The Comments Called Me Ruined and I Called Bluff Chapter 04
After Cyrus returned, I could clearly feel him watching me.
He watched me during meals.
He watched me while we watched TV.
When Sadie and I were talking, he would sit nearby and listen.
Sadie filled him in on everything that had happened over the past few days—How I had protected her. How I had chased away the scammers. How I had fired the gloating butler.
Cyrus listened to it all and remained silent for a long time.
The next day was the weekend.
Sadie was sprawling on the living room rug, picking out nail polish. Over a dozen little bottles were scattered all over the floor.
“Nicole, this one or this one?” She held up two bottles right in front of my eyes.
A dusty rose and a milky nude.
“The dusty rose.”
“Then you should wear it too. I’ll paint them for you.”
“Sure.”
She dragged over a small stool and sat in front of me.
She pulled my hand over and rested it on her knee.
Halfway through applying the polish, she suddenly paused. “Nicole, your hands are so cold.”
Before I could say anything, her grip on my hand tightened slightly.
She moved my hand into her warm palms to heat it up.
When she finished, she held my hand up. She inspected it from every angle, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.
“Looks good, right?”
“It does.”
She smiled brightly.
Cyrus was sitting on the couch nearby.
He held a document in his hands, but he hadn’t turned the page once.
He was watching us.
I stood up and walked toward the kitchen.
“Where are you going?” Sadie asked.
“To make some coffee.”
I busied myself in the kitchen for a few minutes.
I walked back out carrying a cup of coffee and placed it on the side table next to Cyrus. “For you.”
Cyrus glanced at the coffee. Black coffee, no milk, no sugar.
His fingers froze over the document, motionless. “Who told you to make this?”
“No one.” I sat back down on the couch. “Isn’t this how you always drink it?”
The living room suddenly fell dead silent.
Cyrus stared at the cup of coffee for a very long time.
Then he picked it up and took a sip.
[He drank it!]
[Only the original Nicole knew his coffee preferences. The imposter never paid attention to that!]
Sadie stopped painting her nails too. Her gaze shifted back and forth between Cyrus and me.
Cyrus set the coffee cup down and looked at me. The expression in his eyes was no longer cold or guarded.
It was a complex look, filled with tentative testing, mixed with a tiny spark of disbelief.
“Nicole,” he called my name.
His voice wasn’t loud, but the air in the living room instantly turned tense.
Sadie’s hand froze too, clutching the nail polish brush. She stared at me without blinking.
“How did you know I take my coffee without milk or sugar?”
I looked at Cyrus and said nothing.
Sadie turned to face me completely, her voice trembling slightly, “Nicole… are you back?”