CHAPTER 37: CHAPTER 37: FORCED KISS

He was both angry and heartbroken, clutching his chest, "You’re giving me angina from the rage!"

"Aren’t I still alive and well?" She stepped forward and embraced him tightly, "I promise you, it will never happen again."

James Foster’s anger was instantly extinguished, his nose tingling, "What would I do if something happened to you?"

"I scheduled an email. If I don’t return in six months, it means I’m gone. I’ve left a letter in my suitcase, leaving all my belongings, including my house, to you."

"Lucy Eaton!" James Foster was going crazy, "I’m worried about you as a person, who cares about your house?! Do you think I’d be overjoyed with your house if you’re dead?"

Lucy Eaton released him, "James, let me introduce you to Mia Townsend, a good friend for the past four months."

James Foster greeted politely, "Thank you for taking care of Lucy during this time."

"Actually, it was Lucy who was looking after us. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here. You have no idea how incredible she is."

James Foster cupped Lucy Eaton’s face with both hands, "Look at this pretty face all thinned out, clearly she suffered for months. Why didn’t you call me to join you? I’d rather have been with you than find out now."

"Beep beep beep beep beep..." Lucy Eaton was about to speak when her gaze fixed on his pocket, "What’s that sound?"

"This." James Foster reached out to take his phone from his pocket, "Here, it’s my phone."

Lucy Eaton took it and asked in surprise, "Why does your phone make this sound?"

James Foster said somewhat helplessly, "You probably don’t know that Jacob Green has been looking for you, right? He has people monitoring me in all sorts of ways. After I accidentally discovered those people, he openly installed a listening device on my phone. It not only records all my calls but also the sounds around me. This sound means he’s within a hundred meters of me."

"What?!" Lucy Eaton was truly shocked, thinking that everything she said to James was probably overheard by Jacob. For a moment, she was agitated, "What does he want with me?!"

"How would I know? You should ask him."

Lucy Eaton put the phone back in his hand and walked toward the door.

As soon as she opened the door, she froze.

Because Jacob Green was right outside, his hands behind him, his deep dark eyes gazing at her.

Their eyes met, and Lucy Eaton’s heart trembled, "I heard from James you’ve been looking for me? And you installed a listening device on his phone?"

"Yes, I’ve been trying every way I could to find you."

"Is there something important?"

"To me, it’s important."

Lucy Eaton nodded, "Let’s talk outside."

Jacob was of the same mind and left the ward with her to a quiet place, which was his car.

Because she had minor injuries, she sat down gently, and before she could speak, her lips were seized.

Lucy Eaton’s eyes widened, as if a calm lake was suddenly stirred, his kiss was urgent and fervent.

After months without kissing him, her long-suppressed emotions overwhelmed the barriers she had built, causing her not only not to push him away decisively, but instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and responded.

"Refused six million a month to participate in life and death tests held by social villains, what’s the point of that? Does your life seem worth only a million to you?"

On the way, he had checked the contents of the life and death test club, and almost exploded with anger.

This damned woman secretly participated in something so dangerous. What was she thinking? He had no idea.

"I dared to go because I was ninety-five percent sure I could come back alive. Precisely because I cherish my life too much, I decided to go. My initial motivation wasn’t money but to challenge myself and see my limits. Fortunately, for myself, I got what I wanted, so it wasn’t in vain." She changed the subject, "Didn’t you say you had something important to tell me? What is it?"

"I want to take the next step with you." Jacob looked at her earnestly, "Do you want to try formally dating me?"

"No." She answered without even pausing to think, "We are not right for each other."

"In what way are we not right?"

"In every way."

"I don’t see it that way. Our intimate life was perfectly harmonious."

Lucy Eaton replied, "It would be harmonious with anyone else too, there’s nothing remarkable about that."

"Why did you respond when I kissed you just now? You obviously have feelings for me."

"Considering you used to be my benefactor, giving you an extra kiss isn’t over the top. Besides, I owed you a goodbye kiss the day I left, so it’s fitting to give it to you now."

Jacob Green felt a surge of frustration, "Do you remember what you said the night you got drunk?"

Of course Lucy Eaton remembered, she wanted to stab herself the next morning.

"Did I say something?"

"You sang Elijah Sheppard’s new song, ’Megan.’ At that time, I thought you were just drunkenly rambling. Later, when I met Elijah, he let me listen to his new song, which was the song you sang. He said the composition was newly finished and hadn’t been written yet. When I asked if the lyrics were about Megan, he was surprised. I told him about it, and after he wrote the lyrics, I compared the ones I remembered to his, and the facts proved you were right. That’s the first issue. The second issue is what you said about Grace Hughes and Stellan Quinn. That should also be true. Can you foresee the future?"

He continued, "It’s because you can see the future that you don’t want to be with me. You fear I’ll betray you, distrust you, and you’re afraid those things will become reality."

Due to a drunken slip of the tongue, she had let slip things she shouldn’t have let him know. Indeed, playing dumb was useless now. Because of ’Megan,’ he was already convinced, and the more she denied it, the firmer his belief would grow.

"Foreseeing the future is not quite it. At most, it’s knowing a few major events in some people’s lives over the next few years. Just a few years, that’s all. Do you remember I said it would rain heavily that afternoon?"

"Yes, very clearly."

"That afternoon you were inspecting Trelliswood District. I knew it was going to rain, and I also knew you would fall from the floors above and get severely injured, impaled by steel rods. So that morning, I asked you to change your suit, but I was still worried, so I went to watch from the shadows. I only left after seeing you leave safely." Lucy Eaton candidly spoke, "Jacob, although we had a month-long arrangement of money and physical relations, it was still a good experience. But from now on, let’s not have any more interactions. You and I are not on the same path."