Helanie:
I walked back to my room, feeling like I wanted to rip soone’s head off. It was all her fault. Lucy was such a bitch. When Norman returned, he found staring at him with my arms folded across my chest.
"How was the session?" I asked, my tone almost too sharp.
"It was just okay. Nothing really good ca out of it, but I guess it’ll take ti before she opens up," he said. I started nodding.
"True, true." I think he noticed how I was acting because, as he walked toward the bathroom, he suddenly stopped.
"What’s going on? You look really stressed," he said, walking over and sitting down to hold my hand. He held it in his lap, gripping it tightly, like he was trying to say he’d never let go.
"Why don’t you tell what happened?" I countered, getting aggressive even though he was being nice.
"What do you an?" he asked.
"Norman, I was outside your office." I didn’t explain where I had been or what I saw. I just wanted him to co clean. He stared at my face, then lowered his eyes and shook his head.
"I didn’t want to tell you and stress you out. But – were you spying on us?" he said, almost flicking the tip of my nose. I grunted at him angrily.
"Yes, I was. I have every reason to do that," I said, watching him shake his head.
"It’s unethical," he reminded . It’s what Cora said too.
"And isn’t it unethical that she kissed you?" I snapped. "There’s no such thing as unethical between husband and wife. I deserve to know everything."
"Listen, it was just a peck. I didn’t even feel it. I told her not to do that again," he said, then cupped my face in his hand. "Please don’t stress so much. The more I try to calm you down, the more stressed you get," he added.
But I wagged my finger. "Nope. That’s not everything. It was a very calculated move by her. Why did you have to be the one giving her a therapy session? Huh, Mr. Big Guy?" I pinched his chest, and he quickly covered it with his hand to stop from doing it again.
"You’re so cute," he said, pinching my cheek.
"I have to do it because of the 10th floor. You know Helanie—others won’t understand. They might call her insane. They’ve never co across the 10th floor," he said.
And at that point, I had to ask, "And you have?"
I noticed his expression turned serious. After a mont, he nodded.
"I have," he said, and then he began to tell why he had four heartbeats. I was stunned—from the entity trying to enter his body to the fact that he died for a few seconds. But he rembered everything around him, which ant he hadn’t fully died. Or at least, that’s how it felt to him, and to his parents.
"And then I watched my mother shove her hand into my chest," he finished, his hand still curled like a claw as he told the story. I quickly grabbed his hand and laced my fingers through his.
"I’m so sorry that happened to you," I said, realizing that his mother had been behind most of the curses. Why couldn’t she just take care of her kids? If a woman isn’t earning or doing hard labor, it’s her duty to care for her ho and her children. Marriage is all about joined efforts.
"You’re right. That’s how I knew my mother was ssed up. After that, I couldn’t do much. Every ti I ntioned the 10th floor, people told it was in my head. It was such a hard ti. And then I forgot about it. Until recently, when you started bringing it up. When Lucy ntioned it. I felt like I was that age again, facing that entity." He paused. "I an, those entities," he corrected himself. "I saw two people—a woman and a man."
"To us, they didn’t fully co out. I’d hear a man’s voice, sotis a woman’s. But once you’re on the 10th floor, you’re so dazed you can’t even ask questions. You just answer whatever they ask," I explained, trying to give him as much information as I could.
"What do you think is going on?" I asked. "Do you think those entities are still out there? We haven’t seen them again. So many people were depressed and took the elevator, but no one’s co across the 10th floor button anymore."
I was torn. Part of believed the entity had escaped. But now that he said there were two, I was uneasy. How could we even spot two entities, when we haven’t even found one?
"It’s okay. I’m doing sothing about it. I’ll get information from Lucy and see what I can do. And you—stop worrying about it," he said, pinching my nose sweetly before getting up.
Then he started pulling his shirt out from his pants.
"If you want to sleep in the guest room, that’s fine. I’ll bring Jessica in," he added, smirking and exaggerating his words just to irritate .
"You said I shouldn’t stress," I reminded him, narrowing my eyes.
"Okay, fine. I was just teasing. I was angry the other day when you asked her to stay in the room. But yeah, you’re right—no stress," he said, quickly correcting himself.
Once he went into the bathroom, I heard a knock on the door. When I opened it, a maid was standing there with a tray full of fruit and fresh juices.
"I can’t eat all that. What is it? Did Norman ask you to bring it?" I laughed, touched by how concerned he was.
"No. This is from Darcy. She said to take care of you since you’re giving her a grandchild."
My jaw dropped.
"You can take that food back, give it to soone else, or just let Darcy know I’ve already eaten plenty at the academy," I said, refusing to take the tray from the maid. I felt a little bad about wasting it, but I couldn’t be sure she wasn’t trying to poison or sothing. From what I knew, there was no way Darcy would suddenly be kind enough to take care of . Why was she so interested in my life all of a sudden?
Just the other day, she barged into the bathroom after and said she wanted to fix our relationship. And now this? Did she really think I’d fall for her talk about wanting a grandchild and forgive her for everything she’d done to and my mother?
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