I Was My Vampire Husband’s Substitute Until I Walked Away의 모든 챕터: 챕터 11 - 챕터 16

Jason's POVAfter Elena left, I followed her. At a distance.I knew she wouldn't want that.So I kept away.Just across the street, or through the window of a café opposite a gallery, watching her rebuild her life piece by piece.I'd expected her to struggle.She'd taken almost nothing when she left my house.I was wrong.Elena was stronger than I'd given her credit for.She found work at an art gallery. Started out just organizing frames, restoring old paintings, setting up exhibitions.Before long, the gallery owner came across her sketchbook.That afternoon she was standing by a window, leafing quietly through her own work. The light fell across her face — and there was more life in it than there had ever been beside me.The owner talked with her for a long time.The next day, her paintings were hanging in a corner of the gallery.Then more people stopped in front of them.Someone bought the first one.Someone commissioned a second.She was no longer the unremarkable, quiet wife sta

Elena's POVJason found his way to the gallery while I was cleaning my brushes.Outside, the afternoon sun was at its brightest. The street gleamed. The gallery windows caught great sheets of gold.I'd just finished two canvases. They were on the wall. A few customers stood in front of them, voices low.I stood at my worktable and slowly wiped the paint from each brush handle with a soft cloth.Then the wind chime above the door rang.I looked up.Jason stood in the entrance.He was in a long black coat, hat pulled low, hiding under both. He was holding a large bunch of white roses, which made him look, for all his composed elegance, oddly out of place.Vampires are sensitive to sunlight.He had always been attended to: cars arranged in advance, blackout curtains drawn. He belonged to the night. To those dark, ornate vampire gatherings.Not standing outside a human art gallery, wrapped in a coat, avoiding the light.But he'd come anyway.The gallery went quiet.People recognized him.H

Elena's POVLater, I found someone who truly loved me.His name was Adrian. He came to the gallery often.The first time we met, he stood for a long time in front of one of my paintings.That canvas had only a single room, empty. A vase by the window, white lilies almost wilted.Everyone said it was beautiful.Only he asked me:“Were you sad when you painted this?”I didn't have an answer for a long time.It had been so long since anyone paid attention to what I actually felt.He came back to the gallery often after that. Sometimes to buy a painting. Sometimes just to sit in a corner with a coffee.He never disturbed me when I was working.When I was busy, he'd just wait.When I turned down dinner, he smiled.“Next time, then.”No cold look. No disappointment. No silence designed to make me feel guilty.I slowly understood: real love didn't force you to make yourself small.It didn't demand you to be grateful for the occasional warmth.Real love made you feel safe. Because you were see