She Took The House The Car And My Heart

Chapter 774:

“Just doing my job,” Gerard replied with his well-worn grin. He then added, as Kristian had instructed, “By the way, Ms. Briggs, my boss hasn’t eaten anything since noon. Said he didn’t have an appetite.”

“He skipped two meals?” Freya’s brow creased with concern.

“He picked at lunch, barely touched anything,” Gerard silently begged for forgiveness with his eyes but stuck to the script. “I made all his favorite dishes for dinner, but he didn’t take a single bite.”

“Freya…” Kristian tugged gently at her sleeve, his expression woeful. Gerard nearly laughed. Kristian’s performance was nothing short of theatrical.

The way he could flip between childish innocence and mature calculation—honestly, it was uncanny. “Why didn’t you eat?” Freya asked evenly.

“You weren’t here. I didn’t feel like eating,” Kristian dropped his gaze, his voice soft and muffled.

“What do you want to eat?” Freya asked, unwilling to let him go to bed hungry. “I’ll take you out for supper.”

“Anything’s fine,” Kristian murmured. All he really wanted was to stay close to Freya. Nothing else meant a thing.

“Let’s go home first,” Ellis said, stepping out of the car and casting a glance at Kristian. “I’ll cook for him.”

Freya opened her mouth to protest—it was her responsibility to care for Kristian, and she didn’t want to trouble Ellis. But Ellis didn’t give her the chance. He gently nudged both her and Kristian into the car.

And with that, the three of them left.

Kristian sat alone in the back seat, his eyes fixed on the pair in front. A shadow flickered through his gaze. At a sharp bend in the road, he shifted on purpose, trying to reach for Freya. But the sudden tilt of the car flung him sideways into the door. “Ouch!” he cried, his voice high with pain.

Freya turned to check on him. “What happened?”

“I slipped,” Kristian said plaintively, rubbing his head and arm. “It hurts…”

𝗢𝗻𝗅𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝗀𝖺𝗅𝖓𝗈𝗏𝗲𝗅𝗌⍿ⅽ𝗈𝗆

Freya tried to reassure him. “I’ll check it when we get home. Just hang in there, we’re almost there.”

“Freya…”

“What is it?”

“Can you ask him to drive slower?” Kristian really knew how to play the part. “I’m scared.”

Ellis glanced at him through the rearview mirror, his eyes darkening. Freya kept her voice level. “The car isn’t going very fast. Just sit still, and you’ll be fine.”

“I see.” Kristian lowered his head, looking properly chastised. He looked for all the world like a scolded child who had no idea what he’d done wrong.

Freya wanted to comfort him but didn’t know how. Ellis really wasn’t driving fast.

“If you’re scared, put your seatbelt on and stay still,” Ellis said suddenly, his tone clipped, nothing like the one he used with Freya. “Even at the slowest speed, you’ll fall if you keep moving around.” Freya hesitated. Was Ellis upset?

“Sorry,” Kristian mumbled, sounding genuinely downcast.

“If you’re sorry, then buckle up,” Ellis replied curtly. “Don’t expect someone to sit beside you and hold your hand. You’ve got the mind of a five-year-old, not the body.”

“Captain…” Freya murmured, caught off guard by the sharpness in his tone.

Ellis’s mood was unmistakably off. In all the years she’d known him, she’d never seen him like this.

.

.

.noveldrama