My Pretty Sweetheart (Arianna)

I turned on the lights and looked around the room, but Hendrix was nowhere to be found. The balcony floor, however, was littered with cigarette butts. It was evident that he had been smoking a lot last night. I thought I might find him in the study, so I walked barefoot out of the bedroom.

It seemed I was wrong. He was in the living room.

Andrea's blue dress was thoroughly soaked. She stared upwards at Hendrix who was taller than her, her eyes red and filled with stubbornness.

"Leave!" Hendrix said, visibly annoyed.

"No!" Andrea's lips curled into a smile, ambiguously innocent as it was pitiful. "You know I'm afraid of thunder," she explained.

Andrea wore an expression of weakness and helplessness, which was accentuated by her drenched clothes and tousled hair.

After a while, Hendrix gave in and uttered, "Go and take a shower first."

Andrea nodded, looking at him as she paused briefly before saying, "I didn't bring a change of clothes with me."

"The ones you left in the guest room are still there," Hendrix replied.

I was eavesdropping from atop the staircase.

Andrea nodded again and headed into the guest room.

When Master Roberts bought the villa, he had mentioned that it was large and spacious, and would be able to accommodate the many children he was hoping me and Hendrix to conceive, as there were many

rooms.

It was only until later that I realized that his vision would never come to pass. I had never even realized when Andrea had left a set of clothing in the guest room.

What a joke!

"Ouch!" Suddenly, the sound of someone falling came from the guest room.

Frowning, Hendrix instinctively took several steps towards the source of the sound, but he stopped abruptly. Raising his head, he made eye contact with me. He asked as the look in his eyes grew distant, "You're awake?"

I nodded in response. My heart ached a little as I told him, "She fell. Go check on her."

"Arianna!" Hendrix exclaimed helplessly.

I repeated with urgency, "Go!"

I couldn't hold him back. I couldn't stop him from running to the woman he loved.

I couldn't bear to look at him anymore, so I turned around and went back to the bedroom. The storm was raging heavily outside on the balcony. I walked over and stood at the opening between the balcony doors, letting the strong winds carry the heavy rain droplets onto my body. Soon, my body grew cold.

The pain in my heart seemed to numb in comparison to the physical sensations I was experiencing.

Crouching on the ground with my knees bent, I hugged myself tightly with my arms around my waist. I buried my face between my legs and began sobbing uncontrollably.

How could there be happiness after hardships? The so-called happy endings in fairytales were all lies.

Some hardships can only be dealt with alone through gritted teeth. Nobody else would be of any help, nor would they be obligated to offer any.

Perhaps I had been spending too long in the rain, but my head felt heavy and I was dizzy. My body was numb from the cold and so was the pain in my heart.

Hearing the sounds of pitter-pattering about the room, I lifted my head. As it turned out, Hendrix had already been standing by my side with a gloomy face for some time.

His gaze was indifferent, and he seemed to be very angry.

"Do you feel contented, torturing me like this?"

I was stunned momentarily before I looked at him and retorted "Are you?"

He remained quiet as he pulled me down from the balcony. With a deep frown, he said weakly, "Arianna, there are some responsibilities that I cannot shirk away from. Can you please not torture me by doing this to yourself and our child?'1

I lowered my head, tears continued streaming down

my cheeks. After a while, I mumbled, "I wasn't torturing you. I was merely hurt."

My clothes were soaked. He took me straight into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and silently undressed me.

I sat in the bathtub, feeling a little light-headed. My head bobbed downwards as my eyes drifted out of focus.

I felt dull and uncomfortable.

As we already had little to hide from each other, I didn't feel embarrassed. I let him continue peeling the wet clothes off my body.

After a while, the bathroom was filled with warm steam, and my ice-cold body began to warm up.