Chapter 15 New Boyfriend
After a long while, the car window was rolled down.
Mark stuck his head out and asked, "Luke, everything is done! Noah will not make trouble anytime soon. Why do we come to the hospital again?"
With the cloud of smoke, Luke knocked the ashes off the cigarette without replying.
"Let's go to celebrate New Year's Eve!" Mark leaned against the window frame of the car and opened a mobile app. When his face became increasingly excited in the light of the screen, he said, "This forest park looks good. The top of the mountain is covered with snow now, and there is a hot spring! It must be comfortable to take a bath! Luke, let's go there!"
"Shut up!" Luck warned in a deep voice.
Mark fell silent.
Luke raised his hand, took a puff at the cigarette, and exhaled. And then a cloud of smoke rose and dispersed in front of his eyes, obscuring his vision.
Mark suddenly discovered Luke was staring at somewhere.
It was cold at night, so the parking lot was almost empty.
Following his line of sight, Mark immediately saw a man was grabbing a woman in front of a Cayenne.
Mark recognized they were Dr. Moore and her CEO fiancé at a glance, so he was taken aback and immediately turned to observe Luke's expression
His face was indifferent and serious, and the look in his eyes was cold.
Mark suddenly remembered that on the night before Luke was discharged from the hospital, he fooled around with Dr. Moore in the bedroom.
And Mark had even heard them flirting!
That scene was extremely exciting.
Luke had never shown any interest in those women who threw themselves on him, so Mark thought he was sexually continent.
It turned out he was wrong!
Maybe he only loved the women like Dr. Moore!
Mark could understand it. Dr. Moore was beautiful and special. She was gentle, timid, and invisibly seductive without any aggression.
He had also fallen in love with her at first sight.
But since he had seen her wearing a wedding dress, he had stopped it in time.
Although Forrest was not a good man, Mark still wanted to be a man with morality, so he would never have an affair with a married woman.
"Luke..." Mark observed him quietly and ventured "Dr. Moore is not single."
Luke turned his head back and gave him a sideways glance.
Mark tried to read the hint in his glance and thought he wanted to say, "So what? I like the women who are not single. It is more exciting!"
Mark had long secretly noticed that there was something between them, and now, he even began to worry that their affair would destroy two families in the future.
He said euphemistic but earnestly, "Dr. Moore is getting married soon. Luke, the past is the past, and there's nothing you can do to change it. Try to forget her..."
Luke rested his arm on the car, ignored him, and continued smoking his cigarette.
But Mark went on nagging. He frowned in distress and bit the bullet to say, "You are full of animal spirits at this age, so, understandably, you like to mess around with her, but it's a scandal after all... Luke, she is just a one-night stand in Alcomara. Forget her."
Mark thought if things went on like this, Luke would become an adulterer, and his reputation would be ruined!
Luke frowned in silence, and when he turned his head back, he looked at Mark in disgust as if he were a fool.
Realizing his reaction was weird, Mark took a deep breath, lowered his voice, and ventured, "Did you use condoms?"
Hearing this, Luke finally understood what he was worried about, thinking he had a vivid imagination.
He snorted and turned to look at Natalie again.
He hadn't seen her for a long time. From a distance, he could see she was dressed in much warmer clothes now than that before he left. She was wearing boots, a down jacket, and a woolen short skirt.
Her chin sunk into a velvety collar, and her down jacket was thick, but he could see she was still slender.
He suddenly remembered he said he could let her be his girlfriend when he was hospitalized to tease her, but now, he thought it was feasible.
Therefore, he suddenly lowered his eyes and smiled.
Seeing this, Mark was shocked, so he said, "Luke, I am not joking with you…"
He wanted to persuade him out of this, but his words were interrupted by a sudden loud voice, so he looked over.
"Forrest, I have made all the concessions I could, and this is the best ending for our relationship. If you think our break-up is too casual, we can make it formal today."
Natalie had always been gentle, and she had seldom been so aggressive while speaking, so Luke could tell she was really upset now.
