Chapter 5

After a full minute of ringing, the call still went unanswered.

As the seconds ticked by, Melissa’s patience wore thinner and thinner.

Watching Luke continue holding up his phone as though he were putting on an act, she felt a surge of inexplicable anger.

She was just about to speak when a car suddenly came hurtling straight toward the three of them.

“Watch out!”

Without a second thought, she grabbed Reuben and pulled him to safety.

It was not until the car was barely a foot and a half away that Luke realized the danger and tried to dodge. However, he was too late. The car clipped half his body, sending him tumbling across the ground.

The sudden accident left Reuben so shaken that his gaze went blank.

Worried about his condition, Melissa no longer had the time or inclination to settle things with Luke. She pulled Reuben along and hurried him into the car before driving away.

Luke had been thrown nearly thirty feet away. A large patch of skin on his lower leg was scraped raw, exposing pink flesh. The pain was so intense that his eyes reddened.

As he braced himself against the ground and struggled into a sitting position, Melissa’s car happened to pass right by him.

Her thoughts were consumed by Reuben. Luke could have been lying there in pieces, and she still would not have spared him a second glance.

Dust billowed into his face, making him cough uncontrollably. The redness in his eyes deepened.

It was only after he had finally managed to catch his breath did he hear a voice coming from his phone, which had fallen nearby.

“Luke? What’s wrong?”

Luke recognized Giselle’s voice, and quickly picked up the phone. Not wanting her to worry, he forced himself to come up with an excuse.

“Nothing. My throat’s just bothering me. Don’t worry. I just wanted to tell you I’ve found a place for us to live after the wedding. It might be a little expensive, though. Would you like to see some pictures?”

The woman’s gentle voice came through the phone. “There’s no need to send me pictures. If you’re happy with it, then I’m happy with it. No price is too high. Besides, I trust you. Whether it’s something big or small, you can make the decisions yourself.”

He had just narrowly escaped death, only to be abandoned all over again. Her gentle reassurance was like a pebble dropped into the depths of his heart, sending ripples spreading through him.

His voice softened, too. Fighting through the pain, he answered with a smile. “Then I’ll go ahead and take it.”

Giselle had no objections, and Luke did not want to keep her from her work any longer.

He was about to hang up when her voice drifted through the phone again, as gentle as a spring breeze. “Luke, we’re husband and wife now. Whatever happens to you, no matter what you’re going through, you have to tell me, okay?”

Luke heard the concern in her words and fell silent for a moment before quietly murmuring, “All right.”

In the end, he made his way to the hospital alone, limping the entire way. Somewhere along the journey, Giselle’s words came back to him, and he could no longer hold back his tears.

They were tears of pain, but also tears of being warmed by someone’s kindness.

His injuries were not life-threatening, but they were far from minor. By the time the doctors were done, Luke had received more than a dozen stitches.

After spending several days recovering at the hospital, he returned to the office and resumed his work.

He had just finished organizing the schedule for a meeting two days later when Ms. Lynn knocked and hurried inside, looking deeply anxious.

“Luke, do you know where Ms. Dawn is? None of us can get in touch with her and the Apex Group is breathing down our necks for the contract. They need it sent over by the end of today. What are we supposed to do?"

Luke had been following the Apex project closely as well. He knew just how important it was.

Unwilling to let months of hard work by the entire project team go to waste, he took the documents and offered to try to reach her himself.

He hailed a cab, then opened Reuben’s Instagram and gave the driver the address of the hot spring resort he had posted an hour earlier.

Along the way, Luke tried calling Melissa several times, but she did not answer. His anxiety grew with every unanswered call.

By the time he arrived at the resort, Reuben and Melissa were enjoying afternoon tea together.

The moment she saw him, the smile on her face vanished.

“What are you doing here?”

Luke knew his sudden arrival would ruin her good mood, but this was an emergency. He could only patiently explain the situation.

As soon as Reuben realized it was a work matter, he immediately stood up.

“Melissa, if you have work to take care of, let’s head back first.”

It had taken Melissa considerable effort to persuade Reuben to come out on a date with her. Now that their time together had been interrupted, her temper flared up.

“Have I not told you before? No matter how urgent the matter is, you’re not to bother me whenever I’m with Reuben!”

After scolding him, she swept her arm across the table, sending everything crashing to the ground. Then she shot Luke a cold glance before striding after Reuben.

The scalding coffee splashed onto Luke’s wound, making him suck in a sharp breath of pain.

Watching her walk away, he could only manage a bitter smile.

She really had never told him that.

If he had known there was someone so important in her heart, he would never have wasted so many years on her. He certainly would not have turned down all those lucrative job offers just to stay by her side as her assistant.

Lost in these thoughts, he dragged his injured leg toward the roadside.

The cab that had been parked there earlier was gone, and the resort’s shuttle carts had all left as well.

He did not even need to ask. He knew Melissa had arranged it all deliberately to punish him.

Luke accepted his fate by letting out a long sigh. Then, in his leather dress shoes, he began the long walk down the mountain.