Chapter 36 Coaxing You
He sounded very obedient as if he would do whatever she asked him to do.
Hearing this, Natalie could not scold him fiercely anymore, so she asked, "How can you chase a girl like this?"
"What's the problem?" he asked innocently.
Natalie gradually felt hot, so she pulled the quilt down a little and murmured embarrassedly, "Are you playing the fool? It's a bit too much saying such words..."
Hearing this, Luke kept silent as if he were pondering over her words.
After a while, he said, "I mean you look beautiful when you wear other clothes besides the wedding dress."
His tone sounded very innocent as if he was severely wrongly accused, so Natalie was speechless.
Luke sighed slowly, "What did you think I mean?"
His words had hit the mark and pinpointed her weird conjectures, so she did not know how to retort. It was his fault, but she did not know how to explain it.
"You mislead me on purpose," she whispered.
"No," he denied decisively.
Natalie thought this situation made her look immoral, so she wanted to change the topic, but Luke didn't allow things to work out the way she planned.
"You should not go on doing things in this way." Natalie had held back her anger for a long time, so she wanted to scold him fiercely, but her voice sounded cute when she said, "Otherwise, you will never be able to win the favor of the girl you like!"
Luke snorted, and then, he pretended to be hurt and asked, "Do you have to be cruel?"
Natalie responded with only a snort.
"I admit it was my mistake," he said with a lazy Athana accent, "To show my sincerity, I will accompany you before you fall asleep today, OK?"
Natalie didn't think she needed him to accompany her, but she hesitated for a while and then slowly agreed.
He didn't give her any chance to go back on her words and started telling her a fairy tale targeted toward the children who went to kindergarten.
The story was boring, but his voice was attractive.
Natalie inwardly complained that his story was too childish, but she unconsciously listened to him carefully and then fell asleep.
When she woke up the next day, she grabbed the phone beside her pillow in a daze.
After she opened her eyes to look at the screen, she found both of them were still on the phone.
Natalie suddenly sobered up, sat up, and scratched her hair. She remembered that Luke said he would accompany her until she fell asleep, but why didn't he stay up?
Had he unconsciously fallen asleep because of his own boring story?
It was quiet on the other end of the phone, but there seemed to be shallow breathing when she listened carefully. Natalie lifted her phone to her lips and ventured, "Luke?"
After a few seconds, he replied in a muffled voice, "Yes?"
His voice was a little hoarse and low as if he was suppressing his anger from being woken up. And she could imagine that he was closing his eyes and showing a sleepy expression right now.
Natalie laughed softly. The dissatisfaction with his words last night dissipated, and her heart melted, so she said softly, "I am hanging up the phone now. Have a good sleep."
The day started with a wonderful feeling, so Natalie had a good mood all day.
It was more than a month since she was suspended by the hospital. She had been extremely anxious to go back to work at first because she was used to working around the clock since she had been a student. She thought she was wasting time staying at home.
But things changed since today.
She read a book for two hours and then basked in the sun with Fourteen in the courtyard. The flowers were blooming, and they looked beautiful in the sunshine.
Later, a piano was sent to her and put in the living room.
Natalie was surprised but didn't ask about it. Since the bodyguards let these people come in, it must be Luke that had bought it.
In the afternoon, Natalie sat in front of the piano. Although she didn't learn how to play the piano before, she had fiddled with it for a long time.
She wanted to learn it since she was a child, so it could be said to be her obsessiveness.
When Natalie looked at the precious black piano, she suddenly felt that it was nice to leave all the work behind and have a leisure vacation.
Natalie called Luke and asked while knowing the answer, "Luke, did you ask them to send the piano to me?"
Luke was playing golf with his father now. After he had ruthlessly exposed that Bretton Pharmaceutical cooked the books, his father angrily reprimanded Noah.
This incident fired the first shot in the battle for power. The forces in the company secretly formed two cliques. One clique chose to move closer to Luke after seeing Noah on the decline, while the other clique still stood firmly on Noah's side. After all, Luke had just left the military academy. Compared with him, Noah went up and down in the business world for many years, so he was more trusted by some shareholders of the company.
