Chapter 19 Have You finished Coaxing the Other Men?
It was a cloudless and quiet night. Under a camphor tree, the hand-held firework in her hand seemed to be the only shining thing at that time.
She was at the gate of Clovervale Residence but felt as if she were homeless.
Above her head, Luke let out a hoarse laugh and said, "Are you a kid?"
After he straightened up, the hand holding the cigarette disappeared from her sight. Then, Natalie looked up at the flickering sparks.
She saw other men smoking before, but Luke looked different. He narrowed his eyes and held the cigarette lazily in his mouth.
The smoke was curling upward, and the light was broken, blurring his face.
The scene looked like a movie poster.
He looked more restrained than in the daytime as if his feelings were dominated by depression at night.
A hand-held firework could burn for nine seconds.
In the tenth second, the spark went out, and everything fell quiet, but Natalie was still staring at him in a daze.
"Do you want to continue?" Luke held the cigarette beside his lips, looking down at her face.
After some thoughts, Natalie shook her head.
She stood up slowly and stumbled to the trash can. Although she was drunk, she would not drop litter.
She was well-educated.
Natalie then shuffled back to Luke. She was drunk, but she could still think. Although she felt dizzy, she looked docile.
Feeling sleepy, she covered her lips, yawned, widened her watering eyes, and called him by his name, "Hi Luke."
At this time, she was much cuter than when she deliberately angered him.
Luke smiled, "Can you still recognize me?"
His voice was full of teasing, so Natalie raised her chin with a vigilant look in her drunken eyes and said, "You..."
"Do you want to say I'm not a good person?" He bit his cigarette lazily.
After thinking about this for a moment, Natalie nodded earnestly.
Luke did not get angry but said, "You're a real personality. How did I offend you?"
Natalie was too embarrassed when hearing this question. She thought for a long time and replied, "You are bad."
"Why?" Luke moved the cigarette away from his lips and knocked off the ashes.
Natalie stared at his fingers uncontrollably.
"Your... your fingers are too pink."
Luke stopped smoking, looked at her, then glanced at his hand, and asked, "So what?"
When she thought of Mia's words, her face blushed. She abruptly covered her eyes, bit her lower lip, and scolded, "You are shameless!"
Luke was more confused.
As soon as Mia walked out of the convenience store with a bag of snacks, she heard Natalie cursing. Mia thought she was harassed by some hooligan, so she rushed over and stood in front of her.
"Don't you dare..."
Mis abruptly stopped speaking when she looked up. She took a deep breath and swallowed the remaining words back.
He had pretty eyes, a high bridge of the nose, thin lips, and thick eyebrows...
He was the most handsome man she had ever seen, so she almost drooled.
"Mia..." Natalie said in a soft tone when hiding behind Mia. She tilted her head and whispered into her ear, "His fingers are very pink..."
Mia shuddered when she heard Natalie's whisper and realized it was Natalie that had lost control of herself.
Mia could not let her hook up with a handsome guy while she was so drunk.
Moreover, she knew he was not a man to be trifled with at a glance, so she took her away decisively.
As soon as they left, Mark called Luke and said, "Luke, where are you now? We're still waiting for you in the bar."
Luke casually replied, put out the cigarette, threw it into the trash can, put his hands in his trouser pockets lazily, and walked back toward the bar.
Mark suddenly said, "Luke, Dr. Moore lives nearby. Why don't you go over and coax her?"
"Mind your own business."
-
The next day, when the sunshine came in through the windows, Natalie was lying on the bed, and her eyelashes were flicking in the light.
She woke up naturally, and when she opened her eyes, she was dazzled by the sunshine.
She sat up habitually and realize she did not need to go to the hospital recently until she put on her clothes.
Her hand slowly fell, and then, she closed her eyes and sighed.
She told herself to be optimistic because everything would be OK after the acquisition ended.
She had a headache because of the hangover. After getting up, Natalie made a glass of honey water, sat at the dining table, and checked her phone while drinking.
Mia messaged her and sent her a photo of the morning peak two hours ago, saying, "Have a good rest at home. I will work hard to support you. Because you looked very horny last night, I bought a gift for you. It will arrive soon."
