Chapter 34

34 My Attractive Savior

“What about this? Unfortunately, the bag doesn’t come with its storage bag or box anymore so...” She said before trailing off.

12,000 dollars...I could live with that. Goodbye my dear bag, we will never meet again.

“Thank you. Could you please transfer that money to this account? Oh, can you give me a thousand dollars in cash and the rest please transfer to this account,” I said.

I jotted down Justin’s bank account number. Putting the money in my personal bank account might lead to it getting frozen of confiscated. I didn’t know how that worked at all but better to be careful.

“Sure,” the woman said before she handed me cash.

After checking that the money was settled correctly, I parted with the last brandname bag that I had and was on my way to immerse myself in a ‘normal life’ by heading to the supermarket. To save up on costs, I decided to take the train instead of a taxi. Surprisingly, I enjoyed walking along the busy street and the busy station along with everyone else. The people were in a hurry and very busy. The best thing was that no one noticed or recognized me at all.

It wasn’t long before I started to feel comfortable in my own skin. No one was watching me, and no one cared who I was. I could do things the way I wanted. I could walk with a slight slouch. I could run my fingers through my hair and mess it up or put my hair up in an ugly bun. It felt like I had found some freedom and I welcomed the feeling.

When I walked past a shop window and saw my own reflection, I stopped and checked myself out. I didn’t look horrible, but I didn’t look presentable either. It was clear that I wasn’t ready to have my photos taken for a magazine shoot but that was completely fine. Maybe when I get my first client, I’ll revert back to playing the perfect wife once again.

The mall was just on the other side of this crossing. I stood at the crossroad as I waited for the crossing signal to turn green. Suddenly, in the corner of my eye I spotted an old lady walking along as if she was oblivious to the oncoming traffic. I wasn’t sure if she couldn’t see very well or if she couldn’t hear but what I knew for sure was that it was extremely dangerous. As I watched her, I realized that she was about to cross the road with all the oncoming traffic.

.....

Without thinking, my body started moving on its own and the next thing I knew, I had jumped right into the middle of the road to help her. The sound of the car screeching as it came to an abrupt stop along with the loud honking filled my ears as I closed my eyes tightly. I lost my balance and fell to the ground. I felt a stinging pain on my knees and the hands that I used to break my fall.

This is it...I’m going to die...

After what seemed like years, everything was silent around me. I breathed out the breath that I hadn’t realized that I had been holding. The old lady seemed safe although quite shocked at what had happened. I looked down and started to move a little when I figured out that I was still alive. My body was in pain, but I was still alive.

“Are you, ok?”

I heard a man’s voice calling out to me and then a large hand with beautiful and long fingers was thrusted into my face. Slowly, I glanced up at the face of the hand’s owner. The slightly panicked face of an outstandingly handsome man greeted me along with his red hair and piercing green eyes. I couldn’t move or speak and for a moment I wasn’t sure if that was from shock or from the fact that I was awestruck by his good looks.

“Miss are you, ok?” the man asked again since I haven’t replied to his question.

Elena, get a grip!

“Yes...yes...I’m fine. Thank you...so sorry...about that...” I said as I tried to get up by myself.

“You’re hurt, aren’t you?” the man said, and it wasn’t really a question.

I felt his large hands on my arms as he carefully pulled me up to my feet. Raw stinging pain shot through my legs from the wound on my knees. It hurts but now isn’t the time to worry about that.

“Are you, ok? You need to be more careful. Is there a way for me to contact your family?” I asked as I turned to the old lady.

Thankfully, she wasn’t hurt at all. She didn’t even fall down like I did. After a short while, a woman came running towards us and introduced herself as the old lady’s daughter. She explained that her mother had Alzheimer’s before apologizing profusely. I watched as the woman escorted her mother off the busy road.

“I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to run in front of your car like that...” I turned to apologize to the man.

“No worries about that. You saved me from hitting the old lady, I guess,” the man replied with a kind smile.

He has a very attractive and genuine smile.

“Well, then...have a nice day,” I said as I began turning away. Time to get off the road and find a pharmacy in the mall to give my wound some first aid attention.

“Wait! Let me take a look,” the man called and ran after me.

I looked down and saw that his hand had reached out and grabbed my wrist. His hand felt warm against my cool skin and somehow, I found that comforting. I held up my hand and stared at his hand around my wrist as if mesmerized by it. What is going on with me all of a sudden? It’s not like I’ve never seen a man’s hand before...

–To be continued...