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7. Heart

"Not necessarily," he began. "I have everything I want. The only thing you could do for me is distract my father and so far you have been doing this perfectly on your own."

I was somehow surprised by how straightforward Stephen was with me. Stephen did say terrible true things time after time, but deep down he had a heart. He just decorated it with luxury so that I did not get to see it.

It was definitely the first time I had the firm belief that these nine months would be okay. I would survive them.

"Anyway. Think about it. I have to go back to sleep. I have football training tomorrow," he announced and left me standing there. I was really unsure of what to do until it dawned me that I had to go to sleep as well.

The house was still quite bizarre to me because of its size, but I slowly got used to it. For instance, I knew where I was and stopped getting lost all the time.

I was about to open the door to my room when I heard Mr. James say, "Stella? What are you doing up so late?"

His deep voice almost scared me to death. What was he doing in front of my room specifically?

"I had trouble sleeping so I took a little walk, Mr. James," I told him. I did not want to upset him in the middle of the night so I left my deal with Stephen out.

"If that is the case ever again, you should come to me," he offered. I felt so honoured. Mr. James was so nice to me. In the back of my head I knew why, but I did not stop liking him because he wanted a baby out of me.

I was not used to good behaviour from fellow human beings. The only person who was nice to me on the other side of the fence was my mother. Everybody else struggled to survive and was not very welcoming with strangers.

Speaking of my mother... Sadness came over me by the thought of how I left her.

"What is it, Stella?" Mr. James asked me. He had moved closer to me and watched me.

"I just thought of my mother," I told him. "I miss her. I wonder what she is going through."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mr. James was so forthcoming. We entered my room and sat down on 'my' bed. He asked me a lot of questions about my family and life on the other side of the fence.

Sometime later we fell asleep. It was funny, it felt like Mr. James was actually interested in me as a friend. My mother had warned me though. She said after the nine months they would forget about me and act like I did not exist.

When I opened my eyes the next day, I had forgotten about who was next to me on the bed and just went about my usual routine without noticing him.

I returned from the bathroom and found him awake. Suddenly, I felt guilty. "I am so sorry, Mr. James. I did not mean..."

He interrupted me, "Manners are welcome in this house, but you really should apologise less. I am here by my choice after all, Stella."

There was something in his words that I could not define. It was not anything negative. Mr. James was always as friendly as he could be under the circumstances.

But there was more than friendliness in his approach towards me.