Addiction to Temptation: His Mischievous Sweetheart Captivates Him-Chapter 239: I Can’t Bear to Leave You
Natalie Vaughn knows full well that from early this morning, Zane Thorne has been vaguely jealous of Seraphina Sutton, just because she said she was coming to see Seraphina instead of accompanying him to work.
Geez, this possessiveness is quite exaggerated, especially since Seraphina is his capable assistant. How can he be so petty?
Zane seemed to have read Natalie’s mind.
"When it comes to you, why shouldn’t I be a little petty? You’re my wife, why do you keep sticking to someone else?"
Natalie pretended to be angry.
"What, are you going to interfere with my friendships now?"
Zane gazed deeply at Natalie.
"I’m not interfering."
Natalie raised her eyebrows and poked the man’s chest several times, each poke stronger than the last.
"Then what are you doing now?"
Zane furrowed his brows.
"You’re practically glued to her."
Natalie: ...
Why does it sound like he feels a bit wronged?
And outside, Seraphina also sneezed at that moment. She had been sneezing too much today; could she be catching a cold?
The two didn’t talk much about it. Natalie attributed it to their constant togetherness these past few days, and Zane simply being a bit unaccustomed.
With two hours left until the official end of the workday, and who knows how long until Zane finishes, Natalie had just dealt with Yvonne Blackwood and felt quite energized, now sitting on Zane’s lap as they looked at documents together.
"Weren’t you the one who said you wanted me to accompany you to work?"
Zane was quite pleased, although he had to focus a lot to keep his mind on work in this position.
Natalie is not as clueless as Yvonne claimed. She studied business management for her graduate degree; she just hasn’t delved into professional matters yet and doesn’t know what situations are reasonable or beneficial.
But since Zane happened to be looking at documents about The Caldera complex in Veridia, Natalie was interested in reading along.
It was when she saw the words "Aethelred Circuit" and "The Caldera" that Natalie remembered she hadn’t told Zane she planned to study in Kensingport.
Natalie blinked and tentatively asked.
"Did you often go to Brythania for races back then?"
Zane wasn’t puzzled by her sudden question.
"Are you familiar with it?"
Natalie pouted.
"My husband is a professional race car driver; how could I not know these things? I even looked up the team you were with before."
Zane put down what he was holding and leaned back in his chair.
"Yeah, most of my training and races were in Brythania, but to be precise, I’m a former professional race car driver."
Natalie wrinkled her nose; she didn’t like the "former" prefix.
"So you’re familiar with Brythania?"
"Of course."
"How about Kensingport?"
"The racing base was in Valewood back then, just an hour’s drive from Kensingport, so I’m naturally familiar."
Natalie nodded, thinking that Kensingport was only an hour away from his old racing base.
"So you also set GN’s overseas headquarters there."
"Yeah, I’m familiar with it and didn’t feel like looking for another place."
Natalie wanted to continue asking, but the man placed a finger on her forehead. Zane raised an eyebrow at Natalie.
"First, tell me, why are you asking all this?"
He understood his little girl; if she wanted to know about something, she would research it herself rather than directly ask him.
At least until now.
His little girl was afraid that talking about this might upset him, so she always avoided it. The fact that she’s asking now means something is up.
Natalie has always been straightforward, and even she felt uncomfortable with beating around the bush. So she closed her eyes and spoke boldly.
"The professor who wanted me to study in Kensingport before is willing to teach me again. I’ve agreed, and I’ll be going to study in Kensingport in the spring."
After speaking, Natalie opened her eyes to see Zane’s reaction. The man remained silent for a while, his expression inscrutable.
Natalie grew anxious and couldn’t help but hug the man’s neck.
"What do you think?"
Zane then looked at Natalie, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"What do I think about what?"
"Like... me going to study in Kensingport."
Natalie didn’t believe for a second that Zane was indifferent. She remembered how her brother was when his wife went abroad for an exchange program, after all.
Zane gave a soft response, his large hand kneading Natalie’s waist intermittently.
"How long will you study?"
"Two years."
As soon as she finished speaking, the pressure on her waist increased slightly, so she quickly amended with a smile.
"One year, I can finish early."
The pressure on her waist eased a bit.
"Then just go study."
Natalie blinked, completely unexpected that Zane would agree so easily. She thought she would need to coax the man quite a bit.
"That’s it?"
Hearing this, Zane glanced at Natalie, pinching her nose.
"That’s it, am I supposed to stop you from studying?"
Even as he said this, why did Zane not show the slightest hint of hesitance or reluctance?
She was happy but also not.
Restlessly moving in the man’s arms, Natalie still voiced her concern.
"Aren’t you... going to miss me? It’s a year, you know, being apart for a year."
Upon hearing this, the man chuckled softly, following her lead.
"So what should I do? Hmm? Should I stop you from studying? Can I change your decision? I also won’t stop you. Whatever you want to do, I have no right to interfere, especially since you want to continue learning and becoming more excellent. How could I stop that?"
But these weren’t the words Natalie wanted to hear. She had made her decision so firmly because she knew Zane would support her.
What she wanted to hear was that he would miss her.
"So you’re okay with being apart from me for a year?"
Zane sighed at last.
"Well, missing you or not, we have to be apart. Besides, I can always fly over to see you."
But even having time to fly to Kensingport and see her is bound to result in more time apart than together. How long can he stay with her?
The more she thought about it, the sadder Natalie felt. This was a dead-end with no solution.
Zane noticed her mood shift and, finding it amusing, lifted her slightly by the waist.
"Why are you unhappy now? Shouldn’t you be cheering me up?"
Considering how she had been trying to twist the conversation earlier, she was probably fully prepared to reason things out with him, not expecting him to agree so quickly.
Natalie scrunched her nose, clinging to him.
"I’m going to miss you."
The man gently patted her back.
"It’s just a year."
"Even a year is too long; maybe I could push harder and come back in six months?"
Zane immediately refused.
"Nonsense. Condensing a two-year course into a year is already tough. How could you do it in six months? You’re there to study, not to suffer."
"But being away from you for so long is suffering too."
Hearing this, Zane’s soothing actions paused.







