Chapter 28 Remember to Lock the Door
To Natalie, it wasn't an issue of whether she had the courage or not. Luke was bold and always acted arbitrarily like the wind. He did things without any notice.
When the wind blew, it gave the soul a moment of reverie. After that, one would find herself slowly drowning in a restless state.
Luke was the most difficult man that Natalie had ever met.
When Luke asked that question, Natalie's heart trembled again. In just two seconds, she stepped out of the car firmly, without any cowardice.
cowardice, like she was telling him, "I'm not afraid of you at all."
Luke didn't leave the car hurriedly but stayed inside watching her.
Natalie was waiting in front of the car while holding her backpack in her arms. The look on her face, which was pretending to be calm, was like a child who couldn't get her candy but insisted on saying that she didn't want to eat it. She looked annoyed but cute.
Luke laughed suddenly.
Actually, Luke hesitated when he proposed to let Natalie live here. He had never lived under the same roof with a girl before. He was afraid that they wouldn't get used to each other and was worried about being too intimate.
But now, he was looking forward to living with her.
This villa wasn't a newly purchased one. At first, Luke was planning on giving this villa to Raine. After Harlan's father's accident, Luke took care of his comrade's family without hesitation. However, Raine wasn't willing to leave the sea. Therefore, this villa was left vacant. But now that he was here on Alcomara to deal with matters in the hospital, he could come here and stay. 
Compared to Natalie's home, Luke's living place seemed desolate. It was a spacious high-end building decorated in gray-white tones. Although the furniture was embellished with gold, it looked empty overall. 
Natalie stood in the first floor's living room and looked around. Rather than extravagant, she was surprised by the cheerlessness and the lack of liveliness in the house. Wouldn't Luke feel lonely living here?
After waiting for Luke to help her place her suitcase into her room, Natalie raised her head and asked when they returned to the first floor, "Can I place some flowers?"
Luke didn't seem to care about these. He threw the car keys on the coffee table and replied, "As you like."
The fall of the car keys on the marble surface led to a "bang" sound. The rain outside seemed to have no signs of decreasing. Raindrops were running down along the window walls, drowning his voice together.
Natalie didn't hear what he said clearly. She looked at him with confused eyes, "What?"
"I said," Luke grabbed the bag in her arms and placed it on the sofa. Then, he looked back at her with a smile, "Treat this place like your own home."
In a man's house, when this man
said to a girl to treat this place as her own, how could that girl not think much? Although he only spoke a few words, the warmth contained had made Natalie's heart flutter.
While looking at each other, Natalie remained silent. She couldn't think of a reply.
Suddenly, a swift black shadow flashed into the corners of her eyes. Natalie looked over and saw a burly adult Shepherd jumping down the stairs and running towards the living room. 
"Fourteen!" Natalie's eyes lit up with surprise. She squatted down and extended her arms, wanting to embrace the dog.
Since Fourteen was a large dog, it was inevitable that Natalie failed to maintain her balance when Fourteen was rushing toward her. She fell to the ground with her butt on the floor.
Humans always wanted to hide their love for others, but dogs were different. When Fourteen saw Natalie, it swayed its tail vigorously and rubbed its body into her arms. 
Natalie placed her hands beside Fourteen's face and caressed it. She raised her head and asked Luke with a smiling face, "You didn't send Fourteen back to Raine?"
At least to Luke, this was a very heart-warming view. Seeing her playing happily with his dog had awakened the warmth in his heart.
"I thought that you would be afraid at night. So I let Fourteen stay to accompany you." Luke bent down and pushed Fourteen away. He held Natalie's arm to help her stand up.
Natalie got up with the help of his strength. She was excited and surprised, "So you take Fourteen here, and let it sleep with me?"
"At first, yes." Luke said while bending his legs. He leaned on the sofa edge with his long legs opening slackly. He then said with a lazy expression, "But now it seems to be excessive."
With Luke half-sitting down, Natalie was about the same height as Luke. She didn't need to look up anymore.
"Why?" Natalie blinked her eyes.
He smiled naughtily, "Suddenly, I realized that I can do so."
"..."
Natalie was shy, but because she knew that he was deliberately teasing her, she didn't avoid him and mumbled, "You're too expensive. I can't afford your accompaniment."
Luke was remembered on the night of Mark's birthday. A group of people was shocked by his claim of "selling his body for money". Many of them had privately asked him repeatedly to ask the person who had "bought" him.
"I'm selling my body. Is eight hundred of dollar considered expensive?" Luke smiled. He acted seriously as if he wanted to correct her thoughts, "Where can you find someone as high-quality as me to sleep with you?"
Luke said with a serious tone as if Natalie was really his sugar mommy.
Natalie was calming her mind secretly. She retorted to him, "If it's eight hundred for a time, it would be eight thousand for ten times. Isn't it expensive?"
