Kara lay on the bed after the shower, waiting for James. But he didn’t come back.
She frowned and put on a coat, and went out looking for him.
She opened the door of the study and peered in. She found James on the chair, staring out the window with deep eyes.
“James, it’s time to sleep.”
When James heard her voice, he regained his senses and stared at her with his brown eyes.
Kara laughed and ran in front of him, tilting his little head, a little playful.
“Why are looking at me this way? Do you find me more and more beautiful?”
James wrapped his arms around her slender waist and put her on his lap. His long fingers caressed her little face.
James stared at Kara without a word. Kara frowned.
“Kara, do you still remember that your mother has a green ring?”
He mentioned the ring all of a sudden, Kara panicked and stared at him unblinkingly.
‘Did he know?’
She got panicked as if a demon was unsealed.
She was shocked and helpless, but she had nowhere to run.
“No, I don’t.”
James smiled. He could tell from her eyes that she had lied.
James had asked Nolan to investigate and indeed found Veronica wearing the ring in old photos.
He wanted to ask the question.
He wished Kara’s mother didn’t have it.
How ridiculous to wish so!
“James, do you want to leave me?”
Kara also vaguely guessed that he knew.
She nervously grabbed his big hand and said pitifully, “I don’t want to leave you.”
“Why did you suddenly say that?” James rubbed her little head.
Kara stared at him, but his expression was too calm, she couldn’t tell his thoughts. She pursed her pink lips.
He asked again, “Have you taken a bath?”
She nodded obediently and stretched out her wrist to let him smell the shower gel.
James grabbed her wrist and sniffed it seriously. It was the peppermint fragrance he often used.
He gently kissed her wrist, his handsome face a little serious, “Your hand is clean. Let me check on other places.”
“It tickles. James, don’t pull my pajamas. If it breaks, I’ll wear yours.”
James was about to take off her pajamas. Kara glared at him shyly and nudged her head into his arms.
“If you don’t take off your pajamas, how am I going to check?”
James refused to give up. He went on undressing her. Kara smiled and dodged his big hand.
“James, stop messing around, stop messing around.”
She hugged his waist and avoided his hand.
“Kara.”
The study was silent. James’s deep voice was seducing.
“Yes?”
Kara thought he had something to say, but he just called her by her name.
She slightly touched his lower jaw with her little hand. There was a bit of stubble.
James grabbed her little hand with his other hand and placed it by his lips, “Kara, I won’t leave you. But…”
He felt complicated.
“No, don’t tell me.”
A lot of good things were destroyed by the word but, she did not want to hear the rest of his sentence.
She wouldn’t leave him no matter what.
“Kara,”
He stared at her seriously with his brown eyes. A few days ago, she was weird. Thinking about what Corey said, she should have known about their relationship.
He was filled with bitterness when he heard her saying that she was not going to leave him.
It was not easy for him to find a woman he loved, but god forced on him a boring joke.
Shit!
“James, it’s good that we are like this, isn’t it?”
She revealed a playful smile as if she did not care at all.
James held her little face and kissed it, still without a word. Kara looked at him uneasily.
“Can we go back to sleep now? I’m so sleepy.”
Kara pouted her pink lips and rubbed her eyes coquettishly.
She tried to change the topic.
James glanced at the time, it was getting late. He carried her back to her room and then went to take a shower.
Standing under the hot water, he recalled Kara’s little face, but Corey’s words rang in his ears, and he felt a headache.
‘Kara is young. She doesn’t mind it now. But what would she think in the future?
What if our child is deformed or disabled?’
There were many things that he had to consider.
Hot steam rose, and the fog in front of him was hazy. His vision blurred.
Kara, who was lying on the bed, waited for a long time but did not see the man come back. Her cold palms held the seat next to her, and her eyes were red.
‘Was I escaping not answering his question?’
Hearing the door to the bathroom open, she quickly rubbed her eyes to dry her tears and turned her back to him.
James approached, wiped his hair, and walked to the bedside.
However, he turned around and walked to the window. Then he stopped there.
She slowly turned around and looked at his tall back, which was lonely and cold, with a sense of sadness.
He held a cigarette but didn’t light it.
Kara pursed her lips, got up, walked behind him, and hugged him with both arms.
“James, don’t abandon me.”
This was what she feared the most.
James’s body stiffened. He helplessly closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. Then he turned around and threw the cigarette in his hand into the trash can.
“Kara, you know we’re not just lovers…”
“James, I don’t care!”
The more she spoke, the more uncomfortable she felt. Her eyes were red and filled with tears, but she resisted the urge to let them fall.
James was silent again. Kara felt uneasy. She rubbed her head against his chest.
“Anyway, I see you as my husband. You said that we will be together for the rest of our lives. You can’t break your promise.”
James’s nose also felt a bit sour. He picked her up and the two of them looked at each other.
“Kara, you are too young. Not everything goes as we wish.”
“I’m not young. I’m an adult. I decide who I love. James, you can’t go back on your word. You can’t leave me and go find another woman.”
Her white arms wrapped around him, and her lower jaw rested on his neck.
She was angry. She didn’t know what else to do.
She couldn’t change her DNA.
“James, I love you. Don’t think about it. Let’s enjoy our life.”
He was excited. This was the first time she said she loved him.
But he controlled himself.
He was afraid that one day she would regret it if they were together.
Even though she would not regret it, he did not want her to be sad.
“Kara, don’t cry.”
James hated to see her cry. He wiped her tears, but she cried even harder. He kissed her eyes.
He felt bad too, but he could not cry.