scarlette searched frantically for a piece of paper before Jepherson came out of the bathroom. Then, she quickly scribbled a few words on the piece of paper.


    When she was done, Scarlette shouted in the direction of the bathroom, “Mr. Jepherson, I’m done with the lines.”


    There was no response from Jepherson,so Scarlette took the opportunity to escape as quick as lightning.


    Just as the door to the ward shut, Jepherson came out of the bathroom.With a somber expression, he scanned the ward only to find that Scarlette wasn’t there.


    “Where is she?” Jepherson looked as if he was about to explode.


    Raeleigh frowned. “Scarlette didn’t mean any harm.”


    “That’s not for you to decide. She can speak for herself.” Jepherson’s tone was as cold as ice. This was the first time he was speaking to Raeleigh this way.


    “What’s wrong?Did you have a bad day?”


    Raeleigh’s dazzling eyes were focused onJepherson’s face, which was as icy as if it was covered in ayer of frost. He never failed to radiate a cold and domineering aura every time they met.


    After leaving for half the night, he seemed to have turned into a whole other person.


    Jepherson was silent as he sat on the chair opposite her. Raeleigh had a feeling that something was bothering him.


    “Scarlette wanted you to have this,” Raeleigh turned around and handed the piece of paper to Jepherson.She thought that it might raise Jepherson’s spirits.


    Raeleigh didn’t have any idea what was going on, but she couldn’t just ignore Jepherson’s feelings.


    Lifting his long and slender fingers, Jepherson took the paper from Raeleigh.Confusion was written all over his face as he nced at the paper, freezingwhen he saw the words that were messily scribbled on it.


    ‘I want you to write this three thousand times?-‘You’re a useless fool that can’t do things right!” was written on it.


    Looking up atRaeleigh,Jepherson said, “I’ve told her countless times that her handwriting is just too ugly. She needs to work on it.”Please check at N/?vel(D)rama.Org.


    Covering her mouth with her hands, Raeleigh burst intoughter.


    Puzzled, Jepherson shot a sharp look at her. Tapping the piece of paper with his fingers, he snapped, “Are you happy seeing me in pain?”


    Raeleigh immediately stoppedughing and lowered her head.In a sh, he bounced up from his seat, his mood lifted. He took off his coat, poured himself a ss of water, and drank it in one go. He then turned around to face Raeleigh.


    A thought crossed Raeleigh’s mind.Jepherson was only human. He had feelings as well, just like any other human being.


    Everyone else only judged him by what they saw on the surface without actually taking the time to get to know the real him.


    Raeleigh has heard rumors that Jepherson was ced on a pedestal when he was in school. With his good looks and good grades, he seemed untouchable, like a demigod.


    In face, he seemed almost… unhuman.