My Gorgeous Wife is an Ex-Convict

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Are you hungry?”

His dark eyes studied her and he tilted his head. “What?”

When he still didn’t reply, she wrung her hands together. “I’ll get you something to eat.”

Grace moved to the tiny stove and threw some noodles and eggs into the pot to make a simple bowl of noodles for him. She didn’t have any meat, but she chopped what vegetables she had and added them too.

She set the tiny table and poured them both a glass of water from the sink. He moved cautiously to take a seat when she set the bowls down.

“Eat, but don’t eat too fast. It’s quite hot,” she said.

She didn’t mean to treat him like a child, but his presence made her nervous even as there was something incredibly calming about him.

He lowered his head and ate his noodles quietly. Grace also stared at him in silence.

Normally, she’d come home and hate the feeling of being alone, confined in a tiny space. For some reason, the loneliness that she’d usually feel seemed to have disappeared. Could it be due to the presence of another person in the room?

After he had finished eating, Grace cleaned up the plates. “I usually sleep with the lights on. I hope you don’t mind,” she said. Ever since she was released from prison, she had gotten into the habit.

“That’s fine.”

Grace took her pajamas into the bathroom and shut the door to brush her teeth and change. Was it weird having a man alone beside where she’d sleep? Yeah. Probably.

But she didn’t feel triggered by his presence of fearful.

If he’d wanted to hurt her, he wouldn’t have defended her on the street.

When she exited and lay down on the bed, he took his position on the floor.

The room was silent save for the sound of the heater. If she listened hard enough, she could hear each breath he took.

It was a steady rhythm, peaceful even.

Grace closed her eyes and focused on sleeping. This was her routine every night because it was almost impossible for her to relax. Even being out of jail, at night she would always dream of her time in prison.

She would be beaten, shamed, and abused… and every finger would burn with the pain of being broken and the nails being torn off…

She’d wake up screaming, fingers curled, terrified, and heart pounding.

However, oddly, that didn’t happen tonight.

She slept until sunrise and was not visited by her usual nightmares.

As she awakened, she rolled over to look at the figure lying on the ground beside her bed.

Still here.

Was it because of him? Because she was no longer alone in this room?

gotten out of bed, squatted down, and placed her hand on his cheek. Her

real, and not

taken a strange

he was already awake. His beautiful eyes were

heated with embarrassment. “I… I just… that… If you don’t have anywhere

in a hurry, but after she

widened with a trace

want to, just pretend I didn’t say anything,”

and he spoke quietly. “Do

had been said by some other man, it

a simple question of “want” or “don’t want” and she assumed he meant it to mean his presence here. She didn’t read any ambiguity into his words, even if there had been, she realized her answer would be the

stared at her, and a smile slowly formed on his

the first time she had seen him smile. Although it was very light… it looked

***

while Grace got ready to go back to work. When she left money on the table for him to buy himself some

her gone, the

the space. He rolled up the quilt

snoop a bit. But he didn’t want to intrude on

apartment, there were already people

come out, they respectfully greeted him,

go,” Jason responded

parked in front of him. Jason got into it and looked at the twenty-dollar bill in his hand. It had been many years since someone had given him money like this. On

rearview mirror. “The woman who was with you last night is a contract worker of the Sanitation Service Center. She started renting her current residence here a month ago, and was just released from prison

“Prison?”

Stevens family. She was convicted of reckless driving and killing Jennifer Atkinson. She was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and

his expression bland. “Grace…” he whispered.

had been set on marrying him and that she was also a good political marriage candidate, he thought that

who would’ve thought that Jennifer would end up dying in a

relationship with Jennifer, how

that twenty-dollar bill

him? Taken his hand, brought him into her home, and said she’d

information you can find on Grace Cummins on

Then… “Sir, are you interested in

***

He said that since she had been released from prison, she should go home to pay her respects to

mother died when she was

had remarried only a few months after mom died, and her stepmother gave birth to another daughter,

always clear that Grace’s father favored his “new” family, which led to her being sent to live with her maternal grandmother in the countryside. Grace’s grandmother cared for her until third grade, but had

of her class, her father finally warmed to her. He eventually started to show off to others that

only out of pretense. Even her half sister tried to get on her good side—something that had never happened before.

her family’s eyes. She knew it was only because he was

To be loved.

that everything was just her wishful

she stepped into her father’s

the same. Pictures of the three of them.

Same couches and tables.

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