Chapter 24 - -24 : Blue candy
The four days Leyla spent alone were daunting and somewhat bizarre.
Listening to uncle Bill's word of advice, which she initially ditched as a joke, Leyla locked the window and put the hunting gun hanging in her uncle's room next to her bed.
Even after getting ready for her slumber, Leyla stayed awake and had trouble sleeping. She jolted by the owls hooting and suffered from the suddenly-flashing nightmares. The duke's countenance often dawned between dreams of her being beaten or thrown away. The memory of their kiss littered along tirelessly, and deepened in her dreams like a glutinous swamp.
The first blush of the morning rose and each passing day seemed so long and eternally lasting. Leyla occupied herself and kept moving without taking a single break.
She took care of the livestock, tended to the lawn, and swept and polished everywhere in the already spotless cottage. She washed all the curtains and bedding and even organized the warehouse. Reading a book or studying was the only chore she gave something a miss: as her eyes, strangely, couldn't draw a bead on the book's prose.
Leyla had spent the whole day alone, pacing until the nightfall brought upon her another nightmare.
On the morning of the fourth day, she went out to take care of the backyard, tightly knotting the apron's string behind her.
Everything was so mind-numbing.
Bill Remmer regularly spent most of his day at work. Apart from helping him with his job, Leyla went through her everyday chores and studies.
Living together didn't mean that everything could be done together. They just sat at the same table, returned to the same warm house in the evening, shared stories from their days, and so on...
"This is the first time."