The Heart System

Chapter 885: Chapter 885

"Lilac." Layla called from the couch, twisting around to look. "Hey."

"Sorry to bother. Bad time?"

"No, no. What’s up?"

"My cousin just dumped her kid on me so she and her husband could go out for dinner." Lilac let out a soft, almost private laugh and covered her mouth with her fingers. "And I have somewhere I need to be as well. Could you watch this little monster until I get back?"

"Of course."

"Sorry." Lilac gently nudged the girl forward. "You’re literally the only person in this building I trust with her."

"It’s fine!" Layla smiled. "What’s her name?"

"Ayse," Lilac said. "Anyway, thank you for this, Layla. I owe you one."

"Oh, no problem at all." Layla waved her off.

Ayse stepped inside, still a little shy. Lilac and I looked at each other for a few seconds. Her dark eyes moved over me in a quick, assessing way, like she was filing something away. Then she gave a small, polite nod and turned to leave.

I watched her walk down the hallway until she disappeared around the corner. That woman... Lilac. There was something about her I still couldn’t quite put my finger on. The same strange feeling I’d had the first time I saw her.

I closed the door and turned back to the room. "Welp, I should get going," I said. "I’ll just wipe the table real quick and then I’ll be out of your hair."

"Oh, you don’t have to. I can take care of it."

"Don’t worry about it." I already headed toward the kitchen and grabbed a few tissues. "You two have fun, though."

"We will." Layla looked down at Ayse with a warm smile. "Right?"

Eh, I thought I could get lucky tonight but... this worked, too.

⟁ ⟁ ⟁

Another dream... maybe a nightmare? Or was it a distant memory, something that had happened before and somehow been erased from my mind? It was hard to tell which was which. After everything Mana had told me about how I died and how Silk rewound time, I honestly didn’t know what to believe anymore. The worst part was that I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. How was I supposed to explain something I barely understood myself?

I saw Cora’s face. She was smiling with a bloodied knife in her hand, and for some reason, I knew the blood belonged to me. Her face was uncomfortably close to mine, her smile never disappearing as she stared down at me.

"Evan?"

I woke up and immediately saw Jasmine. She had one elbow propped against the bed, looking down at me with concerned eyes. The sun was slowly rising outside, its pale light spilling through the gaps in the closed curtains. I was sweating like hell and breathing heavily as I tried to calm myself down.

"Nightmare?" Jasmine asked.

"Yeah..." I exhaled and wiped some sweat from my forehead. "Uh... what time is it?"

"Seven," she replied. "You were mumbling in your sleep."

"Hmm. Sorry."

I glanced to my right. Nala was still sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of what had just happened.

"You go ahead and sleep. We still have an hour before we have to go to work. I’ll take a quick shower."

"Okay." Jasmine nodded. "Call me if you need anything."

"Yeah... I love you."

She smiled before leaning down and kissing me on the lips. I kissed her back for a moment, then gently broke the kiss and climbed out of bed. Jasmine gave me a sleepy little wave before settling back against the pillow and closing her eyes.

Well, there went any chance of starting the day with full energy. Caffeine and a cold shower were probably my best options.

I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. After taking off my clothes, I stepped into the shower and turned the water on cold. The water ran over my head and down my body, immediately waking me up.

At least it helped clear my thoughts.

The memories from the nightmare slowly began to fade as I stood there. Maybe Mana had been wrong. Or maybe she had lied to me just to mess with my head. I still had a hard time imagining Cora attacking me like that. She was possessive and had done some seriously messed-up things, but could she really have killed me?

Or could she?

Man, I was a mess.

After about five minutes, I turned off the water, stepped out, and dried myself. I walked back into the bedroom naked, opened the wardrobe, and pulled out my work clothes. Once I was dressed, I quietly left the room.

"Master."

Minne was already in the kitchen when I closed the bedroom door behind me. She looked up and smiled.

"Good morning."

"Hey, honey. Morning." I smiled back. "You’re up early today."

"Mik woke me up." She gave me a shy smile. "So I thought I’d make Mrs. Tessa’s favorite pancakes."

"Yeah. Just don’t ever let Tessa and me make pancakes again, Minne."

Minne paused for a moment, seemingly trying to find the right word.

"Those... pancakes were..." She thought about it for another second. "E-edible?"

I let out a quiet chuckle. "Yeah. Right."

I left her to finish preparing breakfast and walked into the living room. The house was still mostly quiet, with everyone else either sleeping or getting ready for the day. I grabbed the remote, turned on the television, and dropped onto the couch.

The first channel was some morning talk show. I switched it.

News. Switch. A cooking program. Switch. Some guy trying to sell kitchen equipment. Switch. Another news channel.

I sighed and kept switching until I eventually gave up and left it on some random morning program that I wasn’t really watching. But at leastı it filled the dead air in the room.

My eyes drifted toward the windows. Snow had fallen during the night.

The entire street outside was covered in a thin layer of white, with fresh snow resting on the rooftops, cars, sidewalks, and tree branches. The world looked quieter than usual, almost as if the snow had muffled everything outside. A few cars slowly made their way down the road, their tires leaving dark tracks behind them.

The sky was pale gray-blue, and the rising sunlight barely managed to push through the thick clouds. Snowflakes were still drifting down every now and then, small and slow as they disappeared against the glass.

It looked peaceful.

For once, I didn’t mind the cold.