What Separates Me and You
Chapter 26

Chapter 26 Am I Filthy?

Josephine slowly reached out to scoop a handful of ash off the ground. It was promptly blown away by a gust of wind. She looked up at Lewis helplessly.

But all he did was gaze back at her condescendingly, as though all he had destroyed were some worthless garbage, and that in his eyes, Josephine was no different from the garbage he had just dealt with. Her friends, even herself, and all she held dear meant nothing to him.

She picked herself off the ground and signaled. "Why? Why do you treat me like this?" Lewis took a step forward and reached out to wipe her tears away, saying softly as he did, "These things should not have appeared here in the first place. I've told you to stay away from Avery. Why don't you listen?"

She even had the audacity to bite him for these pieces of trash!

"Am I not even allowed to have friends?" Josephine signed.

"You have me, and that should be enough. Why do you need friends?" His tone was gentle, but to Josephine, those words scared her to no end.

She stared into his eyes, which carried no warmth in them. They felt colder than the bone-chilling wind around them.

She unconsciously took a step back. "All this while, you were all I had. Ever since I was a child, you were the only one I had, but because you had tons of people around you, you never once looked in my direction..." Josephine signaled.

"What am I to you? A cat? A dog, perhaps?" she thought to herself.

Lewis simply stared quietly at her.

As she signed with her stiff fingers, tears fell from her eyes. "I'm human too. I'm not a cat or a dog. I am a human with a heart. I get upset and sad at times, but never once have you cared. I don't want to be like a dog, waiting at home for you to return every day; wagging my tail with joy every time you give me a pat on the head."

Her movements were slow, pausing after each word, venting the silent screams her shattered heart could never vocalize. She could not speak, and her movements were silent, so nobody could tell that with every motion she gestured with her hands, her heart was bleeding.

Even Lewis wasn't aware of it, and he likely never would be.

Just like puppies that couldn't speak, no one ever knew how sad they felt. They were

the only ones that knew how they felt, and all they could do was curl up in a corner, licking their own wounds.

As she stood there in the cold, harsh wind signing to him, his aloof expression made her feel like a clown amusing the audience. Her movements gradually halted, and she let her arms drop to her sides weakly A bitter smile tugged on her lips. She was in despair.

Lewis reached out for her hand, but she hid them behind her, avoiding his touch.

His eyes darkened and he forcefully grabbed her arm, pulling her into his embrace, muttering softly, "You're neither a puppy nor a kitten. You're my family, and family is irreplaceable. You were back then, and you still are now. You're mine, kiddo."

Josephine's fist tightened. She didn't want to be his family. What she desired...was the kind of love he had for Sierra. As she stared at Lewis, the scraps of paper were lifted off the ground and floated around between them.

Just as the dying flames struggled among the ashes, so did the light in Josephine's eyes. Eventually, they both went out.

"I'm a grown-up now," she signed. She was trying to tell him that she was no longer the child she used to be. She was already 24!

However, he still looked at her as he always did. He told her that he liked her, but his liking for her was not deep.

She was like a beggar-begging for the tiniest scrap of his love, and even then, he would not so much as spare her a glance. But at the same time, he would tell her that this door would always be open and that she could only beg at his door, forbidden from ever crawling to somebody else.

His fingertips traced the corners of her eyes, wiping away her tears. "Now that you're a grown-up, that's all the more reason you shouldn't be a crybaby anymore."

Josephine cast her gaze downward. Did he really not understand what she was implying? No. He was just being selfish.

She turned around, ran into the mansion, and hid in her room.

Lewis waited outside in the yard until every last piece of trash was burned up before he went inside as well

Josephine crouched down and hugged herself tightly as she stared-blankly out of the window. She watched as the sky gradually darkened, plunging the world into darkness. A while later, Lewis pushed the door open and made his way over to her in the

corner. He crouched down in front of her. "Hungry yet?"

Josephine turned her head away, refusing to meet his gaze. He was quiet for a moment before reaching out to ruffle her hair. "Your birthday's just around the

corner, shall we celebrate it together?"

Startled, she instinctively looked up at him. She did not know which day her birthday. was, so Old Mr. Alvarez had declared the day she came to the Alvarez household was her birthday. She hadn't realized that she had been with the Alvarez family for

twenty years.

When he saw that she wasn't responding to his suggestion, Lewis held her hand and pulled her up. "Let's go for a meal and then shop for some new clothes."

Josephine hung her head low. He always had his ways of patching her heart up after crushing it into pieces, and no matter how cheap his love for her was, she could

never seem to refuse it. Because...he was all she had.

She trailed after him to the garage, but stopped beside the car, simply staring at the passenger seat, refusing to get in.

The image of Sierra spritzing the seat with disinfectant appeared in her mind.

"What is it?" Lewis asked.

She looked up at him. "Am I really filthy?" Josephine signed.

Looking up into her clear eyes, he saw the helplessness and hurt in them.

A short while later, he retracted his gaze and tugged on her hand, leading her to another car. "Let's use a different car."

See, he knew. He knew everything. He knew how Sierra's actions would hurt her, and yet he didn't stop her.

He let Sierra hurt her as she pleased. No matter what, Josephine was never his first priority.

She got into the passenger seat of his Porsche, which was now lightly covered in dust as Lewis rarely ever used it.

Naturally, the meal wasn't as cozy as Josephine would like it to be.

Lewis was preoccupied with his phone, replying to messages from others. Josephine sat across the table from him, as though she was having a meal on her

own.

After they were done with their meal, he brought her shopping and bought her a lot. of clothes. The entire trunk was packed with clothes. There were dresses as well as

clothes for casual wear.

Their wardrobe in the mansion was full of clothes. However, only a few pieces belonged to him. His clothes stuck out like a sore thumb in the wardrobe, obviously not belonging there. It was as though he did not belong there either.

It was already 10 pm by the time they got home. He headed for the study whereas Josephine tossed around in bed, unable to get any sleep.

Avery had sent her a lot of text messages, asking if she had received the paintings. Josephine dared not tell her that Lewis had burned them all up before she'd even had the chance to look at them. Avery told her that the world did not revolve around Lewis and that there were still many other beautiful things and people around. She also said that Josephine should learn to love herself more so that she would be able to love her baby too.

She urged her to look at the paintings she sent her of vast oceans and scenic landscapes, which would make her feel much better.

As Josephine read her text messages, her words seemed to string together into al rope, tightening around her heart and constricting it.

How disappointed in her would Avery be if she found out that the paintings have

been burned?

Josephine clutched her phone tightly, closing her eyes in despair. She dared not reply to those messages. Perhaps someone like her did not deserve friends.