Whispers in the Firelight Chapter 2

Arthur was like this when he was little too.

Back then, I was living at his house. At first, no one thought much of me, the little mute girl.

He had been kidnapped when he was young, and his parents both died in that incident.

Mr. Vance, his grandfather, was worried he might develop trauma responses, so he had him pick a playmate in Capitol City.

And out of a crowd of chattering kids his age, Arthur chose the clumsy, slow me.

Consequently, the Hastings family rode his coattails to success.

I only found out later that Arthur chose me that day because I was the quietest, not noisy.

One stormy night, after I had been living invisibly in the Vance household for some time, the thunder woke me up.

Then I heard a knock on the door.

When I opened it, Arthur was standing there, clutching a blanket, his face tense. He enunciated every word:

"Are you afraid of the thunder?"

I looked blank and wanted to shake my head.

But he pressed a hand to my head and said, a bit unnaturally:

"Got it. Then I'll reluctantly keep you company tonight."

...So stupid.

Did he really think I couldn't tell that he was the one who was scared?

People who crave love usually have a hard time getting it.

Just like how, as a child craving maternal love, I never once received my mother's favoritism.

The only time she praised me was the night I was chosen by Arthur.

So, the Arthur who didn't belong to me was destined to be separated from me.

Six years ago, before that fire broke out, the female lead, Serena, had shown me her future with Arthur.

It turned out I was just a vicious supporting character who accidentally had a messy one-night stand with the male lead, secretly gave birth to his child, and tried to use the child to extort a massive fortune.

In that future, I died in a huge fire.

After my death, the female lead saved the male lead, and years later, they lived happily ever after.

Even my child accepted someone else as his new mother.

After seeing that, I felt a bit lost.

Was I really that bad in someone else's story?

Later, I actually found myself trapped in a massive fire.

I only had time to pass the child through a narrow gap before I was completely blocked inside by the devouring flames.

I inhaled a lungful of thick smoke, and when I opened my eyes again, I was six years in the future.

I am a mute.

I can't say pleasant things, and I can't say mean things either.

I can't even win an argument.

If I hadn't been truly desperate, with Arthur's phone number being the only one I remembered...

I thought we would never see each other again.

But right now, I was starting to regret it.

I never intended to return to the Vance family. In my expectations, Arthur would have unhesitatingly thrown money at me and told me to get lost.

After all, in his eyes, that chaotic night was a trap set by the Hastings family and me.

But things seemed to have deviated.

I suddenly felt like I was sitting on pins and needles. I wanted to say I didn't want the money anymore, I wanted to get out of the car.

But Leo pushed the phone away, saying he couldn't read it, and the driver kept his eyes glued to the road ahead.

So I could only watch helplessly as the car drove into the Vance family's underground garage.