Stefan smiled at her. “Thank you. I’ll be waiting for your good news.”
Gwen was a little sheepish at being thanked like this. “You shouldn’t thank me…”
She was agreeing to help him to save her father, and if anything, she should have been the one thanking him.
“Of course I should. Helping you is a part of my duties as a bodyguard, but you helping me is out of sheer kindness and purity.”
Gwen’s entire face flushed red when she heard this. She bit her lip and turned away, trying to hide her scarlet cheeks from Stefan’s observant eyes. “It’s getting late now, and I have to go to bed now. You should rest early too. I’ll contact Brettley tomorrow and talk to Kurt, too. Goodnight.”
With that, she sprinted up the stairs without turning back.
“Goodnight.”
Stefan smiled as he stared at her retreating figure.
Gwen scampered back to her room, shut the door behind her, and slumped against it, exhausted beyond measure.
She gently cupped her burning cheeks and could not help scolding herself for acting so childishly.
How could she possibly be bashful just because a man whose face she had never even seen before complimented her?
How could she have developed these feelings toward her own bodyguard?
What was she doing? She could not do this to herself, and most of all, to Luke!
The next morning, Gwen woke up at the crack of dawn. She called Bethan on the phone while she was washing up, and told Bethan about her request.
“No problem!”
Bethan was smiling as she said this. “You say that that bodyguard of yours needs a mask, huh? Well, what kind is he looking for? One that’s made to imitate human skin? I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’ll come off easily if someone were to punch him, and I think a better option will be something made of metal, like those masks you wear to a costume party. We can easily make it look more lifelike!
“That way, even if he wears the mask, you’ll still be able to see the angles of his jaw and his other features…”
Bethan explained as she busied herself in the kitchen. “I think you’ll be captivated by him sooner or later.”
Gwen almost choked on her mouthwash when she heard this. She let out a few coughs, then finally got herself together. “Why are you becoming more mischievous as time passes? I’m getting him a mask so that he can go undercover in Luke’s old gang, not because I want him to wear a mask. Besides, so what if I can see his other features and the angle of his jaw through the mask? I… My heart belongs to Luke, and I won’t fall for anyone else even if Luke is dead! You shouldn’t be joking about this!”
Bethan stifled her laughter when she heard Gwen’s stern tone and replied solemnly, “Well, I have to reiterate to you that Luke isn’t dead. He’s just sharing a body with his brother Steven, so you shouldn’t conclude that he died. As long as his body and subconscious are still around, he’s as alive as any of us.”
Gwen paused when she heard this. A split second later, she let out a bitter chuckle. “What difference does that make?”
Although the body belonged to Luke, his mind no longer belonged solely to him. He had to share his mind with his brother, Steven, so was this truly the same as being alive?
Besides, even if Luke’s subconscious remained, he could not return to her side to protect and take care of her as he did in the past, so what difference did it make?
Bethan paused when she sensed Gwen’s misery and did not kid around anymore. “Gwennie, I just think…you shouldn’t assume Luke is dead. So long as his body remains, he’s still roaming this earth, isn’t he?”
Gwen let out another chuckle. “Of course I know I shouldn’t assume that. All I’m saying is that I won’t fall for anyone else, especially not Stefan, not in a million years, and not even if Luke died.”
Bethan raised her brows when she heard this. “Stefan?”
“Yes. That’s his name.”
Gwen put down her toothbrush and wiped her mouth. “His name is Stefan Joneson. S-T-E-F-A-N. Stefan.”
“That’s a nice name,”
Bethan commented.
‘Good for you, Luke. Stefan Joneson. What a brilliant play on words,’ she thought to herself.
It was clear Luke had gotten inspiration by combining both his and Steven’s names. ‘Stefan’ sounded a whole lot like ‘Steven’, and ‘Joneson’ was a derivative of his last name ‘Jones’.
Bethan had been suspecting before this that the bodyguard looking after Gwen was, in fact, Luke, but after learning his name, she was 100% certain.