The elders seemed calm on the surface, but in fact, they also took sides.
They all knew the two brothers were at each other's throats because only one of them could take charge of the Bennington Group in the future.
As expected, the luncheon with the elders today was unpleasant.
All of them were scheming and good at saying pleasant words, but they might speak ill of Luke behind his back.
Throughout the meal, Noah humbly listened to the elders' lectures, but Luke was different. He had retorted directly as long as anyone had blamed him for hurting his brother without caring about whether the elders would feel embarrassed. Therefore, the elders all looked gloomy in the end.
After the luncheon, he was called to the golf course by his father, but before they began to talk, Natalie called him.
When he heard her voice, his impatience slowly faded away, and he said calmly, "Yes. You can play it."
Natalie smiled, fingered the keys, pretended to be unexcited, and said, "OK."
Standing by a lake surrounded by green lawns, Luke put one hand in his trouser pocket and teased, "Don't you like it? If so, I will ask people to move it away."
"Don't!" Natalie replied quickly, and then, she realized she sounded too anxious, so she slowed down, "But I don't know how to play the piano."
Luke walked slowly and said, "What about I hire a teacher for you?"
After a short pause, he said in a drawling voice with a wicked smile, "Do you want me to go back to teach you?"
Unexpectedly, Natalie didn't scold him for making fun of her. After a while, she whispered, "When will you come back?"
Hearing her question, Luke paused his steps, looked back at his father who was hitting the ball in the distance, and said, "I'm not sure."
Judging from his tone, Natalie knew he was in the middle of something, so she didn't intend to talk with him for a long time on the phone. After she told him she was just asking casually and needed to walk Fourteen now, she said goodbye to him.
After she hung up the phone, Luke stood in situ silently for a while, put away the phone, and walked back.
He had seldom shown weakness, but he wanted to return to Alcomara as soon as possible, so he decided to apologize to his father and admit that he should not have acted on impulse.
"Dad." Luke stood still, hesitated for a moment, and solemnly said, "I am sorry for what happened during the luncheon."
Old Mr. Bennington was very lean. Although he was old and had some gray hair, he looked sturdy. He held the club tightly, targeted the ball, swung, and got a hole in one.
When he raised his hand, a caddie took the club away and handed him a towel.
Hearing Luke's humble words, Harry didn't show any expression on his face. He slowly wiped the sweat from his neck and stared at him with his bright eyes as if he could catch every expression on his face.
"Luke, I taught you when you were at a young age that in the world of eagles, the parents will never give the little eagles enough food. They give them little food to let the little eagles fight, and the weak will become the food of the strong."
His eyes were too sharp, so Luke frowned in displeasure.
Harry also frowned because he was dissatisfied with his apology. He said, "Crawling is shameful for eagles. Don't you know the law of the jungle? The weak are the prey to the strong. If you want to win, you have to persevere even if you bleed."
Luke understood his implications.
The law of the jungle was also the law of the Benningtons.
In the eyes of his father, he and Noah were two young eagles fighting each other. His father would not favor or show mercy to either of them. The Bennington Group needed a leader who ruled the sky, so he must be ferocious. He could commit suicide by hitting on the cliff, but she could never show the white feather.
Luke smiled coldly and said firmly, "I see."
Harry glanced at him and then silently turned his eyes away.
Although he didn't say it, he liked Luke very much because he had inherited his resoluteness and arrogance. He was like a hungry eagle who dared to do anything to achieve his goals, so he was worthy of a high position.
"It's great that you can build up a good relationship with the Selby family. You can deal with Noah's affairs as you like. I don't care about what you will do to him, so you don't need to care about those old guys either!" Harry showed contempt for the vanquished while speaking, and then, he gave the towel to the caddie and went back to the lounge.
Luke lowered his eyes and smiled.
Like Father Like Son.
-
As time flew by, the holiday atmosphere prevailed.
Supermarkets were offering New Year gift packs, and everyone was doing holiday shopping. And New Year discounts were available at all shopping malls. Almost all the people were going to buy new clothes for the holiday.
