Chapter 46
"Thank you." Adeline expressed her gratitude.
Randy helped her sit down. "You seem distracted. You should be more careful when walking."
He suddenly knelt down.
Adeline instinctively pulled her foot back, but he caught her ankle.
"Don't move."
Adeline had twisted her ankle.
Her delicate ankle was visibly swollen and red.
At the garden entrance, Edward passed by, silently observing the scene.
Randy frowned. "Wait here. I'll get some ointment for you."
As he stood up.
Edward was already walking away.
Adeline sat on the bench when she suddenly heard a man and a woman talking.
Their footsteps were drawing closer, and the voices sounded eerily familiar.
She ducked behind a nearby hedge.
Now she could see who was approaching—a middle-aged man she didn't recognize.
But the woman, she knew all too well.
It was Vivian.
"Why did you ask me to come out here?"
"Why do you think?"
The man pulled Vivian into his arms and bent down to kiss her.
Vivian pushed him away. "Are you giving me that role or not?"
"Do you even need to ask?"
The man held her, gazing adoringly at her innocent, beautiful face.
"Your rumored boyfriend Edward is right inside. If you take good care of me out here, you can have any role you want. In my production, you'll be the leading lady."
He was a well-known director.
With that promise, Vivian finally melted into his embrace.
They immediately became a tangle of limbs.
Adeline's eyes widened.
Wasn't Vivian supposed to be Edward's fiancée?
No, that wasn't right.
There was no actual evidence they were engaged.
But there had been online rumors that they were dating, and Edward had never denied it.
They had even spent the night in the same room.
Adeline felt her brain cells short-circuiting.
But this wasn't even the worst part. The most horrifying thing was that as they kept kissing, they seemed to have other ideas.
The man was groping Vivian while kissing her and walking.
And they were heading straight for the hedge where she was hiding.
Adeline had no time to think. She quickly crawled from one side of the hedge to the other, careful not to move too fast.
She was afraid the rustling would draw their attention.
If those two discovered her hiding there, she'd be toast. There'd be no end to the scandal.
Finally reaching a denser part of the hedge, she looked up—only to see someone standing there.
When she recognized Edward, her heart skipped a beat. Almost reflexively, she grabbed him and pulled him down into a crouch.
"What—"
She covered his mouth before he could finish.
After covering his mouth, Adeline realized her mistake and quickly moved her hands to cover his ears instead.
Crouching there, their vision was blocked.
They couldn't see anything.
But they could hear.
Vivian and the man's voices grew increasingly uninhibited.
Edward lowered his gaze to look at her, then slowly raised it to look past her.
Adeline tackled him to the ground.
They instantly fell into the hedge, not far from the passionately entangled couple.
Their voices became background noise, gradually fading as they moved away from Adeline and Edward.
Leaving just the person in front of her.
Edward lay on the ground, looking at Adeline without speaking.
Adeline felt self-conscious under his stare.
The next moment, he pulled her hand away. "No need to cover anymore. I saw everything."
All that effort for nothing.
Feeling defeated, Adeline racked her brain for something consoling, "Don't be upset."
"Why would I be upset?"
Somehow, they had both started speaking in hushed tones, with the other person inexplicably following suit.
Like they were sharing secrets.
"What do you think of Randy?"
Edward's question came out of nowhere, catching Adeline off guard.
The topic change was too abrupt.
"He's fine. He's a good guy."
He must have returned with the ointment by now. If he heard the sounds from here...
Adeline's mind raced with random thoughts.
Suddenly, she heard a question by her ear.
"Want me to set you up with him?"
'Set up what?'
Adeline was confused for a moment before it clicked. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Had Edward suddenly taken up matchmaking?
But when she met Edward's mocking gaze, Adeline suddenly understood.
He was taunting her.
He was always like this—serious and more composed than anyone on the surface.
But he had his childish side, too.
He always liked to tease her about things.
The difference was that before, it had been playful. Now, it was genuine mockery.
Adeline plucked a blade of grass and tossed it at him.
After doing so, they both froze.
This was a shared memory from when they were dating. Adeline had been spoiled by her family since childhood, carefree and sheltered from life's hardships.
But despite being pampered, Adeline had never developed a bad temper or become unreasonable.
She was exceptionally considerate.
Even when angry, she would just pluck some grass and throw it at him.
"What are you doing? Flirting with me?" He suddenly asked.
Adeline looked mortified. "I..."
When people felt awkward, they tried to shift attention elsewhere.
She turned her head and saw Randy.
Vivian and the middle-aged man had finished and left at some point.
And Randy was standing not far away.
"Want him to come over?" Edward asked.
Adeline didn't understand what he meant by that question.
And she didn't want Randy to come over.
If someone saw them huddled in the hedge together, there would be no explaining it.
"Don't you dare." She whispered.
Edward gripped her wrist. "Are you scared? Don't want him to see us together?"
He asked softly, "Afraid he might get the wrong idea?"
"No."
But the more she denied it.
The more he thought, she was hiding something.
"He seems to treat you well." He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Maybe I should help you out."
"Don't you dare do anything!"
Adeline wasn't sure what he might do at this point.
She no longer understood Edward at all.
He seemed like a completely different person.
She didn't want to risk it.
But the more afraid she appeared, the more stubborn he became, like a child in his rebellious phase.
Not only did he stand up, but he pulled her up with him.
No matter how much Adeline resisted, she couldn't match his strength.
"Edward!"
In any other location, she wouldn't have been this resistant.
But a man and woman alone in a hedge at night?
It looked undeniably intimate, impossible to explain away.
But she'd forgotten about her sprained ankle. The moment her foot touched the ground, she hissed in pain.
"What's wrong with your leg?"
Edward looked down.
Her ankle had swollen to the size of a dinner roll.
His expression hardened as he scooped her up into his arms.
Back in this familiar, warm embrace, Adeline felt deeply uncomfortable, yet her first instinct was to bury her face against his chest.
Randy must have seen them.
Like an ostrich, she buried her head, pretending that if she couldn't see others, they couldn't see her.
But after waiting for a while, she never heard Randy's voice.
Instead, Edward let out a soft laugh.
"Coward."
Adeline opened one eye to discover that Randy had already left.
"He... I... you..."
"Are you that afraid of him seeing us? One Dr. Nelson isn't enough—you need to hook other men, too?" Edward's face turned ice-cold, his eyes frosty. "Adeline, doesn't it exhaust you, playing everyone like this?"
Adeline's face went slightly pale as she bit her lip in humiliation.
"Put me down."
He didn't release her, his arms still tightly wrapped around her.
She began to struggle. "Let me go!"
She no longer cared if anyone saw them—she just wanted to escape him immediately.