Actually, it was meaningless to argue about this. However, Natalie's cooperation and playing along made Luke happy, "How many times do you plan to sleep with me? I'll give you a friendship price."
Natalie remained silent. After a while, she lowered her eyes and complained, "I don't want to talk this with you."
"Hmm?" Luke noticed that Natalie liked to use this trick very much.
Natalie muttered, "... I can't win against you."
Natalie was like a kindergarten child who just lost in a quarrel and was angry about her own performance. 
Luke observed her expression carefully and smiled, "Then I'll get easy on you, okay?"
Luke's voice was low. Under his careless smile, Natalie felt a tinge of gentleness. However, for this emotion to come from him, it felt suspicious like an illusion.
"You're living alone?" Natalie changed the topic.
Luke raised his lips disapprovingly, "There's you now."
It wasn't clear whether it was intentional or not. Natalie was a being incomprehensible at that time. She turned her head to look at Fourteen and said softly, "Dr. Morgan and the others... they aren't living with you?"
"Why would adult men live together? Isn't it clingy?"
"..." What did this have to do with clingy? Natalie couldn't refute him since he was being reasonable.
Natalie walked a few steps away, stood in front of the window wall, and looked outside. The rain was tipping down. She sighed, "If I had known earlier, we should've eaten outside. The rain is so heavy. It would be hard for takeout delivery."
Luke's gaze was following Natalie's back. He asked Natalie whether she wanted to eat crab roe noodles. At first, Natalie's eyes brightened up. Later, she sighed dejectedly, saying that the shop was out of the delivery range.
However, it turned out that after Luke made a call, the meal was delivered half an hour later.
The food wasn't from the shop that Natalie visited frequently but another that was more expensive.
The ceramic bowl brought by the delivery man was huge. The ramen noodles were separated and the bowl was containing two portions worth of crab shrimp soup. The golden soup was rich and fragrant. There were also various side dishes available. It cost up to four figures for just one bowl of noodles.
That afternoon, they sat face-to-face at the dining table, just like what they did at the beach. They shared the big bowl of noodles.
After dining, Natalie stretched contently. She couldn't help but think that there was a reason for the meal being expensive. The noodle was more tasty and authentic than the one she usually ate.
"Luke, this noodle is really tasty." Natalie wiped her mouth with a tissue. Her eyes were squinting with satisfaction.
Luke had placed down his chopsticks earlier ago. In fact, the girl in front of him was still eating her second bowl while puffing her cheeks. 
He leaned his back lazily on the chair and chuckled, "You eat a lot. Why aren't you fat?"
"Who says that I'm not fat?"
Luke glanced at her inquiringly. Natalie had taken off her coat and was wearing a light-colored collar shirt. When she was eating, she lowered her head and unintentionally revealed her collarbones. The scenery further down was ambiguous.
For the first time in a while, Luke acted like a gentleman. He closed his eyes and didn't peep.
"Where's your fat?" Luke said in a relaxed manner.
Natalie replied surely, "They are at the place where they should be."
Luke laughed in response. He took out a cigarette from the cigarette box and bit it into his mouth, "Is it?"
His tone was like saying that even ghosts wouldn't believe what she said.
Natalie wasn't comfortable with his questioning. She was quiet for a while and then replied without thinking much, "You didn't touch it before. How do you know?"
After she finished her sentence, both of them turned quiet.
Luke's eyes were half-smiling, and his expression was gradually becoming playful. He didn't speak while looking at her.
In hindsight, Natalie realized what had happened, and her ears turned red-hot. She was ashamed and stood up suddenly while carrying the empty bowls, saying that she would go and wash up the dishes. Then, she quickly ran into the kitchen.
The open kitchen was clear at a glance. In front of the kitchen counter, Fourteen was sitting beside her legs while Natalie was bending down slightly to wash the dishes. She was wearing a short sweater and high-waisted slim jeans. Such a pose could easily reveal her thin waist and peach hips.
Luke was leaning on his place and looking at this beautiful scene for a while. Then, he lowered his gaze and flicked the lighter. "Click!", he lowered his head to lit up the cigarette.
Then, Luke stood up slowly and headed to the balcony to smoke.
As soon as he left, Natalie received a call from Mia. She was asking whether she had returned home herself.
Natalie turned off the faucet and held her phone in one hand. She responded hesitantly while having the other hand dripping in water. Probably because she was feeling guilty for lying, she replied a "yeah" in a low and hesitant voice.
And then, Mia gave a five-minute-long complaint. She was unhappy about her leave without prior notice.
After the call, Natalie gave a long sigh.
She felt like she was dating secretly and was feeling bad. Actually, Natalie had no intentions to hide what had happened. It was easy to explain, and there were reasons to support the situation. However, to think that she would need to say that she was taken away by Luke, she felt embarrassed.
The rain was pouring for the whole day.
