Chapter 52
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Perhaps because it was early. Even though he arrived at about the same time as yesterday, Leila’s bookstore was dark.
He waited a long time for the door to open, his nerves burning by the second. When she still didn’t appear long past the expected hour, his anxiety swelled again.
Normally, she would have opened by now. If she was still not here, he had no choice but to conclude she was not in the shop. From that moment endless questions and suspicions began to gnaw at Bjorn’s mind.
Where on earth did she go at this hour? Unless something happened, she would never leave the bookstore closed.
Could it be… Could it be that she never came back after going out with that bastard yesterday? That shameless man lured her and they spent the night together…
He barely stopped the self-destructive thought that felt like strangling himself just to imagine. The reason he gathered with difficulty told him Leila was not that careless a person, yet even then she didn’t appear.
Please, please…
Without even knowing what he was praying for, Bjorn prayed. It was the first time in his life he wished for something so desperately.
Only after that torturous time passed for quite a while did Leila finally appear from inside. Seeing her open the door alone without anyone’s shadow beside her, Bjorn felt the tightness in his chest finally loosen.
“Miss Leila, I have something to tell you.”
Just like yesterday, she looked startled at his appearance. Seeing shock rather than delight on the face of the woman he loved was enough to wound his already fragile heart. Still, Bjorn forced himself to be brave.
“Please listen. You must hear this. I have wronged you. I will apologize before it is too late. And I want to tell you my true feelings.”
Leila, briefly flustered by his rapid fire words, soon sighed as if she had no choice and opened the shop door, stepping aside.
“Will you come in first? It’s not a conversation for outside.”
Seeing her allow him into her space as always, he felt a last glimmer of hope. Not knowing what hell might follow afterward.
The moment he entered the bookstore, Bjorn looked around first to check for any intruder like yesterday and felt relieved. There was no trace nor presence of anyone.
If someone had already been here or appeared as though they spent the night, he might have begun the day with murder before speaking to Leila.
Relieved yet still unsettled as he inspected the shop one last time, something unfamiliar caught his eye.
Large and small travel trunks, the kind used for long journeys, were stacked in one corner.
Bjorn’s heart stirred again with a bad premonition. Just then Leila came in after closing the door, and he spoke in a trembling voice.
“Are you… going somewhere far?”
Why, suddenly… leaving me here, abandoning me and going somewhere.
The breath he had barely recovered clogged again. It felt like the nightmares of childhood repeating, in an even crueler and more painful form.
But unaware of his panic, Leila only replied in a casual tone.
“I’m thinking of returning to my family home. I can’t stay cut off from my parents forever…”
His halted breathing returned for a moment. She was not leaving forever to some place he could never reach. The count’s estate was situated in the nearby outskirts of the capital.
Yet it still felt wrong. Not a good sign at all. Had she not said she lived independently to avoid being forced into marriage? More than anything, Bjorn liked this place filled with memories, where he could see her every day.
“Is there a particular reason you’re going back to your family home?”
Even as he asked, he didn’t want to hear it. Watching the hesitating Leila, Bjorn realized. The woman who stabbed his heart yesterday when she left with another man was holding a second blade.
“…As I said yesterday, I think it’s time I considered marriage. I didn’t feel that way before, but as I get older my thoughts are changing.”
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