Chapter 26: What is Called Calling
I rolled my eyes and slowly ate everything on my plate.
After filling up, I finally felt warm again.
"I'm working my butt off for my job. You don't have to work, so naturally you wouldn't understand."
As soon as I said this, I suddenly remembered that Arabella had mentioned Atlas's family background.I instinctively felt like I'd said something wrong.
"By the way, what do you do all day?" I quickly changed the subject.
Atlas, seeing my obvious attempt to cover up, chuckled softly: "You're right. Compared to you, I'm quite the idle one."
"I used to drift through life aimlessly, but now I've finally found my life's goal and direction."
He nodded in my direction: "My goal is you."
Atlas really couldn't go a moment without joking around, could he?
I got serious: "Atlas, you know my situation. There's no way anything can happen between us."
The lighter spun back and forth in his hand, making crisp clicking sounds.
Hearing my words, Atlas didn't seem upset at all. With a gentle look in his eyes, he said: "The first time I saw you, you were a little girl with pigtails. Now you've become this feisty woman. But no matter how you change, the fact is I like you, and I want to marry you."
"If you were happy marrying Knox, I wouldn't interfere. But Knox clearly isn't a suitable marriage partner for you, so Helena, in this life you can only marry me."
I was almost laughing from frustration at this arrogant Atlas.
"Knox isn't right for me, but why would I have to marry you?"
"Because I won't allow anyone else to pursue you."
That was Atlas alright, bold as ever.
But what he said about having seen me before really confused me.
"You said you've seen me before, meaning when we were kids. When was that? How come I don't know about it?"
Hearing my question, Atlas pulled out a cigarette from his pack. He was about to light it, but thought better of it and just held it in his hand.
"About ten years ago, when my mother passed away. I came out of The Lancaster Villa and saw you."
Atlas spoke vaguely, and I couldn't remember where exactly I might have seen him.
But none of that mattered now. What mattered was how I could talk Atlas out of this idea.
"Atlas, I heard you have quite a few women around you."
As soon as I said this, Atlas laughed. He suddenly leaned in close: "Helena, are you jealous?"
"Who's jealous!" I quickly denied it.
Atlas's voice came again: "It's okay, even if you are jealous, I understand. But don't worry, right now there's only you by my side, and in the future there will only be you. No other women."
I said angrily: "Enough, Atlas, stop talking. I have nothing to do with you."
"Not now, but that doesn't mean not in the future."
As Atlas spoke, he picked up a napkin from the table and dabbed at the corner of my mouth: "Take it slow. I'm patient."
His sudden gesture startled me. Embarrassed and angry, I quickly pulled back.
"Atlas!"
Seeing me flustered and angry, Atlas just laughed.
"Helena, do you know how adorable you look right now?"
"Bullshit!"
This guy really didn't understand plain language, did he?
I glared at him, stood up, and headed for the exit.
Atlas didn't try to stop me, just casually followed behind: "Helena, are you full? If not, I can have them bring more food."
I strode ahead while he followed unhurriedly behind, speaking words of concern.
In the dimly lit hall, quite a few people were coming and going. Seeing us bickering one after the other, many stopped to watch the show.
Seeing this scene made me even more embarrassed. I just wanted to walk faster and get away from this annoying Atlas.
"Helena, Helena."
Seeing me walk faster and faster, Atlas's voice behind me followed like a ghost.
"What are you calling for!"
I stopped angrily. Atlas stopped too, looking at me with a smile: "Helena, you're walking too fast. I can't keep up."
"You!"
I was about to speak when I heard laughter from nearby.
"Who's there?"
As my voice fell, I saw several young people emerge.
I recognized the leader—it was the young man I'd seen with Atlas in the canyon last time, along with that Nancy.
"Never thought I'd see the day, Atlas."
The young man looked at me with a grin: "We didn't get to introduce ourselves properly last time. Let me formally introduce myself today. I'm Tristan, Atlas's friend."
He extended his hand: "Nice to meet you, Helena."
Just as I was about to raise my hand, Atlas calmly pulled my hand behind his back: "What are you guys doing here?"
"Atlas, you never came over for dinner after we invited you last time. Dad was asking about you."
It was Nancy speaking. As she spoke, her resentful gaze fell on me.
Seeing this, Atlas said casually: "I'll come once I'm done with these few days."
He then pointed at the two people in front of him and said to me: "This is Tristan, and this is Nancy Armstrong. She's like a sister to me."
Hearing this introduction, I don't know if it was just my imagination, but I felt Nancy's gaze toward me grew colder.
I tugged hard: "You guys chat. I'm leaving."
"Don't go! It's rare to see Atlas with a woman. Let's sit down and have a good chat."
"Yeah, Ms. Lockwood, right? Let's chat and get to know each other."
Seeing several people around Tristan teasing, Atlas laughed and cursed: "Alright, you guys have fun. I'm taking Helena home first."
Seeing him about to leave, Tristan stopped him: "Atlas, your father called me yesterday and said if I see you, to tell you to go home."
Hearing Tristan's words, Atlas's brow furrowed slightly, almost imperceptibly.
"Got it."
Tristan patted Atlas on the shoulder: "Atlas, don't take it to heart. Go if you want to, forget it if you don't. They're calling you back because of Zane this time. That kid got into big trouble."
As Tristan spoke, the schadenfreude in his eyes was unstoppable.
"Enough."
Atlas clearly didn't want to say more and cut him off, turning around: "I'm leaving."
"Alright, see you later, Atlas."
After waving goodbye, I noticed Nancy's gaze had been fixed on me the whole time.
Something stirred in my heart, and I suddenly understood—Nancy probably saw me as a rival.
"Atlas, stay away from me from now on, so people don't get the wrong idea."
"Wrong idea? Who?"
Atlas asked casually with a cigarette in his mouth, but quickly realized: "You mean Nancy? You're overthinking it. Nancy is my uncle's daughter. We grew up together."
"You don't seem to understand my background. Let me explain it to you in detail."
With that, Atlas suddenly pulled the car over to the side of the road.
"What are you doing? I want to go home!"
Looking at the pitch-black night around us, my heart raced. Atlas wasn't exactly a good guy, and being in such a small space with him wasn't a good thing.
"What are you yelling about? Are you afraid I'm going to eat you or something?"