It seemed Natalie was the only one who could not enjoy the holiday.
Mia would return to her hometown on New Year's Eve. The night before she left, she and Natalie had dinner together at Kingsley's hotel.
In the evening, when Luke called to chat with Natalie as usual, she pattered and only told him that she had dinner with Mia but didn't tell him about Kingsley's presence.
She had a weird feeling. It was a very normal dinner with friends, but she felt if she told him Kingsley was there, he would think she had fooled around with another man.
Natalie's ear piercings almost healed. At first, there was a little accident. When she washed her hair, she wetted her ear piercings, so they were inflamed and hurt for two days. Fortunately, she took good care of them, so they had recovered.
On New Year's Eve, Natalie stayed in the villa.
She was different from her peers. She didn't look forward to New Year's Day. Her peers could wear new clothes and receive gifts every year since they were young, but Natalie was worried about how to deal with the relatives and friends of the Harts because she looked like a bastard who should not have appeared at the reunion dinner.
She did not need to deal with them this year, so she felt very relaxed.
But Natalie called Madam Hart and wished her and her husband a happy New Year. Although she broke up with Forrest, she must be grateful to them for their upbringing.
Natalie was not surprised to hear Madam Hart persuade her into getting back together with Forrest. She thought the problem could be solved as long as they had a good talk, but Natalie euphemistically reject it with a very firm attitude.
Natalie's grandmother refused to celebrate New Year's Day together with her every year, and she knew she would not answer her call, so she called her neighbor.
"Aunt Queenie, this is Natalie," she said sweetly, sitting in the living room.
When the woman on the other end of the phone heard her voice, she said kindly, "Nata, happy New Year's Eve!"
Natalie also said, "Happy New Year's Eve."
After a small talk, Natalie asked about her grandmother's recent condition and how she was going to celebrate the New Year.
Queenie replied, "She's doing well. She will have dinner with me tonight. What about you?"
Natalie was stunned and then replied casually, "I'm celebrating with a friend."
Putting down the phone, Natalie glanced around the empty and quiet living room. She stared blankly for nearly half an hour, and when she regained her senses, it was dark outside.
She took a deep breath and then spat out all the bad emotions. There were several holiday decorations on the coffee table, which were bought when she and Mia went shopping for dog clothes two days ago.
She picked up decorations and then hesitantly put them back.
She decided not to post them up in the end because she was alone here.
Shen then took out the new dog vest and put it on Fourteen. It was red and gold, looking cute.
Natalie squatted, held Fourteen's head in her hands, and said, "Happy New Year's Eve, Fourteen."
Fourteen wagged its tail high and rubbed its head against her hands as if it wanted to stick with her forever.
Natalie forced a smile, patted it, and said, "I'll go to the kitchen."
After getting up, she checked her phone again.
She sent Luke a happy New Year's Eve message two hours ago, but he didn't reply yet.
Maybe he was busy dealing with the elders of his family, so he did not have time.
Natalie blinked, quietly put the phone back into her pocket, and stepped into the kitchen in her slippers. Then she cooked a bowl of dumplings for herself and then poured some dog food into Fourteen's bowl.
The villa was huge, but only the light in the dining room was turned on.
There was darkness all around, and only a beam of light was illuminating the square dining table. She sat in one corner, scooping a dumpling, and blew on it. It was so quiet that only the sound of Fourteen eating dog food could be heard.
The dining room was like a stage under the spotlight, but the play was depressing.
She did not want to admit it, but she indeed felt lonely.
When she bit the dumpling, it was too hot, and her tongue was scalded by the running stuffing, so her eyes suddenly became moist.
Immediately, she blinked hard, suppressed her emotions, and lowered her head. Later, she put another dumpling into her mouth and chewed, and her cheeks puffed up.
When she ate four dumplings, the phone in her pocket rang.
Natalie sniffed, took out her phone, and saw the caller ID was Luke.
The cheeky man had input it into her phone himself.
