Private Marriage, Secret Love-Chapter 36: Major Misfortune

"What are you doing?" Raina lowered her voice. "It’s late. Go back to your room and sleep."

"I’m freezing to death," Ethan Lancaster said, reaching out to pull her into his arms. "Warm me up."

Her grandmother’s room was right across the hall, so Raina didn’t dare to speak loudly. "How about I get you a hot water bottle?"

"What’s that? I’ve never used one of those things in my life." Ethan Lancaster held Raina in front of him. He was genuinely cold; he suspected the place was an icebox. He shoved his nearly frozen fingers down her collar, and Raina hunched her shoulders to stop him. "Cold, cold, cold!"

"See? You know it’s cold."

Ethan Lancaster let her go and quickly walked over to Raina’s bed. He threw back the covers and climbed in. "It’s so warm in here."

"Just go back to your room and sleep."

"No, I want to sleep with you."

Seeing that he was shamelessly refusing to leave and she couldn’t drag him out, Raina grabbed her coat and headed for the door. "Fine, I’ll switch rooms with you. That should work, right?"

Her grandmother heard the commotion and got up, asking through the closed door, "Raina, what’s wrong?"

"Oh, it’s nothing! I stepped on Blackie on my way to the bathroom and shooed him downstairs."

"Is it cold in your room?"

Raina walked back to the bed. Seizing the opportunity, Ethan Lancaster grabbed her hand and yanked her under the covers. Before she could even get settled, he had her wrapped up tightly in the blanket.

"It’s not cold," Raina said, then pointed to the lamp on the headboard, signaling for Ethan Lancaster to turn it off. "Grandma, I’m going to sleep now!"

Ethan Lancaster reached up and flicked the switch, plunging the bedroom into darkness. Raina crossed her arms over her chest. Once she heard her grandmother seemingly return to her room, she whispered, "You should go back now."

"Why? What’s wrong with just sleeping together?"

"If Grandma finds out, she’ll kill you."

Ethan Lancaster’s hand snaked under her clothes toward her waist again. "Being lectured to death is better than freezing to death. Ooh, you’re so warm. Like a furnace."

With that, he pressed his body against hers. Raina frantically pushed him away. "We’re at my grandma’s house! Don’t you dare try anything."

"I’m not going to try anything. I’m just cold. Just borrowing some of your warmth."

Ethan Lancaster started pushing up her shirt, but Raina refused to let him. They nearly started a fight on the bed, but its quality was questionable, and it began to rock with a suggestive CREAK. Raina didn’t dare to move anymore. "Could you be a little gentler?"

"I’m not doing anything." It wasn’t as if Ethan Lancaster couldn’t control himself for a night or two. "Relax. I don’t want to have to take a shower in this cold either. I treasure this thing more than you do; I’d hate for it to get frostbite."

Despite his words, he refused to let Raina go, wrapping his arms and legs around her like a human octopus. As a result, she barely slept all night.

Raina was up early the next morning. Ethan Lancaster was still sound asleep, buried under the covers. After helping her grandmother wash rice and cook porridge, Raina saw her leading two sheep out the door.

"Grandma, where are you going?"

"To tie the sheep up in the bamboo forest."

The sky hadn’t fully brightened, but the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking already filled the village air. Raina took the ropes with a helpless sigh. "Why are you still raising these two sheep? Isn’t it tiring enough for you?"

"We’ll slaughter them for the New Year. Home-raised lamb isn’t the same as what you buy in the supermarket. Your father... he loved eating lamb ever since he was a boy."

Raina said nothing more. ’Grandma always talked tough, but she had a heart of gold.’

"Let me take them." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The bamboo forest was a short walk behind the house. That land, as it happened, still belonged to the Hawthorne family. Their old house used to be right in the middle of the grove—a gloomy place that rarely saw any sun. Later, Miles Hawthorne’s father got a new plot of land approved by the village and built their new home elsewhere.

The small house had never been torn down and was now completely dilapidated. Raina tied the two sheep to a small tree in front of it.

The door swung open with a CREAK, scaring Raina so badly she nearly jumped out of her skin. She stumbled back two steps, only to see Miles Hawthorne standing inside.

’What the hell?’ Raina almost cursed out loud. Just then, the sound of voices drifted over from nearby. Miles Hawthorne strode forward, grabbed Raina’s wrist, and pulled her inside the house.

A musty stench filled her nostrils. Outside, two women from the village walked past, chatting. Raina covered her nose and stared at Miles Hawthorne. "You didn’t spend the night here, did you?"

"I did." The man peered outside through a crack in the door.

Raina was completely baffled. "Why did you come back? And why would you spend the night *here*?"

"No reason. Just came back to take a look."

"Your family doesn’t have a house here anymore. What was so important that you had to stay in this old ruin last night?" If she remembered correctly, there wasn’t even a bed left inside.

"Raina—" Ethan Lancaster’s voice called out from the edge of the bamboo forest. Raina immediately tried to leave, but Miles Hawthorne grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing?"

Miles Hawthorne braced his other hand against the door. "He already caught us once yesterday. Have you figured out how you’re going to explain this?"

"There’s still time if I go out now. You just stay hidden in here. Hide properly and don’t move."

The look on Miles Hawthorne’s face changed, twisting as if he’d just been slapped.

Ethan Lancaster walked into the bamboo grove. A gloomy wind whipped at his face, making it feel like he’d stepped into a horror movie. He scanned his surroundings, his eyes finally settling on the two sheep.

"Raina?"

Raina tried to shake off Miles Hawthorne’s hand to open the door, but the man lowered his voice. "Going out now will only make things harder to explain."

’He’d lost his mind for a moment, overcome by the resentment buried deep in his heart. He knew Raina was avoiding him. The girl who once loved to cling to him now avoided him like the plague.’

Ethan Lancaster took a few more steps, his gaze falling on the dilapidated door. It had several large cracks... ’If I press my face against one, I could see inside clearly...’

He started to step forward, but a rustling sound caught his ear. He looked toward the noise and saw a brightly colored snake staring intently at him.

Ethan Lancaster didn’t recognize it as a red-banded snake. All he felt was a stampede of ’what-the-fucks’ thundering through his mind. ’What is with my luck? Last night I step on a dog, today I run into a snake.’ He was truly repulsed by the creature; goosebumps instantly erupted all over his skin.

’Wait a minute... According to what I’ve read, snakes should be hibernating in this cold weather.’

’Could it be a toy snake?’

Ethan Lancaster cautiously took two steps forward. The snake twitched, then slithered toward him.

"Holy shit!" For the first time in his life, Ethan Lancaster completely forgot his image and just ran. ’What kind of godforsaken place is this? It’s freezing cold, and even the dogs and snakes are hostile!’

"Raina!"

He blurted out Raina’s name. After running a few steps, the great Mr. Lancaster shouted a threat over his shoulder, "You follow me and I’ll beat you to death and cook you into a soup tonight!"

In his panic, Ethan Lancaster wasn’t watching where he was going and strayed from the path he’d taken. The bamboo forest was thick with undergrowth. He sprinted forward, but suddenly his feet found nothing but air. His body plunged downward, and from inside the shack, Raina heard a heavy THUD.

When she looked out again, Ethan Lancaster was nowhere in sight.