Love at First Sight? Mr. Harrison Has Been Scheming All Along-Chapter 89: "Miss Linden, Is That... a Hickey?
Rory Linden had very fair skin, making the flush of red on her neck particularly conspicuous.
Miles Harrison’s fingers tightened on her arm. He glared at the hickey, his expression turning vicious.
"You slept with my uncle?!" Miles Harrison stared at Rory Linden, a cold sneer on his lips. "All those years we were together, you put on quite an act. You really had me fooled, thinking you were so innocent and demure!"
Rory Linden tugged at her collar. "Young Master Harrison, who I’m with and what I do has nothing to do with you."
"Right, right, of course it has nothing to do with me." Miles Harrison looked Rory Linden up and down. "If we hadn’t broken up, I’d have never known you were such a calculating woman. You knew to sell your first time for a high price, knew just who to spread your..."
SPLASH—
Before Miles Harrison could finish speaking, Rory Linden grabbed the glass from the table and splashed the water in his face!
The water had been sitting out all morning, so it was no longer warm.
Miles Harrison was clearly stunned.
He wiped the water from his face, his eyes locked on Rory Linden. But surprisingly, his expression wasn’t one of anger. "Well, aren’t you something? Now that you’ve sold yourself to my uncle, you’ve gotten bold enough to treat me this way."
Rory Linden knew Miles Harrison all too well.
The man had his own brand of logic; he never listened to what anyone else had to say.
For instance, he was now convinced that she was a scheming woman who had only gotten into his uncle’s bed so quickly because she was after Sean Harrison’s wealth and power.
"Young Master Harrison, you can rest assured that no matter how awful a person I am, I won’t be coming back to ruin your life."
Rory Linden stood by the door, empty glass in hand, and gestured for him to leave.
She couldn’t leave a patient alone in the exam room, so she couldn’t be the first to walk out.
Miles Harrison, ignoring the water soaking his clothes, stuck one hand in his pocket and said:
"Don’t worry, you’ll soon find out this is just a whim for my uncle. Maybe it’s because you’re decent-looking, or maybe because you look like Nadia Willow. It doesn’t matter. He’s definitely not going to take responsibility for you just because he slept with you."
"I see."
Rory Linden’s voice was placid.
She had heard so much of this lately that she’d grown numb to it.
She watched Miles Harrison leave the exam room, waiting a moment before following him out.
The man was still standing in the corridor.
Rory Linden walked briskly past, pretending she hadn’t seen him.
Miles Harrison stood rooted to the spot, watching her retreat. A powerful wave of bitter resentment surged within him.
He used to look down on Rory Linden, finding her dull and headstrong.
Yet, at the same time, he’d always felt that she would never leave him.
’In his mind, she was like a can of food in the back of the refrigerator that he never wanted to open.’
’Something to be taken out for a bite only when he was starving.’
’Otherwise, he couldn’t muster the slightest bit of interest.’
He had always thought that if he ever decided to go back to her, Rory Linden would listen to his explanations. No matter how long she sulked, she would always forgive him in the end.
He never expected that in just a month or two, she would be in his uncle’s bed, on her way to becoming his aunt.
"Fuck!"
Miles Harrison slammed his fist into the corridor wall.
As the thought crossed his mind, he realized that beyond the bitter resentment, there was also...
Jealousy.
He slammed his fist against the wall twice more, jarring his previously injured hand and sending a sharp pain through it.
’It was just like the pain in his heart.’
-
Rory Linden had just reached the entrance of the inpatient department when the phone in her pocket began to ring.
It was an unfamiliar number.
When she answered, a familiar, mature female voice said, "This is Charlotte Rhodes."
The four simple words made Rory Linden’s heart leap into her throat.
She didn’t know Charlotte Rhodes at all.
During the years she had lived with the Harrington family, Charlotte Rhodes had been abroad with Sean Harrison.
By the time Charlotte Rhodes brought Sean Harrison back to the country after his father passed away, Rory was already in college.
Her most vivid memory of Charlotte Rhodes was from not long ago, when Charlotte had surgery and Sean Harrison came to visit her in the hospital.
Charlotte Rhodes’s attitude toward Sean Harrison had been completely unexpected.
"Hello."
Rory Linden replied politely.
"Are you free tonight?"
"Yes... yes, I am."
"Then come have dinner at the house tonight."
Charlotte Rhodes’s tone held none of the warmth one might expect from an elder; it was an imperious summons, not an invitation. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
She didn’t even seem to consider the possibility that Rory Linden might refuse.
"Alright."
Rory Linden had no choice but to agree.
She was Sean Harrison’s mother, after all.
"I know my son has arranged a private driver for you. He will bring you straight here tonight." Charlotte Rhodes paused. "There’s no need for you to mention this dinner to my son."
Before Rory Linden could even respond, the line went dead.
Rory Linden stared at her phone’s screen, her emotions in a tangle.
’This family dinner...’
’I can’t be the only one she invited, can I?’
-
After work, Rory Linden arrived at the old Harrington estate. Just as she stepped out of the car, she saw Nadia Willow standing by the entrance.
The woman was wearing a qipao.
It was ink-blue.
The smooth, silk fabric was particularly striking in the golden light of the setting sun.
Her previously chestnut-colored curls had been dyed black and were now elegantly pinned up with a hairpin.
Her entire aura was vastly different from when they had met a week ago.
Looking at her, Rory Linden felt more strongly than ever that the two of them were starting to look alike.
"Miss Linden, we meet again."
Nadia Willow walked over in her high heels, a dark green jade bracelet on her wrist catching the eye.
She glanced around at the garden and smiled. "Auntie Rhodes is still resting. Why don’t you join me for a stroll through the garden?"
Rory Linden guessed the woman must have something she wanted to say to her.
Under the circumstances, she could only agree.
She had wandered this Harrington family garden since she was a child.
When she was a student, she was always trailing after Miles Harrison. She didn’t have many friends, so whenever she was tired from studying, or when she missed her mother, she would come to the garden for a walk.
She would think about how her mother had once swept the fallen leaves from the very path beneath her feet.
The thought always brought her a sense of warmth.
But so many years had passed. The plants in the garden had all been replaced, and it no longer looked the way she remembered.
They had only taken a few steps when Nadia Willow suddenly stopped. "Miss Linden, you’ve got something right here."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and brushed the side of Rory Linden’s neck.
Rory Linden realized at once—that was where the hickey was!
The hickey was right at the edge of her shirt collar.
She had distinctly covered it with concealer before leaving the hospital, even setting it with powder. She hadn’t expected it to rub off so quickly.
Nadia Willow, of course, knew it was a hickey, but she feigned surprise anyway. "Miss Linden, is that... a hickey?"
"...My apologies. I put concealer on it before I left, but my collar must have rubbed it off." Rory Linden covered the mark with her hand. "I’ll touch it up before I go inside."
Nadia Willow’s eyes were glued to the hickey.
It was so vivid, like a flower blossoming on her neck.
A freshly planted one, at that.
"Miss Linden, even the cheapest concealer wouldn’t rub off so perfectly, would it?" Nadia Willow looked at Rory Linden, a smile on her face as she asked, "You didn’t know I would be here today and leave it visible on purpose, did you? As a little show of defiance?"
"?"
Rory Linden was utterly baffled.
The woman across from her was smiling, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.
The aggression was so obvious that even a fool could see it, and Rory Linden was no fool.
Nadia Willow drew her hand back, letting it rest on her own abdomen. "Actually," she said, "I once miscarried Sean Harrison’s child."
She told a malicious lie.
She watched Rory Linden quietly, waiting for a reaction.
