Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Almost Let You Kiss Me
###Chapter 2: You Almost Got a Kiss
The black Maybach drove steadily through the curtain of rain.
The heat was on full blast inside the car. Maxine Rhodes curled up in the soft leather seat, a dry, fluffy white towel draped over her soaked hair.
"You just said... marriage..." Maxine Rhodes looked up, peering at him from under the towel, her voice slightly hoarse. "Were you serious?"
"I was." Ethan Hawthorne’s voice held no trace of a joke.
Maxine Rhodes gazed at the cold, hard lines of his profile, and a strange sense of familiarity washed over her again.
She remembered now. Ethan Hawthorne. He was Professor Coleman’s nephew.
Years ago, they had happened to have dinner together at a party at Professor Coleman’s house, but they had only met that one time.
Maxine Rhodes’s tense nerves eased slightly. "I see. But why did you choose to marry me?"
Ethan Hawthorne looked at her pale face. The words he had kept locked in his heart for ten years rose in his throat, but in the end, he forced the surging tide of affection back down.
She had just escaped a terrible relationship. He couldn’t frighten her with overwhelming emotions, let alone put that much pressure on her.
He put down the towel, his tone calm and steady. "My grandfather’s will stipulates that I must marry before my thirtieth birthday to fully take over the family foundation and the group’s decision-making power.
I need a wife who is impeccable in the public eye. You have a clean background and an exceptional bearing. You are a perfect fit."
He paused, then added, "Also, you have nowhere to go right now. We both get what we need. I will give you the respect and absolute freedom that Mrs. Hawthorne deserves."
Maxine Rhodes fell silent.
This proposal was like the last straw for a drowning person.
On one hand, it was an act of defiance. She wanted to prove to Benjamin Sterling that she could live a better life without him.
On the other hand, since her family was willing to give her away to a scumbag like Benjamin Sterling, they would surely do it again with someone else. Rather than let that happen, she might as well choose someone herself.
Besides, the calm strength Ethan Hawthorne exuded gave her a sense of security she had never felt before.
"Okay," she said softly. Her voice was quiet, but it carried the finality of someone burning their bridges.
Ethan Hawthorne’s hand, resting on his knee, instantly tightened, his knuckles turning white. It took an immense amount of self-control to suppress the euphoria and excitement nearly bursting from his chest, but his face remained a mask of composure.
However, the special assistant driving the car, Erza Sinclair, suddenly gripped the steering wheel tightly.
He understood completely! Having followed Mr. Hawthorne for so long, he knew exactly what that one "okay" meant!
Ten years of waiting had finally paid off! He wished he could just blast the "Wedding March" right now!
The car drove directly into the underground parking garage of Cloudview Apartments.
Ethan Hawthorne led Maxine Rhodes into the top-floor duplex apartment. The space was open and exquisitely decorated.
"The guest room is the one on the far left," he said, handing her a neatly wrapped paper bag. "There are clean clothes inside. Go take a hot shower first. Get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll go to the Civil Affairs Bureau tomorrow."
Maxine Rhodes took the bag, thanked him in a low voice, and turned to enter the guest room.
She opened the bag. Soft cotton underwear and simple clothes were neatly folded inside, and they were exactly her size.
’I didn’t expect Ethan Hawthorne to have women’s clothes in his house. They must have been left by someone else.’
Maxine Rhodes pursed her lips. She would still have to go buy some of her own clothes tomorrow.
Just then, Ethan Hawthorne came over with a towel and happened to walk in on Maxine Rhodes as she was taking off her drenched outer clothes, leaving her in just a form-fitting silk camisole.
"The towel..." Ethan Hawthorne’s voice died in his throat.
His gaze froze on her. Her fair skin was flushed with a faint pink, and the camisole straps hung loosely on her slender shoulders. A droplet of water trickled down her pale neck and disappeared into the hollow of her delicate collarbone.
Maxine Rhodes let out a startled cry and instinctively reached for something to cover herself. In her panic, she slammed her shin into the corner of the bed, making her suck in a sharp breath of pain.
Ethan Hawthorne immediately rushed forward, catching her by the waist as she stumbled.
His scorching palm met the cool, delicate skin of her waist, and they both froze.
"Where did you hit it?" he asked, his voice low and raspy as he bent down to examine her reddened ankle.
The distance was too close. She could smell the crisp scent of mint on him and feel the warmth of his breath against her skin.
His fingertips pressed gently against her ankle with restrained force.
Maxine Rhodes looked up to speak, but her gaze met his.
His eyes churned with an emotion she couldn’t decipher, like a tide that had been held back for years and was finally about to break through the dam.
