An Unexplainable Feeling

CHAPTER THREE

LAUREN’S POV

I woke up confused.

For a second, I thought I was late for work. Then I looked up at the ceiling and froze.

This was not my apartment.

This room alone was bigger than that whole tiny place I had nearly died paying rent for.

I sat up slowly. “Jesus.”

The bed was soft. The sheets smelled clean. Everything looked too expensive for me to even breathe near.

I pressed my hand to my chest. “This is real. This is actually real.”

Then I heard voices.

I got out of bed, smoothed down the oversized sleep shirt I had slept in, and stepped out of the room carefully.

The voices got clearer as I walked down the hall.

“…I’m only saying the girl looked nervous yesterday,” a woman said.

“She had every reason to be,” Mr. Vale replied.

Even his voice sounded expensive. Like he had never raised it a day in his life because the world simply moved when he spoke.

“She’s pretty,” the woman said.

There was a pause.

Then he said, in that same even tone, “That is hardly the point, Katherine.”

My steps stopped on their own.

They were talking about me.

I moved closer, then entered the living room and saw them in the dining room.

The table was already set. Mr. Vale stood by one side of it in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled just enough to make me lose concentration. His glasses sat perfectly on his face, and his hair was slicked back like he had been born knowing how to ruin somebody’s peace.

Beside him was a woman in her forties, elegant and warm-looking. And Thelma was there too, leaning on a chair with her phone in her hand.

Mr. Vale was the first to notice me.

Of course he was.

His eyes lifted and landed on me, and for one stupid second, I forgot how to breathe.

“Good morning, Rain.”

Thelma turned sharply. “You’re awake!”

The woman looked over too, her whole face softening immediately. “Oh, sweetheart.”

Before I could even respond, she walked over and pulled me into a hug.

I stiffened in surprise.

“You are so pretty,” she said as she pulled back to look at me. “Lucien, she’s adorable.”

I swallowed and glanced at him.

He looked completely unbothered, one hand in his pocket. “Rain, this is my sister, Katherine.”

Katherine smiled. “Welcome, darling.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

Thelma hurried over and linked her arm through mine. “Come sit. You look like you saw heaven and came back.”

“I think I did,” I muttered.

Katherine laughed.

Mr. Vale pulled out a chair. “Sit.”

Simple word mixed with a calm voice. Still, I obeyed like it was a command wrapped in silk.

I sat down and tried not to look at him too much.

I failed immediately.

It was the glasses first. Then the mouth. Then the way he moved around the table, casual and neat, like every little thing about him had been arranged by a very generous God.

Katherine noticed me staring and smiled to herself like she knew something I hoped she did not.

“So,” she said, “how did you sleep?”

“Very well,” I replied. “Too well, actually. I was scared I’d wake up and find out this was a prank.”

Thelma burst out laughing. “No prank. You’re stuck with us.”

Katherine sat down. “Good. We like her already.”

I looked at Mr. Vale again before I could stop myself.

He was listening to us, quietly and composed. But there was something gentle in his eyes when they settled on me.

That made it worse.

Breakfast started, Katherine said a small prayer and I tried to focus on the food instead of the man at the head of the table.

Then he said, “After this, we need to go shopping.”

I looked up. “Shopping?”

“Yes. You need a wardrobe change.”

Katherine smiled. “That means he’s in a good mood.”

“I am always in a good mood,” he said.

A few hours later, we were out. Just me, Thelma, and Mr. Vale.

The whole thing still felt unreal. The way people looked at him when he walked in. He did not even have to do anything. He just existed and the room adjusted itself.

Thelma was the happiest of all of us.

The moment we entered one of the stores, she gasped dramatically. “Oh my God.”

Mr. Vale barely looked at her. “No.”

“Uncle Lucien—”

“No.”

“I didn’t even say anything yet.”

“You were going to ask for something ridiculous.”

She clutched her chest. “You wound me.”

He looked bored. “Survive.”

I laughed again.

Thelma rolled her eyes and then suddenly gasped again. “The doll section!”

Before I could even blink, she grabbed her bag tighter. “I’m going there. I’m finally getting that doll.”

Mr. Vale looked at her. “Thelma.”

She was already backing away. “I’ll be quick!”

And just like that, she was gone. Leaving me alone with him.

My throat went dry.

Mr. Vale looked down at me. “You look frightened.”

“I’m not frightened.”

He gestured around. “Pick what you want.”

“I don’t need much.”

“That was not the instruction.”

I looked away. “I’m not used to this.”

His voice softened just slightly. “I know.”

He stepped closer, not too close, but enough for me to catch that scent again. That deep, clean cologne that made my thoughts go crooked.

“Rain,” he said, “you do not have to apologize for receiving.”

I looked up at him. His eyes held mine for a second too long.

Then he added, “Choose.”

I swallowed. “Anything?”

“Anything reasonable.”

I smiled a little. “So not the whole store?”

His mouth shifted. Barely a smile, "Not today.”

I turned toward the shelf so he would not see my face.

I was reaching for something when he moved behind me.

My body went still.

He leaned in slightly, reaching above my head for something on the top shelf, and his chest brushed lightly against my back.

It was probably nothing. It felt like everything. My breath shortened.

He did not seem flustered at all. Of course he didn’t.

He pulled down two different designs of water jugs and stepped back beside me. “What do you think?”

I turned and found him holding both options like he actually cared what I had to say.

“You’re asking me?”

“Yes.”

“But you probably already know which one is better.”

“I still asked you.”

I looked between the two items. “This one.”

“Why?”

“It looks better.”

He nodded once. “Then I’ll take it.”

His smile was beautiful and dangerous.

My heart thumped so hard I got annoyed.

What was wrong with me?

Why was my body reacting like this over a man being polite?

No. I needed to stop that.

By the time we got home, I was exhausted from pretending I was normal.

After washing up, I changed and met Thelma at the stairs. We headed down together for dinner.

We reached the dining room.

Rhode had already set the table beautifully, and for a second I thought maybe Mr. Vale would not be joining us.

Then I heard footsteps.

I turned.

And nearly forgot every prayer I had ever learned.

He walked in wearing a dark t-shirt and black pants, with golden cuffs at his wrist and a cross necklace resting against his chest.

I looked away so fast my neck hurt, swallowing.

Mr. Vale sat down like nothing about him was criminal.

“Good evening,” he said.

“Evening,” Thelma replied.

I cleared my throat. “Good evening.”

He looked at me. “You’re settling in well?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

That was all.

So why did it feel like a full conversation?

We began arranging our plates when he said, “We should pray before we eat.”

Thelma nodded at once.

He looked at her. “Hold Rain’s hand.”

Thelma reached for me immediately, cheerful and unsuspecting.

Then he took Thelma’s other hand.

And with his free hand, he held mine.

I nearly stopped breathing.

His hand was warm, firm, clean, and steady.

They were veiny and so huge.

We all bowed our heads.

Thelma started softly, and then Mr. Vale’s voice joined in, low and smooth and impossible.

I did not pray.

I could not.

I just sat there with my eyes open, staring at him.

At the glasses.

At the line of his mouth.

At the cross necklace resting against his chest.

At the hand holding mine like it had every right to.

Then, under the table, his leg brushed mine softly.

Still, my breath sharpened so suddenly I was scared someone would hear it.

I stayed very still.

Very, very still.

And in my head, the only prayer I managed was:

Lord, have mercy.