Chapter 25 Money Made From Selling Oneself
Natalie lifted her arm and readjusted the thin bag strap that fell from her shoulder. After she said that, she got out of the car calmly.
In the whole time, she avoided from looking his eyes.
Luke was still leaning forward against the passenger seat. However, the seat in front of him was empty after she left.
He turned his face and looked out of the window. She was strutting away in her short boots with her head high, and her figure was gradually disappearing into the distance.
After seeing her off into the residential area, he lowered his head and took out the money in his chest pocket. After smoothing them out against his fingers, he estimated that there were about seven or eight pieces.
Luke looked at them for a while, and then he suddenly smiled.
She did give him a fee for his service.
Luke had a brand new outlook on this woman's fake calmness. She was clearly blushing but she was still like a proud cat, and unwilling to show her weakness.
Fourteen reached its head over he picked up on the familiar scent. After sniffing the money in Luke's hand, it seemed to be able to tell that it belonged to Natalie, hence, it kept inching forward and got restless.
Luke smiled and folded the money to put it back in his pocket. Then, he pressed down on Fourteen's head heavily before saying a little possessively.
"It's mine"
...
Natalie entered Fenton Bay and ran into Mia.
Mia was standing behind the huge Roman Pillars and she was popping her head out suspiciously, like a spy peeping around in the dark.
When Natalie turned the corner, Mia gave her a fright.
"Why are you hiding here?" Natalie touched her chest. She was traumatized by what happened at the shrubs so she was still easily scared.
"I saw it."
Natalia was confused. Mia looked at her and said seriously, "You and Luke kissed in the car just now!"
"..."
The redness on her face from before had not faded completely before Natalie felt her face heat up again. She denied, "How is that possible?"
Mia stared at her keenly. "If not, why is your face red? You look like you have blush on."
"Nothing happened. You saw wrongly. I was just... a little too close to him..." Inexplicably, Natalie felt guilty. She could not explain herself in just a few words so she quickly changed the topic. Grabbing Mia's arm, she whispered, "Mia, I was kidnapped last night."
In just two seconds, Mia's expression changed from disbelief to speechlessness. "So you're skimping on me now because you have a boyfriend?"
"..."
Natalie could not blame Mia as that was too unfathomable. If Natalia did not experience it herself, she would never think that she would run into such a thing that was beyond reasonable limits.
She just wanted to go out to buy some noodles.
However, because it was too late, she had no choice but to spend the night with someone.
Natalia did not tell Mia the entire story. She avoided the important details and dwell on the trivial ones, so she only told Mia what happened and how it ended. Yet, she did not mention that Luke slept next to her last night and she would live with Luke five days later.
In the bright living room,
Mia was stunned as she sat on the sofa. She finally accepted the exaggerated truth after 10 minutes. She held Natalia and looked at her from head to toe, she was so worried that it seemed she wanted to find out whether Natalia had lost a single hair.
To be honest, Natalie still had some lingering fear. She was already afraid of the dark and then she was locked inside the trunk until she passed out. She was not so mentally strong.
However, Luke said he was there, so her anxious and pounding heart gradually clamed down and stayed grounded.
Natalia did not understand. Luke was always so sloppy and it was rare for him to be serious, but he had a kind of temperament on him so this contradiction would make people feel that he was dependable.
When he was behind her, she could face all difficulties.
At least, she was willing to believe him unconditionally at that moment.
That night, Mia hosted a small last-minute party at home. Since she knew that Natalie was afraid of the dark, she hoped that Natalie could quickly forget that awful memory.
The people who came were that group of men and they were no strangers.
They did not know about Natalie's kidnapping. They thought she was sad because she was suspended from work, so they brought food to the party. There was barbeque, hotpot, and even all kinds of cakes and desserts.
That night, the sound of talking and laughter filled the room. Mia lifted her selfie stick and everyone surrounded the table that was filled with sumptuous food that would make people envious before they took a group photo happily.
Natalie was sitting in the middle. She had removed her coat so she was only wearing a dress that served as her undershirt. The scene was lively and she had half a glass of champagne. When she took the photo, her cheeks were red and her head was tilted, she was smiling so brightly.
The laughter never stopped during the party and they enjoyed themselves until midnight.
When the party ended, the men left one after another. Mia was a little drunk and she could not get up from the sofa. Instead, Natalie was the one sending the guests off.
Kingsley was the last one to leave. After he changed his shoes at the entryway, he said with a smile, "You don't have to send me off. Have a good sleep."
Natalie smiled and bade farewell to him. She also asked him to be careful on his way back.
After taking a step out of the door, Kingsley stopped, hesitated, and turned around, saying, "Nata."
"Yeah?" Natalie smiled lightly and innocently, her eyes looked intoxicated.
Kingsley looked at her and asked, seemingly at a whim, "Is the person who was with you at the glasshouse that day the third son of The Benningtons?"
It was all over the internet so there was no need to hide.
Natalie nodded and said yes.
