<b>Chapter </b><b>204 </b>
<b>Natasha </b><b>was </b>‘harboring <b>a </b>secret guest‘ against her will.
:
Her <b>feelings </b>could be summed up in one word: regret–deep, gnawing regret.
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After quarreling with her family, she stormed out alone to clear her head. Passing through an <b>alley</b><b>, </b>she stumbled upon a bleeding man.
Every film and TV drama she had ever seen warned her not to pick up strangers from the street<b>, </b><b>so </b>she immediately turned to flee.
But he <b>was </b>faster. He seized her ankle, pulled out her ID card and student ID, and clung to her with stubborn force.
She had no choice but to get him a room and buy medicine for his wounds.
Once he wiped his <b>face </b>clean, the so–called ‘bad man‘ revealed himself to be a strikingly handsome young man, perhaps only three or four years older than her.
“I’m going home,” she said, masking her surprise with a cold expression.
Though she tried to remain calm, the sixteen–year–old could not hide the faint trace of fear in her beautiful eyes–fear that made her utterly transparent.
Alexei toyed with the student ID in his hand and sneered, “Are you abandoning your task? Are you trying to run away halfway through saving someone?”
She puffed her cheeks indignantly and said, “It’s not like I wanted to save you.”
“But if I go out now and my enemies discover you rescued me, they’ll assume you’re working with me,” he replied coolly.
Natasha froze, staring at him as if to say, “How could you be so ungrateful?”
She demanded, “So what now?”
Alexei smiled faintly, ncing at the student ID on the bed. “Natasha, it seems I’ll have to trouble you to hide me,” he said.
*****
Natasha secretly rented a run–down one–bedroom apartment in the old district.
The space was <b>so </b>cramped that it was hard even to turn around.
Alexei scoffed, “You expect me to live here?<b>” </b>
The still–fuming girl was expressionless <b>as </b><b>she </b>replied, “What did you <b>expect</b>? I’m only <b>sixteen</b>. And very poor.”
<b>yes</b><b>, </b>
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He was under surveince, making his bank cards useless. The rent was paid from Natasha’s private savings.
It pained her deeply.
Alexei studied her with surprise.
He recognized her school uniform–it belonged to an elite institution. A family wealthy enough to send her there should surely own more than one property.
Yet seeing her seriousness, he flicked her forehead lightly, thinking, “Never mind. This ce will do.”
Natasha covered her head, frowned, and muttered back in mocking imitation, “Heh, this ce will do.”
Alexei pinched her soft cheeks and asked, “Natasha, are you badmouthing me?”
She mped her lips shut, widened her eyes innocently, and shook her head.
He raised a brow, saw through her insincerity, but let it slide.
Alexei asked, “How much did you spend? I’ll repay you a hundredfoldter.” He was only enduring temporary hardship; he was hardly short of money.
Natasha’s eyes lit up at once and asked, “Really?
She was like a naive little kitten–easily duped, yet convinced she was clever.
Alexei’s fingers itched to pinch her again, but he restrained himself.
“It’s true,” he replied.
<b>***** </b>
Natasha’s life settled into a simple rhythm: school, the tiny rental, and home.
Alexei, skilled at drawing information out of people, soon learned her family story: blind parents, a cold older brother, a slow–witted younger brother, and a conniving stepsister. She was the least favored, the most pitiful
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After her evening sses, Natasha would slip into the rental first, scavenging for ate–night snack. Watching this, Alexei ground his teeth and said, “Natasha, I’m injured.”
He wondered, ‘Doesn’t she feel guilty ordering me to cook when I am in this state?‘
“Yeah, but you’re spending my money,” she replied as she crouched at a small stool serving as a dining table, happily slurping the pasta.
Alexei, who was sitting on the bed changing his bandages, chuckled in exasperation, “Didn’t I say I’d repay you a hundredfold?”
“Don’t be stingy,” Natalie replied as she poked a finger into the lean muscles of his back.
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Alexei caught her hand and asked, “You’re roaming around sote. Doesn’t your family <b>care </b><b>where </b><b>you </b>are?”
Natasha pouted, “They don’t even know when my sses end.”
No one prepared her midnight snacks at home.
She danced and studied every day, and was always ravenous.
Alexei hesitated, then clenched his jaw. He asked, “Do you want more?<b>” </b>
Her eyes sparkled instantly, and she lifted her bowl. “Just a little more,” she smiled.
With a sigh, Alexei put down the bandage anddled more pasta for her.
“Alexei, why don’t you go to school?” she asked idly, legs swinging as she perched on the bed.
By his age, he should be finishing high school or starting university.
He handed her a te of freshly cooked pasta and kept the rest for himself.
“I’ve already graduated,” he replied.
To prevent anyone from assuming it was just vocational school, he rified, “Ipleted abined bachelor’s and master’s program.”
He ounted for every hour.
He had ambitions to pursue, grudges to settle. He could not waste time–he had to grow fast.
Natasha blinked in surprise and gasped, “I’m impressed.”
Alexei smirked, “What, did you think I was just some street thug?”
Natasha offered no response.
Not entirely, since Alexei’s clothes and bearing did not suggest that. She had only assumed he was mixed up with gangs.
“Your parents must be very proud,” she said.
Alexei’s expression darkened as he rified, “My mother is already dead, and my father will soon die by my hand.”
He fixed his gaze on her face, intent on catching the flicker of fear he expected.
Natasha parted her lips, but after a moment of silence, she slipped out of bed, crouched again by the <i>stool</i>, and said, “Here’s one for you.”
She ced thest sausage from her bowl into his.
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In barely half a month, Natasha had already grown ustomed to taking a detour after school for a meal and to the tall, quiet figure who silently followed her home each night.
Lucas noticed Natasha was harboring her own little secrets and no longer spending much time with him<b>. </b>So, on Friday, he invited her and Sadie out for a meal.
Knowing she had indeed neglected her friendstely, Natasha agreed.
That same evening, Alexei prepared her favorite pasta and seafood dishes. The tiny house was filled with the sharp, pungent aroma, but he endured it and finished cooking.
Yet even as the food cooled, that greedy little cat never appeared.
Frowning, he lingered by the rk family’s door for hours, until Natasha finally returned. She was chatting andughing with a boy.
‘So, it was her childhood friend,’ he thought.
Only after Lucas reluctantly left did Alexei reveal himself.
When Natasha saw him, she lit up in both surprise and delight, pulling him into the shadows. She asked, “You came for me, what’s wrong?”
But Alexei was cold that night.
He brushed her hand aside and said, “Natasha, I’m leaving.”
“Where are you going?” she asked reflexively.
The words slipped out, and only then did she realize that the ‘leaving‘ he spoke of meant going abroad.
He had said before that many people were still waiting for him outside.
The cramped, shabby rental had only ever been a temporary refuge.
As he looked down at her, lips pressed tight, eyes locked on hers, Natasha stood frozen in ce
AD