Panic surged within Ariana. She scrambled for a place to hide. But scanning the room, she found no suitable spot. Her instinct urged her towards the bathroom. However, in her haste, she hadn’t properly worn her slippers. As she flung open the bathroom door, she lost her balance and crashed to the floor with a loud thud. Her half-worn slipper flew off and, unfortunately, struck Holden square in the chest!
Melon and Holden were both shocked and hurried over to see if Ariana had been hurt.
Ariana was deeply embarrassed. She had assumed Holden had already left, but to her astonishment, he had come back, even ending up getting hit by her slipper. In that instant, she was so embarrassed that she wished for a place to hide. Her cheeks turned red.
“Mommy, are you okay?” Melon took hold of her arm, showing his concern.
Holden also looked at her with worry and said in a gentle voice, “Did you hurt yourself?”
“I… I’m fine.” Ariana’s embarrassment made her words stumble. She was trying to stand up by herself when Holden quickly lifted her, placing her on the bed.
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“I’m really okay,” Ariana explained, yet she couldn’t bring herself to meet Holden’s eyes, feeling embarrassed and uneasy.
Then, Holden saw the numerous mosquito bites on Ariana and frowned in concern. He asked, “Where were you working late? Why do you have so many mosquito bites on your body?”
As he helped Ariana up, he noticed even more mosquito bites on her neck, which looked slightly red.
Feeling guilty, Ariana couldn’t confess that she had been hiding in the bushes for two hours. The thought alone made her feel silly.
She looked away and offered a vague excuse, saying, “Um, I was outside, not inside the building. I was working with people on the outskirts…”
She scrambled for an excuse.
“Even if you were in the outskirts, you shouldn’t have gotten bitten this much,” Holden said as he began applying ointment on her.
Struggling to find an excuse, Ariana coughed and said to Holden, “Well, maybe I attract more mosquitos than other people. It’s late, and I don’t need you to take care of me. You should leave now.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Holden’s voice was decisive, Leaving Ariana in shock.
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Ariana thought she had made her wish for him to leave quite clear, yet his outright refusal took her by surprise.
As Ariana was caught off guard, she heard Holden say, “You’ve been avoiding me.”
There was a slight accusation in Holden’s voice, and Ariana could feel his eyes on her.
She turned to face Holden, only to find him holding her hand tightly, his eyes showing a mix of hurt and grievance as he looked straight at her.
Ariana nervously averted her gaze and stubbornly retorted, “I haven’t.”
“Then why did you change the villa’s password? Why haven’t you answered my texts?” Holden said.
“I was just busy and missed your messages. I didn’t purposely ignore them…” Despite feeling a bit guilty, Ariana still tried to defend herself.
Holden didn’t continue the argument and stayed quiet, focusing on applying the ointment to her in silence.
Just then, Ariana’s phone, which was charging in the living room, began to ring. Melon entered the room with the phone, handing it to Ariana and saying, “Mom, Mitchel’s calling.”