Chapter 187: Chapter 187: Didn’t You Choose This Position Yourself?
Nina Halloway suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. "Will this be too much trouble for you?"
"Not at all."
’Getting paid twenty-five thousand a month just to accompany this young miss? A little hug is no trouble at all.’
He bent down slightly and opened his arms. "Come on."
He had intended to give Nina Halloway a princess carry, but her eyes curved into a smile as she suddenly leaped up from where she stood. She jumped onto him like an octopus, wrapping her arms around his neck and her long legs tightly around his waist.
This caught him off guard for a moment. He quickly steadied her by placing a large hand on her bottom, then carried her toward the parking area with one arm.
She was wearing a mask, so you couldn’t see anything unusual, but her face beneath it was gradually starting to burn.
"Ethan."
"Hm?"
"Your hand... is touching... my butt."
The man’s steps faltered, and he froze completely.
’Didn’t you choose this position yourself?’ he thought.
"You could hold me by my legs."
Ethan Austin "oh"-ed in acknowledgment but didn’t move his hand, continuing to carry her with one arm supporting her bottom.
He started walking again, went to the car, opened the passenger door, and placed Nina Halloway inside. He reached for the seatbelt to help her buckle it, but she surprisingly refused, insisting on doing it herself.
He closed the door thoughtfully, got into the driver’s seat, and started the car.
...
「Half an hour later, at the bowling alley.」
Ethan Austin wanted to teach her hand-in-hand.
But Nina Halloway was convinced she was amazing. From the moment she walked in, she ignored Ethan Austin’s "nonsense" and immediately picked up a 12-pound ball.
Seeing her gripping the ball, her legs staggered in a decent stance but unable to hold the ball in front of her chest, Ethan Austin walked over and suggested, "Want to switch to an 8-pound ball?"
"No."
"This one’s a little heavy for you."
Nina Halloway’s arms were so thin, he felt like he could shatter the bones with a firm grip.
"It’s not heavy. I can do it."
"Then go ahead."
Ethan Austin stepped back to give her space.
She looked serious and even knew the four-step approach. But the moment she released the bowling ball, she slid into the lane along with it.
Ten pins, zero hits.
Ethan Austin: "..."
They were the only two people in the bowling alley.
As soon as Nina Halloway arrived, she had booked the entire place.
Worried that Nina Halloway might get bored, Ethan Austin called his friends and asked them to come liven things up.
Before long, a few young men showed up. They were the same guys who’d had hot pot with Ethan Austin before, all around his age, in their early twenties.
When the guys saw Nina Halloway, they all froze on the spot.
Ethan Austin waved a hand in front of their faces. "Are you starstruck?"
The next second, a series of shrieks erupted in the bowling alley.
"No pictures, no videos."
Ethan Austin had warned them in advance, and the guys were very well-behaved. Without waiting for Ethan Austin to say more, they all went up to introduce themselves to Nina Halloway.
In no time, Nina Halloway was hitting it off with the younger guys.
When he saw a friend from the boxing gym enthusiastically teaching Nina Halloway how to bowl, Ethan Austin’s brow twitched. He suddenly remembered Nina Halloway saying she liked younger men...
He started to regret calling his friends over. He squeezed forward, nudged his enthusiastic friend aside with his butt, and personally began to impart his bowling wisdom to Nina Halloway.
「Elsewhere.」
Sophie Shaw and Anne arrived at a billiards club.
Anne liked to play pool, and Sophie Shaw had come specifically to keep her company.
The two of them picked an inconspicuous spot in the main hall, hoping not to attract attention. But from a private room, Evan Ford recognized them at a glance through the one-way glass.
The first person he noticed wasn’t even Sophie Shaw, but Anne.
That woman had left a deep impression on him.
He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a wine glass and swirling the red liquid inside. He hesitated for barely half a second before pulling his phone from his trouser pocket and dialing Alaric Blackwood’s number.
"Guess who I just saw?"
Alaric Blackwood’s voice was cold and indifferent. "Who?"
"Your wife."
Alaric Blackwood, who had been facing a table full of food with no appetite, now had a dark glint flash in his deep, alluring eyes. "Where?"
"Guess."
"Cut the crap."
"Let me borrow that imported red supercar of yours for two months."
"Deal."
A faint smile played on Evan Ford’s lips. He hung up and sent his current location to Alaric Blackwood on WeChat.
Alaric Blackwood arrived at the billiards club and spotted Sophie Shaw and Anne among the customers playing at several tables. He didn’t go over immediately, however, instead entering the private room where Evan Ford was.
He raised his hand and tossed the supercar keys to Evan Ford.
The man caught the keys smoothly and said with satisfaction, "If you need me to get your wife’s best friend out of the way, I can help."
"How are you planning to help?"
"In a bit, you pretend to run into your wife here. Say you didn’t drive, that you came by taxi. Then you’ll have a perfectly good reason to catch a ride with her. As for her best friend, I’ll give her a ride."
Alaric Blackwood glanced at the red wine on the table. "You’ve been drinking. How are you going to drive her?"
Evan Ford picked up his wine glass, tilted his head back, and downed the contents in one go. "I’ve been drinking, but your wife and her friend are drinking water. Can’t her friend just drive?"
"So, is she driving you, or are you giving her a ride?"
"What’s the difference? The goal is to get her away from them, anyway."
"..."
"Any objections?"
"None."
"Then that’s the plan."
Evan Ford gestured for him to go out and have his "chance encounter."
However, when Alaric Blackwood walked out of the private room and looked toward the pool table where Sophie Shaw and Anne had been playing, they were gone. Only a waiter was there, clearing the scattered balls off the table.
He walked over and asked the waiter, "Where are the two people who were just here?"
"Mr. Blackwood?"
"I’m asking you a question."
"They left."
"When did they leave?"
"Just now."
Alaric Blackwood rushed out of the club, only to see the taillights of a blue Cayenne.
It seemed he was destined to sleep alone tonight.
He returned to the private room and saw Evan Ford sitting on the sofa, playing with his supercar keys. He walked over, hooked a finger around the keys, and took them back.
Evan Ford raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What’s the meaning of this?"
"You don’t get to play with the car anymore."
"Why are you going back on your word?"
"My wife and her friend have already left."
"What does that have to do with me? I gave you real, reliable information. You were just too slow and missed the perfect opportunity for your chance encounter."
"That’s because you were talking nonsense and wasted all that time."
"..."
The two men stared at each other for a moment. Evan Ford tapped his fingers on the pool table a few times. "Since we’re here, how about a game?"
Alaric Blackwood reluctantly agreed.
Evan Ford missed his first shot. He missed several more times after that, not sinking a single ball.
Noticing he wasn’t in the right state of mind and that the bottle of red wine was nearly empty, Alaric Blackwood asked curiously, "Bad mood?"
"Don’t get me started."
"What’s on your mind? Tell your brother so I can have a laugh."
"It’s the old lady, what else? She has nothing better to do all day."
Alaric Blackwood sank three balls in a row. "What did the old lady do now?"
Evan Ford rubbed his throbbing temples and said helplessly, "After you and Sophie Shaw got married, she started nagging me nonstop, trying to find me a partner. Every day, she prepares at least ten photos of socialites for me to choose from."
"So, did you pick anyone?"
"I tried looking, but no one caught my eye."
Alaric Blackwood scoffed. "You expect to find love at first sight by looking at photos? What are you thinking!"
"Well, they should at least be easy on the eyes, right? They’re all heavily photoshopped pictures, probably edited by a million-dollar retoucher. A few of those socialites are rich party girls from our circle who change boyfriends faster than they change clothes. They look nothing like their photos in person."
Comments