Addiction to Temptation: His Mischievous Sweetheart Captivates Him-Chapter 210: Natalie Vaughn Pleases the Elderly Couple
Natalie Vaughn never liked the smell of smoke to begin with. Elder Sheffield’s cigarettes were made from unprocessed tobacco, the most irritating kind. She couldn’t stop coughing for quite a while.
Aunt Sheffield immediately opened the window when she saw this.
"The young girl is here, why are you smoking? You smoke every day, but it won’t kill you."
Uncle Sheffield frowned, glanced at Natalie Vaughn, and only reluctantly stubbed out his cigarette after seeing tears streaming from her eyes as she coughed.
"So delicate."
Natalie Vaughn raised her hand to wipe her eyes. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, her face was clean, and her eyes, already beautiful, were now teary and red-rimmed, resembling a young deer.
Aunt Sheffield’s heart ached even more seeing this.
"Did you drive here all by yourself?"
Natalie Vaughn nodded obediently.
The elderly weren’t sure how far it was from Astra City to Yenton, so they asked again.
"How long did you drive?"
Natalie Vaughn answered honestly. When Aunt Sheffield heard that she, a young girl, had driven alone for six hours to get there, she immediately kicked Uncle Sheffield.
"You always have that sour face; are you trying to avoid living with me?"
Uncle Sheffield: ?????
Natalie Vaughn: ...
Is this really how relationships work? Natalie Vaughn’s parents had always gotten along well, speaking kindly and never behaving like Gideon Sheffield’s parents.
But still...
Natalie Vaughn had an inexplicable premonition that when she and Zane Thorne grew old, their relationship might be similar to Uncle and Aunt Sheffield’s.
She’s agile, and Zane is a heavy smoker. As for physically fighting with Zane... it wasn’t as though she had never done it before.
Natalie Vaughn moved her nose slightly, catching the aroma of food, and suddenly, her stomach growled.
"..."
Aunt Sheffield stopped scolding Uncle Sheffield and looked at Natalie Vaughn.
"Is the young girl hungry?"
Natalie Vaughn touched her nose and nodded obediently.
"Auntie, I drove straight here and haven’t even had lunch yet."
Natalie Vaughn wasn’t lying. She had left home in the morning, shopped, and then drove straight here. The overcast weather had not allowed her to stop and rest, fearing it would be dark by the time she arrived.
Upon hearing this, Aunt Sheffield promptly got up and headed to the kitchen.
"Auntie, let me help you!"
"You just sit there, young girl."
"Auntie, you can just call me Nina. I just don’t know how to cook, and I want to learn a bit."
Aunt Sheffield couldn’t really drive Natalie Vaughn out of the kitchen, but three minutes later, Aunt Sheffield was beginning to regret it.
Natalie Vaughn wasn’t just bad at cooking; it seemed she had never done any household chores before.
She washed a scallion and knocked off the entire bulb, peeled garlic and popped a nail, and when washing a pepper, didn’t know to remove the stem, let alone how to use a knife. Watching her, Aunt Sheffield, even at her age, was startled.
"Nina, how about you sit outside for a while? There’s a lot of smoke here, and it might ruin your clothes."
Natalie Vaughn was smart and understood the underlying meaning in Aunt Sheffield’s words. She wasn’t really here to help but seemed more like she was causing trouble.
"Then I’ll just sit here and keep you company."
When she heard Natalie Vaughn say this, Aunt Sheffield laughed and asked,
"What, are you afraid of my old grump?"
Of course, Natalie Vaughn wasn’t really afraid. She just went along with their mood, and seeing Aunt Sheffield say so, she nodded.
Aunt Sheffield laughed and explained,
"He just has a sour face, but his heart is actually soft and he’s a good person—aside from the temper."
Natalie Vaughn nodded again but still obediently moved a chair into the kitchen and sat down. When she saw that Aunt Sheffield looked at her with real pity, Natalie Vaughn began her approach.
"Auntie, does Uncle really dislike Zane?"
Aunt Sheffield paused in the middle of chopping vegetables, hesitating over how to respond.
Natalie Vaughn spoke again.
"Uncle must dislike Zane; otherwise, he wouldn’t dislike me either. People say love the house and embrace the crow. If he dislikes Zane, naturally he’ll dislike me too."
Aunt Sheffield’s eyes drooped slightly, and she put down the knife. The couple loved wood-fired meals, so they cooked on the stove. Previously, it was Uncle Sheffield who did the cooking, but with Natalie Vaughn in the kitchen now, Uncle Sheffield wouldn’t enter, so Aunt Sheffield was left to add wood to the fire herself.
After a long silence, Aunt Sheffield finally spoke with a sigh.
"It’s not hate, actually. We both, especially your uncle, used to really like little Zane. We treated him like a second son."
"This child was also very dutiful. When we built this house, he came to help."
"As a city boy, he didn’t know anything about building in the countryside at first, doing menial jobs initially. After seeing the workers at it for a few days, he learned quickly—a highly smart boy."
"Back when Jennings...."
Aunt Sheffield’s lashes trembled slightly.
"When Jennings went to compete, it was he who specially came to fetch us to watch. Sometimes when we were sick, he’d take us to the hospital."
"We liked him very much."
"Unfortunately, that happened five years ago."
At this point, Aunt Sheffield’s voice choked with emotion.
"Jennings was planning to get married and start a family. We’d even bought a house. But then the accident happened."
"At first, we blamed Zane. If it weren’t for him asking Jennings to replace him in the race, none of this would have happened."
"But, thinking it through, if Jennings hadn’t wanted to go, Zane wouldn’t have forced him."
"We just... couldn’t get over the hurdle in our hearts."
After all, their healthy son suddenly ended up incapacitated, lost his career, his fiancée left, and along with her, their unborn grandchild.....
Aunt Sheffield wiped her tears away with her hand.
"In these five years, Zane has visited every year, updated us on Jennings’ situation. Though not warmly received, he still helps us prepare for the new year, fixing what’s broken."
"We wanted to visit Altara, but Zane wouldn’t let us. I know it must be because Jennings’ condition is worse than he says. He must want to spare us the heartache."
"Each of these five years, seeing Zane reminds us of Jennings. Our hearts are full of resentment, yet we yearn for his visit."
"Actually, when we first heard the car, we thought it was Zane."
"He used to come early, and this year he’s late. We didn’t dare call him either."
As she listened, Natalie Vaughn tenderly patted Aunt Sheffield’s shoulder. It was no surprise that Gideon Sheffield’s parents harbored some resentment towards Zane Thorne.
What surprised her was that Zane had once been so close with them. But the better the relationship before, the deeper the resentment now.
Natalie Vaughn fully understood Zane’s pain now.
Gideon Sheffield’s parents had treated him like a second son, yet it was because of him that their biological son ended up in such a state.
Her eyes stung with tears, and she stepped forward to embrace Aunt Sheffield.
She really wanted to hug Zane Thorne.
