Filed to story: The Daughter in the Shadows (Yunice) Book by Una Norris
Yunice said, “Wyatt fed me.”
“Whoa!” Joe gave her a smug, knowing grin. “I knew it. Mr. Cooper treats you differently. He’s only ever taken care of a few people.” He personally cared for Madam Mary. Are there others?
Joe answered casually, “His mother too. When she was alive, he looked after her.”
“I see…” Yunice had hoped she could get some kind of clue.
Just then, a noise came from the door of the hospital room. An older woman’s voice called, “Ms. Saunders, are you healing well?”
Yunice could turn her head a little now, and she saw Elianna pushing Mary in. Joe stood up with a smiling face. “Madam Mary, what brings you here today?”
Mary ignored him and let Elianna push her right to Yunice’s bedside. Mary’s eyes moved up and down, examining the bandages wrapped around Yunice. Her originally stern expression eased slightly.
Elianna rolled her eyes and muttered, “You’re really acting hard just to win over Wyatt.”
Joe quickly followed with a laugh. “Ms. Elianna, come on. Accidents don’t choose targets. You wouldn’t dare act this out in a drama. Ms. Saunders’s love for Mr. Cooper is something the universe can witness!”
Yunice pressed her lips together, feeling secondhand embarrassment from Joe’s over-the-top performance. But Mary didn’t make things hard for Yunice. She only stayed a little while, then left.
Joe walked her out. “Madam Mary, since you’re here, why not stay and talk with Ms. Saunders a bit longer?”
Mary turned back and gave him a cold glance. “Don’t think I don’t know what you all are thinking. She shows up, and all of you are secretly thrilled.” Mary’s face was grim, weighed down with concern. Joe didn’t say a word back. Mary lowered her eyes and took a long, deep breath, like she had no choice but to let Elianna push her away.
When Joe returned to the room, Yunice immediately asked, “Why does Madam Mary always have something against me? Does she think I’m not good enough for Wyatt?”
“Well, problems between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have been around forever. Grandmas are no different. Even if you gave Mr. Cooper a goddess, they’d still say she’s not grounded enough.” Joe smiled. “Don’t let it get to you.”
Yunice kept staring at him, and Joe knew she didn’t buy his answer. He added, “Anyone who gets close to Mr. Cooper has a motive. She’s afraid you’ll deceive him. But as long as Mr. Cooper is on your side, Madam Mary won’t say anything.”
Yunice believed him-mostly, but not completely. The person Wyatt moved out from the small villa still weighed on Yunice’s mind. She was afraid this might all be part of a carefully planned trap.
Yunice lay in bed a while longer. No one came to bother her. The days passed in rare peace. Gill sent her a video of Gill’s Deli & Bites. The business looked decent. Freya came to visit, but the bodyguards Wyatt posted outside turned her away. Yunice only found out after she’d left. The Saunders family stayed oddly quiet. Not one of them checked in on her.
At that moment, Yunice still didn’t know the Saunders family had assumed she was dead. As soon as she could barely walk, she grabbed a crutch and hobbled off to find Jordan. Wyatt had told her she could ask Jordan for anything she wanted.
“Mr. Jordan, I’d like some high-end gifts,” she said.
Jordan, sharp as always, didn’t ask who the gifts were for. He only asked what kind she wanted.
Yunice said, “Practical ones.”
Jordan took her to Wyatt’s private collection room. He waited at the door, letting Yunice take whatever she wanted without hesitation. Yunice looked around casually and noticed many of the brands were ones she’d never seen before-most of them rare collectibles or custom-made items. She picked up a fountain pen but put it back. In the end, she chose a bottle of good liquor and a box of premium tea.
As she was leaving, she slipped a pack of cigarettes from a drawer into her bag. Jordan heard the sound and turned around. “That’s all you’re taking? Wyatt doesn’t save him money.”
Yunice replied, “If I need more next time, I’ll ask.”
Next time? Jordan gave a suggestive smile and walked her back to her hospital room. On the way, he asked Yunice why she didn’t just ask Wyatt for a card. A few million was nothing to Wyatt; he would’ve handed it over without blinking.
Yunice hugged the liquor and tea, then asked in return, “Can money buy things like this?”
Jordan paused. Of course, it couldn’t. Many of those items were banned from sale. It wasn’t about money anymore-they were tied to the flow of power. It suddenly made sense to Jordan. What Yunice truly wanted was power.
After Wyatt finished work, he made a sudden trip to the hospital, only to find an empty room. Yunice was gone. His face darkened. With a heavy thud, he dropped into a seat. “Just barely recovered and already running around! Go find her!”
Jordan turned to leave, but something made him stop. “Wyan, Ms. Saunders went to the collection room today. She said… she’ll come again next time.”
Wyan gave a brief grunt, not taking it seriously. Then, realizing Jordan hadn’t moved, he lifted his eyes and finally understood what Jordan was hinting at.
“Next time?” A faint smile tugged at Wyatt’s lips as he leaned back lazily in his chair. Next time… Does that mean Yunice has subconsciously accepted a future with me?
Jordan went off to look for Yunice. Meanwhile, Yunice had returned to the psychiatric hospital. She entered through the side door as usual and went straight to the storage room to meet Kingsley.
