Chapter 134: Mia, Who Am I?
Taking three steps in two strides, James rushed to the large bed in the center of the room.
Standing by the bed, he stared at the bulging covers.
He stepped forward and yanked the blanket back with one swift motion.
When he saw only Mia lying there alone, James's nerves, which had been tight the entire way over, finally relaxed. His legs went weak and he collapsed onto the edge of the bed.
In that moment when he pulled back the covers, James had been terrified of finding two people lying there.
He pulled the blanket back over Mia and closed his eyes.
Even though it was a false alarm, he couldn't forget the feeling he'd had over ten minutes ago when he received Louis's WhatsApp message in the car.
Just thinking about what Mia and Benjamin might do at the hotel, he had wanted to kill someone.
Only one thought filled his mind.
Mia was his.
Whether body or heart, she could only belong to him.
"Water."
A pained moan interrupted James's thoughts.
He got up and turned on the light, grabbed a bottle of water from the nightstand, and opened it.
When he turned back around, he froze.
He saw her short hair.
His heart suddenly clenched.
He remembered once when she had pestered him to watch a TV drama with her. In it, a female character got her heart broken and ran to cut off her long hair, crying that this way she could cut off her love for the man and start fresh with someone new.
She had watched with tears in her eyes, crying.
He had scoffed at the behavior in the drama, but seeing Mia cry, he pulled her into his arms and kissed away her tears.
"Are feelings really that easy to give up? You actually believe that!"
He bit her lip gently, helpless.
Craving her scent, he leaned in to deepen the kiss, but Mia pushed him away.
She looked at him with disdain. "What do you know? Of course she knows feelings can't be cut off by cutting hair, but—"
"How do I put it? It's a ritual, showing she's completely drawing a line with the past. From now on, she really plans to forget the man and stop loving him."
She spoke seriously, but he didn't really care.
He wasn't interested in these things.
Until she touched her own long hair and said, "If one day, I also go and cut my long hair—"
This "if" wasn't what James wanted to hear.
He cut her off with a kiss.
His large hands skillfully pulled down her pajama pants.
Soon, the temperature in the living room began rising steadily.
By the time the temperature came back down, an hour had passed.
Mia lay in his arms like a fish out of water.
When she caught her breath, she bit him angrily.
"You only hear half of what I say."
After being together so long, she knew what he couldn't stand to hear.
He probably thought she was going to talk about them breaking up.
Sweet inside but still playing coy.
James was happy and became even more patient with her.
He held her in his arms, his large hand gently stroking her smooth long hair.
Soothed, she said softly, "If I ever cut my long hair short, it'll definitely be because I find long hair too annoying to wash."
She made herself laugh with that.
They hadn't separated yet, and her laugh stirred his desire again.
The temperature in the living room rose steadily once more.
When the temperature dropped again, Mia had no strength left.
He carried her to the bathroom like carrying a child.
She was clearly exhausted, murmuring in his ear, "James, if one day I really cut my hair because of feelings, it'll be because the pain is so bad I can't hold on anymore."
Was it really that painful?
James ran his hand through Mia's short hair, his heart aching with the memory.
His thumb gently caressed her face. He looked up, took a sip of water, then lowered his head to feed it to her.
Mia was drunk and not very conscious. She felt terrible.
Her chest burned, her throat felt like it was on fire, and she was desperately thirsty.
The water James fed her was like sweet spring water.
After several sips, her discomfort eased slightly.
Dimly, she felt someone caressing her face. The touch was strangely familiar.
Mia instinctively pressed her face into the palm, nuzzling against it.
Fire burned inside her, yet her body felt cold.
Feeling warmth, she naturally moved toward it.
She lifted her soft hand to touch the source of warmth.
Wanting to get closer.
The moment her small hand touched him, James's eyes darkened noticeably.
In the lamplight, he looked down at Mia, her face full of trust as she leaned into him.
In this moment, he forgot everything.
Almost involuntarily, he lowered his head and kissed her moist eyelids.
Starting with one kiss, things spiraled out of control.
……
Mia woke up frightened.
She didn't open her eyes immediately. The moment she realized what was happening, her mind went blank.
When she first got drunk, she hadn't recognized Benjamin, but later, she did recognize him.
She clutched his clothes and said so much.
Actually, she knew she shouldn't have said so much to Benjamin.
But she had really been holding it in for too long.
Desperately needing an outlet.
She had offered almost no resistance when he led her to the car and let him take her back to the dorm.
It wasn't that she lacked awareness of danger, but she never imagined Benjamin would do anything to her.
She really thought Benjamin was just taking her back to the dorm.
When she first got in the car, she still had some clarity.
But as the car moved forward, her consciousness became foggy.
After that, she had no memory of what happened.
Mia realized she had trusted the wrong person and done something as disgusting as James had done, becoming the kind of person she hated most.
The blood in her body instantly turned ice cold, and her body began to tremble.
Her body was so weak she couldn't muster any strength.
She couldn't even lift her hand to refuse.
She didn't dare open her eyes because she didn't dare face it.
James finally noticed something was wrong with Mia in his arms.
It had been so long since he'd seen such a compliant Mia that he'd gotten lost in it.
He paused slightly.
His large hand gently brushed through her sweat-dampened hair. Looking at Mia's expression, she was clearly somewhat more conscious.
But even conscious, she still hadn't pushed him away.
This realization made James feel a flutter of pleasure.
"Mia..."
In this moment, James forgot about the tension between them.
Everything felt like it had before.
His husky voice, tender and gentle to the bone.
Hearing James's voice, Mia's blank mind suddenly started working again.
When she realized it was James, her first reaction was relief.
But immediately after came anger. They were getting divorced tomorrow.
Yet the night before the divorce, he took advantage of her drunkenness to do this to her.
Fury burned in her eyes.
James noticed something was wrong.
James, who had been intimately pressing his forehead against hers, suddenly lifted his head.
He looked at her eyes again.
She looked back at him too.
His eyes held only her, naturally looking at her, but she seemed to be looking through his eyes at someone else.
This feeling made him very uncomfortable.
James suddenly reached out and gripped her chin. "Mia, who am I?"