Private Marriage, Secret Love-Chapter 35: I Want You With Me

Ethan Lancaster lost his appetite just looking at it.

The grandmother didn’t bring up the past in front of him, but her favoritism was obvious. Seeing how pitiful the man beside her looked, Raina Reddington picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks and placed it in his bowl.

This only made Ethan feel worse. He wasn’t going to eat it!

"What’s your name?" the grandmother asked out of the blue. Ethan met her gaze and only then realized the question was directed at him.

This was a public slap in the face for Ethan. He and Raina had been married for some time, yet her closest relative didn’t even know his name.

"Ethan Lancaster."

"A fine name. One can tell you were doted on by your family growing up."

Ethan engaged in some awkward small talk. "Yes."

"A good birth is more important than anything."

Ethan had no response to that.

Raina hadn’t eaten much from the main dishes either. Miles Hawthorne, who knew her tastes best, picked up two slices of boiled beef, intending to put them in her bowl. But Ethan, with his sharp eyes and quick hands, intercepted Miles’s chopsticks with his own. "Mr. Hawthorne, isn’t it a bit unhygienic to do that?"

The grandmother watched coldly from the side, then put a large helping of food into Raina’s bowl. "Eat."

Miles Hawthorne retracted his chopsticks. Since it was Ethan’s first time at the grandmother’s house, he couldn’t leave any food behind. He forced himself to finish the entire bowl of rice and the vegetables she had given him, leaving only the piece of meat in his bowl.

After the meal, Miles Hawthorne didn’t linger. He said his goodbyes to the grandmother and Raina and prepared to leave.

The grandmother got up to see him out. With a sullen face, Ethan finally found an opportunity to ask, "Why was he here?"

Raina shook her head. "I’m not really sure."

"Didn’t you two arrange to meet here? If I hadn’t shown up unannounced..."

"We would have had a secret tryst, is that it?" Raina finished washing the dishes and walked over to Ethan without drying her hands. She was about to touch his face with her wet hands, but he swatted her hand away.

"Aren’t your hands dirty? They’re greasy."

"Fine, fine. The Fourth Master is such a neat freak. You should hurry back. This place isn’t suitable for you."

Ethan showed no intention of getting up to leave. "I’m staying here tonight, too."

"What?" Raina was shocked. "Just have Seth Sinclair arrange for a car to pick you up. There’s no air conditioning here. You’re too delicate to handle it."

"No air conditioning is fine. You can just hold me tight when we sleep to keep warm."

The grandmother’s voice drifted in from outside. "In this weather, it drops to five or six degrees below zero at night. It’s cold enough to freeze a person to death."

"It’s not cold, not cold at all," Ethan had been coddled in a greenhouse his whole life. In reality, forget about the nighttime—just sitting here, his knees were already aching from the cold. He couldn’t stop rubbing them with his palms. "The cold is the one thing I’m not afraid of."

Raina glanced at his attire. ’Hmm, I wonder how much wind that sharp, stylish overcoat can actually block.’ Ethan had never known the concept of long johns. Right now, his black suit trousers were wrapped solitarily around his long legs. They looked good, it was true. But it was also true that it was cold.

The house didn’t have much, but it had plenty of rooms. Raina helped tidy one up, laying out the mattress and placing the quilt on top.

The grandmother urged her from outside to hurry and go to sleep. Ethan sat reluctantly on the edge of the bed and grabbed her hand. "You’re not sleeping with me?"

"Men and women can’t share a bed in someone else’s house. That’s the rule around here."

Ethan found this utterly absurd. "We’re a married couple, and this is your grandmother’s house..."

"Raina—" The grandmother’s voice was full of impatience. "Time for bed!"

"Coming, coming."

Raina waved at him. "I’m off. Get some rest."

"Hey—"

Raina quickly walked out of the room, pulling the door gently shut. Ethan looked around. The room was empty, and not only was it large, but it was also tall. The ceiling had to be at least five or six meters high, no exaggeration. He was shivering from the cold, and when he took a shower, he nearly froze a layer of skin off.

Wrapped in the quilt, he tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. He picked up his phone from the side and sent Raina a message.

"Come over here."

He waited a few minutes. No reply.

Ethan bombarded her with a barrage of WeChat messages.

"I’m freezing to death, hurry up and come over."

"Hurry, hurry, or I’m coming to find you!"

Raina kept glancing at her phone. Her grandmother, who saw everything as clear as day, said, "Don’t pay him any mind."

"Grandma, you should get some sleep too. I’m going back to my room."

"Just sleep in my room tonight. I have air conditioning."

Raina had already thrown off her quilt and gotten up. After slipping on her slippers, she turned and said, "That’s alright. Besides, you’re a light sleeper, and I toss and turn. I’d definitely wake you."

Her room was still the same as it was before she returned to the Reddington Family. Raina had barely been in bed for long before she felt drowsy. She paid no mind to Ethan and fell asleep on her own. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The north wind howled, all that was missing was the snow.

The wind battered the windows in gusts. Ethan really couldn’t sleep. He got up, threw on his overcoat, and tiptoed out the door. Unfamiliar with the house, he couldn’t find the light switch and could only fumble along the wall, relying on his vague memory from when he came upstairs.

Raina had shown him her old room earlier. The countryside was nothing like his Verdant Garden; forget landscape lighting, not even a sliver of moonlight could penetrate the hallway.

Ethan felt his way to the door of Raina’s room. He lifted his foot to step forward, just about to feel for the doorknob, when he stepped on something soft and squishy.

Before Ethan could pull his foot back, the thing began to struggle violently, accompanied by a series of howls.

"WOOF WOOF WOOF—WOOF WOOF—"

Ethan scrambled to pull his leg back, leaning away until his back hit the wall.

In the darkness, two dog paws pressed against his chest, and the barking was right in his face. "WOOF!"

Raina, who had just fallen asleep, was startled awake. The barking sounded like it was right outside her door. She quickly turned on the light, got out of bed, and yanked the door open.

The bedroom and hallway lights were connected. She saw her grandmother’s dog standing on its hind legs, its two front paws planted on Ethan’s chest, howling its heart out.

Ethan’s face was ashen. He had the distinct feeling that if he dared to move an inch, the dog would chomp down on him.

He looked so ridiculous that Raina couldn’t help but laugh. Ethan glared at her with a stony expression. "Get this damn dog off me already."

"Blackie doesn’t bite."

"How could you—" Ethan pointed a finger at the rope tied around the dog’s neck. "Tying a dog to the door... you actually did it. Were you trying to guard against me?"

Raina’s gaze followed the rope and saw that the other end was indeed tied to her doorknob. She hadn’t done this. The only explanation was her grandmother.

Raina untied the rope and gave the dog a gentle nudge on its belly with her foot. "Go to sleep."

The dog was very obedient to her. With a couple of wags of its tail, it went downstairs on its own.

The light in the grandmother’s room suddenly turned on. "Raina, what’s wrong?"

Hearing this, Ethan quickly pushed Raina by the shoulders, slipping into her room with her.