Nathan rinsed his mouth, but the bitter taste didn’t completely disappear.
If anything, it felt as though the bitterness traveled down and took root in his heart. He closed his eyes and pictured Lucinda’s beautiful face. Only then did a sense of peace wash over him.
He dragged himself back to his desk and plopped down on his chair with a sigh.
“Do you have cigarettes?”
Sonny looked appalled and a little affronted by the question.
“Miss Simmons forbade you from smoking!”
Nathan said nothing and held up his hand to the other man.
Sonny gingerly took a pack of cigarettes out of his trouser pocket.
He had just bought it this morning. They were so expensive that he had yet to muster the courage to open the box and smoke a stick.
“Sir, you must reimburse me for this!”
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Nathan raised an eyebrow and sighed again.
“Fine.”
Sonny ripped the packaging open and plucked a cigarette. He made to hand it over to Nathan, but paused halfway.
“Are you sure you want to smoke? If Miss Simmons finds out, she’ll skin you alive! And she’ll punish me, too!”
Nathan’s face darkened.
“Keep talking like that, and I’ll punish you right here, right now.”
Sonny didn’t need any further threats.
He reckoned that it was just one cigarette. Surely, Lucinda wouldn’t know. No, nothing could possibly go wrong.
Besides, he understood where Nathan was coming from.
Over the years, he had grown to depend on cigarettes to cope with various challenges he had had to face.
And at the moment, Nathan needed a smoke to relax.
What Sonny didn’t know was that Nathan actually had no intention of smoking the cigarette.
The study was silent for a few beats.
Nathan held the cigarette up to his nose and took a deep, long whiff.