Stella looked up, her eyes aching with tears. She tried her best to blink them back. âIâm not throwing a tantrumâ¦â
A while later, she added, âI wanted to avoid you bothâ¦â
âAre you deliberately saying that to anger me?â Weston lifted her chin and gradually tightened his grip.
âI had no idea you were there.â
Stella turned her face away, removing her chin from his fingers.
Her evasiveness was clear to him, and he was lost in a daze staring at her petite chin.
Stella said, âI didnât expect you two to be there. Had I known, I would never have gone thereâ¦â
Weston couldnât find anything wrong with what she said, but he somehow found her words intolerable.
âI met her to fulfill your request. Donât overthink things.â
âI didnâtâ¦â
Weston was unable to hold back a second more as he put his arms under her shoulders and hauled her up.
He didnât know which part of her body he touched that made her hiss in pain and furrow her brows.
Weston paused for a moment and released his arms.â
Whatâs the matter?â
He suddenly recalled that Guinevere had also bumped into Stella when she tripped and sprained her foot.
He furrowed her brows and pressed Stella back down on the couch. Then, he turned her around and lifted her shirt to check her injury.
Stella found her entire body turned around, and a chill ran up her back.
She widened her eyes. âWhat are you doing? Let go of me!â
She instinctively reached out to push his wrist down to stop him from going further, thinking he wanted to be physically intimate.
Weston saw her agitated response, and his face darkened. âWhat did you think I was trying to do?â
Stella buried her face in the couch and turned her face to the side towards him. She gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with resistance. âI donât want to have sex at such a time His eyes turned pitch-black. âAm I such a person in your eyes, someone with nothing else in his mind besides sex?â
Stella remained silent as she gritted her teeth, her posture a clear answer to his question.
Weston was so frustrated with her that he was on the verge of bursting into laughter. His tongue brushed his molars as he suddenly leaned against her back and looked over her shoulders. âSince youâve already convicted me in your heart, why donât I just do as you wish? Otherwise, I might let you down.â
Stella caught his hint and began struggling. âDonât touch meâ¦â
Weston reached out his hand onto her neck, and leaned into her ear, his hot breath tickling her skin.
âHow am I going to let you in a year later if you keep behaving like this?â
Stellaâs eyes had become bloodshot from suppressing the indignance she was feeling inside. She could do nothing but force herself to swallow it.
His words made her realize that everything between them was nothing but a transaction.
She had no right to express her genuine thoughts and feelings.
A moment later, Stella took a deep breath and collected herself. âThereâs no protection here,â she forced herself to say through gritted teeth.
It was a sign of submission.
Yet, Weston did not feel the joy of victory at all.
His patience was wearing thin. Perhaps because he had a taste of how she was like when she loved him, her slipshod attempts and look of humiliation could no longer satisfy him.
âYour acting skills are fabulous. No matter what Iâve done to you, you will still do it with me as long as I can satisfy your needs?â
She should have been angry or jealous or demanded an explanation from him.
She shouldnât have acted the way she did from the start. She shouldnât have been there, bumping into him and Guinevere and calmly saying she should have avoided them. She was sensible, so sensible to the point of abhorrence.