The distance between both of them was too close. Joel’s aura was powerful. A forceful smell bombarded Lucy Katz, which made her feel unnerved.
She involuntarily shrunk back a little. Her eyes flickered everywhere and she did not dare to look him in the eye.
Lucy said with a timid voice, “That was a unique situation. How would I know that you’d show up?”
Joel squinted slightly and glanced her over condescendingly.
Soon after, he sneered. “It’s alright if you didn’t know before, but now you know. Since you’re so gutsy, you shouldn’t have reached out to me. Now that I’ve saved you, there’s no reason for me to just let others have you, right?”
Lucy’s body stiffened and gaped at him.
“What do you mean by this?”
Joel laughed and said, “It’s what you heard.”
He leaned over. His lips were by her ear and his voice was mellow yet devious. It carried a hint of malice that she had never heard before.
“Lucy Katz, you know what I want. You also know that as long as I want something, I’ll do anything to get it. Initially, I didn’t want to force you, but you willingly stayed over that night. Did you think that anyone can just get in bed with me? You can’t just come and go as you please. What do you treat me as?”
Lucy’s entire body froze in place. She was shaking because of his words.
Half of it was fear, and the other half was anger.
She bit down and said, “What are you planning to do?”
Joel got closer to her and replied in a deep voice, “You’ll know more later.”
After he said this, he straightened himself. The darkness on his face disappeared, and that accompanying forcefulness also faded.
Lucy could finally breathe.
Immediately after, she felt heavy-hearted.
She looked at Joel, frowned, and said, “Joel Foster, I’ve already told you clearly that I don’t have feelings for you. If you still care about our childhood friendship, please stop interfering with my life. If you can do this, I’ll be forever grateful.”
Joel laughed and did not pick up a word she said. Instead, he said, “Why would I want your gratitude? Ha! There are so many people in this world who are grateful to me, and it’s definitely not lacking you.”
Lucy was shocked. This man was still as relentless as before. He was obviously coming from a good place, but as these words poured out of his mouth, one just could not help but feel like bashing him to the ground.
She took a deep breath and tried her best to suppress her frustration and uneasiness.
Lucy knew that there was no way she could change his mind today, so she could only change the subject.
“Fine. Whatever you do is none of my business and I don’t even want to know. It’s late and I want to rest. You should leave!”
This time, Joel looked at her intensely but did not say a word. He then turned around and left.
“Bang!”
The door outside slammed shut, and Lucy made sure that the man had left. She suddenly felt like somebody had sucked the air out of her. She collapsed and slowly sat down while leaning against the wall.
The next day, Lucy went to the hospital to visit her mother.
Unexpectedly, before she got to the ward, she overheard 2 nurses gossiping in the hallway. Their faces blushed with excitement and coyness.
They were walking while whispering excitedly.
The door of the ward was pushed open and the laughter inside stopped abruptly.
In the room, Mama Katz was lying down on the bed and Joel Foster was sitting by her side, peeling an apple.
Behind Joel stood his personal assistant, Mike Luther. Mike saw Lucy coming in, so he bowed and greeted her.
“Hello, Ms. Katz.”
Lucy ignored him. Her complexion was not great.
She glared at Joel and asked, “What are you doing here?”
Joel just squinted his eyes and did not reply.
Mama Katz was too happy and did not notice the awkward atmosphere between the two.
She just waved for Lucy to come over.
“Lu! You’re here. Come sit.”
When Lucy walked over to her side, she added, “This child. Why didn’t you tell Mom that you made such a good friend? Mom didn’t stop you from having a boyfriend. You’re already so old and I’ve always been supportive of you. If Joel didn’t come over today, I wouldn’t have known about this!”
While she spoke, she stared accusingly at Lucy.
Lucy’s body stiffened, and she looked at Joel with disbelief.
She never would have thought that Joel dared to come over, and not just that, he had also said a bunch of nonsense to her mother.
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