The next day, the news no longer appeared in the newspapers or on the internet. Sidney searched the headline on her phone, and the remaining articles were sparse. She guessed that Jayson must have handled it somehow, as there was no way the online news could be completely wiped out otherwise. She began to feel that Jayson was a man with depths she couldn't fathom. However, now that her name was no longer the focus of discussion, she felt a sense of relief.
In the evening, Jayson came back, but he didn't face Sidney. Instead, he went straight to the study. Sidney guessed that he was working, so she quietly stayed in her room organizing the books she had brought with her. Even though it had been a while since graduation, she still continued to review her field of study, hoping for an opportunity to showcase her talents. She didn't fall asleep until late at night. Once she finally drifted off, she had another dream. She dreamt of Shelby falling from the high railing of the second floor, crashing to the floor, her body paralyzed. The fear and hatred in Shelby's eyes made Sidney immediately wake up. When she opened her eyes, she saw Jayson standing right in front of her.
Jayson stood at the bedside, arms crossed, looking at her coldly. She felt a little awkward, not knowing what had happened. She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, only to realize that her entire body was soaked in sweat. In a house with air conditioning, her body was drenched as though she had been caught in the rain. Sidney also noticed that something was off. Jayson, with his hands in the pockets of his casual wear, tilted his head and said, "You screamed really loudly just now. I thought something happened."
Sidney had no idea that she had screamed. She instinctively felt that she must have cried out in her sleep during the dream.
"...What... did I scream?"
"It was you who killed my mother. You're the murderer."
"Oh! Hmm... I was reading a horror novel before sleep, I must've had a nightmare."
"Stop reading those kinds of books."
"I got it from your bookshelf."
"Those aren't my books. I don't read that kind of stuff."
"Whose books are they? Some of them don't even look like yours."
"It doesn't matter," Jayson ignored her and turned to leave the room.
Since Sidney couldn't sleep after waking up, she got out of bed and followed him, asking, "What are you doing up so late?"
Jayson entered the study and said before closing the door, "None of your business."
Sidney slowly turned back to her room. She took a shower, changed out of her soaked clothes, and returned to bed. It was already five in the morning. After lying in bed for another half hour, she suddenly felt hungry and went downstairs to see what food was in the fridge.
She found a bag of potatoes, carrots, and cucumbers, and remembered the salad dressing recipe she had seen the other day, so she decided to give it a try. First, she steamed the potatoes and briefly blanched the carrots and cucumbers, recalling that the book had mentioned adding a little oil when blanching the carrots...
Next, she added a bit of fruit vinegar with some sugar and mixed it in, tasting as she went. Then she rummaged through the fridge, found a grapefruit, squeezed some juice into the mixture, and finally added a few drops of olive oil. Once the ingredients were chopped and placed in a glass bowl, she poured the dressing over it and tasted it— it actually tasted pretty good.
When Jayson came downstairs, he had already showered and changed. He had come down early today, and since Sidney hadn't seen the butler come out to prepare, she politely asked, "Are you eating?"
Jayson glanced at her salad bowl without responding and went into the kitchen, not saying what he was doing. Later, he came out with a cup of warm milk and cereal, eating his breakfast gracefully. When the butler came out, he was startled to see the two of them and quickly apologized.
Jayson was quite magnanimous with the butler, saying that he had woken up too early today, and it wasn't the butler's fault, so there was no need to worry. After finishing breakfast, he left, but not before telling Sidney, "Next time, try honey in your dressing—it's better than using sugar."
It was so abrupt that Sidney didn't know what he meant at first. Later, she remembered what Jayson had meant and went upstairs to flip through the recipe book. That's when she saw that it really did say honey, not sugar.
