Love at First Sight? Mr. Harrison Has Been Scheming All Along-Chapter 125: "Not Calling Me President Harrison Anymore?
The atmosphere inside the tour bus was unnervingly quiet.
Rory Linden heard every single word with perfect clarity.
She could hardly believe those words had come from Sean Harrison’s mouth.
She was beginning to realize that the man she had built up in her mind might have been nothing more than a fantasy.
Rory Linden gave up struggling and just sat there.
For the long journey, their fingers remained tightly intertwined.
The man’s body temperature was a little high.
His warmth seeped into her palm.
The bus was pulling into the next village.
The people behind them started gathering their things, getting ready to get off.
Rory Linden struggled a little.
Her hand was still held fast in his.
In response to her movement, his long fingers pressed down harder on the bones of her hand.
After a moment of silence, Rory Linden finally gave up trying to pull away.
’Forget it.’
’Just forget it.’
The bus slowly came to a stop.
Rory Linden knew that team members would be coming over soon. If they saw her and Sean Harrison being so intimate, they would surely give them strange looks.
She turned her face toward the window.
The door on the right side of the bus slowly opened. Before the colleagues in the back could move, the man beside her stood up first.
He got off the bus.
By the time Rory Linden realized what was happening, the man had already let go of her hand at some point.
Her colleagues from the back also filed down the aisle to get off.
Sean Harrison was standing just outside the bus as their colleagues disembarked one by one.
A steady stream of disembarking colleagues separated her from him.
She couldn’t make out his expression.
Then, Evan Hollis walked over.
He was holding her backpack. "Dr. Linden, I brought your bag for you. Go on, get off the bus."
"Thank you."
Rory Linden reached for the bag.
Evan Hollis glanced at her hand and pulled the bag back. "What happened to your hand? Are you hurt?"
Only then did Rory Linden notice that the back of her hand was slightly red.
Her skin was fair and her body fat percentage was low, so any little bump or scrape left a mark easily.
The man’s fingers had been gripping her so tightly just now, and the red marks hadn’t faded yet.
"I just bumped it by accident," Rory Linden explained.
Evan Hollis immediately slung her backpack over his own shoulder. "Then you shouldn’t carry it. I’ll get it for you."
"No, no, it’s fine. I can carry it myself."
Rory Linden quickly took the bag from him.
’Sean Harrison had already misunderstood the situation between them.’
’She couldn’t let Evan Hollis carry her bag for her now.’
’And she would have to explain what happened earlier, too.’
’No matter what, Sean Harrison had always given her a complete sense of security when it came to his relationships with other women.’
’She couldn’t let him misunderstand her, either.’
However, while the two of them were talking, they had been standing right in front of the bus door.
The man standing below had seen everything clearly.
By the time Rory Linden and Evan Hollis got off the bus, Sean Harrison had already left with the team leader.
The luggage compartment under the bus was open.
Most people had already taken their luggage, leaving only Rory Linden’s and Evan Hollis’s bags behind.
It was the same as the last village.
First, they were assigned dorms, and then they would all have lunch together.
The conditions for these rural medical aid trips were always harsh.
Whether it was accommodations or food, the standards were generally quite low.
Rory Linden had endured plenty of hardship growing up, so she didn’t mind this kind of environment.
But...
’Sean Harrison had probably never experienced any real hardship in his entire life.’
Rory Linden had just put her luggage down in the dorm when the team leader came in. "Rory Linden, don’t unpack yet. Go help President Harrison get his room set up. You know, make the bed and all that."
"Okay."
Rory Linden quickly agreed.
The team leader had mentioned before that Sean Harrison would be staying with them for the next two days.
The accommodations in the village were poor.
She was worried the man wouldn’t be able to adapt.
Rory Linden followed the team leader to Sean Harrison’s room.
When she saw where he was staying, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed to be part of a previously vacant courtyard house.
Of the few rooms available, a side room had been cleaned up for him. It wasn’t large, but it was very clean.
The mattress on the bed was clearly brand new, and a matching set of bedding was laid out on a nearby table.
There were also towels, a washbasin, a toothbrush, and toothpaste.
Everything was new.
The team leader gave a few brief instructions and left.
Rory Linden decided to get to work.
She had just walked to the table and was about to unwrap the bedding when...
the man wrapped his arms around her from behind, his lips landing on the pale nape of her neck, exposed as she looked down...
First a kiss, then the tip of his warm tongue.
They had been intimate many times before...
Rory Linden immediately realized what he was doing—he was trying to leave a mark there...
"Don’t..." Rory Linden protested.
Sean Harrison stopped, pressing his palm down on top of hers where it rested on the table.
His well-defined fingers intertwined with her slender, pale ones...
The man’s voice came from beside her ear. "Afraid that Dr. Hollis of yours will see?"
"Sean Harrison!" Rory Linden was getting genuinely angry now. "If you’re upset about this morning, I can explain. Dr. Hollis and I are just regular colleagues."
"Not calling me President Harrison anymore?" Sean Harrison murmured, still holding her.
"Can you... can you let me turn around...?"
Rory Linden wanted to turn, but the man was holding her too tightly. She couldn’t move at all.
The man behind her was silent for a long moment before his arms around her finally loosened slightly.
Only then was Rory Linden able to turn around.
The moment she did, she met the man’s ink-black eyes.
They were like deep pools, revealing no emotion.
And certainly no tenderness.
Seeing his expression, Rory Linden froze for a second. The hand she had started to raise to hold him faltered.
"Sean Harrison, let me explain. I..."
Rory Linden was only halfway through her explanation when footsteps sounded from outside.
Soon, the team leader’s voice followed—
"President Harrison, I’ve brought you some hot water."
As the footsteps grew closer, Sean Harrison calmly watched the woman’s reaction...
She wanted to push him away.
’It was as if she truly wanted to draw a clear line between them.’
Finally, the team leader reached the door and called out, "President Harrison, are you in there?"
Sean Harrison looked at the helpless expression on the woman in his arms, and his embrace finally loosened.
"I’m here," he said, walking toward the door.
He reached the door and opened it.
The team leader was holding two thermoses and explained that it wasn’t possible to boil water in this room.
He saw that Rory Linden had just unwrapped the bedsheets and said, "The bed’s not made yet? Why don’t you leave it for now and go eat first? There’s nothing scheduled today anyway, so you can do it this afternoon or evening."
"Alright," Sean Harrison replied.
The three of them headed to the dining area together.
It was called a dining hall, but it was really just a temporary tent.
Inside were a few round tables and some plastic stools.
This time, however, a square table with a few chairs had been specially set up in a corner.
It was obviously prepared for Sean Harrison.
Someone had already served Sean Harrison and the team leader’s meals and placed them there.
The two of them went to the corner to sit and eat.
Rory Linden, meanwhile, went to line up for her own food.
She had just gotten her food and was about to find a random seat when...
"Dr. Linden, over here!"
Evan Hollis waved at her, gesturing for her to sit next to him.
