Chapter 7
864 Words
My heart stopped beating for a split second.
I huddle in the thick shadows under the desk, even my breath carefully held.
I could see the tips of Serena's heels, less than half a meter away, approaching step by step, tentatively.
It's over!
These two words were all I could think of. Once she finds out, all of my previous disguises will go down the drain, and I, the one who holds their deadly secret, will be left in the lurch.
Damian frowned as well, his eyes full of caution and suspicion as he similarly pressed forward in the direction of the desk.
Just as Serena was about to bend down and lift the tablecloth-
"Damian!"
Lucien's slightly impatient voice suddenly came from the direction of the living room, which, though not loud, was like a thunderbolt that instantly broke the tense atmosphere in the study!
"Norah is not feeling well, we should go!"
Damian and Serena's movements were halted at the same time, and they subconsciously turned back to look at the door.
Immediately after, the door to the study was thrown open with a bang, and Lucien's tall figure appeared in the doorway. He looked around, his brows locked, his eyes finally landed on the empty sofa, his tone cold: "Where is Norah?"
His appearance was like a blinding light that instantly cut through the despair in front of me.
It was now!
I seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and immediately crawled out weakly from under the desk. I poured out my entire acting ability, leaving my face covered in extreme panic and tears, my body shaking uncontrollably from fear.
"Lucien!" I cried out with a sobbing voice, jumping towards him recklessly, hugging him tightly around the waist and burying my face in his solid chest as if I had found the only thing that could save me.
Lucien wrapped his arms around me and patted my back gently with his broad palms, and I could feel his body stiffen instantly, and the cold, piercing look he gave Damian and Serena.
Damian and Serena were completely frozen; they probably never dreamed that I would emerge from under the desk in this manner.
"I ...I seem to be lost ..." I looked up at Lucien with teary eyes, my voice shaking beyond recognition, "I tried to find the restroom ...... and ended up accidentally walking here. Then this young lady suddenly yelled at me and said she smelled something ... I was so scared ...She was so fierce ..."
I said while still pointing in horror at Serena, who was grimacing.
I had managed to twist Serena's reasonable suspicions into her unjustified bullying of a lost, amnesiac, vulnerable, and helpless patient!
"Serena!" said Damian, looking incredulously at Serena with a questioning look in his eyes.
"I didn't! I'm just ... Serena was completely flustered. She tried to defend herself, but any explanation she gave paled in comparison to my tearful accusations. To the casual observer, she was just bullying a delirious patient!
"Just what?" Lucien finally spoke, his voice cold as ice, each word carrying a powerful sense of oppression.
He shields me even more tightly behind him, like an enraged lion, and forces Damian with his icy eyes, "Damian, is this how you treat your guests? Letting your friend yell at my girlfriend when she's unwell and delirious?"
"I ..." Damian was speechless, his face rising like a pig's liver.
"It seems that you, here, do not guarantee Norah's safety." Lucien no longer gives them any chance to explain as he picks me up in a cross-body, and I obediently bury my face in the crook of his neck, my body still shivering.
Amid the chaos and the gazes of the crowd, Lucien took me in his arms and left the place of wrongdoing with a stride of absolute strength.
It wasn't until I got into the car that the suffocating sense of oppression slowly dissipated. I leaned back on the seat, panting heavily, my hands covered in cold sweat.
Those few short minutes just now were more thrilling than anything I had ever experienced.
The car drove smoothly through the night, and the compartment was silent.
I surreptitiously glanced at the man beside me from the corner of my eye. He drove the car intently, the lines of his side face looking extra cold in the light of the street lamps, unable to see any emotions.
He didn't press me on what exactly I had just done in the study, nor did he question why I had gotten lost there.
Just when I thought he wasn't going to say anything else, he pulled up to a red light, then took out a bottle of water from the storage compartment and handed it to me.
His expression regained its calmness, as if the raging lion just now was just my illusion. He looked ahead and spoke faintly; his voice was not loud, but it made me instantly fall into an ice cave:
"Next time you do something like this, remember to think of a way back first."
My heart snapped, and my grip on the water bottle tightened instantly.
He did know everything!
- Writer