"Is he pursuing you?" Kingsley asked again.
Natalie did not drink too much so she was not drunk, however, she was feeling a little light-headed. She could not detect the subtlety in Kingley's tone so after contemplating, she shook her head.
She had no idea.
Kingsley stopped asking. After saying goodnight to Natalie with a smile, he closed the door for her and left.
The light from the lamp shone down in front of Natalie, and she felt dizzy. Then, she thought about it in hindsight.
'Why did he ask that?'
How would Luke pursue her? Judging from his horrible and domineering behaviors, he seemed more like he was pursuing a murderer.
Natalie lowered her head by herself at the entryway. As she stared at her cotton slippers, she felt an unknown melancholy in her heart and she felt empty.
It was unknown what she was thinking about. After about 3 minutes of silence, Mia was awake and she got up with some support.
"Shall we go to bed?" Mia's hair was a mess and she could not open her eyes. She looked around the room with a dazed gaze. "Nata..."
Natalie then went back to the room shuffling on her slippers.
After washing up, Mia fell into a deep sleep the moment she touched the bed. Natalie left a small night light on before lying down next to Mia softly.
She did not sleep and she was on her phone.
Mia suddenly muttered something in her sleep. It was inaudible and unclear, and it sounded like she was saying she had forgotten to post the photos on her Instagram and she wanted Natalie to do so.
Natalie felt dizzy and she did not understand what Mia was saying. After she thought about it, she posted the group photo on her Instagram in a muddle.
She did not write a caption, so it was just a picture of her being surrounded by handsome men.
After a while, Natalie received a new message on her Instagram.
Luke, "Did you have fun with the guys?"
Natalie's heart skipped a beat.
There were no emojis in the text and the words were lax and simple, but for some reason, Natalie felt as if she was as embarrassed as a licentious woman being caught in the act.
Plus, what was even stranger was that after she rejected the voice call that day, nothing else happened. Yet, this person came to her today without warning again.
Natalie wanted to skimp through this by sending him a sticker. Suddenly, she noticed his profile picture and she was stunned. Soon, she clicked it open to see the full image.
It was a cool-looking shepherd that was wearing military-grade protection gear and sitting next to a target formidably. Furthermore, the shepherd also looked similar to Fourteen.
Actually, this had always been his profile picture. But Natalie had never seen Fourteen before so she did not feel strange.
Natalie looked at it again , and finally she could not hold herself back from asking, "Did you get your profile picture from the internet?"
Could the dog in the picture have the same face as Fourteen?
The person replied to her with some ellipses, seemingly speechless.
"Are you stupid?"
He could feel how serious Natalie was when she asked that, and it seemed that he was saying"It's hard for me to explain this to you since your IQ is so low."
Natalie felt offended. She was wondering, "Why is this person so rude? Why is his temper even worse than Luke's?"
Was he texting her just to humiliate her? Or did she not pay him enough consultation fee?
Natalie started to suspect that this person had strange preferences and he was improper. Plus, who would want to voice call a girl he did not know when he was free, and also message her privately in the middle of the night?
Perhaps this was an online harassment.
He sounded like those wretched and vulgar men who would say "Are you there? Show me your sexy body." as an opening.
If Natalie deleted his contact, she was worried that Mia would be stuck in a difficult position as the middle person. After contemplating, Natalie thought of an evil plan to stop him from contacting her ever again.
Natalie typed, "I have to go now. My new boyfriend will be mad if he knows that I'm talking to other guy so late at night."
And there was no reply again.
Natalie snuggled into her blanket and smiled slyly. She thought the person fell for her tricks so she felt a little pleased with herself.
After that.
Luke, "New boyfriend?"
Natalie, "Yes."
"Who is he?"
Suddenly, Natalie's heart started beating erratically. However, on the internet, she could pretend to be bold even though she was not confident at all. She still wanted to scare him and she said, "He's pretty well-known. However, he has a bad temper and he's very aggressive."
Luke, "Oh? So..."
Natalie took a deep breath and decided to take decisive action in this complex situation.
She directly sent the other person a name, "Luke Bennington."
They were already impure in the eyes of the public anyway, so this could not be regarded as her taking advantage of him, at most, this was mutual exploitation.
Natalie admitted this.
Again, there was no any reply. But after a short while, a message popped up.
Luke, "Oh, then why do you still dare to fool around with so many men? Aren't you scared that he'll get mad?"
Natalie wondered if she was imagining things. Not only did this person not back up, but through his words, he sounded like he was interested.
Natalie's confidence started to crumble gradually, "I'm not fooling around, we're having a proper dinner..."
Luke, "Really?"
Luke, "Alright then."
Luke, "Your boyfriend really had a bad temper, are you sure you still want to stay with him?"
Unconsciously, the other party had turned from passive to active.
Natalie, "I..."
She put on a bold face and said, "I am after his money."
Luke, "Haha!"
"..."
Haha?
That word was like a voice broadcast and when Natalie saw it, she felt her scalp turning numb.
