Chapter 91 Strange Feeling
As soon as Alison got off work, she bolted out of the office, figuring Aidan was probably still busy giving Claire instructions. She had to seize this chance to slip away unnoticed.
When the elevator reached the second floor, Alison stepped out. It felt safer; the elevator entrance was too exposed.
As she descended the stairs, the memory of Jack pulling her to the rooftop flashed in her mind. He always managed to intrude on her thoughts unexpectedly.
She chose the side door to exit, knowing there wouldn't be any cars outside.
But just as she stepped out, Jack appeared beside her. "Alison, I knew you'd try to run. This is your old trick. Aidan lost again, and I won the bet. The prize is a camping trip."
"Jack, my kid's kindergarten teacher is visiting tonight. I just got the call. I don't want to disappoint the kids. Please, let me go."
"Liar. What a coincidence. Give me your phone, and I'll tell the teacher to reschedule for tomorrow." He reached out to grab her phone.
His fingers brushed against hers, sending a shiver through her. She pulled the phone back. "Jack, do you really want me to be your sister-in-law that badly?"
"It's not about what I want. You two already 'did it,' didn't you?"
"Just once, and I don't care. I don't need him to take responsibility. Move aside, I don't want to date him." She had considered accepting Aidan, but it just didn't feel right.
Saying it out loud made her feel much better.
"Alison, what did you say?" Aidan suddenly appeared from the other side.
Alison's eyes widened. "You... what are you doing here?"
"Jack said you'd definitely run out through this side door. I didn't believe him, but now I do. Do you really not care about that night?" Aidan grabbed her shoulders, his eyes filled with hope, waiting for her to say "no."
Ignoring Jack, Alison didn't want to be influenced by him anymore. She answered without hesitation, "I don't care, so you should forget it too. Just pretend it never happened. I remember telling you the same thing that morning."
Aidan's face turned red, and he started shaking her shoulders. "Alison, why? You came to my room on your own. And your first time, doesn't that mean anything to you? I don't believe you're like this. You're not. Your first time means everything. Tell me, is someone threatening you?"
"What... what are you talking about?" Alison was confused by Aidan's words, her mind stuck on "first time." How could that night have been her first time?
Her first time had actually been with the man beside Aidan who was now trying to push her away.
He didn't hate her anymore, but he only saw her as a friend.
He had said she would only ever be his friend.
Thinking about this made her feel a deep sadness. She wanted to escape from these two brothers, but Aidan wouldn't let go, continuing to shake her. "Alison, that was your first time. If it wasn't genuine, you wouldn't have given it to me." Aidan was sure of his feelings and certain that the woman that night was experiencing her first time.
Alison's face turned even redder. Jack was still standing there, but Aidan kept fixating on whether that night was her first time.
It was so awkward.
She hated being misunderstood.
It wasn't her first time.
"Aidan, you're mistaken. That night wasn't my first time." She gritted her teeth and said, ready to walk around Aidan to escape this awkward situation.
"What did you say?" Now it was Aidan's turn to be shocked.
"That night wasn't my first time. I lost my first time a long time ago. Are you satisfied now? Let me go. I'm just a casual woman. Stop bothering me." She had had enough. She didn't want to see Jack pushing her towards Aidan anymore. If she didn't like him, she didn't like him. She didn't want to force herself.
"Slap!" Aidan, unable to accept the blow, had always thought it was her first time. But she said it wasn't. He slapped her hard across the face, making her see stars, and the two men in front of her blurred.
She covered her face and chuckled softly. "Boss, I'm off work. I have the right to leave." With that, she tried to walk around Aidan.
But Aidan grabbed her arm tightly. "No, I promised to take you to meet my mom. Whether you like it or not, you have to go tonight." His mind was a mess, but his determination to take her to Maple Aroma Pavilion hadn't changed. After slapping her, he still felt she was lying, acting. It couldn't be that way. It had to be her first time. Even though he hit her, he didn't have time to regret it.
"I'm not going!" she shouted, feeling humiliated by his slap.
"You don't have a choice. Jack, let's go." He hoisted her onto his shoulder, ignoring her struggles, determined to take her to Maple Aroma Pavilion. He was no longer the Aidan in Paris who couldn't move. His legs were healed now.
After walking about three hundred meters, they exited the side alley where Aidan's Volvo was parked. He threw her into the car, slammed the door, and got into the driver's seat. Outside, Jack frowned at her. Although the tinted glass made it hard for him to see her clearly, she still felt a sense of disorientation in his gaze, as if in a dream.
The car started, and Jack grew smaller in the rearview mirror until he disappeared.
Alison looked away and began to calm down.
She broke the silence in the car. "Aidan, tell me, was that night really her first time?" Thinking about it now, if Aidan was telling the truth, then maybe the woman that night wasn't her at all?
"Yes, I'm a man. That night, even though I was half-asleep, I'm a normal man. I could tell. I don't know why you're denying it, but I believe you have your reasons. I'm sorry, I hit you too hard." He later realized Alison might have done it on purpose.
He didn't know when it started, but he began to care about everything about her more than any other woman before.
At first, he tried to avoid seeing her, but today, when his mother said she wanted to meet his woman, the first person he thought of was her.
Biting her lip, she really didn't want to speak, but she had to. She would rather believe everything Aidan said was true, which would prove that the woman that night wasn't her. No wonder she had no memory of that night. But the outgoing call on her phone...
Everything was a mess.
Suddenly, she thought of something.
Someone had been in her room. Two people had even lain on her bed. How had she not thought of this before?
Or maybe someone used her phone to call Aidan.
This realization made everything even more confusing.
She bit her lip again and firmly said, "You're a man, I'm a woman. How could I joke about something like this? My first time was gone a long time ago." She decided to be honest with Aidan, to end his thoughts.
Continuing this act would only exhaust both of them.
The car suddenly stopped by the roadside. Aidan thought of the bloodstained cloth. He wasn't an ancient person and had never collected a woman's virgin blood, but that morning, Alison's reaction made him feel something was off. He had impulsively cut out the bloodstained sheet, put it in a bag, and brought it back in his luggage.
He could have it tested tomorrow, and the truth would come out.
But for now, with things still unclear, he didn't want to say anything.
If Alison wasn't lying, he actually liked and admired her personality. What other women dreamed of, she pushed away. He liked her uniqueness, her authenticity, and her straightforwardness.
The car remained parked by the roadside for a full half-minute.
Alison looked at Aidan's back, feeling incredibly frustrated. She really didn't know how to describe the chaos in her heart at that moment.
It was too chaotic.