His unabashed, scorching gaze swept past her trembling eyelashes and landed on her slightly parted lips.
The air grew thick in that instant.
Just as his lips were about to descend, Maxine Rhodes jerked her head to the side.
"Mr. Hawthorne!"
Those two words snapped Ethan Hawthorne back to his senses. He immediately let go of her and took two steps back.
"I’m sorry," he said, his voice hoarse. "I lost my composure."
He quickly left the room, gently closing the door behind him.
Maxine Rhodes’s heart pounded like a drum. ’Did he just... mistake me for the woman who left those clothes here? That was close.’
Outside the door, Ethan Hawthorne leaned his back against the cold wall, closing his eyes and forcing himself to calm his breathing.
The cool touch of her waist lingered on his fingertips as his thoughts drifted uncontrollably back ten years, to a high school evening soaked in twilight.
Back then, Ethan Hawthorne was just a boy from the Hawthorne Family, an outcast due to his withdrawn personality, who was cornered in an alley and beaten by kids from the family’s branch lineages.
He was curled up on the ground, letting the fists and feet fall, his heart a desolate, silent ruin.
Just then, a figure in a faded school uniform rushed in.
"I’ve already called the police!" The girl’s voice was clear and bright, trembling slightly but exceptionally brave.
She spread her arms, shielding him.
Seeing this, the hooligans cursed under their breath and scattered.
She turned around, silhouetted against the light, and held out her hand to him. Her eyes were as bright as if they held all the stars of summer.
"Are you okay?"
She spotted a trampled, dirty physics competition certificate among his scattered books. "Wow, you’re amazing! I’m the worst at physics..."
She pulled him to his feet and fished a fruit candy wrapped in pretty paper out of her shabby-looking schoolbag, pressing it into his hand.
"Have something sweet. It won’t hurt as much!"
She smiled, as if she had just accomplished something major, then ran off with her schoolbag on her back, her ponytail swaying in the sunset.
To this day, he still hasn’t been able to bring himself to throw away that candy wrapper.
For Maxine Rhodes, it might have been just a random act of courage from her youth. She might have even slowly forgotten what the boy looked like.
But for Ethan Hawthorne, she was the only person who had reached out to him when he felt abandoned by the entire world.
All his efforts since then were to become worthy of that ray of light and to become a fortress that could protect her.
That night, Maxine Rhodes slept terribly, plagued by nightmares.
In her dreams, she relived the childhood injustice of her parents scolding her after her brother snatched her only ragdoll. She saw her parents’ coldness as they grew up, forcing her to sell herself for a good price to help her brother. And she saw Benjamin Sterling’s contemptuous face as he called her a burden that no one but him would ever want...
Maxine Rhodes jolted awake. Outside the window, the sky was already bright.
A dull ache still throbbed in her heart. The feeling of being unloved was a shadow that had followed her from childhood to the present, becoming a footnote to her very existence.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to get up.
As she stepped out of the room, the aroma of food wafted toward her.
She followed the scent to the dining room and froze.
In the morning light, Ethan Hawthorne stood tall and poised in a set of light gray loungewear, setting the table at the island of the open-plan kitchen.
Hearing her footsteps, Ethan Hawthorne turned around, his features appearing exceptionally handsome in the light.
"You’re awake? Breakfast is ready."
Maxine Rhodes walked over and looked at the dazzling array of breakfast dishes on the table: crab roe soup dumplings, sweet osmanthus lotus root, congee simmered until the rice grains blossomed, and several of her favorite Cantonese-style dim sum items.
Ethan Hawthorne pushed a bowl of perfectly warm congee in front of her. "Eat it while it’s hot."
Maxine Rhodes sat down, her gaze sweeping across the table, a slight stir in her heart.
’How is it that everything is something I love to eat? Is it a coincidence?’
She took small sips of the congee. The warm broth slid into her stomach, slightly dispelling the chill left by her nightmares.
At the table, Ethan Hawthorne placed an agreement in front of her.
Maxine Rhodes lowered her eyes to scan it. The terms were clear: she would have exclusive rights to the master bedroom, freedom to manage her own assets, and the absolute right to terminate the agreement unilaterally at any time.
"Mr. Hawthorne."
Maxine Rhodes clutched the paper. "You’re a businessman, but I don’t see a single clause in this agreement that benefits you..."
Ethan Hawthorne replied, "I do need a marriage, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of your freedom and rights. You deserve these protections. This is the most basic equality between us."
There was no calculation in his eyes, only a reassuring honesty.
Maxine Rhodes no longer hesitated. Her pen cut across the paper with a sharp, clean stroke.
"It’s a deal."
*****
