Winifred had spent a sleepless night alternating between curling up in bed with her phone and pacing back and forth in her room. Her phone was frequently toggled between two pages: one for Garrison and the other for Leland, which still had no annotation.
Throughout the night, Winifred was consumed with anxiety. She wasn’t the least bit sleepy as she worried about the situation with Garrison. Could he handle it? Was he capable of standing up to Leland?
She had always had immense faith in Garrison; in her world, he was the most formidable person.
Yet now, her beliefs were being shattered one by one. If Garrison couldn’t solve the problem he was facing, what was she supposed to do? Was there really only one way out?
She couldn’t just ignore it; since the trouble had started because of her, it should end with her as well.
Garrison had always been good to her; she couldn’t let him get into trouble because of her, nor could she let her own issues jeopardize his career.
Just wait a bit longer… just a bit longer…
Winifred tried to comfort herself, praying for a twist in the situation. She hoped that what was happening was just a nightmare, that when dawn broke and the sun rose, everything would be alright.
Unfortunately, it was not a dream.
Winifred had sat by the window all night, from dusk till dawn. Her feet had grown cold, but she was oblivious to it. The cold she had almost recovered from had flared up again after sitting out all night. Realizing this belatedly, she got up to find some cold medicine. It was already 8 a. m., and Garrison had not returned home. The leftover food from last night on the dining table had gone cold and was not appetizing, with a layer of white fat congealed on the soup.
When Garrison was home, he liked to keep everything tidy and didn’t leave all the chores to the servants. He preferred to do things like cooking and washing dishes himself because he liked taking care of Winifred personally.
Garrison would arrange everything around Winifred so she wouldn’t have to worry. His intention was to make things easier for her, but he overlooked one thing: if everything was made too easy for her, she could become helpless and easily manipulated.
Now separated from Garrison, Winifred found herself unable to do anything on her own, and Leland took advantage of that, manipulating her like a fish on a chopping board.
Winifred cleaned up the table and took the dishes to the kitchen to wash, spending over ten minutes washing a few bowls, most of that time spent staring blankly at the soap suds on her hands.
She kept checking her phone in her pocket, perhaps too sensitive, feeling as if it was vibrating and making noise every now and then. When she checked, however, there was nothing.
At this point, she both wanted and feared her phone ringing.
She hoped for a call from Garrison telling her everything was fine, but she also feared it could be Leland calling.
She was in a state of constant nervous vigilance, and maintaining this level of stress wouldn’t take long before it drove her insane.
Winifred waited all night for a message from Garrison but none came. By daybreak, worried about disturbing him during work hours, she chose not to venture outside, fearing an unwanted encounter or danger.
She ordered takeout to get by and, while waiting, hesitated but finally decided to call Garrison.
As soon as the call connected, a system message announced, “The number you are calling is on another call,” indicating Garrison had hung up.
It was unusual for Garrison to directly hang up her call unless he was preoccupied with something urgent. By noon, which was his usual lunchtime, she wondered if he was so busy that he could not even spare time to eat.
Distressed and self-reproaching, Winifred dared not contact Garrison directly again. When the takeout arrived around one o’clock, she barely ate a few bites. Sleepless from the night before and not feeling tired even now, she rubbed her dry eyes and gazed out of the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Garrison returning home.
At two in the afternoon, her phone rang, startling her. Seeing Garrison’s name on the display, her tension visibly eased.
She answered with a hoarse voice, “Garrison.”
“I’m sorry for hanging up earlier. I was in a meeting and couldn’t take the call,” he explained.
“I just called to see if you had resolved the issue,” she replied.
“Not yet.”
“Is it very troublesome?”
“Not very. It’ll be sorted out in a few days. Don’t worry.”
Garrison did not want Winifred to worry and chose to downplay the issue. However, she could still detect the deep fatigue in his voice, almost matching her own hoarseness.
Clearly, the matter was serious. Why wouldn’t he share it with her? Perhaps he knew that discussing it wouldn’t help resolve the issue.
Garrison, too, had not slept all night and had been working for over twelve hours. Exhausted, he called Winifred during a brief break. As he relaxed, sleepiness crept upon him, but he fought it off to keep her distracted.
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes, I didn’t go out today and ordered takeout. What about you?”
“I’ve eaten too…” Before Garrison could finish, voices from others came through the phone.
“Mr. Reeves, Mr. Hamilton is looking for you…”
“Winifred, I have another matter to attend to. I’ll call you later.”
Winifred opened her mouth to speak, but he had already hung up.
Garrison promised to call her back later, but she waited until nightfall without any call, perhaps because he was too busy and had forgotten.
Winifred felt anxious all day, suffering from a severe headache. After eating, she dozed off at the dining table, her sleep fitful, haunted by dreams aboutLeland. Suddenly, she shivered, her body uncontrollably tipping sideways as if in free fall.
With a loud crash, Winifred fell to the ground, chair and all, breaking out in a cold sweat from the pain. Curled up on the floor, she fortunately had the presence of mind to protect her head as she fell, avoiding serious injury but not escaping numerous minor ones, exacerbating her already fragile condition.
Winifred cautiously moved her hand. The instant she fell, the pain hadn’t fully registered, perhaps overshadowed by shock. The intense fright had dominated her mind, preventing an immediate reaction. Now regaining her senses, she felt as if her body had fallen apart, and dared not make any sudden movements.
Winifred endured the pain, staunchly holding back her tears. She carefully lifted her hand; it wasn’t broken, but her elbow was scraped, and her ankle was twisted.
It was unusual to suffer such a severe fall at home.
Sitting dejectedly on the floor, Winifred stared toward the door, looking like a stray dog that had just found a home.
She had a feeling that Garrison wouldn’t be coming home tonight.
Despair took over Winifred’s face for a moment as she massaged her wrist and looked at her scraped forearm. She carefully blew on it. The pain was reduced, though it still hurt considerably.
Winifred pushed herself up from the floor with difficulty, limping over to collapse on the couch with her cellphone. She didn’t feel very painful, but for some reason, she felt completely drained, unable to even make it to the bedroom.
While she was lying on the couch, her ragged breathing gradually became steady. She still clutched her phone tightly when suddenly it vibrated.
A text message had arrived. Winifred didn’t rush to open it, hoping it was from Garrison. Disappointingly, it wasn’t.
The familiar number appeared on her screen. She was reluctant to look, but the threats from Leland echoed in her mind, compelling her to check. Her resolve weakened, she opened the message to find no words, just a photo.
In the photo, under dazzling lights, Garrison stood in a neatly tailored suit, strikingly handsome. At his side, a woman in a white dress clung to his arm, both closely nestled together amidst a crowd, looking like a perfect pair meant to be.
Winifred’s breath caught in her throat. She had never imagined seeing such a scene, feeling as if she had been slapped hard. For a long while, she couldn’t react, staring blankly at the photo for a long time.