Three Years

It stood to reason why she was baffled and showed such a large reaction. Three years ago, their relationship had a clean break with her placing the divorce papers on his desk. She signed on those papers and expected him to do so before she left.

Her eyes narrowed at him. Did all that high intensity work he does caused his mind to become all jumbled up, as a result remembering everything wrongly?

"Return where?" She sounded and was genuinely confused.

"Home."

These short and cryptic answers from him was aggravating her. Funny how a quality of him that she praised before, calling it cool and charming, irritated her to no end now. Without the thick filter of love, everything surely felt different.

And what did he mean home? This was her home now!

"I am at my home," she responded, "I am not going anywhere with you. Now, Mister, can you kindly leave?"

She wanted to curse at the man badly, use all sort of vulgar language. But what's the use? It won't be classy at all and would make her seem like an embarrassment compared to him.

Probably seeing her all confused made him have pity on her that he formed a bigger sentence to explain it all to her.

"Three years ago, you signed an agreement, saying that you will be returning after three years, that your freedom is for only three years."

Freedom?

That was an amusing way to put it. It seemed that the man wasn't dense and had no problems is acknowledging it that she was locked up in a cruel prison previously. One that she walked into willingly because it mistook it something out from her most beautiful dreams.

And now, he asked her to return to that cruel prison again.

Speaking about agreement, she really couldn't recall. Then again, during the time she left, her mind wasn't in the right state, and all she wanted to do was desperately escape. She couldn't clearly recall all that she did just to leave.

Under her skeptical eyes, as she tried to recall, he pulled out a document and held it towards her. Scrunching up her nose, she accepted it from his hand and went through the papers— her jaw clenching at the contents. .

It was printed in clear black ink that if she failed to return three years later, she would have to pay a ten million— a sum that she couldn't even comprehend.

She glared at the man for tricking her into signing this paper. He was a hateful bastard. How did she even have the heart to love him before? Taking advantage of her weakened mental state back then, he tricked her to sign this.

"Are you kidding me? I am not returning anywhere. I don't care about the documents I signed," she spat. She would rather spend her days at the prison than go back to that place filled with cruel monsters.

What will he do if she doesn't return? Will he force her home?

"This wasn't up for discussion," he pointed out.

She truly had the urge to beat him up. And this was one of the moments she hated not being a buff and large woman, so that she could efficiently take care of the Cold-hearted bastard.

She rolled her eyes. Not willing to argue with him. The night was cold, and she wanted the warmth of blankets badly.

"I am going to sleep."

After those words left her mouth, she made her way over to the bedroom, not willing to pay any attention to the nonsense uttered by the cold-hearted bastard.

Having mercy on her, he didn't urge on with the topic and let her enter her room.

°°°

The smell of the pancakes wafted into her nose as she stepped out of her room, making her wonder if this was a dream. The perfectly shaped circular pancakes placed on the plate along with the syrup upon the dining table propelled her towards the suspicion of this being a dream.

Every morning, she went to work after having a bun with chocolate filing and a bottle of orange juice. With her talent being at negatives when it came to cooking, why will she even try to cook pancakes for her?

In the end, they would turn out to be distasteful, and she would have to force them down her throat because she can't afford to waste food.

 A grin formed on her face as she made hurried steps towards the pancake. Even if it was in her dream, she wanted to relish them.

However, her expression fell as soon as she noticed a familiar cold-hearted bastard removing his apron. And then everything clicked in her mind. Immediately, she wore a mask of nonchalance and straightened herself, as if she wasn't the one drooling over this appetizing pancakes few seconds ago.

He poured warm milk in a glass before having his eyes settle down on her.

Evelyn scoffed. Not wishing to give him any face, she reached out for a packet of bun from on top of the refrigerator. As she ripped it open and was about to take a bite, he snatched it away from her hand and tossed it towards the trash can.

Shocked at how he threw away her breakfast, she shot him a fierce glare.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"That was expired," he pointed, "just like the rest of them."

With that, he proceeded to take her week's worth of breakfast from on top of the refrigerator. And as he was about to throw them into the trash, she held his hand, preventing him from drowning her further into poverty.

She knew they were expired, but that didn't matter. She believed her body had immunity towards expired food, seeing how nothing had happened until now.

Being two months behind in rent, she already felt distressed enough? How could she throw away such precious food?

"Hold on! Don't be so impulsive. It's fine to eat expired food occasionally."

Even though those eyes of his had no fluctuation, why did it feel as though he showed disgust towards her?

Then again, this rich young master would never understand the grievances of the poor like her.

"There is no need for it now."

She wanted to sarcastically retort by saying, 'Why? Will you be paying me a hefty sum of money!?'

She would really appreciate that. She hated being foolish at the time of their separation and not asking him for even a dollar.

But then it hit her that he had an agenda of taking her back home, and she bit back her response.

Her strength didn't compare to his. Removing his hand from her hold, he instantly threw the food in the trash, making Evelyn's heart bleed.

"Go and eat."

Evelyn wanted to hold on to her pride and refuse with a straight face, but who told her stomach to grumble at that instant, making her glare at the hateful organ. It really had a mind of it's own.

Last night, she skipped dinner due to him, and it was inevitable she was starving.

"I don't like pancakes, and I am allergic to milk," she refused.

"Do you want to go out for breakfast?"

It infuriated her how he showed no change of expression. It felt as though he was dealing with a business case, and at the level of ease displayed by him, he assessed the case to be an easy one. Of course, the importance of the case was debatable.

Evelyn sighed, giving in.

Forget it.

The man was tireless, and if she continued to entangle with him, it would be her who will go to work late. And her boss is on lookout for excuses in order to cut her salary.

Going over to the table, she pulled the chair and sat down.