Kingsley’s eyelids lowered slightly over his pupils. He stared at Yunice for a long time, as if he wanted to speak but held back. Yunice sat across from him, dressed in loose clothes that hid the injuries beneath.
Kingsley lit a cigarette and asked, “How’d you get hurt?”
Yunice opened the tea cake, broke off a bit on the table’s edge, and rinsed it in a teacup. “Got into a car accident.”
Seeing how calm she looked, Kingsley frowned and said sarcastically, “Did they give you the tea, liquor, and cigarettes as compensation too?”
“I haven’t even had time to go after the guy who hit me,” Yunice said. If someone owed money, they had to pay it back. If someone was killed, they had to pay their life. She wasn’t going to be hit for free, especially since so many days had passed and Owen hadn’t even shown his face. This was a hit-and-run.
Kingsley accepted the cup of tea she handed over. “You’re giving me such good tea?”
Yunice said, “Even the best things are meant to be used, not locked away for show.”
“I taught you skills so you could protect yourself, not to worship some man and throw yourself under the bus for him.”
Yunice almost burned her hand. She looked up sharply. “Kingsley, don’t tell me you’ve been to Rainier Arc Street?”
Kingsley frowned. “How could I leave the psychiatric hospital? One of my guys saw it and came back to tell me.”
Yunice frowned slightly. “I never meant to throw myself under the bus for anyone. I have to stay alive. Someone has to see Madam Melina off. If I die, who will do that for her?”
Kingsley said, “It wasn’t your fault. That guy jumped out of the car himself and dragged you into it.”
Yunice stared at Kingsley in surprise. She had always known he was mysterious, with more capable people under his command than she could count. He never left the psychiatric hospital, but he was never out of the loop. But Rainier Arc Street had been under tight information control. The news only said it was a multi-car crash caused by heavy rain. Yet Kingsley knew the details of the entire incident, as if he’d been there himself.
At that moment, Kingsley finally took a sip of the tea she’d poured, tasted it, and nodded in satisfaction. “Good stuff. I want more next time.”
Yunice was just about to ask how he knew what had happened at Rainier Arc Street. But Kingsley spoke before she could. “You’re getting married soon, aren’t you?”
-Control
Less than a week remained.
Kingsley said, “Wait for it. When you get married, I’ll give you a big gift.”
Yunice laughed. “Alright, Mr. Kingsley.”
Kingsley shook his head indulgently, then poured himself another cup of tea. Seeing Kingsley was tired, Yunice quietly left the psychiatric hospital.
When she returned, it was still early, but as soon as she appeared on the hospital grounds, her phone buzzed. Yunice opened her phone to see a red dot bouncing on the map. Following the directions, Yunice saw Wyatt’s car in the parking lot. Wyatt is here at the hospital?
In the hospital room, Wyatt was looking at the SATs paper Yunice had left on the bed. He furrowed his brow, clearly struggling to understand it. Holding a pen, he tried to write answers but couldn’t make sense of it. After drawing two large black circles, he still hadn’t figured it out, frustrated enough to want to tear the paper apart. Then he remembered it was Yunice’s paper, so he patiently tried to flatten it out again.
At that moment, he caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye. Raising his eyebrows, he turned to see Yunice standing at the door. Yunice was holding a thick stack of books, all full of papers he couldn’t even begin to understand. He grabbed his cane and walked over to Yunice, his eyes briefly scanning the books before returning to her face. “Where did you go?”
Yunice replied, “There’s a study room downstairs in the cafe. I went to study.” After saying that, she walked past Wyatt, entered the room, and reached for the paper with the two black circles on it. “When did you arrive?”
Wyatt wouldn’t admit he had been waiting for two hours. His brow twitched, and he said, “I just got here.”
This action left Wyatt momentarily stunned, but soon a small spark of pride flashed in his eyes. Yunice had a mild form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her papers were always neat and tidy; even her calculations were always written uniformly, the same size and alignment. Wyatt’s two black circles had truly bothered her, but she didn’t throw the paper away.
When Wyatt saw Yunice tidying the desk, he approached and tugged at her sleeve. In the car accident, Yunice’s car had rolled over several times, but because of that, the car wasn’t seriously damaged, which protected her from injury. However, when she was thrown out of the car window, she had sustained multiple soft tissue bruises and abrasions. After several days of recovery, the scabs on the wounds had all fallen off.
Wyatt said, “Luckily, no scars remain.” Seeing that he wouldn’t let go of her sleeve, Yunice couldn’t help but turn her head to meet his gaze. She found Wyatt staring at her intently. His eyes were like a calm sea on a sunny day, peaceful on the surface but with currents stirring beneath. His gaze was deep and focused.
Yunice instinctively felt danger, but Wyatt moved first, pressing against her waist and blocking her retreat. Her heart pounded. She could feel Wyatt’s proximity, his breath brushing against her neck, almost tangible, sending a tingling sensation straight to her sensitive spots. Wyatt clearly wanted to do something but held back. After a moment of tension, Wyatt muttered hoarsely, “Let me hold you.”
It was more of a statement, and before Yunice could respond, he pulled her into his embrace. Yunice could feel his intense, suppressed desire! Recalling many past instances, Yunice finally came to a passive conclusion.