Chapter 15 - Amused

As Alice stood under the hot shower, she could not help but smile at the silliness of that man who had helped her last night! At first she had been angered at his cheek, even regretting the fact that she had left him a "thank you" note. How dare he come into her room late in the night and do something like this! But after calming down and being laughed at by Ximin, her own twisted sense of humor had gotten to her. So from the fairytale of Alice, she had now changed into Cinderella... Though if she thought carefully, her life at present seemed to be somewhat close to that of the girl from the fairytale... with an evil step parent.. The only difference being that instead of two step sisters, she had a step brother and a father who was much worse than a step father!

Sighing, Alice turned off the shower and wrapping herself in a robe walked out of the bathroom. Instead of indulging in her after bath routine, Alice went to stand at the ceiling to floor windows, staring at the world outside. Ximin had already gone home as she was on her annual leave of fifteen days for the new year! Usually, Alice used this time to work some more but this time she felt especially disheartened as her thoughts whirled to the time five years ago...She had just returned from her grandparent's home when her mother had announced that she was dying... As she had spent taking care of her sick mother during her last days, Alice had felt bewildered and lost. She had prayed that her mother would survive. Because even if that woman had ignored her for the most part, she had provided her with some motherly warmth... But when that woman had breathed her last, Alice had felt her world collapsing. They had just returned from burying her mother and come back to a woman who had already taken her place. Her father had tried to explain how he had long fallen out of love with her mother(it was her mother's fault obviously) and how she had forced him to stay married to her if he wanted to run the business...She had been saddened but other than that she had paid no heed to that woman.. Until that woman started to play games with her...She had dared to accuse her of trying to seduce her son! When she had been the one to drug her and luckily for her she had mistakenly spilled the glass of juice.. But she had no proof of her innocence so she had not said anything.. finally tired of being on alert all the time to defend herself and feeling no connection to her father, she had planned to apply to a university abroad...but then that woman objected to sending her away to study and her father refused to pay her tuition fees. Like a silly girl she had even taken that in stride and made herself believe that at least her father was worried for her. But then one night, when she returned from university, she was introduced to her would be husband! Her father had claimed that he wanted to see her settled before something happened to him too...But the man he had tried to marry her off to had even been older than him! Being stubborn and carefree, she had scared away the man! And that is when her hell had begun..

And just when she had been about to breakdown, Ximin had arrived with a letter from her mother and a letter from her mother's lawyer...changing everything...

Slowly as the sun lit and warmed the outside world, her heart remained cold and caught back in those dark days.

How long had it been since she had something to celebrate about? She was not even twenty four yet and already she felt like an old woman...

The ringing of her cell phone startled her, bringing her back to the present with a jerk. A frown graced her face as she wondered why Ximin would text her. She did not think anyone else could text her because only Ximin was the one who had her personal number. The frown deepened when she noticed that it was from an unknown number. Opening the message, however made her mouth fall open... The audacity of the man! He had not only used her face as a canvas but also stolen her phone number! And to top it off, he then sent her a meme saying, "You're welcome."

But still for some inexplicable reason, she could not remain angry as she stared down at the pink bunny that was offering her a carrot as he said "You're welcome..." Who could get angry over a pink bunny?