No Love For The Villain - Chapter 30
Receiving the glass, Sierra recalled the man who had made her drink water. The cold touch on her lips, the water he let flow into her mouth…
Sierra suppressed the rising memory and drank the water. Daniel watched her like a prison guard.
The guard employed by Pastor Miles moved his lips. He looked like he had something to say.
“We’re no different from family. Our family cherishes you.”
Daniel paced around the desk, then opened his mouth again. Sierra’s gaze was fixed on the telephone on the desk.
“I confessed to Father about the disgraceful thing I did to you and asked for forgiveness. Father graciously forgave me. I lacked self-control, and I regret what I did. But, Sierra.”
Daniel strode right up to Sierra. Sierra, unable to tear her eyes from the phone, found her view blocked.
“I love you.”
The confession burst out suddenly.
“Sierra, I love you. That’s why I couldn’t control myself that night. I couldn’t control my feelings of love for you. Do you understand?”
The word ‘love’ was thrown like a stone. It was a word that simply made one flinch like being struck by a harsh stone. It was because I love you. Even as God hung his child on the cross, he spoke of love.
Love mercilessly allowed for wounding and causing pain.
“Marry me, Sierra.”
Daniel cupped Sierra’s cheek. Sierra. Whenever the Pastor and his son called her that, all she had to do was flinch. If told to come, she went; if told to stop, she stopped.
But Sierra’s neck only grew stiff and rigid. Behind her, the faint sound of hymns drifted in. It urged her that this was heaven. To nod her head, to belong to the family.
Daniel lowered his gaze, his eyes landing on her lips. The moment his lips came dangerously close, a voice circled in her ear.
‘Sierra.’
The man’s voice, which had suddenly surfaced, snapped her back to her senses. Sierra pushed Daniel away. The glass she had been holding fell to the floor. Shattered pieces scattered in all directions.
Startled, Daniel stepped back and held out his palm toward Sierra, telling her to stop.
“Don’t move. I’ll clean it up.”
Daniel looked around the pastor’s study frantically, then said with a troubled expression.
“Where would a broom be… I’ll go get it. Don’t touch anything.”
Daniel hurried out of the study with quick steps.
Alone in the pastor’s study, Sierra looked at the telephone. Numbers came to mind. The phone number Eli had written down, the number she had called so many times in her imagination.
She wanted to beg him again to kill her. She wanted to grab hold of him and tell him not to leave like this.
The layers of impulse, the more she suppressed them, grew fiercer. But she only confronted the strongest impulse at the very last moment.
She wanted to hear his voice.
If not now, she would never have another chance to call him. The moment the thought that this was her final opportunity struck, Sierra rushed to the telephone.
She picked up the receiver and dialed. From the quiet beyond, the ringing tone of a connecting call sounded.
Her heart began to beat anxiously. She kept looking back, fearing Daniel would return. The ringing tone just kept going. Just as her anxiety peaked and she was about to hang up…
The ringing stopped.
Sierra felt as if her heart had dropped. Beyond the receiver, there was silence. No words came through. Only the sound of her own pounding heart was distinct.
Then, a low voice came from the other end of the line.
[Speak, Sierra.]
His indifferent voice felt like a hand reaching out from the other side. As if telling her to grab it, to take his hand, and he would get her out of here.
Sierra gripped the receiver tightly with both hands.
I wanted to call you. I kept thinking about you.
The words she wanted to say couldn’t take shape and circled emptily in her mouth. The silence lengthened. Sierra felt he was about to hang up, so she spoke frantically.
“I called because I wanted to hear your voice.”
Her hidden truth spilled out in a small voice. At that moment, a voice from behind seized her by the nape.
“Who are you talking to?”
Daniel had returned and was standing there.
[Where are you right now?]
Eli’s voice was in her ear.
Daniel approached. The hymn sung in unison by the church congregation swelled loudly.
“Did you call that man?”
Daniel roughly grabbed Sierra’s wrist. The dropped receiver fell to the floor.
“Sierra! I’m asking you, is it that man?!”
“……”
Daniel’s expression hardened as if he’d heard an answer in her silence. His angry, hissing breaths brushed against her cheek.
Whenever Daniel got angry, Mrs. Miles worried her fragile son would collapse. Sierra always ran to him to calm him down when the weak-tempered boy stamped his feet.
But now, her heart had grown cold. Daniel, like a child who realized there was no pity in the eyes looking back at him, contorted his face.
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