Stefan Joneson was Luke Jones in disguise!
“Don’t worry, Gwennie.”
Bethan smiled. “I’ll talk to Brettley and ask him to arrange for the best prop master in the world to customize a mask for Lu–I mean, Stefan. It’ll be the best mask anyone has ever seen!”
Gwen massaged her glabella helplessly while continuing to talk to Bethan on the phone. “Sure thing. Be it the best prop master in the world or just any prop master. Just get him here as soon as possible.”
For some reason, Gwen had a feeling Bethan was being more paranoid after serving her sentence in jail. Maybe she was using this method to cover her pain from losing Anne.
All of a sudden, Luke came into Gwen’s mind. Back in the past, she often felt sorrow when she thought of Luke. Sometimes, she even lost her mind.
At present, however, she could face reality calmly.
Of course, she did not know how long it was going to take for Bethan to reach this phase.
Once she finished talking, she went out to buy breakfast.
When she returned, she knocked on Stefan’s room and passed the breakfast to him. Subsequently, she went to Kurt’s room and asked him to join her for breakfast.
Kurt came out and looked at Stefan’s room curiously. “You’re not going to invite Stefan?”
Gwen smiled and pointed at the breakfast on the table. “I already gave him his breakfast. He’s going to have it in his room.”
In the meantime, she sat down and placed Kurt’s breakfast in front of him. “During his previous mission, he accidentally hurt his face. Now, he refuses to show his real face to the others and always has his mask on when he’s not alone. Just let him eat in his room in comfort. Don’t give him any pressure.”
Kurt was dumbstruck. His eyes looked surprised as he looked at Gwen and then at Stefan’s room. “Did he tell you that?”
Oh, boy. Luke was always a proud man. He never backed down on any fights. Was it necessary to become a disfigured self-abased man just because he wanted to protect his beloved woman without letting her figure out it was him?
“Of course not.”
Gwen gave Kurt a weird look and lowered her voice. “Do you remember Brettley Morrison? Luke’s rich friend.”
Kurt paused and nodded. “Yes. He helped the boss out a lot in the past.”
“Brettley Morrison was the one who told me.”
Gwen pursed her lips and glanced at Stefan’s room. “No one will easily admit that they’re self-abased. Brettley was his previous employer, so he was aware of Stefan’s condition. He was also the one who sent Stefan over here to protect me.”
After a purse, Kurt was really astonished by what Gwen said. “He’s so…strong.”
So strong to come out with a lie like this.
Continuing, he added, “And so are you, too.”
It was just so unbelievable that Gwen would buy such a silly lie.
In fact…
All Gwen needed to do was to gather her courage to take off Stefan’s face to know the truth.
However, Gwen was never that type of person. She was never a person who wished to force someone to do something they were unwilling to do.
At least, that was what Kurt observed when Gwen was with Luke in the past. Even when those gang members bad mouth her in front of her by saying she was not worthy of Luke, all Gwen did was smile and not reply.
That was why Kurt was unlike the others. He did not have the intention to look for Gwen after Luke passed away. Most of the time, he was with Luke. Thus, he could tell what kind of person Gwen was when Luke was still around.
At this point, he looked at Gwen. “Do you…wish Luke could come back to life?”
“Do you want the truth?”
Gwen asked faintly with a frown and looked at Kurt.
After a pause, Kurt nodded. “Of course.”
Gwen said seriously, “I don’t want him back. Although you might find it unbelievable, I really don’t want him to come back to me.”
If Luke reappeared, that meant Steven had to leave. The last time Luke came back, he specifically stated as Steven’s brother, he hoped Steven could continue to live a happy life in his body. Therefore, she believed that was always Luke’s wish.
It was definitely not Luke’s wish if he came back one day. It was more like Steven did not want to exist anymore.
Thus…
Gwen would rather maintain this current situation where Luke and Steven coexisted in the same body and lived in a place where no one knew them.
Maybe they would find a girl who could accept them and live happily together…
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.