Chapter 8 Struggling

Over the years, he had been immoderately dating all kinds of women who had only taken a fancy of his wallet. Evan wouldn't turn down those sexy chicks and was never hesitant about spending money on them. In return, those women brought him moments of pleasure, even though they were always followed by a long time of emptiness. That was why Evan never dated girls from noble families and even avoided meeting them deliberately. Those girls were just crazy about asking for commitment, something that Evan couldn't afford.

However, he felt something different about Debbie, who was lying aside. Unlike other women, she was simple, innocent, and adorable. Evan frowned at this thought, mocking himself uncontrollably. He couldn't have fallen in love with her, right? That was simply impossible! He had saved her out of pity at first and then chosen her to be his contractual wife because she was too innocent to cause him any trouble. As for what had happened last night, he was just being a gentleman... But why would he think about her today? Evan asked himself. Perhaps he had just lost his head for a moment! Evan tried his best to justify his thoughts.

Debbie lying beside him was feeling aggrieved and remorseful at the same time. Why did that question just bump out of her mouth? She had been missing Evan the entire day and gotten too excited when he finally came back. As a result, she said something she really shouldn't have said. Evan went to bed after replying to her question calmly and concisely. They didn't talk again, even though Debbie had been eager to talk to him for the whole evening. His gentle embrace last night occurred to her again. How she wished to be hugged again! But she was clear it wouldn't happen because Evan and she didn't even belong to the same world.

(Stop dreaming! Not every prince will fall for Cinderella.) Debbie closed her eyes.

Silence fell on the room. Only their breaths, one gentle and one heavy, could be heard.

After that night, Debbie went to bed alone without waiting for Evan to return home, even though she wanted to see him very much. However, she just couldn't completely fall asleep before hearing his steady footsteps.

Every morning, Debbie washed and ironed the clothes Evan had worn yesterday since she had nothing else to do. Thanks to Evan, she was now living a peaceful life, so she should do something in gratitude for his kindness. Evan was not only the man she secretly had a crush on but also her life-saver. Now that washing his clothes was the only thing she could do for him, Debbie did it with all her heart. Sometimes, she would find something on his shirt that made her heartbroken, such as a single long hair of a woman, lipstick stuck on the collar, and different faint smells of female perfumes. Her heart would skip a beat every time she found them. But after taking a deep breath, she would calm down, wash them away, and iron the clothes flat carefully.

After the laundry, she usually went to the garden to learn more about flowers and planting. After asking for a few books about flower arrangements, she began to practice arranging flowers. Soon, she was able to give Joanna White, her nominal mother-in-law, some flower arrangement work as a gift. To her delight, Joanna liked them very much. Debbie had a vague plan for the future. After the contract between Evan and her expired, she wanted to work in a flower shop and opened her shop one day with the money she made. People here liked flowers, so she must be able to make a living by selling them. Whenever she thought about the future, she felt a little sad because she would have to leave Evan by then. They would probably never meet again.

Both Jim and Joanna were satisfied with Debbie because she was an obedient and quiet woman who wasn't picky about food or clothes and rarely hung out with her friends. More importantly, she treated Evan wholeheartedly and even washed his clothes personally. However, Joanna was smart enough to notice that they didn't seem as close as ordinary newlywed couples and thus worried about them a lot.

As dusk approached, Debbie accidentally ran into the large coconut forest owned by the White family, where she had been too timid to enter alone, while taking a walk in the garden.

Debbie, who had been buried in worries about her mother and brother, didn't realize where she had been until she reached deep into the forest. She looked up in a daze, trying to figure out where she was.

The setting sun dyed the coconut trees with an orange glow. Birds were jumping and chirping in the trees, bringing some life to the forest. This was an undisturbed, quiet world.

Debbie sat on a stone chair under a big coconut tree, stretching out her arms while looking up at the sky, letting out a relaxed sigh. Her hands and feets had been numb after she worked with the gardener on the flowers the entire afternoon. Leaning on the chair with her arms crossed, Debbie looked around, enjoying the scenery in the forest.

She rested for a while and realized it was already late from the sunset in the west. She stood up, ready to head home, and got bad luck immediately. A few muffled thunder suddenly sounded in the sky. Soon, it started to rain heavily.

Covering her head with both hands, Debbie started running immediately, not knowing if it was the right way. The rain was getting heavier, and the sky darkened soon. Debbie's dress got all wet in a short time. She opened her eyes with difficulty, trying to figure out the way back, but all the trees looked the same. It was impossible for her, who had no sense of direction, to find the way back. Turning around in the same place, Debbie cast down her eyes disappointedly. She was lost!

The rain was getting heavier, so she had to decide a way to go as soon as possible. The diameter of this coconut forest was at most two miles. If she kept running in one direction, she'd definitely make it out.

After running for a while in the heavy rain, Debbie tripped over a vine. Staggering up from the ground, she disappointedly found her dress covered in mud. Raindrops hurt her face so much. She looked around again, still failing to tell the way back. Now she had lost all hope! Afraid of falling again, she walked slowly in the heavy rain.

Suddenly, a beautiful cabin showed up in front of her. She ran towards it immediately to take shelter from the rain.

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