Chapter 37
The following morning, Ellie woke up early, her body still feeling the weight of the previous night’s chaos. She got ready for work in a mechanical fashion, not quite awake yet, and as she stepped out of her room, she saw Alex sprawled out on the couch. Wrapped in a blanket, he was scrolling through his phone, seemingly at ease despite the tension of the night before.
“Let me check your hand,” Ellie said softly, squatting down beside him. She carefully unwound the bandage and began re-dressing his injury with careful, focused hands.
“I’m off to work. Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave,” Ellie reminded him, standing up and ready to head out.
Seeing her getting ready to leave, Alex frowned. “What about breakfast?”
“You can have something at home,” she replied, not giving him time to argue as she left, heading out the door to work.
Once Ellie was gone, Alex slowly pulled himself out of the blanket cocoon and wandered aimlessly around the living room. He drifted into the kitchen, grabbed an apple, and munched on it as he walked into Ellie’s bedroom.
“Heartbroken?” Alex mused aloud, recalling Layton’s comment from the night before. The idea amused him, and he found himself standing in front of her small wardrobe. It was filled with simple, modest clothes—nothing special. His gaze fell on a plain white dress, and he muttered under his breath, “So basic.”
Grumbling, Alex continued to dig through the wardrobe and found the pink diamond necklace he had thrown away during their fight. The sight of it made him stop. Remembering how Ellie had looked when she tried it on, his expression softened for a moment, and he carefully took the necklace out of his pocket. After cleaning it with soap, he hung it gently on the hanger alongside the white dress.
His attention shifted as he stepped onto the balcony and noticed a sketch on the easel. He remembered that Ellie could sing well—Nancy had sent her for vocal lessons when she was younger—but he was surprised to see she had been drawing as well. Curious, he picked up the sketch, which showed a vague outline of a man’s head. There were no details, and a messy scribble in the corner looked a little like grass. Alex shrugged, tossing the sketch aside. It didn’t seem like anything important.
On the balcony, his gaze landed on a few of Ellie’s clothes hanging there. His eyes lingered briefly on a black lace lingerie set before quickly diverting his attention. He couldn’t help but think, She’s so thin, but does she really need something like that? His thoughts wandered, and he immediately felt his ears burn in embarrassment. Realizing he was getting distracted, Alex shook his head and looked away, moving to fix the clip on Ellie’s lingerie that had become loose and was hanging halfway down.
“It’s just a piece of fabric, no big deal,” Alex muttered to himself, trying to shake off the sudden discomfort. He sighed and continued adjusting the lingerie as he took another bite of his apple.
Just then, the door opened, and Aaron walked in with a bag of fruit. When his eyes landed on Alex, he froze, staring at him with wide eyes as Alex stood on the balcony, still chewing his apple, hanging a black bra. Aaron’s gaze flicked from the bra to Alex, and he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
It was clear whose bra it was.
“Uh… Alex, what the hell are you doing?” Aaron asked, a knowing smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
Alex, caught off guard, dropped his hand from the lingerie and quickly tried to compose himself. “It’s not what you think,” Alex mumbled, his face flushed. “I was just—uh—I’m fixing something. It’s no big deal.”
Aaron just shook his head, laughing under his breath. “You’re unbelievable,” he muttered, heading into the kitchen, his laughter still lingering in the air.
Alex stood there for a moment, his mind racing as he stared at the hanging lingerie, trying to shake off the feeling of embarrassment.
