Our Love Story: Hard to Guard Against the Sudden Love Strike-Chapter 174 - 172: Life

The next day.

Sienna Thornton was sleeping soundly when she suddenly felt someone kissing her forehead, and she, a light sleeper, woke up instantly.

Seeing it was Simon Forrester, she frowned, reached for her phone to check the time, and sleepily said, "It’s just past five o’clock, why are you up so early?"

Simon Forrester looked at her gently, "I have a flight at 6:50, I’m leaving now. Take good care of yourself, call me if anything comes up."

"Okay, you go then." Sienna Thornton propped herself up and kissed the corner of his lips.

With a "click", the door closed, restoring the room to silence.

Sienna Thornton couldn’t fall back asleep. She lay in bed for a while and, when she saw it was daylight, got up, washed up, tidied up the room, picked some clothes and her Kindle, and headed to Melinda Linton’s place.

Melinda Linton was also up early; she was having breakfast with Jenna Raines when she saw Sienna Thornton arrive and curiously asked, "Annie, why are you here today?"

Sienna Thornton put down her bag, went to the kitchen to get some porridge, and sat down to eat with them, "Well, I plan to stay here for a week."

When she heard that her older daughter, who had just returned home with Simon Forrester a couple of days ago, was planning to stay for a week, the traditional Melinda Linton got anxious, "Did you have a fight with him?"

"Oh," Sienna Thornton said helplessly, "Why would we! He’s on a business trip, won’t be home for a week. Isn’t it okay for me to come and stay with you?"

Melinda Linton, who always thought Sienna Thornton and Simon Forrester were already registered as a couple, was still worried, "Even though he’s not home, you shouldn’t wander around, you need to stay at home. What if something happens? What if his family suddenly comes over?"

What Melinda Linton said hit home with Sienna Thornton.

Yeah, she’s been living at Simon Forrester’s place. What if one day the Forrester Family shows up, and the two of them happen to be home, or she’s alone, how would she explain it?

When two people are in love, if elders get involved, things get complicated.

Just like with Melinda Linton, Sienna just came to stay for a few days, and Melinda immediately thought she might be having an argument with Simon Forrester, or their relationship was in trouble...

*

During the days Simon Forrester was in The Northeast, he would video call Sienna Thornton every night once he was done with work, but it was often after ten o’clock.

On screen, he was wearing a suit, the top button of his shirt undone, his tie loosened, his fatigue was so apparent that even Sienna Thornton could see it through the screen.

"Are you very tired?" Sienna Thornton asked.

Simon Forrester: "It’s alright, architecture is like that. Once the project starts, there are always unexpected situations."

"Make sure to stay safe, rest well, and eat three meals a day." Other than saying that, Sienna Thornton couldn’t do much else to help him, much less relieve his worries.

Aside from exchanging a few words of longing and sharing stories about their day, there wasn’t much else left to talk about.

Living together, they could usually banter to lighten things up, but now separated by a screen and seeing how tired Simon Forrester looked, Sienna Thornton didn’t feel it was appropriate to tease him, therefore their video calls lost a lot of fun. But the good part was that they both missed each other dearly, making the process warm and full of love.

* 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The night before Simon Forrester was scheduled to return, Sienna Thornton waited until eleven but still hadn’t received a video call request from him. She texted him without response, waited until midnight, and felt something was off. When she called, it was turned off.

She then called Harrison Rowe, who hesitated and said that in the evening they had dinner with the project team and engineers, and Jack Hawthorne had gotten Simon Forrester drunk and he had just fallen asleep.

Since Simon Forrester was safe, Sienna Thornton relaxed and reminded Harrison Rowe to take good care of Simon Forrester that night, then went to sleep herself.

The next day, she packed her things and went back to Simon Forrester’s place.

The apartment had been unoccupied for a week and had gathered some dust. She did some cleaning in the morning, took a nap, then went out to buy groceries and prepare dinner, making sure that once Simon Forrester returned, there would be hot food to eat.

Yet even when the meal was ready, Simon Forrester hadn’t come home. She called him, but his phone was off, and so was Harrison Rowe’s, so she guessed the flight was delayed.

Later, she went to take a shower herself, and by seven, Simon Forrester still wasn’t back. She lay on the sofa and watched TV, dozing off.

She didn’t know how long she slept when she felt someone stroking her face, and upon opening her eyes, she saw Simon Forrester.

She let out a soft "mmm" and got up to hug him, her voice choked as she asked, "Why so late? The food’s gone cold."

Even though it was just a regular business trip, she didn’t know why she felt so anxious and uneasy.

Simon Forrester patted her back gently, "The flight was delayed by two hours. I ate on the plane. Did you not eat yet?"

"No, I was waiting for you," she said as she hugged him tighter.

"Then get up quickly, I’ll eat a bit with you."

Maybe due to the lack of contact the previous night, Sienna Thornton was being unusually clingy today, hugging Simon Forrester and unwilling to let go. Simon Forrester laughed and had to carry her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, looked up at his face.

As she looked, her heart softened, she buried her face in his chest, feeling shy.

Simon Forrester set her down on the dining chair, took off his suit jacket, and turned to the kitchen to wash his hands and heat up the food.

Even though he had eaten well on the plane, he still sat with her and ate a bit.

After finishing the meal, Sienna Thornton urged Simon Forrester to take a shower while she tidied up the dishes.

Once everything was put away, she went to the bathroom and collected the dirty laundry.

Simon Forrester was soaking in the bathtub, eyes closed, his phone on loudspeaker, seemingly in a conference call. Various voices came from the phone, discussing architectural engineering terms she didn’t understand.

Not lingering long, she took the basket of dirty clothes to the walk-in closet, organizing Simon Forrester’s suitcase, putting clean clothes into the wardrobe, and throwing sealed dirty clothes into the laundry basket.

When the suitcase was empty, she suddenly realized that the blue box (TT) she placed in there was missing.

She instinctively started looking, convinced Simon Forrester had relocated it somewhere else.

After searching for a while, she finally found the box in an inner pocket.

She exhaled in relief, sat on the soft bench, and stared at the box in her hand, lost in thought.

She felt that her emotions and sense of self were changing in ways she couldn’t have anticipated.

*

Sienna Thornton sat in the walk-in closet for a while before getting up, putting away the suitcase, and taking the laundry basket to the laundry room.

After dealing with the clothes, she peeked into the bathroom and saw Simon Forrester still soaking, his phone’s loudspeaker on, the conference call was heated, arguments even audible.

She quietly withdrew and went to the study to pick a book to read. But with the book in hand, she couldn’t focus on a single word.

She looked around at this home in front of her, seeing countless busy shadows of herself.

Inside, a voice asked her: Is this the life you want?