Chapter 6: The Rain That Night
1308 Words
What truly shook Evelyn was an accident.
That day, Cedar Grove Nursing Home called me and said my mother suddenly had a high fever.
When I rushed over, rain was pouring down.
Traffic was terrible.
The driver moved slowly through the storm.
I sat in the back seat, my nails digging into my palm.
My mother had fewer and fewer clear moments these years.
Sometimes she recognized me.
Sometimes she did not.
But every time she was awake, she asked the same question.
“Chloe, is your father doing well?”
I never knew how to answer.
Yes.
Of course he was doing well.
He had a new woman.
He had beautiful young Evelyn.
He had business dinners, applause, and people flattering him everywhere.
Only my mother was trapped in that white room, guarding a marriage that had rotted years ago.
When I arrived at Cedar Grove, I was drenched.
The nurse said my mother’s fever had gone down, but she was still weak.
I sat beside her bed and held her hand.
She had become so thin.
Blue veins showed under her skin.
I lowered my head and called, “Mom.”
She opened her eyes and looked at me for a long time.
Then she said softly, “Chloe, did you skip meals again?”
My eyes stung instantly.
She did not remember many things.
She did not remember how long my father had not visited.
She did not remember why she lived here.
But she remembered that I had a bad stomach.
I held back tears.
“I ate.”
She smiled faintly.
“Don’t lie to Mom.”
I held her hand tighter.
Suddenly, hatred filled me.
I hated Richard Sterling.
I hated Evelyn Hart.
I hated everyone who hurt my mother.
And I hated myself too.
I had entered this game to destroy Evelyn.
But sometimes, I softened just because she gave me a candy.
That made me feel dirty.
That night, I stayed at Cedar Grove until very late.
When I came out, it was still raining.
I had not asked the driver to wait.
I stood at the entrance and tried to call a car.
My phone was almost dead, and no driver accepted the order.
Then a black car stopped in front of me.
The window rolled down.
Evelyn sat inside, holding a black umbrella.
“Get in.”
I froze.
“Why are you here?”
“Mr. Sterling asked me to deliver documents to your brother. I passed by.”
A lie.
Cedar Grove was north of the city.
Sterling Group was in Manhattan.
No one passed by here.
I did not expose her.
I opened the door and got in.
Rainwater soaked the seat beneath me.
Evelyn handed me a towel.
I did not take it.
She glanced at me, then reached over and dried my hair herself.
Her movements were very gentle.
Gentle enough to hurt.
I suddenly said, “My mother asked me whether my father is doing well.”
Evelyn’s hand stopped.
I laughed softly.
“What should I answer?”
The car was quiet.
Rain struck the roof in dense, cold beats.
After a long time, Evelyn said, “You can hate me.”
I turned to her.
“Of course I hate you.”
She lowered her eyes and continued wiping my hair.
“Mm.”
She accepted it too calmly.
That made me feel worse.
I grabbed her wrist.
“Evelyn Hart, do you have no shame?”
She looked at me.
She did not hide.
My voice trembled.
“My mother is still alive. She is only sick. You knew my father had a wife, and you still followed him. You entered Sterling Group. You entered the Sterling estate. You stood beside him and let everyone laugh at us.”
“When you call me Miss Sterling every day, don’t you feel disgusted?”
Evelyn’s face was pale.
But she still looked at me.
“Yes.”
I froze.
She said softly, “The first time I met you, I did.”
“Then why did you still do it?”
She was silent.
I sneered.
“Because of money?”
“Yes.”
She admitted it.
“Because of money.”
For a moment, I could not speak.
Evelyn withdrew her hand and leaned back, looking at the rain beyond the windshield.
“When I was sixteen, my father owed gambling debts. They came to our home and broke my mother’s wrist.”
“My mother tried to take me and run. Halfway there, she went back.”
“Because my younger brother was still at home.”
“Only then did I understand. When you have no money, you can’t even run away cleanly.”
She spoke lightly.
As if telling someone else’s story.
“When I was twenty-four, my mother needed kidney surgery. The fee was five hundred thousand dollars. I couldn’t pay.”
“Mr. Sterling paid it.”
“So you followed him?”
She smiled.
“Does Miss Sterling think I should have died with dignity?”
I said nothing.
She looked at me calmly.
“But I didn’t want to die.”
“And I didn’t want my mother to die.”
My throat tightened.
She continued, “I know I’m not clean. I know what I did is disgusting. You are not wrong to curse me. I don’t have much shame.”
“But Chloe Sterling, when people are desperate, shame is the most useless thing.”
I looked at her and suddenly found her unfamiliar.
And too real.
She was not the evil mistress I had imagined.
She was worse.
She knew exactly what she was doing.
She knew exactly whom she was hurting.
And she did not excuse herself.
That made it harder to hate her completely.
I asked, “What about now?”
She looked at me.
“Now you have money. An apartment. A car. A position my father gave you. Do you still want to climb higher?”
She was silent for a moment.
“Yes.”
I laughed.
“So honest.”
“Lying to you is meaningless.”
I stared at her for a long time.
Then I leaned closer.
She did not move.
“What if I give you more?”
Her lashes trembled.
“I can give you money.”
“A position.”
“Recognition from the Sterling family.”
“Evelyn Hart, do you want to change sponsors?”
She looked at me with complicated eyes.
“Are you pitying me?”
“No.”
I reached out.
My fingertip touched the pearl on her ear.
Her breathing changed.
I whispered, “I’m tempting you.”
This time, she did not immediately push me away.
Our distance became dangerous.
Her perfume mixed with the damp smell of rain.
She looked at me and suddenly asked, “Chloe Sterling, do you think someone like me is easy to fool?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
I looked into her eyes.
“I think you’re very smart.”
She smiled faintly.
“Then you still dare to lie to me?”
My heart jumped.
She knew.
She had always known.
At least, she knew I was not approaching her innocently.
But she did not expose me.
I did not retreat either.
“Smart people require smarter lies.”
Evelyn looked at me for a long time.
Then she raised her hand and touched my face.
Very lightly.
As if confirming I was real.
Her voice was low.
“Miss Sterling, don’t regret this.”
That night, she did not kiss me.
But when I went home, I dreamed of her.
The same car.
The same rain.
She leaned close and called me Miss Sterling.
Her voice was soft as a blade.
- Writer
