SWNOVELS Chapter 3
Jasper immediately took to his heels.
Ariana was confused. What was wrong with him? Did Theodore wake up?
She quickly turned around, but she didn’t notice anything odd. Theodore was still lying on the bed, and
his breath was as steady and quiet as before.
The only difference was that one of his hands was out of the quilt.
Ariana tilted her head and studied the hand for a while. It looked limp, so she felt that it probably fell out
when she bumped into the bedframe while trying to dodge Jasper.
“Theodore?” Ariana called tentatively.
There was no response.
She leaned forward and called out more firmly, “Hey, Theodore!”
Still, she got no response.
Ariana swallowed hard and slowly walked to the bedside. She carefully took hold of his hand and put it
back under the quilt. Theodore still didn’t move a muscle during the process. This eased her mind
greatly. It turned out he was still in a deep coma.
Perhaps Jasper had hallucinated in his drunken state.
Ariana patted her chest as she breathed a sigh of relief.
The room returned to its usual quietness again. Ariana’s heart was still beating fast. For some unknown
reason, she feared that Theodore would suddenly open his eyes. She sat on the edge of the bed and
stared at him closely. A while later, she dozed off due to tiredness.
The next day, Ariana woke up to find herself lying on the edge of the bed. She quickly turned her head
to look at Theodore. To her relief, he didn’t seem to have moved an inch the whole night. Ariana felt the
weight of uncertainty drop off her shoulders now.
She finally ruled out the possibility that Jasper had really seen Theodore move last night. It appeared
the drunk man was only hallucinating.
Ariana went to the bathroom to wash up. While she was brushing her teeth, her eyes fell on a red mark
on her neck. It wasn’t there before. It looked like someone had pinched her there recently.
When Ariana remembered the struggle with Jasper last night, she reasoned that the red mark was his
doing.
Disgust surged inside her at the thought of that betrayer.
Ariana set down her toothbrush and went back into the bedroom. She put on a turtleneck top to cover
the mark.
When she was all dressed up, she went downstairs.
She had just gotten to the bottom stair when Jasper appeared out of nowhere and pulled her into a
cubicle nearby.
“Did Theodore wake up last night?” he whispered into her ear, fearing that someone would hear them.
Ariana felt sick to her stomach at the sight of Jasper. She took two steps back and replied
expressionlessly, “No, he didn’t.”
“That’s good to know. I had too much to drink last night. My eyes tricked me. For a second, I thought
Theodore opened his eyes and stared daggers at me. Thank goodness it was just an illusion.” Jasper
took a deep breath, feeling relieved. He flashed his usual sunny smile.