Chapter 184: Paper Balls All Over the Ground
Benjamin didn't follow his body's urges to pull Lily back and pin her beneath him. Instead, he withdrew his gaze and turned to stub out his cigarette in the ashtray.
He grabbed his phone from the side and called Jasper. "Send someone over to Emerald Estates to clean up."
After giving the order, he hung up.
He threw off the thin blanket draped over his waist, got out of bed, and headed to the bathroom to shower.
Lily was only halfway through getting dressed when she saw Benjamin walk past her.
Her eyes accidentally swept over his perfect physique. Just one glance made her shyly lower her gaze.
Even so, that image still imprinted itself in her mind and lingered there.
Some images that made her blush and her heart race jumped into her thoughts. Her hands had just recently felt the tension and sexiness of his taut muscles.
It wasn't until the bathroom door closed that she continued getting dressed.
When her feet touched the floor, she still felt some discomfort. Lily gritted her teeth and endured it, preparing to leave. Only then did she notice the state of the bedroom.
She saw paper balls scattered all over the floor and the condom Benjamin had just tossed into the trash bin by the bed.
And the wrinkled bed sheets with several wet spots—anyone could tell what had happened here.
Her face instantly turned even redder.
She thought about what Benjamin had just said.
Someone would come to clean up.
The thought of strangers coming into this bedroom and seeing it in this state made Lily feel incredibly embarrassed.
She was quick with housework. Ignoring her physical discomfort, she squatted down and quickly started cleaning up.
With each paper ball she picked up, her face reddened a bit more.
After picking them all up and tidying the trash bin, she started on the bed. She had just removed the duvet cover and pulled off the sheets when the bathroom door opened.
Benjamin walked in with just a towel wrapped around his waist, steam still rising from his body.
Lily heard the sound and looked up. She was about to ask him where the replacement sheets and duvet cover were when she met Benjamin's cold gaze.
Seeing the displeasure in his eyes, even though he said nothing, his whole face seemed to say: Why are you still here?
Lily's heart jumped in panic. She instinctively tried to explain, "Mr. White, I didn't mean to stay here. I just thought..."
Benjamin let out a cold laugh.
That laugh and the look he gave her seemed to say she was making excuses. Lily's face looked terrible.
She remembered that day in the car, after she agreed to him without hesitation, he told her to get out. Before she got out, he said to her: Remember your place. Don't have any fantasies. I like obedient women.
"Mr. White, I'm sorry. I'll leave right now."
Under Benjamin's cold, mocking gaze, Lily's eyes reddened. She quickly lowered her head, hurriedly dropped that sentence, and rushed toward the door.
She left as fast as she could. It wasn't until she burst through the door that tears rolled from her eyes.
As her steps quickened, tears fell one after another.
Lily rushed halfway and stopped, seeing a car parked not far away—the car Benjamin had arranged to take her home.
She bit her lip and quickly wiped the tears from her face.
This was her own choice. She shouldn't cry!
...
After finishing the test, Louis saw James out of the hospital.
Before he got in the car, Louis raised his hand and patted his shoulder, watching James get in.
After he got in the car, Louis turned and walked back inside.
James left the hospital, driving aimlessly.
The results wouldn't be out until tomorrow. Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.
The car kept driving, and by the time he realized it, he had arrived outside the residential complex where Mia now lived.
He turned the steering wheel, and the car automatically recognized the entrance and drove in.
He parked downstairs from the building where Mia lived, sitting in the car, his heart tormented.
If he really was infected and had transmitted it to Mia, he truly didn't know how he could face her in the future.
He shouldn't have hidden this from her.
But the cause of all this was that night with Amelia.
And that night—in front of Mia—he really found it hard to bring up.
That night was a dead knot between them, the thorn Mia minded most in her heart.
Mia had just started to let go a little. He was afraid that mentioning it would touch her sore spot and make her retreat back into herself again.
Shutting him out of her heart once more.
He took out his phone to call Mia.
The call didn't go through. Only then did he remember she had blocked him that evening.
He glanced at Mia's lit window and finally pushed open the car door and got out.
Upstairs, James stood outside her door and knocked.
"Mia."
No answer the first time.
He knocked again. Still no answer.
By the third time, when there was still no answer—
The door next door opened instead. "It's after ten o'clock. What are you knocking for? If you don't have your key, can't you just call?"
James was currently in an extremely low mood. Hearing the rude words, his hand still raised in a knocking position, he looked over coldly.
As if he didn't want to call?
If he could get through, wouldn't he know to call?
The other person was scared by James's look and shrank their neck.
Before retreating, remembering something, they stuck their head out again and said weakly, "The young lady next door looked really bad when she came home this evening. She looked very uncomfortable. If she's not opening the door, did she pass out inside?"
"I have a locksmith's number..."
Before the young woman finished speaking, she saw James pull a key straight out of his pocket.
He quickly inserted it into the keyhole, pulled open the door, and strode inside.
The neighbor was speechless.
He has a key but doesn't use it, just keeps banging on the door like crazy!
What's wrong with him!
James closed the door and was about to rush inside when he came face to face with Mia, who had been woken by the knocking and was coming out to open the door.