He smirked and sneered. “Gwen is pretty, but too bad, she’s broken. When she was studying at the university, she was with her high school sweetheart, Ben, and lost her virginity to him. They both got married but were divorced afterward. Do you know why?”
The man dressed in black furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “Why?”
“Because…”
Winson cackled. “She was raped by some thugs, but she was lucky to meet Luke later. Luke didn’t care that she was once married or that she slept with many men, even if she was pregnant with god knows which men.
“You probably know that she was the reason Luke died. Not only is this woman a damaged good, but she’s also a taboo to all of her men.”
Winson put out the cigarette and threw it into the bin behind him. Later, he extended his hand out to pat the shoulder of the man dressed in black.”
Pull yourself out while you still can; any other woman is a lot better than Gwen. Besides, if you do end up with her, without any support from the other gangs, it’s easy for the other men to target you when they try to kill her. Don’t ruin your life just because of her.”
The man dressed in black narrowed his eyes. “Then aren’t you afraid, too?” “I’m not the same.”
Winson chuckled. “I have someone backing me up, and I don’t intend on giving my heart to her. My plan is to sleep with her and have a little fun before I trick her back to Sea City. I mean she has slept with many men, but at least she’s very pretty, and her body-“
Before Winson could finish his sentence, the man dressed in black threw Winson over his shoulder and onto the ground
Winson grunted in pain as his body slammed against the ground.
At that moment, Gwen was walking out of the pharmacy with some alcohol pads, sanitizer, and bandages, so she saw how Winson was flung to the ground by the man dressed in black.
Shocked, she quickly rushed over. “Winson!”
“Gwen…”
Winson used his hand to support his back when Gwen helped him to get up. He said weakly, “Do you even know this guy? He’s so fierce…”
Gwen bit her lip and looked at the man dressed in black. ‘I…”
She wanted to say she knew him, but she remembered what Bethan and Brettley told her.
Gritting her teeth, she answered, “I don’t know him.”
“You don’t know him…”
Winson glanced at the man dressed in black in disdain.
Although this man did not have the same motive as him, they were both here because of Gwen. He, however, was much closer to Gwen.
The first one to arrive normally had the advantage of being in a favored position. He and Gwen had known each other since they were in high school, and Gwen had said she did not know this man at all.
He straightened his back and said, “Gwennie.”
He called Gwen by her nickname on purpose. “I was expressing my gratitude to this man here just now. I also told him that you and I are very close with each other and that we had known each other since high school. Without so much of a warning, he threw me to the ground!”
Winson continued after a sigh, “If you didn’t arrive here just in time, god knows what he would’ve done. I was just telling him the truth, but he hurt me…”
Gwen’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at both Winson and the man dressed in black helplessly. Although she did not know if Winson was telling the truth, she was aware the man dressed in black would not harm her.
If the man decided to hurt Winson, it just meant Winson had said something inappropriate.
After a pause, Gwen turned to face the man dressed in black. “I’m sorry, my friend doesn’t know the truth. If he said anything that offended you, I apologize on his behalf.”
She then passed the bag of pharmaceutical goods to him. “Take this and treat your wound.”
The man accepted it and said with a deep voice, “Thank you.”
This was the first time Gwen heard his voice. For some reason, it sounded very familiar to her. It sounded…oddly similar to Luke’s and Steven’s voices, yet not entirely the same.
Unconsciously, she took a look at him.
Same as before, he had his cap lowered enough to cover his face and also a huge mask so that no one could see his face.
“How long will you guys take?”
Suddenly, the man’s voice pulled Gwen back to reality.
She paused and looked at Winson. “How long do we need to finish the art exhibition?”
Winson frowned. “Probably at least two hours.”
The ticket stated each entry was allowed two hours inside the art gallery, and Winson had spent a fortune buying those tickets. If he did not fully utilize the two hours, it would be a waste!
“Okay.”
The man dressed in black nodded and looked at Gwen. “I’ll be here. Run out immediately or yell if anything happens.”
He thus turned and walked to the gazebo with the stuff Gwen bought for him. He sat down and started to treat his wound.
“Who does he think he is?”
Winson rolled his eyes. “You and I are just going to look at some art in the art gallery. What’s going to happen?”
The man dressed in black ignored Winson and looked at Gwen.”
Remember what I told you.”
Odd as it sounded, Gwen felt like she was looking at…Luke.
When Luke was still alive, Luke would shoot her an annoyed look when someone interrupted them mid- conversation. The conversation often ended with Luke saying, ‘Remember what I told you.”
Every time, she would giggle and nod back at him to show that she remembered what he said, though she always forgot them.
Instead of being irked, however, Luke would rub her head softly and sigh.”
Sigh! What are you going to do if I’m not around…”
It hurt Gwen terribly to recall her memories with Luke. It took more than a while for her to withdraw herself away from the sadness.
She lifted her head and looked at the man dressed in black while earnestly replying, the same way she would always do when met with this question by Luke, “I know. I’ll remember them.”
The man dressed in black faltered for a moment briefly, and he nodded.”
Alright.’
After that, he lowered his head again and continued to treat his wound.
A pang of confusion hit her as she stared at the man. Every time Gwen replied the same way she did to Luke before, he would always tease her,”
You keep saying you remember it, but do you honestly remember?’
After that, she would throw herself into Luke’s arm and giggle.
Several seconds later, Gwen curled her lips and smiled bitterly. Frankly, there was nothing for her to feel upset about. She knew better than anyone that Luke was gone, and he was never going to come back.
Even Steven, who took Luke’s body, was nowhere to be found.
This man in front of her, who had been protecting her, was just a bodyguard Brettley hired.
How could she even assume the wild thought that this bodyguard would indulge her by having a conversation she used to have with Luke?
She thought too much of it. Her head was in the clouds.
Up until this point, she took a deep breath and looked at Winson. ‘Let’s go in.”
Winson was stunned. He quickly turned around and spread his arms in a welcoming gesture before walking into the art exhibition with Gwen.”
Gwen, let’s go to the painting section, and let me show you that drawing! The person Theo Allen drew looks too much like you…”
When Gwen and Winson were further away, the man dressed in black frowned and rolled up his sleeve. Under the black clothing, there was a deep cut on his fair arm, and it bled profusely.
He took out the bandages Gwen bought from the bag and bit it with his mouth. Then, he used the alcohol pad to sanitize the cut.
The sun was shining brightly, and the pain from his arm had his forehead sweating as if it were raining. He sweated so profusely that his hoodie was soaked.
Despite that, he did not take off his cap and mask, keeping his face obscured from all prying eyes.
After an excruciating pain, he took a deep breath and used the bandage to patch up his arm like he had done it a million times. As he finished putting away everything, he leaned back on the pillar of the gazebo with his hands supporting his body to take a rest.
Just then, his phone rang.
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.