Chapter 325

Melanie glared at the man as he tried to feed her, and would have pushed the bowl of food away if not for the fact that she was hungry-too hungry. And she needed her strength. She needed it to escape this place, wherever it was.
From the moment she had returned to consciousness, she’d slowly realized one thing for certain. That this wasn’t a hospital. The bed wasn’t a hospital bed, the room didn’t smell like disinfectant, and there were no nurses or monitors in sight. This was someone’s home. His home.
And wherever it was, it seemed impossible to get out. She had been standing at the window for a long time earlier, watching, hoping that someone might pass by. Someone she could signal or call for help. But the entire morning had passed, and all she had seen were waves, sand, and a few seagulls. No people. No cars. No buildings. Just the sea stretching out into nothing.
Even though she had no choice but to eat his food, that didn’t mean she would let him feed her. So, as he brought the spoon to her mouth again, offering it to her, Melanie reached up and pushed his hand away. Hard enough to make the spoon clatter against the side of the bowl. Her glare met his without hesitation as he tried to warn her, “Mel…”
Melanie ignored him and picked up the notepad beside her and wrote stiffly in uneven, sharp strokes with her injured hand, “I have hands. I can eat.”
He looked at the note and then at her. For a moment, he said nothing. Then he gave a soft, amused chuckle as if she’d just told a joke he actually found funny.
“Well, aren’t you proud,” he said, still smiling as he put the bowl down and slid the tray towards her across the small table. “Go on then.”
She didn’t reply. Her eyes stayed fixed on him, watching every movement. He started to get up, then paused beside her, reaching out with one hand to stroke her face. His fingers had barely brushed her cheek before she turned her face sharply to the side, avoiding the contact.
His hand hovered in the air for a moment, then dropped.
Melanie turned back to the tray. She picked up an empty bowl from the corner and, with slow, deliberate movements, began scooping rice and the vegetables he’d prepared into it. A quiet click of metal against ceramic filled the silence as she finished and placed the bowl in front of him.
He looked at the bowl, then back at her, his expression unreadable. She held his gaze and picked up the pen again. “You eat it first,” she wrote slowly.
Melanie stared at Cadence as he read the words and knew he had misunderstood when he smiled. She scoffed inwardly. Did he really think she would worry about his eating when he had kidnapped her and was forcefully keeping her here, despite her telling him repeatedly that she was not Melody!
Melanie felt her heart ache, wondering how soon would Adam be able to reach her. By now, he should have launced a full scare search.
Just then, she was brought out of her reverie by the man’s voice as he said,” See, I told you. It doesn’t matter if you deny it hundreds of times. You cannot stop worrying about whether I have eaten. Hmm?”
Melanie almost snorted at the man and wrote briskly, “Giving you food to make sure it’s not poisoned or drugged.
This time, the smile slipped off Cadence’s face.
He stared at the note, then at her, his eyes narrowed. His jaw worked slightly, as if he was biting back a response.
“Do you think I’d drug you?” he asked.
She didn’t answer. Her face stayed blank. Her hand pushed the bowl another inch toward him. She wanted to scream that if he could kidnap her then doing someting like this should not have been too difficult for him. What did she know?
There was a long pause. Then, without breaking eye contact, he picked up the spoon. Slowly. Deliberately. He scooped up a mouthful and ate it.
“There,” he said. “Satisfied? It is not poisone.
Melanie didn’t move.
His eyes stayed on her as he took another spoonful, chewed, swallowed. When she still didn’t react, he gave a short, annoyed laugh and shoved the half-eaten bowl aside.
Then he picked up the spoon again and reached for her.
Before she could react, he was holding it up to her lips. The same spoon. The one he had just used. “Your turn.”
She jerked her head back, lips pressed tightly shut as she pointed at her earlier words that she could eat herself. With that, she moved to pick up her bowl but Cadence’s expression hardened. “Eat it.”
She didn’t move.
He leaned in closer, still holding the spoon. His voice dropped, his tone lower now. “You want to eat, you eat from this. Otherwise, no food for you.”
Melanie glared at him, then turned her head sharply to the side, as if dismissing both him and the food.
He waited a second, then two, then let out a slow breath through his nose. The spoon clicked softly against the bowl as he set it down.
“Suit yourself,” he muttered. “Starve, then.”
He stood up and walked a few steps away, pulling a chair back with a scrape of wood on tile. Then he sat down, arms crossed, watching her with cool amusement that didn’t quite reach his eyes anymore.
Melanie didn’t look at him. She stared out the window instead… Nothing had changed.
Her stomach growled quietly, but she ignored it.
She wasn’t going to eat like that.
Cadence stared at the woman who was sitting stubbornly and his eyes narrowed. Since when did Melody develop such a backbone? His girl could not stay hungry or shortchange herself for even a minute, spoilt and pampered as she was. Suddenly, her insisting that she was not Melody made sense or atleast enough sense to look into this matter.. Angrily, he stood up, pushed the empty untouched bowl in her direction,letting her know she could eat before walking out of there, intent on finding more about this sister of Melody who had appeared out of thin air.
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