Chapter 73
“It’s all good,” Valeria replied.
Once the rain let up a bit, it would be easier to call a ride.
Honestly, she still had lingering anxiety about taking rides at night. The last time had left a
mark.
But that was life. There wasn’t much else to do but to live with it.
The air conditioning was on, keeping the room at a comfortable temperature.
There was a bathroom connected to the guest bedroom. Valeria stepped into the bathroom and took a hot shower.
The lingering chill in her fingertips finally faded.
She was prone to getting sick. If she didn’t take a proper hot shower after getting drenched, she would definitely come down with something the next day.
She pressed the pump on the body wash. A crisp, sea-salt scent filled the air. The scent was unmistakably masculine.
She stared at the bottle of body wash, her movements slow and hesitant. After a moment, she squeezed some onto the loofah, worked it into a lather, and began to wash. The scent surrounded her, clean and sharply masculine, and she suddenly felt enveloped by a presence
that wasn’t her own.
The air in the bathroom felt warm and heavy.
Valeria stood beneath the warm shower, clear water cascading over her pale skin and sliding down her body. As she lowered her gaze, her eyes followed the water as it washed away the foam, gliding over her stomach and that barely-there pink scar.
There was a men’s bathrobe in the bathroom. It was black, made of thin fleece, with a tie at
the waist.
Hesitant, Valeria bit her lip but slipped it on anyway. Then she picked up the hair dryer and started drying the wet clothes she’d changed out of, hoping they’d be wearable again in an hour.
She felt a twinge of regret over her coat getting soaked. She had bought it during an end-of-
season sale at the mall.
Back then, she was with Lindsey, who had joked that Valeria made an 800-dollar coat look like
it was worth 8,000 dollars. On top of that, the sales associate had been extremely enthusiastic.
Now, with Selena fast asleep on the bed, Valeria sat quietly at the edge.
She glanced at her phone to see that Sebastian still hadn’t accepted the Apple Cash she transferred to him. Was he refusing to take it, or had he just not checked his phone?
Maybe it was the unfamiliar surroundings. Selena murmured in her sleep, “Mommy.”
Valeria put her phone away and gently patted Selena’s back until Selena drifted off. Then, Valeria lay down next to Selena.
Valeria couldn’t help but watch Selena’s sleeping face. Her slender fingers moved on their own, curling slightly as she brushed Selena’s cheek with the lightest touch.
Sebastian would have children with Sabrina, wouldn’t he? He was already so gentle with Selena. With his and Sabrina’s child, he would probably be a hundred times gentler.
Valeria suddenly realized that she couldn’t picture what that would even look like. Then, at some point, she drifted off.
She woke up to a faint noise outside the door.
Getting up, she opened it and found the golden retriever lying there quietly. As she crouched down, she instinctively pulled the loose collar of the bathrobe tighter across her chest.
She whispered softly, “I know your name. You’re Nemo.”
Valeria gently patted Nemo’s head.
Nemo seemed to really like her, nudging against her hand again and again. Valeria could feel
the warmth and affection from it.
It wasn’t until she had two dogs of her own that she realized just how much pets needed companionship -how much time and energy it took to care for them. Every evening, she’d take Selena by the hand, leash up Potato and Pork Chop, and walk them around the
neighborhood.
Nemo’s muzzle had already turned white. Clearly, it had been with Sebastian for many years.
Valeria couldn’t figure out what made Sebastian change. He never liked pets. And yet, he had kept Nemo for years, clearly cared for it well.
When she reached out her hand, Nemo also lifted a paw and gently placed it in her palm.
Valería smiled as she said, “Hey there. I’m Valeria. We’ve met before!”
Nemo had that goofy grin on its face-charming in a dopey, lovable kind of way.
Valeria couldn’t wrap her head around it-someone like Sebastian, with his stoic and distant
personality, owning a golden retriever? If he were to have a dog at all, she’d always imagined something more fitting, like a Rottweiler.
It was still pouring rain when the clock struck 11. The weather forecast had been way off.
Valeria glanced at Selena, who was still sleeping soundly, and figured they might be spending the night at Sebastian’s apartment after all.
The living room was completely silent and pitch dark.
Noticing her phone was at 19%, Valeria got up to find a charging cable. She stepped into the living room, where it was pitch dark. Turning on her phone’s flashlight, she swept the light
across the room.
Valeria didn’t want to bother Sebastian over something so trivial. It would be ideal if she could find a charging cable in the living room.
But then the beam caught a figure lying on the couch. She startled, quickly switching off the flashlight.
Valeria hadn’t expected to find Sebastian asleep on the couch. She froze in place. Her eyes rested on his silhouette, blurred in the darkness just a few steps away.
She could just barely make out the soft, even sound of his breathing. Valeria didn’t want to
disturb him.
