Page 46 of Unbreak Me

And everything came rushing back! What happened last night… the vomiting, Jan helping me in more ways than one. The "o" thing. Yep. My cheeks heated up. Good Lord, what had I done? I got drunk and let foolishness take over.

But maybe it wasn’t all bad? Everything had turned out fine in the end. I remembered how he cared for me afterward—wiping me down, carrying me, changing the sheets so carefully. It was sweet. Charming, even.

I headed to the bathroom for a quick shower and to empty my bladder, wondering how things would go between us now. Would there be awkwardness in the air?

It was already about 9 am. Jan usually left for the nursery around this time, and I was curious if I’d still catch him.

Walking slowly downstairs, I realized I’d forgotten to tie my hair. It hung loosely over my shoulders and back. For a moment, I debated returning to my room to fix it but decided against it.

I entered the kitchen and found Jan bustling around the table. He turned when he heard my footsteps, and his handsome face lit up with a warm, sunny smile. This guy was seriously hot.

"Oh, Day! You’re just in time—I finished preparing breakfast!"

He set a series of plates on the table, catching my eye. There were blueberry and strawberry pancakes, toast, salad, and perfectly crispy bacon. My mouth immediately watered.

I glanced up at him and noticed he was looking at me with his head slightly tilted. He smiled again—his typical, shy, gentle smile.

"You look really nice with your hair down. So mysterious, like a woodland nymph."

Once again, I felt a blush creeping up my cheeks. I didn’t know how to respond, so I just sat down slowly and said, "Thank you for breakfast—it looks delicious."

The colorful plates filled with mouthwatering food focused my attention. God, I could get addicted to someone taking care of things, treating me like a prince. It was thawing the icy walls around my heart. I wanted to be the center of someone’s world. Screw independence—I wanted to belong.

Not just to anyone. To Jan.

Our eyes met, and for a moment, he held my gaze with his consistently warm, gentle look.

Then Jan sat across from me and served himself some pancakes. I didn’t bring up last night, and I got the feeling he wasn’t going to either. He was leaving it up to me—whether I wanted to talk about it or not. That space he gave me made me feel more at ease.

"This is really yummy," I mumbled, swallowing another bite. And it truly was. I kept eating and eating until the plates were clean, and Jan watched with a wide smile.

"I’m glad you liked it. I should make breakfast like this for you more often."

I wanted to tell him that I had behaved terribly and didn’t deserve his patience and kindness, but all I managed was a simple, "Thank you."

Jan stood up and said, "I’m heading to the raspberry patch now. I need to prune last year’s shoots."

I had half a mind to say I’d like to join him, but something held me back.

He left the kitchen, heading out to the terrace and down the path toward the raspberry field. As he walked, he took out his phone and slowed down to talk to someone.

For some reason, his body language intrigued me—there was a rare, agitated energy about him. I left the house, staying close to the wall, and made my way toward a small grove near the path.

Since he stopped suddenly, I managed to catch snippets of his conversation.

"That's really great news, Uncle! I can't believe we're so lucky that this one disk actually survived. The City Hall is indeed a solid establishment. I need to…" Jan paused and listened for a moment.

"Really? That's fantastic. Give me access to that folder, and I'll go through all the recordings from that day tonight. Where exactly these cameras were? Just in the main corridors, or also in the side ones? That's most important to me…"

Again, a moment of silence, and Jan said excitedly, "Even better, damn it, that's perfect. Tonight I’ll try to go through all of them. I assume Day was in the City Hall during the morning hours, so that definitely narrows down the time window when it could have happened…"

What?!

Fuck! A strange, icy wave washed over me as I realized what Jan was talking about. Unbelievable. He was asking for the recordings… from City Hall, the horrifying day I was there! It could only mean one thing: Jan was actively looking for evidence, for camera footage of the assault.

I staggered and had to grab onto a branch to keep from falling in shock. Why was he doing this? What did he hope to achieve? That madman Ferguson had threatened to kill me, and Jan wanted to take that risk?

A wave of anger flooded over me. At first, I wanted to run to him, demand answers, curse, and cry… but just beneath those tumultuous feelings, something else emerged. Holding back my rising emotions, I realized one obvious thing: Jan cared.

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