Stella was awakened by a dog’s barking.
She opened her eyes and found herself in a room with mud walls covered in newspaper. The tungsten lightbulb on the ceiling looked old, and the glass wall had black mold all over it. The room was filled with various antique items, and she realized she was covered under a large floral-patterned blanket that was very warm and soft, exuding a faint scent of the sun. Suddenly, Stella felt like she was in a movie where she had time-traveled to the 80s.
‘Does that mean that Keegan had also time-traveled?’ she wondered.
However, the smartphone on the table shattered her fantasy. She lay in bed for a while but soon decided to get up-
The fever had left her feeling weak and sweaty. After spending a few days in the mountains and sweating all night, her body had an unpleasant smell.
She wanted to freshen up but realized there was nothing in the room. So, she adjusted her clothes and went outside.
She only noticed that she was sleeping in the master bedroom of an ancient adobe house. There was another room with a separate entrance at the side. A black dog was inside, and it would not stop barking at the passersby.
The yard had no gate, and there was a hawthorn tree on the eastern side of the entrance. It was winter, and the tree had shed all its leaves, leaving only hawthorn berries hanging from the branches. It looked beautiful yet bleak.
Suddenly, Stella remembered when she would pick hawthorn berries under a tree like that one during her childhood days.
When she was still lost in her thoughts, she heard someone talking to her from behind, “You’re awake.”
Stella turned around and saw Marshall coming out from the west side of the house, wearing an old coat.
Marshall saw Stella staring at the coat he was wearing and explained with a smile, Mr. Jewell said that my clothes were too thin, so he gave me this. It feels pretty warm.”
Instead of responding to that, Stella asked, “Where’s Great Grandpa?”
Marshall felt very embarrassed.
Stella thought about the time when Arthur visited Rivera, and she and Keegan took him out.
At that time, Keegan was still a very insensitive person.
After all, he came from a very wealthy family; he even needed someone to open the car door for him when getting out of the car.
However, Arthur did not care about that at all. He sent him to fetch water, buy tickets, wait in line for food, and even had him carry his jacket when he went to the washroom.
If Keegan showed the slightest dissatisfaction, he would sigh and say, “It’s important to find a husband with a good temper regardless of how rich he is. One can never marry a man who would be easily upset. If he can’t even buy you a bottle of water without sulking, he’s not the right one. When you’re old and lying in a sickbed, I’m sure that he’d be the first one to pull your oxygen tube right out.”
Keegan was infuriated. When Arthur went to the restroom one time, he complained to Stella in a low voice, “What does that have to do with pulling out an oxygen tube? He could’ve told me to do everything at once, but he had to make me go back and forth several times. He’s making me do extra work for no reason, yet I can’t be mad?”
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