They spent the afternoon in the living room and didn't communicate. Natalie was slumping on a single sofa while holding a book to read. Luke was sitting beside her with his leg crossed. He held a folder in his hands and was flipping through a thick stack of documents.
Natalie didn't know what he was reading, but she guessed that it could be matters related to his brother's company or the hospital.
What she remembered was his usual sloppy sitting posture. His thick eyebrows were slightly twisted, and he had a solemn look on his face. Natalie was a little surprised to see his meticulous side.
Probably because of his good-looking appearance, Luke always had an alluring charm. When he smiled at someone, probably no woman could resist.
He would make people flutter in vain because it was a feeling like the swaying clouds, where one couldn't catch it or keep it.
Luke seemed to be different when he was being serious. He looked reliable and attractive.
Natalie secretly raised the book in her hands to block her face. Her eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses were uncontrollably and quietly observing this man
.
Under the sound of rain and the flipping pages, she couldn't help but let her imagination go wild.
Natalie was thinking that if she had given him her glasses, Luke would definitely look like a handsome workaholic boss as portrayed in comics.
Suddenly, Natalie was curious about what he would look like if  Luke were in his military uniform...
Natalie couldn't think of a proper description. She really wanted to express her thoughts straightforwardly: Luke was really handsome.
Natalie felt that for her to stay here, it was Luke who was at loss.
Subconsciously, Natalie took her phone quietly and opened the camera. She hid her phone behind the book and focused the camera on this man
's face.
Her thumb moved towards the shooting button and pressed it.
Probably her gaze was being too obvious and scrupulous. Luke happened to sense something and raised his eyes to look at her at the same time.
"Clack --"
A clear and sudden shutter voice sounded in the silent living room.
"..." Natalie was holding her breath. She felt that her heart was going to stop.
She hid her tiny face behind the book and raised her eyes.
At that moment, their eyes met.
Luke was raising his eyebrows and looking at her patiently. He looked like he was waiting for an explanation but also wanted to see through her emotions.
When Natalie was back to her thoughts, she quickly fiddled with the hair on her forehead while looking at the phone screen. Then, she lowered her head back and continued to read the book.
She coughed calmly and muttered seriously, "To prevent the reformation and recurrence of thrombus, heparin, rivaroxaban, and apixaban are commonly used..."
While reading softly, she raised her hand and pushed the rim of her glasses.
Luke remained silent, but the smile on his face deepened. He knew everything.
At night, Luke ordered food and they ate together at home. An advantage during rainy days was that they could stay at home comfortably.
It was the first time that Natalie spent the night alone at home with a man.
On the first night, nothing special happened.
They went upstairs together and parted at her bedroom's entrance. People tend to imagine things at night. At that time, the rain was dissipating and was prevailed by the sound of breathing and heart beating. However, it was unclear who they belonged to.
Natalie held her hand onto the doorknob but didn't push the door. She was dodging his eyesight while saying, "Goodnight."
After a brief moment of silence, Luke said while smiling lightly, "I'm actually quite surprised that you really came here."
He was leaning lazily against the wall beside the door. The halo from the aisle light was swaying in circles, illuminating his dark and deep pupils.
Probably because it was late at night, Luke's voice sounded very sexy.
Natalie's breathing slowed down. She answered quietly, "I... I also didn't expect this to happen."
It was ambiguous enough to have a deep talk with the opposite sex while wearing pajamas at night.
"I can't possibly stay in your house for free. If you are free tomorrow, we could visit the supermarket to buy some groceries. I'll cook for you when we reach home..."
Natalie's voice became softer as she spoke.
She was planning to talk about some trivial matters in life to change the atmosphere. However, talking about these somehow made the situation worse and made them look like a family.
"Alright. I'll listen to you." Luke replied calmly.
Both of them had just taken a shower. Luke's short hair was half wet, and the collar of his nightgown was a little low. The smell of tobacco on his body was faint, and there was a hint of mint-flavored scent from the cooling shower gel radiating from his body.
Natalie didn't dare to look at him properly. She nodded obediently, "Then I'll go in first. You should go to bed early too."
"Ok." Luke continued, "Remember to lock the door."
"..." Natalie raised her head slowly with her eyes full of suspicion.
What would happen if she didn't?
Being stared at her watery eyes, Luke laughed suddenly. He unexpectedly took a step closer to Natalie, lowered his head, and spoke beside her ears, "I would like to confess something."
Natalie's long eyelashes were quivering. For some reason, she began to hold her breath, "... What?"
The water on Luke's wet hair was slowly condensing at the hair tips in front of his forehead. The waterdrop swayed and fell in front of Natalie's eyes.
"The thing that you put in the living room's drawer..." Luke paused for a while. He was speaking in a serious tone but also seemed to be holding his laughter. He looked like the drop of water that was gradually unrolling.
He said, "I didn't see it on purpose."