Chapter 15: James Protects Mia
She gently swirled her wine glass, her voice carrying a subtle seductiveness in the night, stirring something in the heart.
"You're having a gathering on Saturday?" James got straight to the point.
"Yes, I've been back for over two weeks now, and I've only met with you. Haven't seen any other friends yet. Now that I've recovered from my illness, I thought we could get everyone together on Saturday—all us old friends."
Between the lines, she was letting James know that he was more special than her other friends.
When she wanted to, she could easily manipulate and control people's emotions, including James's.
"I was planning to call you first, but I happened to run into Mia at the mall today, and I figured telling her would be the same, so—"
She suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Noticing he didn't respond, she asked in an even softer voice, "Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Should I not have invited Mia? Don't you want to bring her to meet us?"
He had no choice.
By deliberately going around him and forcing herself to approach Mia despite the awkwardness, she made sure he had no option but to bring her along.
This show she'd specially prepared for Mia—how could it start without its leading lady?
"No, just worried she might not feel comfortable," James denied.
Hearing this, the smile on Amelia's lips instantly froze.
Her emotions surging, she lost her grip on the wine glass she'd been gently swirling. The red liquid spilled out, splashing onto her nightgown.
Even though she knew he wasn't being sincere.
But such words shouldn't have come from his mouth.
Amelia set the wine glass aside, got up with a dark expression, and looked down coldly at the wine stain on her clothes.
How annoying.
Just like Mia right now.
She'd never considered her a rival.
But now, she seemed to have gained some ability to get in her way.
"Look how protective you are. We're not strangers—are you afraid we'll eat her alive?"
James was about to speak when, through the balcony glass, he saw Mia on the bed turn over, her back to the balcony.
Her eyes weren't open, but her hand was searching around the bed, looking for him.
"Gotta go."
James hurriedly dropped the line and hung up before Amelia could react.
Seeing James once again unwilling to face her questions, the shadow that had fallen over Amelia's heart lifted somewhat.
He was still the same him, the one who only had her in his heart.
She just needed to deal with Mia, this troublemaker.
……
Because of the shadow cast by her childhood family, Mia had always felt insecure at night and used to need the lights on to fall asleep.
But since sleeping with James, she no longer needed to rely on light. She relied on him instead.
She had to have him holding her, breathing in his unique masculine scent, to feel safe enough to sleep.
After feeling around for a while without finding James, Mia groggily opened her eyes and discovered he wasn't in bed.
Having been forced awake after just falling asleep, her whole face scrunched up, and she made an unhappy sound through her nose.
Hearing a slight noise from the balcony, Mia turned her gaze and saw James coming in from outside, walking toward the bed.
She immediately made a sound like a little cat, softly grumbling in complaint, "Where did you go?"
James didn't answer. He quickened his pace to the bed, lifted the covers, got in, and pulled her back into his arms, patting her back soothingly.
Mia wasn't fully awake. Once pulled into his embrace, she naturally wrapped her arms around his waist again, pressed her face against him, and closed her eyes once more.
With his comforting scent filling her breath, drowsiness soon returned, and she fell into a deep sleep.
……
Saturday, at Luxe Hideaway.
Amelia had set the meeting time for ten o'clock.
Close to eleven, James's black Bentley finally pulled up slowly and stopped at the entrance.
Sitting in the car, Mia complained to James unreasonably, "It's all your fault. Not waking me up is one thing, but you even turned off my alarm."
Knowing full well she loved sleeping in, and that without an alarm, there was no way she'd wake up early on her own.
Last night before bed, she'd reminded James over and over to wake her at eight.
She'd even secretly set an alarm as backup.
And what happened?
She woke up just before ten.
She was devastated, okay?
She, who valued punctuality, hated when people were late.
And today she'd become the late one.
At such an important gathering, no less.
Since she was already going to be late, she couldn't make everyone wait even longer.
In the end, she could only rush through washing up, throw on the outfit she'd picked out earlier, and urge James to leave.
Even though he said it was fine to arrive a bit late.
She just felt it wasn't right.
Mia didn't get out immediately. She pulled down the car mirror and quickly fixed her hair.
Tugging here, adjusting there.
After tidying up, she looked at her bare face in the mirror and felt even more upset. She was so angry she wanted to pounce on James and bite him.
Gritting her teeth, she glared at James, who had gotten out and come around to open her door, "How am I supposed to face people like this!"
James turned her troubled face toward him, looking at her face full of youthful glow.
These four years, he'd taken good care of her. Her skin was so tender it looked like you could squeeze water from it, and it felt amazing. He leaned down and kissed her lips, complimenting her, "Beautiful."
He really loved how she looked without makeup.
Mia, who'd been angry just moments ago, was instantly appeased.
No woman would be unhappy being called beautiful by the man she loves.
She bit her lip, looked at James, gave a light huff through her nose, raised her hand to flip the mirror back up, and prepared to get out.
James took the coat from the back seat to put on her, followed by a hat and scarf.
Mia grabbed them and tossed them back onto the rear seat.
Her hair was the only thing that looked decent—she couldn't let a hat ruin it.
Afraid James would insist on making her wear them.
Before leaving, they'd already argued once about her wanting to wear a coat instead of a down jacket.
"Quick, quick, we're already super late, we can't waste any more time."
Using James's support to get out of the car, she grabbed the car keys from his hand and passed them to the valet, then hooked her arm through his and half-dragged him inside.
After just two steps, she, who couldn't handle cold, immediately hunched her shoulders and shivered.
So cold.
James sighed and started taking off his coat for her.
"Don't, I'm not cold."
She pressed down on James's hands. He was only wearing a thin sweater underneath.
She wasn't that delicate.
James put his arm around her and quickened their pace. Just then, his phone rang.
It was Robert calling.
Calling him on a Saturday meant there must be important work to discuss.
"Go in first and wait for me."
"Okay."
It really was cold.
Mia hurried inside and stood by the door, watching through the glass as James walked to the side to take the call.
She was standing where James could see her at a glance.
Seeing her, James gestured while talking on the phone for her to go further inside—it was cold by the entrance.
Though the heating was on inside, the revolving door kept bringing in cold air.
Mia nodded. In an unfamiliar environment, she still felt a bit uneasy.
She pointed diagonally ahead, then used her index and middle fingers on her open palm to gesture to him.
The two fingers walked across her palm, then bent together, indicating sitting down.
A hint of amusement appeared in James's eyes, and he nodded gently.
Seeing he understood, Mia gave him a bright smile.
Only then did she feel at ease walking forward to sit and wait for him to finish his call and come in.
……
Once inside, with the heating on full blast, she felt a bit hot.
Mia was about to take off her coat and sit down when Amelia stopped her, "Mia, I thought you weren't coming?"
The tone of Amelia's voice made her uncomfortable.
That slightly rising inflection, as if she were saying Mia was afraid of embarrassing James and didn't dare come!