Finally, they came to a halt as Gwen slumped against the wall of a house, panting. The man behind her, on the other hand, was totally unfazed.
He curled his lips into a smile as he glanced at her. “We ran almost five blocks just now. I didn’t know you had such good stamina.”
The man’s melodic voice and his teasing tone made Gwen freeze momentarily. For a split second, she could not help thinking that…the man before her was Luke.
Not only that, but she had the sudden urge to remove his mask and see if it was him, but she stopped herself from doing so.
This man could not possibly be Luke-Luke was dead.
Even if Luke’s subconscious remained in Steven’s body, Steven would never come all the way here.
The man before her was just a bodyguard that Brettley hired to protect her, and the reason he was wearing a mask was that he felt conscious of his looks after suffering a tragic accident.
She could not possibly do this to him, especially knowing that he did not want to be seen by anyone else.
Since there were people from Sea City that were after her, she still needed his help in the future, and she could not afford to offend him.
At the thought of this, Gwen sighed and turned to smile at him. “I was just worried about you. If Winson really called the cops on you, you’d get arrested.”
The man grinned. “I guess you’re right. I can’t afford to get arrested again, considering I don’t have the best track record.”
With that, he reached out to gently pat her back. “Thank you for your help.”
Gwen’s entire body stiffened at this. The familiar sensation of this man being Luke returned once again.
A split second later, she broke out of her stupor and glanced at the time.”
It’s already noon. Care to join me for lunch? My treat.”
The man paused. His first instinct was to turn her down, but on second thought, he decided that it was better to continue hanging around for the sake of her safety, so he nodded in agreement.
The two of them went into the nearest restaurant.
Initially, Gwen intended to sit at the same table with him. She pointed at the chair across from her and sat down.
However, the man turned around and sat at the table behind her.
After a brief moment of surprise, Gwen realized that he did not want to sit with her because he did not want to reveal his face to her during their meal. At the thought of this, she could not help feeling a little apologetic for her insensitivity.
After ordering her food, she leaned back in her chair and, without turning around, said to him, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to try to see what you look like. I’m just used to dining with someone at the same table… Please don’t misunderstand…”
The caution in her tone made him curl his lips into a smile. If she were sitting right across from him, she would be able to see the grin on his face even despite the mask he was wearing. A split second later, he replied, “It’s okay. I didn’t misunderstand anything, and besides…”
He paused. “Even if you really wanted to see what I look like, you don’t have to apologize for that. You have the right to be curious, after all.”
Gwen furrowed her eyebrows. “Well, since you say that… Can I remove your mask and see you for who you are?”
The smile froze on his face and was gradually replaced by a frown. “Are…Are you really sure you want to do that?”
The man’s voice was solemn.
Gwen bit her lip and could not help feeling guilty for her insensitivity again. The somberness in his tone made her realize that she had overstepped her boundaries again.She bit her lip and turned to look at him.She had turned around because she thought it would be more earnest to apologize to him face to face, but to her surprise, when he saw her turn, the man extended his hands toward his ears in preparation to remove his mask.
“Wait!”
Gwen furrowed her eyebrows and stopped him. “Don’t take off your mask…”
His hands stiffened. He frowned, then asked in a low voice, “Why not?”
He had already prepared for this moment. After all, there was no point continuing to meet each other like this, and he thought he might as well reveal his identity to Gwen once and for all.
He never once thought that Gwen would change her mind at the last minute.
“ZT…”
Gwen quickly turned around and avoided his gaze. “Brettley told me about your situation.”
The man’s eyebrows furrowed. “So…”
“He told me that you suffered a tragic accident during one of your missions and ruined your looks and that you are still self- conscious about it… The truth is, you shouldn’t feel obliged to reveal yourself to me if you don’t want to. That’s too cruel.
“I wouldn’t mind if you want to continue hiding yourself. It doesn’t concern me at all what you look like. After all, you’re just a bodyguard here to protect me… I apologize for stepping out of line just now.”
The man froze when he heard this. A split second later, he narrowed his eyes as he tried his best to control his emotions. “
Alright. Thank you for understanding.”
That goddamn Brettley. Out of all the excuses he could come up with, this was the story he decided to go for?
He was mentally prepared to reveal himself to Gwen, but she decided not to do so out of guilt toward him and his so-called ‘ tragic accident’.
At the thought of this, the man sneered and replied, “Well, please don’t make any requests like this anymore.”
Since Gwen had bought into the story, there was no point in trying to change anything anymore.
After all, she had already gotten used to his presence, and perhaps not revealing his identity would be for the best.
“I won’t.”
Gwen nodded earnestly. She had guessed correctly; the man was indeed self-conscious of his looks.
At the thought of this, she sighed and could not help feeling relieved that she had stopped herself just in time. Otherwise… She could not bear the thought of potentially hurting the man who had done so much to protect her.
All of a sudden, her phone buzzed with a message from Bethan. [ Gwennie, did anything interesting happen on your trip so far?]
The reason she had sent this message was that Brettley had just told her about Winson.
Bethan was not too familiar with Gwen’s situation, so she did not dare to bring up Winson directly and instead chose to ask in an indirect manner.
However, Gwen was always honest with her, and this time was no exception.
[I ran into Winson Tinker. Do you remember him?]
Bethan’s reply came quickly. [Of course I do! Although I must say, I never once liked him, even back in high school. You’d better stay away from him!]
Gwen chuckled after reading the message Bethan sent.
[Why do I recall you being quite close with Winson when we were in high school? Why do you hate him so much now? Did you stay in contact with him after we graduated?]
Bethan was stunned when she read the message from her phone.
If Gwen did not remind her, she would have genuinely forgotten she was rather close with Winson when they were in high school.
At that time, they were young and naive.
They did not bother about love or romance between the opposite sides.
As always, Bethan was a friendly person that got along with most of her classmates in high school.
After they graduated, she went to stay in Banyan City because she was with Brettley.
Afterward, she never contacted her high school classmates.
For a minute there, she had a hard time thinking how to answer Gwen’s question when Gwen suddenly asked why she thought Winson was a bad person.
Obviously, she could not reveal to Gwen it was Brettley who asked her to pass the message.
Thinking of that, she looked at Brettley, who was sitting on the couch while looking after the kids, and rolled her eyes at him.
She looked down at her phone to re-read the previous messages to come up with an excuse.
[Because Winson tried to ask me to be his girlfriend before.]
[The first time we bumped into each other after graduation, he asked me out to eat together. I rejected him.He asked me out not long after, and during that time, he tried to put his hands on me and told everyone that I was his girlfriend…] Bethan frowned and used what Winson was doing to Gwen to make up a story to reply.
She also added, [You must stay away from him.He doesn’t respect women at all.Maybe he’s trying to pull the same trick with you by getting close to you thinking that you’ll fall for him!]
Gwen chuckled when she read Bethan’s texts.She could tell Bethan was worried about her.
Meanwhile, the man dressed in black was sitting behind Gwen.
His lips curled into a smile as he watched her slender back tremble slightly while she giggled.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.