Chapter 6
But he obviously didn’t buy it. He thought, “Nancy told me she was in so much pain that she cried miserably.
“She has barely cried ever since I took her in. It must have hurt a lot for her to cry like that…”
Frowning, he put the laptop aside and walked toward Paulette. “Let me
see…”
Seeing him reaching out, Paulette took a big step back instinctively. His hand froze in mid–air as he had never thought she’d avoid his touch.
“Paulette?”
He looked up at her, his gaze obscure.
“I was just really worried about Tricia back then. I’m sorry that I overlooked you. Could you accept my apology?”
“Indeed, you were so worried about Patricia that you didn’t notice me at all,” Paulette thought.
That familiar dull ache flashed through her chest once again. As she kept her head dropped, Nelson couldn’t see the expression on her face. He only heard her say in an utterly flat voice, “I tripped. That was all. It was nothing compared to Patricia’s injuries. You should go back and be with her.”
“Are you really OK?”
“Yes.”
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Chapter 6
Nelson looked at her skeptically for a few seconds before finally relaxing.
He thought, “It seems she’s telling the truth. I know her well–if she was badly hurt, she would have made a scene already.”
Just as he was about to say something, his phone on the sofa rang. He walked over and answered it, his gentle voice almost making Paulette feel like he was an entirely different person. “Tricia? What’s up?
“What? You should have been more careful. Is it bad?”
He grabbed his jacket from the sofa as he continued, “I’ll be there in a second.”
As he hurried to the door, he suddenly remembered Paulette was still behind him. He then turned around and said, “Call me if you need anything. And stay home. Alright?”
Paulette watched as he went out, got into his car, and drove off.
As the engine’s roar faded into the distance, she exhaled softly, the pain in her waist flaring up again.
Just then, her phone in the bag buzzed. She took it out, and upon seeing Jeremiah’s name flashing on the screen, she actually felt the urge to cry.
She answered.
Then she said, her voice carrying grievances that even she wasn’t aware of, “Jeremiah, I’m hurt.”
Jeremiah had never heard Paulette speak in such a vulnerable tone. As he was stunned, he heard her faint sob.
He said, his voice tightening, “What happened? Did you go to the hospital? Where are you? I’ll have my friend take you to the hospital…”
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The concern in his voice was undisguised.
Paulette couldn’t help but chuckle through tears.
“My waist bumped into the table. It’s nothing.”
She took a few deep breaths, no longer that frustrated. Then she said as she walked over to the sofa and sat down, “I went to the hospital already. The doctor said there was no serious damage and then prescribed me some medicine.”
After saying this, she seemed to hear him breathe a sigh of relief. Then he said, “Can’t you at least protect my wife for me when I’m away?”
He addressed her as his wife so naturally.
Somehow, Paulette actually found his voice exceptionally pleasant to the ear. She blushed, scolding, “I’m not your wife.”
“Not yet.”
Light footsteps came from the end of his line before he said, his tone returning to its usual laziness, “Paulette, I look forward to the day this title becomes official.”
Paulette didn’t know how to respond.
She and Jeremiah went way back.
She had always thought of him as her friend, and to think he’d be her husband felt more or less weird and … exciting.