Seeing this message, what happened last night flashed back into her mind.
Natalie's expression gradually became stiff. She put down the glass and remembered the fact that she had seen Luke last night.
He lit a hand-held firework for her with a cigarette.
What happened after that? Her memory was vague...
Mia said she was horny last night, so Natalie asked in shock, "Did I behave myself last night?
Mia replied, "Yes."
Natalie patted her chest lightly.
But before she could let out a sigh of relief, Mia added, "You flirted with a handsome man and praised that his fingers were pink."
Natalie held back her breath in shock for a while and decided to forget it, so she changed the topic and asked, "What did you buy for me?"
Mia replied, "A little toy for girls."
Natalie asked in confusion, "Do you think I am still a kid? Why did you buy a toy for me?"
Mia mysteriously said, "You will know what it is tomorrow. It is a classic toy!"
Natalie was sure it must be something weird.
...
Natalie slowly digested what happened last night by telling herself that she would never see Luke again in the future.
In the afternoon, things developed as she had expected. The video in the parking lot became a trending topic on Facebook.
However, the focus of netizens on this matter was very different from that of the staff of the hospital. After all, all the netizens were looking forward to seeing the face of the third son of the Benningtons. Luke's appearance in this video completely distracted people's attention.
"Luke is amazing! Netizens did not deceive me! I want to marry him!"
"I am in love with him and want to sleep with him!"
"My bed is so big that I don't dare to sleep alone anymore."
When a female employee was slacking off at work, her heart skipped a beat after watching the video with a smirk. She screamed, "I want him!"
...
"What did he say? He said she has a new boyfriend now? Are they shooting a romantic movie? I fell for him!"
"I love watching love triangles the most! Go for it, guys!"
"Cool! It is romantic when two men fight for a woman!"
"Don't you think this woman is good-looking? She looks like a princess in fairy tales."
"I want to chase her, but my gender doesn't allow me to do it."
"I love sweet girls too! It's normal for men to fight for her!"
"What is the purpose of this weird title? If I am as good-looking as her, I will also want to marry a powerful man. What's the problem?"
...
After reading the comments, Natalie felt speechless.
It was sunny today, and the balcony was very warm.
Natalie slumped in the armchair, dejectedly thinking whether she should ask Luke to deal with this matter and control the public opinion online.
If this matter continued to ferment, her reinstatement would be at a far distant date.
Natalie hesitated for a long time. She wanted to contact Mark first, but after she clicked his name in the address book, she shilly-shallied.
She then thought after what happened last night, she did not need to pay attention to her image in front of Luke anymore.
It was unnecessary.
After making some mental preparation, Natalie gritted her teeth and decided to contact Mark. When she was about to send the message out, Luke suddenly called her.
Natalie was taken aback. After she froze for a while, she firmly rejected the call.
She was not in a mood to chat with him now, and they were not close enough to call each other.
Then, Natalie began to sort out her thoughts that had been interrupted all the call.
Suddenly, Mark called her.
Natalie perked herself up immediately, cleared her throat, and picked up the phone as decisively as she rejected Luke's call just now.
"Hello?" She held the phone to her ear, and said softly, "Mark, I happened to want to contact you."
There was a two-second silence.
"This is Luke."
His voice was deep, indifferent, and hoarse with a grainy feeling.
Natalie felt tight in her throat and kept silent.
"Are you sober now?" Luke asked slowly.
Natalie's heart skipped a beat, and she felt very ashamed. She swallowed hard and squeezed her voice out with difficulty, "Yes..."
Luke laughed in a casual voice and asked while knowing the answer, "Why do you want to contact Mark?"
She wanted to contact Luke.
Natalie held her breath and could not say a single word out.
While both of them kept silent, he could hear her light breathing.
He then asked in a deep voice, "Is it about the video?"
His serious tone made Natalie want to cry for no reason as if the grievances in her heart had escaped.
Natalie lowered her head, buried her face in the shadow, and said lightly, "Yes."
"Do you think it will be useful to ask Mark for help?" Luke teased, wanting to blame her for her stupid choice.
Natalie guessed he was smoking because she could hear him exhale.
