I Am An Illegitimate Child With A Legitimate Reason For Revenge-Chapter 42: No, you did well

On the way back, Raymond turned to look at Ariel as she stared out the window, her mind drifting far.

For some reason, he couldn’t help but stare at her. His heart felt a bit warm when she defended him earlier. He couldn’t tell if it was a feeling of satisfaction, gladness or appreciation. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

No one... There has never been anyone who stood up for him the way she did. If he had told her to act at the charity gala and make the headlines again, he’d feel nothing since she would be doing all that at his command but he didn’t tell her to do that.

His simple command was for her to stick close to him yet she went off to fight off a few girls talking bad about him. It was comical and he found himself smiling. She was truly something.

Honestly, he had heard enough of that kind of talk to not care and just handle things quietly. He had no issue making sure the gossiper had no mouth to gossip anymore. He was capable of cutting them completely out of the social world but since Ariel decided to let things go, he went with it.

"I guess we can’t do anything about that soft heart of yours." Raymond suddenly said and she turned to look at him.

She did it for the workers at those companies. It was a true fact knowing the kind of girl Ariel was.

Ariel’s cheek was slightly tainted pink. She took his words as a compliment.

"Did I do good?" She asked but he did not respond. "To be honest, I felt really mad hearing them talk so bad about you and your mother. It got my blood boiling and..."

"So you made them serve you like a chair and slapped them." Raymond said and it sounded a bit hilarious.

"Well, they deserved it. But I don’t want other people to suffer for snotty little brats like that." She added.

"Ariel, even if I kicked them out of the social world or disposed of them and destroyed their chances of ever standing high and mighty, the employees wouldn’t necessarily be affected by it."

"How so?"

"I could’ve bought the company under my name or swallowed it up." He said and that hit Ariel like a rock. Why didn’t she think of that?

"Um, did I ruin your plan?" She asked and he smiled.

"No, you did well." He said but Ariel was too lost staring at his smile to respond. He looked really good smiling like that. "Ariel?" He called and she immediately snapped out of it.

"Oh, uh... " She looked away, embarrassed. ’I was staring too much.’

Raymond looked at her. She was so comical.

"Concerning what they said..."

"That you’re an illegitimate child?" She interrupted and looked him straight in the eye. She seemed to be searching for answers in his eyes while he was searching for a reaction that could point out to what her thoughts were concerning the matter.

Ariel let out a little sigh and smiled.

"Are you worried that I’ll misunderstand you?" She asked.

"What?"

"In our contract, it said we must be honest with one another in all matters. I get the feeling that you were trying to tell me something about this last night but I got too emotional and you couldn’t say it." She said,

"That’s partly true." He said. "But I didn’t think it was completely necessary to tell you that bit of information."

"Yeah, it was unnecessary." She nodded and turned to look out the window. "But that bit of information allowed me to understand things more clearly."

"What did you understand?"

"When you said you and I had similar fates growing up." She said, "I understand that better now."

Raymond was silent. This girl... Now, she wasn’t being comical. She was being serious. She was being caring. She was being... Ariel.

She suddenly stretched out her arms wide.

"If you want, I can give you a hug." She said,

"What for?" He asked but she simply shrugged. He covered his face with one of his hands and shook his head. "There’s no need."

"Are you sure?" She asked and to which he answered with a question.

"Is this some sort of tactic to comfort me? Are you really trying to comfort me?"

"You can take it that way." She said, "Or you can take it that I, Ariel, am too shy to ask for your comfort through a hug so I’m offering one instead." She said, a little flush on her right cheek. "I’m not okay."

Raymond, once again, stared at her. Seriously, this girl was something. To ask for a hug in this manner... She was truly something.

Raymond took her hand and drew her to himself, letting her sink into his arms and his embrace while his hand stayed on her head.

Ariel felt warm. His arms around her were warm. His embrace was warm. She wanted to stay like that a little longer. Arms that made her feel secure. Arms that made her feel like there was nothing in the world that could harm her. Arms that served as a cocoon.

’Seriously, why is my heart beating so fast?’ She wondered. ’I hope he doesn’t hear?’

Unlucky for her, he was hearing her heart loud and clear but he did not say anything about it. He didn’t have any thoughts about it. On the other hand, his own heart was beating in a strange way. He couldn’t understand it.

After getting back to the mansion, Ariel took a hot bath and retired to bed. And the next morning, as expected, the internet exploded.

The internet had the hashtag ’Stein’ everywhere. The search list, ’Stein’s illegitimate son’s lover’ and ’The Stein’s affairs’. Those topics were trending for the reason that had to do with the contents of a popular shared video.

And the contents very well had to do with the incident at the ladies restroom. Ariel, was the centre of it all. If she had a social media account, she would’ve probably gotten over millions of followers.

Some said she was really cool, while others said she was carrying just her weight around. All in all, the Stein’s were being discussed all over the internet and the case of the lady who gave birth to the Stein’s illegitimate child was brought back to life.