Volume 1 Chapter 175.2

Volume 1 + Chapter 175.2: Investigating In Secret

The living room furnishings were simple and plain, without any lavish decorations. The kitchen was similarly tidy and orderly, everything put away neatly, showing nothing out of the ordinary.

But what Vivian wanted to investigate wasn’t the living room or kitchen. Her target was Eve’s bedroom, even her commonly used washroom and bathroom.

She took a deep breath. Her emotions were still somewhat complex. After all, barging into someone else’s room uninvited was a bit… suspicious. One could even say her current actions were practically no different from a thief’s.

If she were caught, she might not only be kicked out of the apartment but could invite even bigger trouble.

She couldn’t delay too long, she had to finish this quickly!

Vivian moved swiftly between rooms, her gaze sharp as it swept her surroundings. She quickly determined that the largest bedroom in the apartment was likely where Eve usually lived.

Compared to the other simpler rooms, this master bedroom was clearly more spacious. The placement of the furniture carried a hint of habitual casualness. It didn’t look like someone had just moved in, it seemed like someone had been living here long-term.

However, when Vivian’s gaze landed on the bed, her brow couldn’t help but furrow slightly.

The bed bore not only signs of Eve’s presence but also items clearly belonging to Leah. Even at the foot of the bed, she could see Leah’s usual nightgown.

This discovery stirred a subtle, unpleasant feeling within her. It seemed Eve and Leah usually slept together.

This intimacy complicated Vivian’s emotions. She couldn’t quite articulate what this feeling was. Vaguely, some indescribable sentiment churned in her heart. And the most apparent part of it was probably a faint sense of envy? She didn’t like delving into her own emotions, but this inexplicable feeling was hard to ignore.

She shook off these pointless thoughts and refocused her attention on the investigation, quickly settling on the neatly arranged wardrobe in the bedroom.

Opening the wardrobe door, her gaze fell upon a row of neatly hung dresses. Their styles and designs were classic Eve, simple, elegant, yet retaining a hint of mystery.

Yet, when she reached out to touch them, she sensed something amiss.

These dresses… seemed too clean. Impossibly clean. She leaned in slightly, bringing her nose close to the clothing. Unexpectedly, she discovered these dresses bore absolutely no signs of being worn, not even a trace of human scent lingering on them.

She had thought she might catch Eve’s unique, light fragrance, but these clothes held nothing beyond the smell of new fabric. It was as if they had just been bought from a store, never worn once.

This discovery deepened the suspicions in Vivian’s heart. It felt as if some deliberately hidden truths were lurking in every corner of this room, waiting for her to peel back the surface layer by layer and unearth the real answers.

But for now, she had no substantial leads. Eve’s room was unnervingly clean, almost deliberately so, leaving not a single trace of life.

This abnormality stirred a faint unease within her, and her gaze subsequently fell on a corner of the washroom, a small pile of unwashed clothes lay there. Perhaps she could find something there.

However, when she walked over and carefully examined them, she realized all these clothes belonged to Leah. Not a single piece was Eve’s. Eve was always extremely neat, basically washing her clothes the same day she changed them, never letting them pile up until the next day.

This discovery made her frown again, deepening the questions in her mind.

Vivian had still held a sliver of hope, thinking perhaps she could catch some scent from the clothes, find some clue. But the facts proved she simply didn’t have that chance.

Instead, inadvertently, she discovered another fact that put her in a subtly complicated mood, Leah got to sleep holding Eve every single night.

This made her already somewhat displeased mood grow even heavier.

She herself didn’t know where this emotion came from. It seemed like a bit of unwillingness, or perhaps some indescribable irritation.

She suppressed the discomfort in her heart and swept her gaze over the bedroom again, trying hard to calm herself down. But that faint, peculiar feeling lingered like entwining vines, refusing to dissipate.

Just as Vivian was hesitating whether to leave first, the sound of a key inserting into the lock suddenly came from outside the door. The crisp sound of metal colliding was especially jarring in the quiet room.

At that moment, all the hairs on her body practically stood on end. Her heart seemed to skip a beat as she tensed up, her nerves on high alert. She quickly scanned the room, looking for a suitable hiding place.

However, there were no extra pieces of furniture or concealed spaces for her to hide. The only place that looked barely passable for concealment was the long curtain hanging to the floor in the corner of the living room.

With no time to hesitate, she practically dove behind it by instinct, pressing herself tightly against the wall, holding her breath, trying to minimize her presence.

Almost the instant she hid herself, the door was pushed open. Familiar footsteps sounded at the entrance. Eve walked in, dragging a body full of weariness, a trace of fatigue faintly visible between her brows. She had clearly just gone through some significant exertion.

And following behind her weren’t just Leah, but also Qianzhi and Pipim, who had just returned from the Lorraine family.

Seeing so many people enter at once, Vivian’s heart gave a violent thump. Her fingers tightened slightly as she forcibly resisted the urge to adjust her stiff posture.

The time was only just past noon. Logically, it was still far from their usual time off work… Why had they returned so early?

“Wait a moment. Let me take a quick shower and change clothes first. I’ll make you all something to eat right away.”

Eve casually leaned on the shoe cabinet by the door, bending down to unstrap the high heels that had obviously been making her feet ache, and casually kicked them off onto the floor with a dull thud.

She rubbed her temples and sighed tiredly, seeming a bit unaccustomed to this sudden free time.

Hiding behind the curtain, Vivian held her breath nervously, not daring to make the slightest movement, fearing that any inadvertent action would lead to discovery, if she were caught red-handed now, she might never have another chance to investigate Eve.

Through the slightly parted gap in the curtain, Vivian peered cautiously outside.

The blazing sun hung high outside the window, heat waves slightly distorting the air through the glass. Although it was somewhat cooler inside, Eve’s attire wasn’t particularly cool, as if she wasn’t deliberately catering to the hot weather.

She casually took off the black stockings that encased her slender legs and tossed them towards the corner of the sofa. The smooth fabric curled slightly upon landing before lying still there.

Eve seemed truly exhausted, even her walking steps carried a hint of languor. Her slightly raised hair released that unique, faint fragrance of hers, mingled with the scent of sweat, carrying a vaguely familiar charm.

Vivian frowned slightly, staring at the stockings casually discarded in the corner of the sofa. A vague conjecture in her mind grew clearer.

Although Eve’s current face, hair color, and even her entire image were vastly different from before, the little habits, mannerisms, and temperament buried deep in her bones couldn’t be completely concealed by appearance alone.

Her gaze fixed on the stockings. A thought flashed through her mind, she had originally planned to verify her conjecture through scent. And now, wasn’t this opportunity delivered right to her doorstep?

Thinking this, Vivian took a deep breath and cautiously, ever so gently, stretched her hand out from behind the curtain, moving with extreme slowness, terrified of alerting anyone.

The curtain obstructed her view, she could only rely on instinct to grope for the target item in the corner of the sofa.

Her fingertips lightly brushed over the smooth fabric. Just as she was about to quietly retract her hand, she suddenly touched something warm and soft, it was a small, delicate hand!

For a moment, Vivian froze completely.

What made her heart skip another beat was that the little hand she had touched also seemed to freeze in place at the same instant. It didn’t even make a move to pull back.

Two fingertips touched, both conveying a sense of startled and flustered shock.

The air seemed to solidify in an instant, time felt stretched out several times over. Vivian’s heart clenched violently, a sense of foreboding exploded in her mind, had she, perhaps, touched something she shouldn’t have?

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