Chapter 7 She Clung to His Neck and act coy
Lillian smiled back at Kelly and nodded in understanding.
Alexander told her, "No one in this house is idle and you'll have to do chores as well."
"I understand," Lillian replied, watching him go upstairs.
Kelly then took Lillian to her room, located on the ground floor, not far from the kitchen. The room was neither too big nor too small, simply furnished, yet it had everything one could need.
Closing the door, Lillian sat on the bed, staring at the room in a daze. She was to live here for a year and hoped the time would fly by fast. However, she was comforted by the fact that Alexander lived upstairs while she stayed downstairs, and they wouldn't bother each other. She found this arrangement very satisfactory.
The room came with an en suite bathroom. After taking a shower and changing into her pajamas, she noticed it was past nine o'clock. Hesitating for a moment, she picked up her phone and called her brother, Oscar Hill.
"Hey, Lillian," Oscar answered quickly, his voice coming through the line.
Lillian frowned slightly and couldn't help asking, "Why did you pick up so fast? Were you on your phone?"
Oscar let out a weary chuckle on the other end. "Lillian, the nurse just did her rounds, I was about to go to sleep and was shutting down my phone when you called."
"Oh, I see, I misunderstood you," Lillian's frown eased a bit.
Oscar had always been sensible, a standout student excelling in character and learning. He was in his sophomore year of college, but just a week ago, he fainted suddenly and was diagnosed with a heart condition at the hospital. This was undoubtedly an added burden for Lillian. Fortunately, Harry had convinced Lisa to pay for Oscar's hospital treatment, preventing any delay.
"Are you feeling any better today?" Lillian asked with concern.
With a pleading tone, Oscar replied, "It's the same as always. Lillian, I don't think I need to stay in the hospital and I want to be discharged."
"That's not possible, the doctor said your heart disease is very serious, and you need to be treated in the hospital," Lillian firmly refused, then spoke softly to him. "I'll come to see you after work tomorrow and ask the doctor when you can be discharged, alright?"
"I saw the weather forecast, there's going to be a severe snowstorm tomorrow. Don't come over, I'll stay in the hospital and rest easy." Oscar didn't want Lillian to make the strenuous trip.
"That's fine, I've been really busy with work, I'll come visit you in a couple of days," Lillian said. "You should go to sleep and not worry about anything else."
After hanging up the phone, Lillian played on her smartphone for a while before lying down. It was her first night at the Sinclair Villa, where the howling wind mixed with heavy snowfall cast a solemn mood. Accompanied by the darkness, she eventually drifted off to sleep.
Around one in the morning, Alexander returned to his bedroom from his home office intending to get some rest. Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door. Why was Kelly still up at this hour? Puzzled, he went to answer it.
As the door opened, someone lunged at him, burying her head in his chest with a delicate fragrance enveloping him.
"Lillian? What are you doing?" Alexander exclaimed, startled by the unexpected embrace. Lillian just leaned against him, silent.
"Get up!" he demanded, shaking her by the shoulders, his voice a mix of anger and surprise.
On the first night there, here she was throwing herself into his arms, trying to climb into his bed; she really was a handful!
Pushed away by Alexander, Lillian stood swaying, silent and unmoving, her demeanor was somewhat eerie in the dead of night.
Straightening his shirt, Alexander spoke with barely contained irritation, "Get back to your room before I lose my temper! If you ever dare do something like this again, don't expect me to be nice!"
Lillian let out a low chuckle. "Mr. Sinclair, you're quite domineering, aren't you? Who do you think you are?"
"What did you say?" Alexander said sternly, looking at her, feeling that she wouldn't usually dare speak to him like that.
He tilted his head, inspecting her face, and found her eyes closed, mumbling as if to herself. She seemed to be sleepwalking.
"Lillian?" he called softly, waving a hand in front of her face.
However, Lillian didn't react or respond to him. Instead, she suddenly lifted her head and leaned toward Alexander again, this time, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I'm good, I'm really good, don't be mad at me..." she breathed into his ear, her height reaching his shoulder. Her breath was warm and ticklish, causing him to frown involuntarily.
After observing her for a moment, Alexander, with his sharp gaze, sensed she wasn't pretending. Knowing it wasn't safe to abruptly wake a sleepwalker, he resigned himself to guiding her back to her room.
He pushed her away from his embrace once more and turned her around by the shoulders, instructing gently, "Go back to your room."
Obediently, Lillian shuffled forward with slow, dragging steps.
Muttering under her breath again, what she was saying was indecipherable to Alexander.
They reached the stairs, and Lillian, unaware, was about to miss a step, potentially tumbling down. Reacting swiftly, Alexander reached out and grabbed her arm, preventing a fall.
As she reached out, Lillian unwittingly hit some sort of "switch" on her body. She turned around, paused for a moment, then unexpectedly wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body tightly against him.
"Are you getting addicted to hugs? What kind of dreams are you having?" Alexander was furious and tried to pull her hands away.
However, this time it was different—she was holding on tight, and he couldn't just pry her off.
"If I didn't know better about people sleepwalking, I'd think you were faking this!" Alexander was annoyed with her, but he understood that waking a sleepwalker abruptly was not safe, so he contained his frustration and picked her up in his arms.
He hurried downstairs with her and returned her to her room. When he placed her on the bed, Lillian, still in the throes of her dream, flailed her arms about, hitting him a couple of times.
Alexander shot her a glaring look, turned off the light, and left the room.
After exiting, he checked around. Thankfully she was on the first floor. Even if she climbed out of the window, the security outside would prevent her from wandering off.
The next day, the snow was falling even heavier, and the howling wind made it seem all the more cold, even from inside the house.
Lillian's alarm clock rang promptly at 5:30 AM. Staying with Harry had instilled in her the good habit of rising early, in large part due to Lisa's stern guidance.
She turned off the alarm, got out of bed, and walked to the window. Drawing the curtains, she looked outside at the swirling snowflakes and the thick blanket of snow, wondering how she would make it to work. The subway station was a good twenty-minute walk from Sinclair Villa, and with the heavy snowfall, the journey would be difficult. She knew she'd have to set off early.
After washing up and applying a light touch of makeup, she picked out a black business suit from the closet and got dressed. She then left her room.
