One More Night

Nicole feels she can be elected the top ten maids. But Kevin is not satisfied. At noon he lies on the sofa and reads while Nicole cleans the room.

Suddenly, Nicole feels a chill on her back, she turns her head and looks back and watches Kevin’s deep eyes. Is it an illusion? She even feels that there seems to be a special emotion in Kevin’s eyes which is commonly called “sadness.”

Is he sad? Nicole’s pink lips open slightly and she looks at Kevin. She tries to see exactly what is in his eyes.

It’s an illusion. For the next second, Kevin squints and says coldly, “Are you perfunctory with me? Is that how the floor is swept?”

His eyes narrow and it’s a sign of his anger.

Nicole pauses and withstands the pain in her waist and whispers, “I’m sorry, I’ll clean it again.”

Nicole kneels on the cold floor and wipes the top-grade teak floor inch by inch with a rag until it is as bright as new and the figure can be seen clearly. In this meticulous way, she cleans the living room all morning. When the floor is all cleaned and she stands up, she finds that her back aches and she is almost unstable.

Nicole rubs her belly and in her heart she encourages the baby in her belly, “Baby, you must be strong! When your grandfather’s operation is finished, I’ll take you out of here. I’ll never let you suffer again.”

The wet clothes stick to her body. She stands up. Nicole feels low back pain and some pain in her lower abdomen. She is secretly worried and hates him in her heart. He knows she is pregnant and it is difficult for a pregnant woman to do such things. It’s so inhumane! Nicole scolds Kevin in her heart.

Nicole is relieved when she goes to bed to lie down and rests for a while. The pain in her lower abdomen eases a lot. She’s been bent over and tired.

“Baby, mother is so sorry for you.” Nicole is distressed.

Other pregnant women will be cared for by the whole family like a queen and will not do any hard work for fear that the baby in the stomach will have any problem. But no one cares about her baby except herself.

Kevin wants the child to die!

Nicole suddenly shivers. He asks her to do so much housework probably to kill the child in her stomach!

Runaway! As soon as her father’s operation is over, she will try to take him out of the city. It’s dangerous for her to be around Kevin. Nicole secretly draws up an escape plan.

~

Kevin lets Nicole eat whatever she wants so she has good nutrition during pregnancy.

Kevin sometimes has a sarcastic tone, “Look at you, African refugees are more comfortable than you look. You have to eat more food in the future or other people will think that I withhold the ration of my servants.”

The weather has been fine these days. One afternoon, Kevin looks out of the window at the swimming pool and suddenly talks to Nicole, “Put the water out of the pool and clean it well. I’m going to swim in the evening.”

“Okay.” Nicole has a headache looking at the big swimming pool.

After draining the water in the swimming pool, Nicole takes a brush and detergent and goes down to the pool to start cleaning it. She stoops and repeatedly washes the wall of the swimming pool.

After a while, she is so tired. She leans over the pool for a while and then turns on the tap to wash the place she has just brushed carefully.

The sun slowly sinks and becomes a huge red sun hanging in the sky. The orange glow casts soft warmth on the garden but Nicole is cold all over.

When she washes the pool, she can’t control it properly. The water often splashes out and wets her clothes.

She glances at the half-cleaned swimming pool, sighs and goes to the kitchen to prepare dinner. She remembered it’s time to cook dinner.

Before she can change her semi-wet clothes, Nicole hurries to wash her hands and begins to wash and cut vegetables.

Kevin, who has always had a light diet, wants to eat spicy food today. That is exactly what Nicole wants. She likes spicy food now but Kevin has a light diet. She is so greedy that she bought a bottle of spicy sauce and put it in the kitchen. When she wants to eat, she scoops up a few spoons.

Today’s water is very cool. Coolness passes down both hands to the whole body. Nicole is wearing semi-wet clothes and sneezes several times while cutting vegetables.

She makes a fish fillet, a dried chicken, mixed vegetables and a clam soup. After this period of exercise, Nicole’s cooking has been quite good.

Nicole can’t wait to eat these dishes which are beautifully colored, red and spicy in the soft yellow light.