Even though it was a harmless slight panic, Natalie was used to being the good girl. Then, she was suddenly terrified. So she was about to end their chatting and said she was tired, she just wanted to flee.
The reply was calm. It was half flirty and half-mocking.
Luke, "Sleep now."
Luke, "Luke Bennington's girlfriend."
"..."
Perhaps she had a guilty conscience, so Natalie's heart started racing.
Coincidentally, it was Mark's birthday that day.
A group of his close friends specially flew from Athana to Alcomara to have fun with them till the depths of night.
In a high-end club in the central district of the city, the party-goers were singing, drinking, and playing dice in a private room. The shoutings could even be heard through the thick soundproof door.
With a cigarette in his hand, Luke leaned on the balcony alone while the smoke drifting in the wind.
He had removed his coat and left it in the private room. He did not like to be restrained, so the first three buttons of his shirt were always undone. In the dark night, he was leaning over and smoking contentedly.
That scene was enough to make people fall in love with him.
A quote from a famous philosopher could describe such a handsome but sullen man," When he stands tall, he's like a lone pine, but when he's drunk, he's like a collapsing mountain."
A handsome but sullen man.
At that time, the light of his phone screen was reflected in his eyes, and he could not control his thin lips from curving upwards. Perhaps, he did not even realize it himself.
This group of people was so drunk that they were causing so much ruckus in the private room.
Then, someone started calling out.
"Luke! Luke!"
"Where is Luke? We haven't seen his girlfriend!"
"We came all the way here just to see Luke's girlfriend. Tell him to bring her here!"
Mark was losing in the entire night, so he yelled his discontent at the balcony, "Luke, I lost everything. Do you still have cash in your coat?"
When Luke walked in, Mark was leaning against the card table and taking out the stack of cash from Luke's coat pocket.
"Don't touch them."
Luke said leisurely. The noises in the private room stopped immediately and the room plunged into silence.
"Put them back," Luke said.
His unexpectedly insipid gaze caused Mark to freeze and not dare to move. He then carefully placed the money back into Luke's coat pocket.
"What money is this, Luke?" Mark asked in a small voice.
Luke lowered his eyes and walked back to the card table. Then, he placed his cigarette butt into the ashtray and put it out slowly. He was calm when he said, "The money I made from selling my body."
"..."
"?"
"!"
All people in the room were stunned when they heard that.
...
After that day, Natalie restricted Luke on her Instagram to try to erase her dark past.
From that day on, Natalie hardly ever went out. She would stay at Mia's house during the day. After Mia's shift in the evening, they would eat dinner together and watch dramas in the living room.
There were two afternoons when she went out.
One day, Natalie picked up a courier at the entrance of the residential area. It was a pair of ear clips. Two little shiny pink diamonds were dangling from them and they looked beautiful.
They looked quite expensive, and her name was the recipient. However, after asking around, Natalie had no idea who bought them for her.
Natalie's ears were not pierced, so she was not used to wearing accessories on her ears. She tried them on, but she kept feeling a strange sensation on her ear when she had them on, so she put them back in the box and did not take them out again.
And at another day, Kingsley came over to bring her some food. It was a delicious sushi set. He said he was passing by Fenton Bay, and knowing that she was here, he brought her some.
Natalie did not think much of it.
Natalie felt comfortable during the few days of hanging out in Fenton Bay, however, she would feel frustrated from time to time too.
She did not know what she was frustrated about. When she thought about how Luke was quiet so suddenly and he did not even call her, she felt like something was weighing on her chest and she could not get rid of it, she felt very suffocated.
However, Natalie refused to contact him, it was like she was acting in a fit of pique.
In fact, she did not have an appropriate reason to do so. Plus, Luke was right and she was not related to him in any way, so why should she ask him to have her in his mind all the time? Should she be happy being his mistress who only has his body but not his heart just like the people in those subtle relationships in his circle?
Natalie did not think so.
She could not tell what she was feeling, but it was not a good feeling for the two of them to break apart without any reason.
The fifth day came so uneventfully.
That day happened to be Friday, and Mia was crying with joy as the weekend was approaching. She had a cousin who would livestream herself eating and she made an appointment with Mia that she wanted to have a livestream at Mia's house tonight.
In the living room that night, Natalie received a call from Luke while they were setting up the streaming equipment.
Natalie was stunned for half a minute when she saw the incoming call.
She would be lying if she said that she was calm. Then, she came back to her senses, lied that she was going to the toilet, and fled the scene. After that, she hid in the toilet nervously.
Natalie cleared her throat before answering the phone.
On the other side, the man was direct about the reason he was calling. "Have you made up your  mind?"
The words came out of his mouth slowly, his tone became gentle after a few days of mulling as he asked her with a smile.
"Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow?"
Natalie pressed her back against the toilet door, feeling her heart beating faster and faster.
It was so strange. When she heard his voice, the unhappiness that had been in her heart for so many days disappeared in an instant.