Chapter 19

19 Friends

Selma Payne’s POV:

I was very happy that his consideration at this moment allowed me to recover from the sudden sadness.

“I’ve misunderstood you all this time. Thank you for being so considerate today,” I whispered to Aldrich.

He laughed again. “Don’t take it to heart. If anyone tries to bully you in the future, just come to me. I’ll beat them up.”

I chuckled and extended my hand to him. “In that case, I’ll reluctantly acknowledge you as my friend.”

His hand was warm and strong, and we firmly shook our hands once.

“Alright, where do you want to take me?” I asked him with interest. He was much more pleasing to the eye, making me look forward to the journey more.

He didn’t answer immediately but asked me, “Are you sure you want to go have fun now? You don’t have to force yourself if you wish to find a quiet place to chill. ”

“I want to go for a spin. Let’s go, handsome.” I patted his arm.

We started moving again. This time, I could finally put all my energy into admiring the beautiful scenery of this place. They were right. I had been tense during this time and should relax. Given Aldrich’s mysteriousness and refusal to tell me the destination, guessing where we were going through the roadside scenery had become fun to do along the way.

We stopped in front of a manor. He claimed it to be his family’s. It was very big and had a lot of small animals. I followed him to feed the sheep and cattle. He also took me to ride horses. When I really became friends with him, I found that he was very humorous and energetic. He told many jokes and was very clear about the local customs. He also told me a lot of exciting stories.

There was also a swing in the manor under the shade of the tree. He pushed me for a long time, and I didn’t know where he got a basket of fresh blueberries. I hadn’t been so happy in a long time.

“Let’s go to the restaurant to eat, shall we? Unfortunately, there’s nothing good to eat here.” He exaggeratedly explained how terrible the chef’s cooking was. I held back my laughter and followed him to a small restaurant.

As soon as I went in, I knew that this was the restaurant he often visited because the waiter who ordered the food saw him and asked with a smile, “The same order?”

As soon as we sat down, many people came to greet him. It was obvious from their behavior that they were from the military, while some were even wearing military uniforms. I wasn’t surprised by his popularity here. The son of a Duke was able to forget the glory brought by his father and train hard every day to bring victory after victory to everyone. Therefore, he deserved all the applause and attention.

“Yes, but let’s wait for this beautiful lady to order first.”

This made me have a dilemma. I’d never been particularly good at making choices among these things.

He wasn’t surprised. Instead, he rubbed my head and suggested in a low voice, “How about a beef sandwich and a glass of beer? It’s a pity that I have to drive. Otherwise, we would both be drunk.”

“Thank you for your suggestion, but one sandwich is enough for me. Let’s have a beer next time. I can’t leave you here to enjoy myself.”

He squinted and smiled. When he wasn’t deliberately showy, he was a very reassuring friend, which made me much happier. Aldrich was my first friend here. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have told him about this, in case he acted proudly again.

The waiter brought a huge tray over. I finally ate the sandwich that I had been longing for. It was indeed not bad, at least not bad for me. A glass of wine was placed in front of us. The waiter winked cheekily and said, “This is from the lady over there. You’re quite lucky with women.”

I thought he would happily go over to that woman. Instead, he shook his head and said, “Put this glass of wine on my bill.”

He looks very depressed, completely different from what I imagined. Could it be that I’d misunderstood him all along?

“You’re not going to say hi? She’s pretty good-looking. ”

“No, no, there’s no need.” Aldrich shook his head, his eyes filled with sorrow.

“You already have a mate?” I asked tentatively.

“I had. No, there was a time when I thought I had, but she wasn’t ready, so ...” He shrugged, looking nonchalant.

Wow, I did not expect that. I thought he was a frivolous person, but I didn’t expect to find out that he just didn’t know how to get along with the opposite sex.

I swallowed the food in my mouth and tried to comfort him. “It’s okay. She will never know what treasure she has missed.”

He laughed nonchalantly as if he had already moved on.

“I’m fine. It’s been a long time. You, on the other hand, looked much sadder than I did. Would you like to tell me about it?”

He looked like he wanted to know, and this wasn’t that important to me anymore.

“I was once supposed to be someone’s mate, but he harshly rejected me.”