"Natalie!" Forrest called her name in a deep voice and then said through gritted teeth, "I did not come here to watch you throw a tantrum again. You should know your place. My parents have raised you for so many years. How can you be so ungrateful?"
Natalie said, "I am grateful for their upbringing. I will pay back the money they've spent on me, and I will not owe them a cent, but we..."
"I've already come to meet you in person! What are you still dissatisfied with?" Forrest interrupted, "Who do you think you are? Don't be as greedy as your mother!"
Natalie suddenly fell silent.
After a while, she asked in a trembling voice, "What did you say?"
"Don't you want me to pay more attention to you? Your goal has been achieved. Don't learn your mother's tricks anymore. I know you're pretending!"
Slap!
On this winter night, the world instantly quieted down after the crisp slap.
Mark quickly covered his mouth, suppressed his volume, and squeezed a word out between his fingers, "Jesus!"
He hadn't expected such a weak girl would be so ferocious when she hit people. The slap had been so loud that he could hear it clearly from a long distance.
But if Dr. Moore and Forrest had a fierce quarrel, Luke would have a chance, right?
The adulterer might be able to become her boyfriend!
Mark subconsciously turned to look at Luke.
Luke was still leaning against the car lazily, but there was a gloomy look in his eyes. After a while, he puffed hard at the cigarette with his thin lip.
In a cloud of smoke, Luke straightened up and casually put the lit cigarette out on a stone pier. The tip of his tongue licked his lower molar, and then, he turned his wrists around several times and walked straight toward Natalie.
Mark hadn't realized what was going on until half a minute later, and then he hastily pushed open the car door to chase after him.
...
Natalie's eyes turned red, her chest was heaving violently with anger.
She had never expected Forrest would say such insulting words to her, and they had destroyed their last remaining mutual respect.
She glared at Forrest, who had turned his face to one side.
"Don't you slander my mother anymore! She's not a greedy person!" Natalie's eyes were red, and she held back her tears and said in a hoarse voice, "Forrest, why don't you let me go? Have I ever done you any wrong in this relationship?"
Forrest touched his cheek and felt hurt.
He liked Natalie to be docile and was used to her soft voice, so he did not like to hear her questioning him with such an alienating and aggressive attitude.
He listened to people talking about love affairs at the bar and bragging about the curving figures and the good sex skills of their girlfriends, and they had laughed at him because he had never slept with his girlfriend.
Forrest wanted to have sex with her that day because those people had angered him, but she had pushed him away in disgust.
"You did not allow me to sleep with you!" Forrest sneered with a rage in his eyes, and his emotions were out of control, so he yelled at her in a low voice, "You're much worse than other men's girlfriends!"
In the chilly wind, Natalie looked at him in disbelief, thinking that he was hopeless and that there was no need to part friends anymore.
After he vented his anger, Natalie stubbornly held back her tears and turned around to leave silently.
But Forrest grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving and shouted, "Natalie!"
"Let me go!" Natalie burst into tears, struggling desperately.
He was not in deep love with her but refused to let her go. Natalie didn't understand what he wanted.
Suddenly, a black figure appeared out of thin air in front of her.
Before she could recognize the person, she heard Forrest groaning in pain and then saw him knocked to the ground by a sudden fist.
Getting rid of the shackle, Natalie stumbled a few steps forward before standing steadily, and then she smelt tobacco in the air. When she looked up, she saw the back of a man standing in front of her.
The slender man was wearing a black casual jacket, looking arrogant and tough. When Natalie found the silhouette of his back was familiar, her heart skipped a beat.
The punch had been sudden, so Forrest had not seen who had hit him. He fell to the ground so heavily that the corner of his mouth was broken. When he spat to the ground, he found it was mixed with blood.
Forrest groaned in pain and then got up while cursing.
When he was about to see who had hit him, another man strode forward, kicked him on the chest, and then stepped him back to the ground with one leg.
"This is Luke from Athana!"
Mark bowed his waist with a majestic posture, glared down at Forrest, and mocked, "Silly, have you heard of him before?"
As Natalie was still in confusion, the man whom she hadn't seen for a long time looked back at her.
