My heart sank. It was like someone had dropped a weight on my chest, but I forced a smile.
“Don’t worry,” she quickly added. “There are so many places looking for someone like you. We just have to find them.”
I nodded. I’d stopped sending out applications months ago. The rejections had drained me, and I’d quit before it could eat me alive. But now that I knew it was Theon pulling the strings, maybe things would be different. Maybe I had a chance. Now that he wasn’t trying to ruin everything.
“Have you figured out who’s behind it? Shouldn’t you report this? Whoever it is should be jailed.”
I chuckled nervously. No way was I letting Theon go to jail. “I’ll handle it,” I promised, hoping that would satisfy her until it was out of her mind.
“Okay. I gotta head out. I wish you were here with me. I wish all three of you were here.” She pouted.
I smiled, “Soon,” and waved goodbye. “Enjoy your night!”
As soon as the call ended, my hands dropped to my sides, Katy’s news weighing heavily on my mind. I didn’t have high hopes for it, but hearing it saddened me still. The brief joy from our conversation was quickly overshadowed by the frustration,so I took a deep breath, forcing myself to let it go, trying to shake off the sad mood. Things would get better. They had to.
“Your place is stoked, Ainz! I should’ve known you were hiding something when you didn’t put up your decorations early!” Cal’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts as he zoomed past on his bicycle, waving.
I turned, confused. “My place is stoked?” What on earth was he talking about?
I continued walking, only to have my neighbour, five blocks down, smile warmly as she passed. “You light up our neighbourhood! Happy Halloween!”
I blinked, completely bewildered. Light up the neighbourhood? Had they mistaken me for someone else? Was it too dark to recognise me?
Curiosity began to claw at me as I quickened my pace, my steps growing faster the closer I got to my place. Was something going on? I could see a fog rising in the distance, right around where my house was. My heart rate picked up, and I was practically running now.
If something happened to my house—
I stopped dead in my tracks as I sighted my frontyard, my eyes widening and my jaw dropping to the ground.
Was this...was this my place?
My bag slipped from my shoulder, forgotten, as I stared in complete disbelief. My house—the only one on the block that had been completely Halloween-less—was now a haunted masterpiece. The front yard had been transformed into a fog-covered ghost house, with eerie orange lights flickering through the mist.
My porch was lined with pumpkins, but not just any pumpkins. These were intricately carved, their faces twisted into expressions that ranged from mischievous to downright creepy, and inside them were a flickering orange glow. There wereskeletons, ghostly figures swaying in the fog, and cobwebs that looked too real to be fake. It was over-the-top, stunning, and terrifying all at once.
“Oh my—fucking hell. What the...”
The orange lights around my house pierced through the fog, casting a frightening glow over everything. The decorations were so elaborate, so perfectly executed, that it left me fucking speechless. Who could’ve done this?
Holy, it could only be one person.
Theon.
My mouth hung open as I took it all in. How long had this taken him? It was beyond anything I’d ever imagined or seen.
He was going this far? I couldn’t help but worry about his hands—he’d already probably burned himself making dinner for me, decorated Ma’am Jeena’s shop with those sad pumpkins, and now this?
My house was a Halloween wonderland, and I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, scream or run to him.
Few people were stopping to take my house in—that was how beautifully spooky it was. I shook my head, a laugh coming up my throat.
“Manipulative asshole.”
I was weak. He’d won. Even if he didn’t do this, he’d won. Right from when he bought me those shoes. I couldn’t imagine how exhausted he must be after pulling this off, unless he had an assistant. I hoped he had someone to assist him. I didn’t want to think he did this alone.
It was magnificent.
25
