320 Chapter 320: It Will Clear Your Mind (1/2)

When Kylie awoke the next morning, she felt as though she'd lost a part of herself while she'd slept. She'd dreamt of Ethan, which was weird because they barely knew each other. It seemed that, in her dream, they'd know each other very intimately – it didn't really matter though, as, minute by minute, the dream faded.

At breakfast, she had a hard time focusing. She heard voices in her head that she didn't recognize, and it scared her. She asked the butler where Stephen was, but he told her that Stephen was out. At that moment, she felt alone, but not just alone. She also felt lost. Just then, though, she remembered about her responsibilities to Garcia Entertainment. After she showered and dressed, she found the butler and said, ”When Stephen arrives, please tell him that I've gone to work.”

The butler smiled, and he asked her if she was finally ready to resign.

”Why would I resign?” she demanded.

The butler frowned, and he said, ”Why, just yesterday, you told me that you were going to resign and go to work with Stephen in the hotel industry with his family…”

”Why would I want to do that?” Kylie wondered.

Annoyed by the question, the butler took a step forward and put a glass of milk in front of Kylie and said, ”You love Stephen very much, and you want to be with him all the time. You want to please his parents. You want to work for his family business – or at least that is what you said…”

Kylie's pupils suddenly dilated, and her expression glazed over. Then, in a manner that suggested she'd been brainwashed, she repeated his words: ”I love Stephen very much, and I want to be with him all the time. I want to please his parents. I want to work for his family business.”

The butler slowly raised his head in satisfaction and said, ”Good girl. Now drink your milk. It will clear your mind.”

Kylie smiled as she thanked the butler, and then she drank her milk. Then, as she put the cup down, the butler leaned into her and whispered into her ear: ”You will never betray Stephen. If you do, you must run a blade through your very heart.”

Hearing his words, Kylie's eyes glazed over, and like before, and she parroted them back to him. Once that was done, the butler snapped his fingers in front of Kylie, and she returned to some semblance of her previous self. Blinking her eyes, Kylie frowned and asked if everything was okay. ”I feel quite queer,” she added.

”Nothing seems out of the ordinary to me,” the butler laughed. ”Same old – same old. I heard you and Stephen late into the night. Perhaps you are just tired…”

”Maybe,” Kylie replied noncommittally, and she tried to put the matter out of her mind.

”Everything is copacetic,” she explained, ”but I'm going to Garcia right away to terminate my contract, and I was hoping that you would be willing to join me.”

”That would be no problem,” Stephen replied. ”You know where I am. Come and get me when you are ready.”

”See you later, then,” Kylie replied. And then she hung up.

***

The staff at Garcia Entertainment greeted Kylie with warmth and respect as they welcomed her back. They asked about her personal well-being, attempted to talk shop with her, and vied for her attention, and, as she made her way through the building, she nodded in the appropriate places and offered mostly one-word answers to the questions that were thrown her way.