Nicole sets the table and goes to the study room to ask Kevin for dinner.

Kevin is talking to someone on video. It seems that he is in a bad mood. Nicole looks at him. There is a middle-aged graceful man on the computer screen. Kevin sees Nicole come in and turns off the video call.

He stares gloomily at Nicole, “Who allowed you to win?”

Nicole says, “I just knocked a few times at the door, you didn’t answer me. I thought you agreed to let me in.”Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Kevin looks at Nicole’s long wet hair. “Is the swimming pool cleaned?”

Nicole thinks she’s unlucky.

“Not yet, but I’ll clean it as soon as possible after dinner.”

Kevin snorts coldly and stands up and goes downstairs with Nicole.

Nicole breathes a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Kevin doesn’t get angry. She looks at Kevin’s gloomy face and decides to speak as little as possible. The more she talks, the more mistakes she makes.

Just a she sits down at the table; Nicole’s belly makes a loud noise. Kevin looks sideways, she does not know whether he despises or mocks. Nicole blushes with embarrassment.

“Baby, I know you’re hungry but don’t shout so loudly!” Nicole blames the baby.

Kevin picks up the spoon and begins to ladle the soup. Nicole hurries to eat. This is the meal she longs for a long time.

Nicole is almost full. She slows down and looks up. The dishes in front of Kevin are clean. It seems that he has eaten nothing except clam soup.

“Oh, why don’t you eat?” Nicole eats fried chicken in her mouth and asks Kevin vaguely.

Kevin leans back in his chair. “I just watched you eat. Did you starve to death in your last life? Don’t I make you full? You look awful at dinner!”

Nicole spits her tongue. She seems to be eating a little too fast. She has been doing housework all afternoon and is already hungry. She likes all these dishes today so she eats fast!

Kevin says, “Cook sweet and spicy chicken tomorrow!” After that he goes upstairs.

Nicole is shocked, she thinks, “He doesn’t seem to like spicy food. Why does he let me cook spicy chicken tomorrow? Does he find out that I love spicy food? Is he taking care of me?”

Then she shakes her head and denies her idea. Kevin cannot care about others! He can’t take care of me like that!

Nicole can’t understand so she has to stop thinking. Now the most important thing is to clean the swimming pool before Master Kevin loses his temper.

The street lamp gives off a cool light. The light is encircled by a small glass cover. It’s dark around the swimming pool. The shady trees are like a cloud of smoke, dim and silent.

Only the insects in the grass make long and short sounds, which make everything lonelier.

Nicole is wearing heavy rain boots. She sweeps hard in the swimming pool. Her arms become sour and her wrists hurt more and more. The energy she has just eaten seems to have disappeared. She feels cold all over and has no strength at all.

Nicole climbs exhausted from the bottom of the pool to the ground. She gasps with exhaustion. A cold wind blows and she shivers with cold.

She looks around at the cold night. All grievances turn into sadness and large tears fall down.

She curls up and leans against the lamp post beside the swimming pool. She is so sad that she does not want to cry loudly. She puts her hand over her mouth and makes a dull sob.

The sky is so gloomy that no star can be seen. It seems that a storm is coming. Nicole sits alone under the dusk street lamp. Her tears flow down her face like floods. Her grievances and sorrows grow stronger and stronger.

Nicole sits there. The walls of the swimming pool reflect a dim light. The light shines on her thin shoulders.

“Don’t cry.” A voice sounds in the silent night.

Nicole is still sitting on the ground sobbing. After a while she responds. She turns her head and sees Kevin reflected on the water.

He comes quietly to the swimming pool. He looks down at her. His expression cannot be seen in the darkness. His voice is faint.

Nicole’s grievances erupt. “Get out of here! Leave me alone! Don’t pretend to be a good man!” Nicole wipes tears from her face. She cries out loud.

Kevin frowned. He walks over and pulls Nicole off the ground.

“What are you crazy about?” He finds that her body is not right. He strokes her forehead again. Her forehead is hot and there are tears on her face.

Kevin is nervous, “Damn! You’re having a fever!”

He picks up Nicole and goes inside. He ignores Nicole’s kicking and screaming.