Seeing him calling back, Natalie was not gloomy anymore, and she picked it up without thinking. With a dumpling in her mouth, she gabbled, "Hi Luke."
Hearing her vague voice, Luke asked, "Nata, what are you eating now?"
Natalie blushed slightly after being called Nata. She quickly chewed, swallowed the dumpling, and said in a low voice, "Dumplings..."
"Why do you only eat dumplings on New Year's Eve?" he asked.
"Because I am alone..." Natalie stopped, lowered her head, slowly stirred the soup in the bowl, and continued, "The dumplings are delicious."
He said, "Do you feel unhappy because I didn't go back to accompany you?"
"No!" Natalie denied decisively, but obviously, she was lying.
Luke did not want to embarrass her, so he did not expose her lie but said, "Go to open the door now. Your New Year's gift has arrived."
Natalie was taken aback, and the spoon dropped into the bowl with a clang. She got up and quickly walked to the door, asking, "A Gift? What did you buy?"
As soon as she opened the door, she saw Luke sitting on the bench in the courtyard with his legs open.
He rested his elbows on his knees. One hand was holding a cigarette between his fingers casually, tips, and the other hand was holding the phone to his ear.
There were several lamps in the courtyard, and in the dim light, the white smoke was curling up. When he raised his face to look over in the haze, he showed a smile.
Natalie was stunned and stood still with her hand on the doorknob, suspecting she was dreaming.
Fourteen jumped out of the door and ran over. Luke knocked off ashes on the cigarette, put it into his mouth, picked up the shopping bags on the bench, and walked to Natalie.
"Why do you look so shocked to see me come back?"
It was so sudden that Natalie couldn't help being transfixed in situ, and then, she asked in a daze, "Why do you...return?"
Luke puffed at the cigarette and said with a wicked smile, "You know I am chasing you, so I must avail myself of the opportunity of the New Year's Day to accompany you."
Then, he scanned her carefully and found that she was wearing warm fleece pajamas and that her long hair was not tied up. Her face was small, and now it was partially covered by her hair, so it looked even smaller, but her eyes were big and bright.
Those eyes were staring at him in disbelief.
Luke sighed slowly, "I tried my best to come back as soon as possible, but you don't look happy at all."
"No, I just..."
Natalie's voice was choking with sobs, and her eyes were moist.
She was waiting for him to reply to her message, but she did not expect him to come back in person. Her current feeling was beyond words, but she thought she was overjoyed.
"Have you finished eating the dumplings?" Luke leaned against the door lazily.
Natalie shook her head, "Not yet."
Luke handed her the bags in his hand, tilted his head, and said, "Change your clothes. I will take you out to have dinner."
The bags were heavy. When Natalie took them over, she surprisedly found that he had bought new clothes for her again.
Emotions sometimes changed in the blink of an eye.
A few minutes ago, she had been holding back her tears while eating dumplings alone.
Suddenly, he showed up.
The twist after despair could make people mad with joy.
Luke had very good taste. He bought Natalie a red jacket, a white dress, and a pair of thigh boots, making her look gentle and pure.
Natalie put on light makeup, took off the silver ear studs, and put on the pink diamond earrings.
Luke parked the car outside the gate, so he got in the car to wait.
He couldn't take his eyes off her as she trotted over.
There were many pretty girls with thin waists, long legs, and smooth skin, but Natalie had a unique temperament. She was pure but seductive.
Natalie got into the car and closed the door of the passenger seat.
She then stared straight ahead without looking at him. Later, she coughed, seemingly unintentionally pulled back her long hair on the left, and revealed her ear.
Her ear lobe was white touched with red, and there was a small pink diamond earring.
When Luke was about to look away from her to start the car, he saw a flash of light from the corner of his eye, so he turned his head to look at her again.
Staring at her ear for a long time, Luke lowered his voice and asked, "When did you get your ears pierced?"
Natalie did not want to answer this question, so she pursed her lips with lipstick lightly. Later, she blinked her eyes, looked at him, and complained, "It hurts..."
Then, they looked into each other's eyes for a while.
Luke suddenly smiled, "Is it too late for me to coax you now?"