The Mocked Miss’s Hidden Crowns novel Chapter 1914

Roger cast one final, lingering look at the woman sleeping peacefully on the bed. Tearing his gaze away, he turned and walked down the hall without looking back.

Hours later.

Stella groggily blinked her eyes open, greeted by the sight of a dull, gray ceiling.

Her eyes burned, and a dull ache throbbed at her temples.

The sharp, sterile scent of antiseptic wafted through the air, helping to clear the dense fog in her brain.

Fragments of the previous night flashed through her mind.

She had dreamed... that Roger was here.

That he was taking care of her, coaxing her to swallow her pills.

A sudden clatter shattered her thoughts.

She instinctively turned her head toward the noise.

Under the harsh glare of the morning light, a tall figure in a white coat stood by the window.

His back was partially turned, his head bowed as he prepped some vials.

Stella watched him quietly, trying to superimpose his silhouette over the man from her fever dreams.

A second later...

The doctor turned around, revealing the face of a complete stranger.

It wasn't him.

The tiny spark of hope in her eyes instantly died out.

Beneath the covers, her fists clenched involuntarily.

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks, and instead of forgetting him, her mind was unraveling.

She hallucinated him while awake. She dreamed of him while asleep...

"Stella, you're awake?" The doctor greeted, walking over with a glass of warm water just as he'd been instructed. He offered a polite smile. "Hi there, I'm with the local medical team."

"You collapsed from a high fever last night, and Clay tracked me down."

"Don't worry, your temperature is back to normal. Keep up with the meds for another two days, and you'll be good as new."

He reached out to help her sit up.

"I've got it, thank you." She flinched, instinctively shrinking back from his touch. "Were you the one watching over me all night?"

"That's right."

The doctor lied without skipping a beat. "Your fever kept spiking, so I had to give you medication three different times."

"Good thing it finally kicked in, or we would have been rushing you to the emergency room."

Clay hesitated before reluctantly pocketing the money.

Of course, he didn't dare confess the truth: that Roger had spent three grueling hours simmering that soup himself.

It was packed with expensive, imported herbal remedies designed to soothe the nerves and boost her immune system. The pot was worth a small fortune.

It was obvious to anyone with eyes that the man cared deeply for her.

He just couldn't figure out what kind of drama was playing out between them.

Young love was entirely too complicated.

—

It took a full two weeks of bed rest before her energy finally returned.

By now, she had been working at the Montara School for over a month.

Being surrounded by the lively, innocent kids did wonders for her mood.

Unfortunately,

her creeping sense of insanity was only getting worse.

She was seeing ghosts everywhere—visions of a certain man lurking in her periphery.

Especially late at night.