Chapter 186: Chapter 186: A Hug?
Nina Halloway was listening, completely engrossed, when a strong arm wrapped around her waist. The next thing she knew, her feet were off the ground and her whole body was being lifted up.
?
Before she could make a sound, a large hand clamped over her mouth and she was dragged away.
Sophie Shaw vaguely heard faint footsteps behind her. She turned to see Ethan Austin’s tall back, and Nina Halloway tucked under his arm, being carried away.
Nina’s legs were still kicking futilely in midair, and she’d already lost her slippers in the struggle.
She watched them with an ambiguous smile and murmured, "Ethan and Nina seem..." ’To be getting along well?’
"What’s up with them?"
She jerked her chin in the direction Ethan had gone. Anne glanced over and saw Ethan slide open the balcony door, take a long stride, and disappear onto the balcony with Nina.
SLIDE—
He slid the door shut from the outside, sealing it tight.
This was nothing new to Anne.
"They probably went to whisper some secrets."
She looked away and went back to what she was doing.
"Aren’t they a little too close? Or is it just me?"
Anne shrugged. "It’s not just you. But Ethan is a willing participant."
?
"He doesn’t mind being a substitute. He told me so himself."
"A substitute?"
"Didn’t Nina say that Ethan’s eyes look like Garland’s? I guess she’s using my brother as a stand-in."
Sophie tilted her head, stunned for a second. She recalled the scene from just now. ’No matter how you look at it, Ethan seemed to be the more proactive one, right?’
A grown woman had just been carried off so effortlessly.
’The kid’s pretty strong, almost on par with Alaric Blackwood.’
Thinking of Alaric Blackwood, she sighed helplessly. She freed a hand to pull her phone from her pocket and finally replied to his earlier message: [Having dinner with Anne tonight.]
Alaric Blackwood replied instantly: [What time will you be back?]
She thought for a moment and replied: [I want to spend the night with my best friend. You eat dinner at home, and don’t forget your medicine.]
Alaric Blackwood didn’t reply again. She wondered if he was upset.
「On the balcony.」
Nina Halloway wasn’t wearing a jacket and was shivering from the cold.
Both of her slippers had fallen off during the struggle. She was standing on Ethan Austin’s own slippers, her hands wrapped around his lean, narrow waist as she instinctively burrowed toward the warmth.
Ethan Austin wrapped his jacket around her, resting his chin on the top of her fluffy head. His senses filled with her faint, fresh scent.
"What did you overhear in the kitchen just now?"
"Nothing."
She hadn’t heard anything at all before Ethan dragged her away.
"I suspect your sister and Sophie are plotting something."
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Plotting what?"
"They’re plotting to go out without me."
"..."
"It’s so cold! Why did you bring me out to the balcony? What’s wrong with you?!"
Ethan froze for a few seconds, then slid open the door. With a practiced motion, he wrapped an arm around the woman’s waist and carried her back inside.
He carried her straight to the sofa with one arm, dropped Nina onto it, and then in a few quick steps, retrieved her two fallen slippers and placed them by her feet.
As he bent down, Nina leaned close to his ear and said in a very soft voice, "Go find out where your sister and the others are going later, and if they’re taking me."
"..."
"Go on."
Ethan gave a resigned nod and tiptoed toward the kitchen.
He was a big guy, and as he approached the two women, he cast a large shadow over them.
Sophie and Anne both glanced back at him, then went back to chatting about nothing in particular, making no mention of going out.
Mission failed. He returned to Nina’s side. "Your suspicion was wrong."
"They’re not going out?"
"Looks like it."
However, after dinner, Anne quickly cleared the table, stuffed the pots and pans into the dishwasher, and pulled Sophie into a room. When she came out again, she was fully dressed for the outdoors, bundled up like a bear.
"Sophie and I are heading out. We’ll be back tomorrow morning. You two get some rest."
Watching the two of them leave arm in arm, Nina pouted and shot Ethan a pitiful, wronged look. "I told you they were plotting to go out without me, and you didn’t believe me."
Ethan: "..."
Nina knelt on the sofa, stuck her butt in the air, and jammed her head into the gap between the sofa and a throw pillow. She had entered full-on emo mode, looking just like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
"You really want to go out?"
Nina wriggled her butt, as if in answer to his question.
He let out a PFFT of laughter. ’This woman is actually kind of cute!’
Hearing him laugh, Nina pulled her head out from between the sofa and the pillow, narrowing her eyes to glare at him. "What are you laughing at?"
"Get up and get dressed. I’ll take you to go after them."
Nina’s eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Hehe!"
Nina jumped up and ran to the entryway to put on her coat. Ethan followed, taking down a scarf and wrapping it twice around her neck. He then grabbed a hat and a mask and quickly put them on her. The moment her shoes were on, he grabbed her hand without another word and pulled her out the door.
They chased them to the elevator bank, but they were a step too late. The elevator had just gone down.
"The stairs, the stairs!"
Nina dragged him toward the stairwell.
Halfway down, deciding the "young miss" was too slow, Ethan hoisted the panting woman over his shoulder and sped up, charging down the rest of the way.
But even after rushing to the first floor in one go and dashing outside, he was still a step too late.
Sophie and Anne were already in a blue Cayenne, and the car was already a good distance down the road.
With one arm around his neck and the other holding her hat on her head, Nina watched the car drive further and further away. She mumbled in his ear, "We’re already out here. Why don’t we get the car and keep chasing them?"
Ethan hesitated for a few seconds. "Let’s just forget it."
’It was obvious that Sophie and Anne really didn’t want to take the high-maintenance girl out with them.’
Her hopes dashed, Nina’s head and limbs went limp. She hung off Ethan’s shoulder, playing dead.
She may have been ’dead’, but her mouth was very much ’alive’, chanting nonstop, "I’m not going home. You’re not allowed to take me home..."
She went abroad right after high school and lived there for nearly five years. After returning to the country, she debuted in the entertainment industry. Usually, her life was nothing but work.
Now that she suddenly wasn’t working, she was cooped up at home all day, so bored she could die.
She desperately wanted to go out, but she was afraid of causing an unnecessary commotion.
For so many years, she hadn’t had a single friend. The only person she was close to was Anne. Then she finally got to know Sophie, and felt like she finally had two good friends.
But now the two of them were going out, and they didn’t even take her...
’This sucks!’
"Why don’t you drive me up to the mountains for a bit? There’s no one there, and it’s quiet."
Hearing her miserable words, Ethan put her down.
The young miss dove headfirst into his arms, pressing her forehead against his chest as she offered a compromise. "If you think driving up the mountain at night is unsafe, then a little stroll in the suburbs is fine too."
"Why are you being so pitiful?"
"Because I am pitiful!"
No matter what she did, if she was photographed, it would easily end up trending online.
"If my sister and her friend won’t take you out, I’ll take you."
Nina froze, looking up at him with sparkling eyes. "You?"
"What, you don’t want to go out anymore?"
"I do!"
"Come with me."
"I don’t want to walk by myself."
"Then... want me to carry you?"
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