Ashton drummed his fingers on the table, and he gave a slight cough, warning me to sit up properly.
I blinked rather foolishly and sat up, rearranging my clothes hastily so they looked appropriate for the occasion.
Nora placed a slice of meat onto my plate. Leaning closer to me, she grinned and whispered, “The two of you sure understand each other very well!”
I snorted a little and took a bite of the meat. If we understood each other as perfectly as she thought, Ashton would never have brought Rebecca along in the first place.
My silence made Nora feel rather perturbed. Feeling rather chatty, she turned to Rebecca and said, “Ms. Larson, you’re really quiet! You’re so pretty, so I’m sure lots of men are queuing up to marry you. Do you have a boyfriend yet?”
Rebecca looked rather stunned by the sudden compliment. She replied haltingly, “Ms. Oberick, you’re too kind. I’m no beauty at all. You’re kind and generous, and an excellent match for Mr. Murphy. In fact, the both of you look like a match made in heaven.”
“Haha!” Linda snorted suddenly.
Nora touched her nose and smiled blandly. Since Rebecca had offered her a compliment, she couldn’t exactly scowl back at her. Instead, she plastered a grin on her face and continued to press, “So, Ms. Larson, do you have a boyfriend?”
Rebecca looked a little embarrassed. Shaking her head, she replied very honestly, “No, not yet!”
Nora looked very startled. “You’re so beautiful, and you don’t have a boyfriend? What’s wrong with men these days—are they all blind or something?”
I bit into another slice of meat and muttered quietly, “She has a huge crush on Ashton. He’s the one who’s blind, I suppose!”
Nora started coughing immediately. She looked up and smiled awkwardly, her cheeks bright red in color.
Gesturing at the plates of meat on the table, she spluttered, “Come on, eat up!”
…
After dinner, everyone mulled silently over their own private thoughts.
It was rather late at night by the time the meal ended. Nora and Armond were probably going to spend some quality time by themselves—they bid us farewell and left.
Linda hadn’t had enough rest for the past few days. She decided to retire early to her room, too.
That left the three of us. Ashton turned to me and asked, “What else do you want to do now?” We had slept through the afternoon, and if we returned to the hotel room now, we wouldn’t be able to fall asleep anyway.
I shook my head and shrugged. Truth be told, I was a rather boring person who didn’t have many hobbies—an extraordinarily boring person.
On the contrary, Rebecca’s eyes lit up. “Ash, didn’t you tell me that Lavelian Village has a beautiful night view? Can I come along with both of you?”
Ashton didn’t think much of it. He nodded and asked me, “What about you? Do you want to come along?”
Frankly speaking, I had seen all the night views in this city along with Nora, and I wasn’t in the mood to go sight-seeing either. Besides, with Rebecca around, some unnecessary tensions were bound to arise.
But I couldn’t let her go by herself, could I? The idea of her walking around the streets with Ashton made me even more displeased.
I nodded nonchalantly and said, “Alright, then. Let’s go.”
It took slightly more than ten minutes to get to the night market from the restaurant—it wasn’t very far away. I was never particularly chatty at night, and with Rebecca around, I felt even less inclined to strike up conversation.
Rebecca seemed much more talkative than she had been at dinner. She seemed to have an endless supply of conversation topics with Ashton around.
We started out walking side-by-side, but the road was bound by a green belt on one side and the traffic on the other. It became more difficult to continue walking like this.
Eventually, I decided to trail behind them, my head bowed in annoyance as I listened to Rebecca’s conversation with Ashton. They were chatting about interesting things that had happened in K City recently. Since I hadn’t been around in K City, I had no idea what they were talking about.
Without anything to add to the conversation, I kept silent throughout the entire journey.
When we finally arrived at the night market, it was noisy with the sound of cheerful crowds. It seemed that most girls enjoyed this sort of environment, too—Rebecca looked excitedly at the various items on sale, looking as though she wanted to buy everything in sight.
Every time she saw something she liked; she would look pitifully towards Ashton. He would freeze for a moment before silently and naturally footing the bill for her.
At that moment, she saw something she wanted again. Shoving the bags of items into Ashton’s hands, she exclaimed excitedly, “Ashton, wait for me! I’ll be back in a minute!”
She then took off blithely like a girl in a romantic novel. I rarely saw such a bright, cheerful side of her, but I knew enough about Ashton’s generosity. It didn’t seem very surprising to me at all.
Here, I couldn’t help but feel a little upset.
Ashton turned to look at me. Frowning, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head crossly. Gazing at the bags of items in his arms, I asked sharply, “Aren’t those very heavy?”
He merely grinned at me and shot a glance at someone behind me. In a flash, a man in a black suit had appeared out of nowhere and taken the bags from him.
I froze for a second before realizing that the man was his bodyguard. After the previous incident, he had gotten bodyguards to follow me around everywhere. I was always conscious of their existence but had never taken the time to confirm it. This was the first time I had seen one of them in flesh.
After taking the bags from Ashton, the bodyguard disappeared into the crowd again.
Rebecca wasn’t back yet. I turned to him and said blandly, “Why don’t you go and look for Ms. Larson?”
