Chapter 299 Don't Push Me Away, Okay
Finnley pressed his lips together, wanting to say he wasn't the person she was looking for, but before he could speak, he felt wetness spreading across his chest.
He pinched the bridge of his nose with some frustration, but didn't push her away.
After what seemed like forever, Sophia finally lifted her face from his embrace. "I'm so happy to see you alive and well."
She looked up at Finnley, tears turning into smiles. The smile on her delicate, pretty face was both charming and radiant.
Her eyes, still wet from crying, looked like they'd been washed with water—even clearer and brighter now, filled with tiny sparkles of light.
Finnley stared at her blankly, his heart suddenly feeling like something had poked it, sending a tingling sensation through him.
This wasn't the first time he'd lost himself staring at Sophia's face.
He'd seen plenty of beautiful women, but no one had ever been like Sophia—just looking at her stirred up some indescribable feeling inside him.
He couldn't quite find the words for it.
His heart felt a bit sour, and also somewhat swollen.
He pushed Sophia away abruptly, pulling back all his chaotic thoughts, and said coldly, "Ms. Brown, I told you last night—I'm not the person you're looking for."
"Yes, you are." Sophia looked at him stubbornly.
"My last name is Bryant, not White," Finnley said in a low voice.
Sophia didn't care. She moved closer to him and carefully reached out her pinky finger, hooking it around his.
Finnley was lost in thought when he felt something soft touch his hand, and instinctively hooked his finger around hers.
When he realized what he'd done, he froze.
If this were any other time, if a woman dared to get close to him, he would have avoided her like the plague before she could even touch him.
But when Sophia came close, his instinctive reaction was to respond.
His deep eyes narrowed as he gazed at Sophia's beautiful face, suddenly feeling a sense of absurdity.
Meanwhile, Sophia smiled with complete satisfaction, lifting their linked fingers. Her eyes gleamed with cunning. "See? Your body's instincts don't lie."
Finnley realized he'd been played. He pulled his hand back, his expression darkening. "I have all my memories from before. My life history has nothing to do with the person you're talking about. Ms. Brown, have some self-respect."
That one phrase—"have some self-respect"—shattered all of Sophia's certainty.
She lowered her head, curled up her legs, buried her face in her knees, and her mood sank.
When Finnley didn't hear a response from Sophia, he instinctively turned to look and saw her shoulders trembling slightly. She was probably crying.
He opened his mouth but in the end didn't say anything.
The room fell into an awkward silence, the atmosphere dropping to freezing point.
After a long while, Sophia slowly lifted her head and said to Finnley with red-rimmed eyes, "If you say you're not him, then take off your clothes."
"What did you say?"
"I want to see if you have those scars on your body. If you do, it proves you're him."
Finnley laughed coldly. "So what if I have the scars you're talking about? I can explain the origin of every scar on my body..."
Before he finished speaking, Sophia lunged at him.
Then he felt a strong pulling force—his shirt was torn open, buttons rolling onto the bed and floor.
Finnley's muscular chest was exposed to the air.
Sophia leaned forward, her gaze falling on the scar on his shoulder, and her eyes welled up again.
Finnley was caught off guard by her lunge, his body leaning against the headboard. Feeling Sophia's soft, delicate fingers gently caressing his shoulder, a fire suddenly ignited in his chest.
Hot and burning, it spread from his shoulder throughout his entire body in an instant.
His sexy Adam's apple bobbed slightly. He suppressed the surging desire in his body, his low voice carrying a hint of restraint. "What are you doing?"
Sophia moved her gaze from the bite mark on the man's shoulder and said quietly, "Do you want to know how this bite mark got there?"
Finnley pressed his thin lips together and asked, as if possessed, "What?"
"It was from our first time making love. You hurt me, and I bit you because I was angry."
As she spoke, Sophia suddenly leaned down and bit hard on Finnley's other shoulder.
She didn't hold back her strength at all. Only when she tasted blood in her mouth did she slowly release him.
"This is your punishment for forgetting me."
Finnley grunted, couldn't help but frown, and in one motion, flipped over and pinned Sophia beneath him.
Sophia had a slender figure, her wrists so thin they seemed like they might break with just a little force. He could hold both her wrists tightly with just one hand.
Sophia blinked, staring straight at him.
Meeting those clear eyes, the desire in Finnley's eyes intensified. He threatened in a cold voice, "Sophia, didn't he teach you not to look at other men like that?"
In his twenty-plus years of life, this was the first time someone had aroused his sexual desire, and yet this woman—he couldn't touch her just yet.
Sophia's lips curved slightly. "You smell exactly like him. He likes to use a cologne with a faint pine scent. For ties and belts, he also likes to use a niche brand called Fhi. That's what you use too, right?"
"So what?"
A flash of surprise crossed Finnley's eyes. If she could smell the cologne, the tie and belt were brands that very few people in the country knew about.
And two years ago, the clothes in his closet weren't from these brands at all.
After he got injured in an accident and woke up, he had people throw away everything he'd used before and replace it with new things.
From then on, all his belongings were from this brand.
Sophia, who had never left Silverlight City, couldn't possibly know about this.
Hearing Finnley admit it, Sophia's lips curved up, and she continued, "You don't like seafood, don't like dishes with strong flavors, don't like eating organ meats or lamb, don't like drinking milk, and when you brush your teeth, you like to start on the left side... Do I need to go on?"
From Finnley's increasingly unpleasant expression, she'd already gotten the answer she wanted.
Whether it had been seventeen years or two years, as long as he stood in front of her, she would recognize him at a glance.
Because some things are carved into your bones.
Finnley's expression stiffened for a moment, then he sat up and pressed his lips together without speaking.
Actually, he'd already looked into Benjamin's background last night.
He'd even considered pretending to be Benjamin—it would make it easier to get close to Sophia and complete his mission.
But things seemed to be developing in a direction he hadn't anticipated, catching him off guard.
"Did I get everything right?" Sophia lifted her chin proudly, looking into his deep eyes. "If you still don't want to admit it, that's okay. But please don't push me away, okay? I don't want to lose you a second time."