When their eyes met, she confirmed it was him.
Natalie froze in situ, and her eyes were tearful.
Luke glanced at her, smiled, and said, "Do you want me to do you one more favor?"
He still looked ruffian, and his voice was still deep and casual.
Natalie raised her tender face full of tears and looked at him in confusion like a stray cat.
She forgot to think and answer.
And Luke didn't wait for her to answer either. He slowly turned to look at Forrest and said disdainfully, "Now, she..."
After a two-second pause, he showed a lazy smile and continued, "She has a new boyfriend."
Under Forrest's astonished gaze, Luke turned his right wrist around and slowly took two steps closer to him.
He was smiling, but the look in his eyes was cold. He warned, "If you dared to touch her again, I will teach you a good lesson."
-
Luke was a bold and uninhibited man. After he finished speaking, he hooked his arm around Natalie's shoulders and took her away.
Neither of them spoke a single word.
After walking for a while in a daze, Natalie shivered and woke up when a gust of wind blew on her face.
Then, she bent her waist and got out of his arms.
"Just now..." Natalie's voice was very soft, and a feeling of alienation because of the long separation made her lower her eyes and unable to look directly into his eyes. She continued, "Thank you, Mr. Bennington."
Seeing his arms become empty, Luke raised his eyebrows lightly, put his hands into his trouser pockets, and looked at her carefully. After all, he hadn't seen her for many days.
They were standing beside a streetlamp, and a beam of light was cast over her head. There was fine and dense white dust floating in the dim yellow light, drifting along with the freezing wind.
She was wearing her hair in a bun. Her eyelashes were wet, her face was a little pale, and her entire chin sank into the thick white velvet around her collar, making the dust look like snow.
She looks so restrained and cute.
Luke lowered his head and asked with a teasing smile, "Don't you know my name?"
Natalie had never guessed right what he was thinking and thought she would sound stupid if she answered it directly. When she raised her eyes and looked at him carefully, she still couldn't tell the purpose of his question.
"You hit him just now." Natalie tried to change the topic. She was not crying anymore, but her nasal voice was obvious, so it sounded like a child talking.
Luke enjoyed her voice, looked at her, and said, "So what?"
He wondered if she could not bear to see her ex-boyfriend be beaten.
However, she then said in a faint voice, "Is your hand OK?"
Luke had to admit her words were pleasant, so he smiled, " If my hand is injured, will you buy me dinner?"
After being pissed off by Forrest, Natalie didn't realize Luke was setting a trap for her at all.
She said embarrassedly, "Can I buy you dinner some other day?"
Hearing this, Luke leaned against the lamppost and asked lazily, "You have a date tonight?"
"I have to celebrate New Year's Eve with my friends."
"Male or female friends?"
Natalie unexplainably hesitated before replying, "Both."
Luke squinted his pretty eyes and asked, "Where are you going?"
Natalie thought it was none of his business, so she did not want to tell him.
Suddenly, she remembered what he had just told Forrest in a hoarse voice and with a faint smile that she had a new boyfriend now.
Why had he said so?
Had he just wanted to help her bluff Forrest away, or...
Natalie could not figure it out, but she felt somewhat strange, and her heart was racing rapidly.
She pursed her lips and said lightly, "Mt. Waters."
With that, two Ferrari supercars whizzed past them. One was red, and the other one was yellow, looking cool.
Natalie wondered who would come to show off in the parking lot of the hospital. But after a few seconds, the two cars moved back together and stopped beside her.
Mia then stuck her head out of the passenger's seat of one car. She didn't notice Luke who was dressed in black was standing beside Natalie, so she waved to her excitedly without any scruples and said, "Nata! The handsome guys you want are in place! Let's go!"
Natalie was speechless.
The windows of the sports cars were all rolled down, and there were at least six men. Mia had not lied to her. There were both brawny guys and cute guys. When they greeted her with big smiles, Natalie thought she would never forget this scene all her life.
She felt as if they were her gigolos, so she froze in situ.
Luke suddenly clicked his tongue and said cynically, "You are playing wildly when I am away, right?"