She bit her lower lip, gave up concealing her weakness in front of him for the first time, and whispered, "If I don't contact him, who else can I ask for help?"
"Me," he suddenly said.
Natalie froze for a while, and she gradually calmed down after hearing his reply and said, "... I don't have your number."
After a moment of silence, Luke let out an indescribable low laugh, "You can get my number easily."
Natalie's heart skipped a beat.
She felt that there was something hidden in his words, but she could not figure it out, so she could only blush.
But the beautiful feeling was shattered in the next second.
Luke deliberately slowed down his words to take advantage of her, saying, "If you call me baby, I will help you."
She knew he was a wicked man!
Her melancholy disappeared, and she retorted bravely, "Why? If I call you baby, will you give your life to me?"
Luke laughed in a low voice, "I didn't expect you to be so ambitions!"
"Deal?"
"Deal." He said with a lazy smile, "I will have to support you to achieve your ambition."
His words embraced her in an instant like a pair of gentle wings, lingering in her mind.
Natalie was ambitious and did not want to follow in her mother's footsteps.
But this was the first time someone had praised her for this.
Forrest never understood her and wanted her to resign from the hospital. He wanted her to become a pretty and obedient housewife who listened to all his orders.
Madam Hart mentioned it a few times too, and even her grandmother thought the same.
Luke might be just joking, but Natalie had to admit that she was moved to hear such words.
When Natalie was deep in thought, Luke suddenly said in a solemn tone, "Stay at home. I will handle it."
Hearing this, Natalie calmed down and agreed in a soft voice.
Then, Luke asked casually, "Do you remember you still need to invite me to dinner?"
Natalie owned him too many favors and she did not know how to repay.
"Yes, " she replied.
He said casually, "Tell me! When do you plan to do that?"
Natalie could not be tough when facing a dunner, so she said slowly, "When do you have time?"
"I am available tomorrow."
He sounded so skillful that Natalie suspected that he was picking up on girls like this every day.
-
After talking with Luke, Natalie felt completely relaxed.
Although she had to stay at home, she was not idling. She studied a thick orthopedics book until 11 pm.
She wanted to study longer, but she made an appointment with Luke at noon. He said he would pick her up at the gate of Clovervale Residence. She did not want to be late, so she went to bed early.
The next day, after Natalie thought about it for a while, she put all her bank cards into the bag.
She thought Luke must be used to enjoying delicacies. If he wanted to eat expensive dishes, she might not have enough cash.
Would she use tens of thousands of dollars on this meal?
Natalie put her hands into the warm pockets of her cashmere jacket and walked out in her ankle boots with a worried face.
She did not like letting others wait for her, so she went out ten minutes ahead of time.
What a small world! When she stood outside the gate of Clovervale Residence, a red Ferrari happened to pass by.
Then, it stopped.
The weather today was nice and warm, so the roof of the Ferrari was folded down, and three people were sitting in the car. All of them went to Mt. Waters together with her last time, and Kingsley was among them.
They smiled and greeted her.
She was surprised to meet them here, so she ran across the pavement to talk to them politely.
Although these people were all rich young men, they were not playboys. Maybe they liked her, but they were all very polite, especially Kingsley. He was the gentlest young man Natalie had ever met.
So, she liked to keep in touch with them.
"Nata, are you going out?" Kingsley asked with a smile.
"Yes..." Natalie paused for a second and said, "I will go out to have lunch with a friend."
Kingsley patted the seat next to him and said, "This seat is available. Where are you going? We can give you a ride."
Natalie hastily declined.
She did not want Luke to see this scene because he said that she was playing wildly that day although she was not wild at all.
After a small talk, Natalie waved goodbye to them.
When the Ferrari drove away, Natalie intended to walk back to the gate. But as soon as she turned around, she saw that army green Wrangler.
The neckline of Luke's black shirt was slightly loose. He was wearing simple casual clothes, but he looked ruffian and graceful at the same time.
He leaned against the car door with his arms crossed and was looking at her with a meaningful smile.
When their eyes met, Natalie's heart skipped a beat.
"Have you finished coaxing the other men?" Luke slowly asked in a low voice, "Is it my turn now?"