CHAPTER 27: CHAPTER 27: HE IS MY FIANCÉ

Natalie Vaughn has another trait: when she encounters someone stronger than herself, she doesn’t get intimidated. Instead, she looks for opportunities to spar with them. She enjoys giving her all in a fight and finding a breakthrough for her own progress in the strength disparity.

Xavier Preston is a few weight classes above her and a master in his category. Opportunities to spar with such opponents are rare and precious.

When fighting someone like him, she can only choose to attack actively.

At first, Xavier was adopting a gracious attitude, but Natalie’s continuous attacks forced him to retreat defensively; his next step would be out of bounds.

Only then did Xavier start to counterattack.

Natalie’s skill level is indeed top-notch among her peers, especially her signature move, the spinning back kick, powerful and sharp. But their weight classes are different, and Natalie clearly sensed that Xavier was only using about sixty percent of his strength.

She wiped her forehead with a raised hand.

"Mr. Spencer, don’t hold back, fight all out."

Xavier smiled wryly. If it were James Vaughn, he wouldn’t hold back at all, wouldn’t go easy in the slightest, but his opponent was Natalie. However, he also understood that holding back would be disrespectful to Natalie.

In a brief moment, Xavier finally made a choice.

He began actively attacking in succession.

At first, Natalie was able to successfully defend and counterattack, but over time, the physical differences between men and women became apparent. Natalie could only defend, and in the end, couldn’t defend any longer.

It ended there.

Xavier took a deep breath to relax his body, stepping forward to help Natalie up, but before he could touch her, Natalie had already stood up swiftly.

Although she lost, she felt immensely satisfied with this fight.

Xavier looked a bit apprehensive, stepping forward to inspect her seriously, afraid he might have been too rough.

"Nina, I..."

Natalie exhaled a long breath.

"Mr. Spencer, you’re really impressive. I haven’t had such an exhilarating spar in ages. Looks like I’ll have to work harder."

As Xavier looked into the bright eyes of the girl, his heart softened. He couldn’t resist lifting his hand to brush away the hair sticking to Natalie’s face.

Startled, Natalie instinctively stepped back, Xavier’s fingertips barely grazing her cheek.

Witnessing this stirring scene was Theodore Langdon:....

And just arriving at the doorway, Zane Thorne raised an eyebrow as he observed this scene.

Xavier instantly realized, like being shocked by electricity, he withdrew his hand and placed it behind his back.

"Nina, you... you’re sweating a lot."

Natalie nodded and went to get a towel, momentarily dazed. Perhaps the intense sparring just now had left her mind unable to keep up as she wiped sweat, recalling Xavier’s earlier actions.

She completely missed the person who had suddenly appeared at the door.

Theo immediately sprang up from the ground.

"Mr. Thorne, you’re here! Sis-in-law was amazing and dashing during the sparring, it’s a pity you missed it."

Hearing this, Natalie abruptly looked up.

Zane stood there at the doorway, leaning slightly against the wall, hands casually in his pockets, with those dark, deep eyes and a slight curve on his lips.

Natalie met his gaze, and her heart quivered slightly.

Taking steps as though two at a time, she nearly ran in a small jog to Zane’s side.

"Why did you come here?"

Joy filled her voice.

Zane stood upright, lowering his head to look at the little girl in front of him.

She was wearing a white karate uniform, her hair tied in a high ponytail, her face flushed with a post-exercise glow, and her eyes exceptionally bright.

From Zane’s angle, he could even see through her slightly loose collar that she was only wearing a sports bra underneath.

Zane frowned; was she sparring with that man just like this?

Raising his eyes to look over, Zane wasn’t too surprised to see that person sizing him up with a somewhat heavy expression.

At this moment, he finally understood the meaning of the message Theo had sent.

Zane pulled his hand out, taking the towel draped on Natalie’s shoulder, somewhat clumsily and stiffly rubbing her head.

"Theo asked me to pick him up."

Natalie’s view suddenly got blocked by the towel. Obviously, Zane had never taken care of someone before, persistently rubbing her forehead, not knowing the force he was using, his hands making it sore.

Reaching out to grab Zane.

"Owow—stop if you can’t do it properly."

Zane paused, withdrawing his hand, and saw Natalie’s forehead, reddened by his rubbing, with a frown and a not-so-pleasant expression.

Off to the side, Theo bent over laughing.

"Sis-in-law, Mr. Thorne hasn’t really had a relationship before, doesn’t know how to take care of people, you’ll have to bear with him."

Natalie: ??????

Zane, almost thirty, hadn’t been in a relationship?

Looking up curiously at the man in front of her, it didn’t make sense, a man with overflowing hormones like him—didn’t women like him? Plus, he used to be a racecar driver, racing was so cool, surely he could have fascinated young girls so much they lost their direction.

Seeing Natalie’s gaze, Zane felt a tingling irritation, pressing his tongue against his cheek, then tossing the towel back onto Natalie’s head, glaring at Theo.

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

Theo finally realized what he said had embarrassed Zane, laughing as he explained again.

"In Mr. Thorne’s past relationships, the women clung to him like mothers taking care of him, he was the one being taken care of. A rough guy like him wouldn’t know how to care for others."

Moreover, Zane wasn’t particularly attentive anyway.

Zane: ...

Natalie: ...

What a superfluous statement.

Zane lifted his eyelids, giving Theo a cold stare.

Theo: ...

Damn, I’m done for.

He raised his hand, smacking his own mouth several times, then made a zipper motion towards Zane.

Natalie took the towel off her head, giving Zane a deep glance.

She didn’t mind if he had a past, and besides, an almost thirty-year-old man being an absolute blank slate was unbelievable to her.

Feeling that prickling irritation surge stronger inside him from her look, Zane was relieved when Natalie quickly shifted her gaze, turning to Theo.

"Do you still want to learn?"

Theo nodded.

"Sis-in-law, don’t worry, I might be bad at it, but I have an enthusiastic heart."

Natalie was amused by him, her mood further lifting since Zane’s arrival.

During this time, Xavier was somewhat neglected.

Finally, Xavier took the initiative to come over, looking at Zane, asking.

"Nina, who is this?"

Upon hearing this title, Zane raised an eyebrow, nonchalantly, with a slight laziness, looking at Natalie, waiting for her answer.

Natalie’s lips bore a faint smile.

"Mr. Spencer, this is my fiancé."

Natalie avoided using the term boyfriend, in her mind, boyfriend is a term used when you’re seriously dating, and her situation with Zane didn’t quite apply. Although they hadn’t held an engagement party yet, nor knew if they ever would, their marriage was not going to change.

So using the term fiancé wasn’t wrong.

Hearing Natalie’s response, Xavier’s heart tightened.

Fiancé...

It turned out to be fiancé...