Chapter 120
Chapter 120
Victoria wasn’t immune to a cute girl who was behaving coquettishly. After a moment of Janice’s badgering, she agreed to it.
The three began to walk toward the ward. Janice almost clung to Victoria as she chattered on the way.
Matthew couldn’t stop casting his glance at the two as his expression sank. At last, he walked over to them with a livid face and he dragged Janice away from Victoria.
“What are you doing?” Janice glared at him.
He adjusted the gold-trim glasses on his nose and answered with a serious expression, “You’re too heavy. Miss Coleman is struggling to carry your weight.”
Janice’s eyes widened in an alarmed look before she turned to Victoria in anticipation. “Is it true?”
Casting a glance at the man who didn’t bother to hide his hostility, Victoria sighed in resignation and nodded.
The usual joyful Janice lost her spirit at Victoria’s response in a split second. After that, she only followed them with sighs, and did not try to cling to Victoria anymore.
The three walked into the room together, adding a lively vibe to the spacious and bright ward.
Christian was sitting on the bed when his eyes skipped over Matthew and landed on Victoria. His eyes twinkled at her presence before he hid them and replaced it with a natural expression. “Why are you here?”NôvelDrama.Org © content.
“I come here representing the people to see if you’re alive.” Matthew walked closer to the table and took a sniff of the thermos food jar. “Where did you get the soup? It smells good.”
Christian left the soup in the bowl untouched and it was still hot, so Matthew just grabbed it and took a few gulps from the bowl. “Tastes good too.”
Christian cast him a sidelong glance. “You have a better nose than the dogs.”
“Thanks for the compliment. You can be jealous, but you’ll never learn it.” Matthew took another few gulps before he continued, “Charlotte told me that you almost hurt an artery. I can’t believe you’ll be hard even on yourself.”
Christian didn’t deign to answer, but he raised his head and turned to Victoria.
The recipient was fixing her gaze on the ground and avoided his eyes as if she didn’t notice them.
Their exchanges didn’t go unnoticed by Matthew as he clicked his tongue. Putting the bowl down, he teased, “Stabbing your thigh isn’t as effective as stabbing your manhood. Why didn’t—”
However, Christian’s pointed look was intimidating, so Matthew cleared his throat in embarrassment and didn’t dare continue.
Janice, who had been hiding behind Victoria, poked her head out and shocked the others with her suggestion. “He’s right! Men will feel more pain, particularly in that part of their body. Thus, you don’t even need to stab it. With just a pinch, you can—”
Her untold words were muffled as Matthew walked over with a livid face and covered her mouth. “Shut up!”
Victoria stood at the side in silence and didn’t bother to join the conversation.
“I’m satisfied with my gender.” Christian darted his cold gaze toward Matthew. “However, I’ll gladly provide the surgery fund if you’re interested in it.”
Matthew fell into silence at the tease and he immediately declined his friend’s “kindness” without thinking twice.
As they had enough discussion of the topic, Janice hid again behind Victoria and whined softly, “I have a bad feeling every time Ice Man smiles, but it’s the same even if he’s not smiling.”
Victoria hummed indifferently, her eyes fixed on the ground before her.
Janice shivered in an exaggerated manner as she wrapped her hands around her shoulders and mumbled, “Since he smiles a lot, I shouldn’t call him ‘Ice Man’ at all, even though his smiles are fake. Yikes, he’s looking in our direction! Did he hear what I said?”
Janice leaped away from Victoria and crouched down on the floor, curling her body to hide behind Victoria.
Surprised by her antics, Victoria raised her head and threw a glance at Christian involuntarily, and met his dark eyes unexpectedly. She was caught in a trance for a moment before she came back to her senses and cast her gaze onto the ground yet again.
Since he had thrown her out, she had given up on strategies to get on his good side and instead acted recklessly on every occasion. Even though she wasn’t restraining the use of her language and behavior, she was still fearing him from the bottom of her heart.
The fear had rooted itself deep in her bones and built up by nightmares for seven hundred nights. It would continue to haunt her for the rest of her life.
Christian retreated his gaze back and turned to Matthew. “I can’t believe your taste.”
Matthew harrumphed, not hesitating to protect his student and soon-to-be girlfriend. “You’re blind. Your loss.”
Christian chuckled and answered with a casual tone, “And that’s how I found a friend like you.”
Matthew was speechless, and he couldn’t form a snarky comeback.
“Mr. Buckley, when are we leaving?” Janice fidgeted in her spot before she walked in a comical way toward Matthew as she remained in her crouched position. Her voice was soft when she said coquettishly, “You can stay here to accompany Ice Man. Victoria and I will go to dinner.”
Blinking her eyes at Matthew, Janice threw a nervous glance at Christian from time to time.
A resigned laugh escaped Matthew as he watched her cowardice. “You want to leave?”
Janice nodded vigorously in response.
“No way.” He grinned as he caressed her hair, enjoying the change in her expression.
Her hopeful look was replaced by disappointment as soon as she got the answer from him. Rising to her feet, she walked back to Victoria with a sigh.
“Did you break both Victoria and Janice’s legs? Why is Janice afraid of you too?” Matthew was full of resignation at the way Janice acted.
Victoria clenched her hands on her sides into fists slowly at his words. The scenes she was trying her best to forget repeated themselves in her mind, along with the feelings surging inside her chest that were making her suffocate, but she couldn’t stop them.
She turned around and strode for the exit without a word.novelxo.com fast update
Janice tugged on Victoria’s fingers from behind, fully aware of the woman’s attempt to leave. “Where are you going?”
“I want to make a call.” Victoria pressed a finger to the spot between her brows and kneaded. She felt a headache coming on, so she mumbled a perfunctory excuse.
Janice shot a sneaky glance at Matthew before whispering, “I’m coming with you. I promise I’ll stay away from you later on and not eavesdrop on your conversation.”
Victoria hummed in acknowledgment and began to walk. Janice followed behind and adhered to each of the former’s footsteps, acting much like a shadow.
Once both women left, Matthew shut the door of the ward before he asked, “What happened? I hear rumors such as Victoria trying to seduce you, or she seeking revenge on you, or even you forcing her to sleep with you… Why did you even wound yourself in the first place?”
“Vincent put the sleeping pill and aphrodisiac into my drink.” Christian frowned at the thought but the look on his face returned to his usual expression as he replied with a brief answer.
Matthew found it both confusing and funny, and maybe a little surprised. “That’s low of him. I can’t believe you fell for it.”
Christian was playing with the folds on his hospital gown when he heard Matthew. He raised his chin to look at the other man before he lowered his gaze back to the gown. “I was careless. I didn’t expect him to use such dirty tricks.”
Vincent was known as a man who was against dirty tricks. If he found someone he didn’t favor, he would voice his dissatisfaction against the person face-to-face instead of playing dirty.
The elders from both the Buckley and Coleman families had a good relationship, but that was not the case for Matthew and Vincent. The two had never seen eye to eye, and they hated each other’s guts.
“He’s a straightforward person and doesn’t play dirty tricks. It’s understandable if you aren’t aware of his motive.” Matthew adjusted his gold-trim glasses and smiled. “I wonder what happened to the moron lately because not only he asked for a position in the Coleman Group, he even tried to engage in a business talk like others. However, he can’t even understand the contract, and ended up being scammed.”