Chapter 43: Full Program
Chapter 43: Full Program
Ernest knitted his brows, his eyes couldn't hide the pity he felt.
His voice was lowered and it was as soft as it never had been before, "Florence, it's me, everything will be okay."
He wanted to get closer to her, but Florence tried to back away from him.
Florence bit her lips, and said, "Thank you."
She knew that it was Ernest, and she was thankful for him to appear to rescue her, but she didn't know how to face him.
He knew that she raped in the hotel last time, and this time, he saw the security guard sit on her with his own eyes.
She must be a very dissolute woman in his point of view...
A darkness flashed through Ernest's eyes as he clenched his fists silently.
After a while, he said with his deep voice, "Let's go, I will drop you off at home."
He didn't try to get closer to her again.
Only when they left the room, Florence recovered a little bit from the depressing feeling she had.
She wanted to get away from this hut, the further the better, so she started to walk faster.
Ernest was behind her, not too close, but close enough, his eyes were fixed on her back, and his expression complicated.
The way she looked really made him pity her, he wanted to hug her, comfort her, but she pushed him away from herself.
Florence felt very messy inside, she walked so fast that she accidentally stumbled and twisted her ankle.
"Ahh!" Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.
She groaned and fell on the sand.
Ernest quickly caught up with her, "What happened?"
"It's nothing, just my ankle."
Florence said and tried to stand up again, but the pain shot through her foot.
Ernest saw Florence's face turn pale, and his own expression darkened, he reached out to grab her ankle.
"It's injured, you shouldn't walk anymore."
Florence was very annoyed, she felt she was really unfortunate, how could she even get injured by simply walking?
But she couldn't just sit there and wait for an ambulance...
She bit her teeth and tried to get up again, while Ernest pulled her and took her piggyback.
Florence was frozen in surprise when she felt the broad strong shoulders of this man, and his breathing that was so close to her.
"Mr. Hawkins, what are you doing?" She struggled a little, "Please let me down, I can walk by myself."
Ernest had her safely on his back, and went towards the hotel.
His voice was low and delude, "Florence, you are my fiancee now, it's my responsibility to protect and take care of you."
So what he was doing was within the bounds of reason.
But...
Florence didn't feel comfortable, and said with a lowered voice, "We are only pretendign to be engaged, nobody will see us here, you don't have to do this."
Ernest froze slightly, he was somehow annoyed, if he never mentioned about pretending to be engaged when they met, and they really were, there wouldn't be this estrangement between them now.
Ernest's voice was stiff as he spoke, "If we are doing this, we need to do the full program, no matter if people are watching or not."
Florence was speechless, he did his job well.
Florence didn't struggle again as she knew that he only did this to seem a good fiance, since she really wasn't in the condition to walk back to the hotel all by herself.
She hung on his back as her face blushed.
Ernest knew the way and quickly arrived at her room, when they were in front of the door, he said, "Hand me the room key."
Florence took the room key out of her bag and handed it to Ernest, she felt a little doubtful because she never mentioned that she lived there, how did he know?
She couldn't help but to remember the shadow that she saw early in the morning that went into her neighboring room, that looked just like Ernest.
As she thought about that, Florence asked, "Do you stay here as well?"
"Yeah." Ernest answered as he opened the door, "I am in the room next to yours."
It really was him.
But why was he here? The ones who lived here were the internal employees for the design contest.
Florence was about to ask him, when Ernest already entered her room, and laid her down on the sofa.
Then he stood up and went towards the closet in the room to search for a first aid kit.
"Thank you."
She saw Ernest come back to the sofa and thought he was going to hand the kit to her, so she reached out a hand to take it.
But Ernest didn't mind her, instead, he put the first aid kit down on the table, pulled a chair to the sofa and sat down.
He said in his deep voice, "Lift up your foot."
Florence was surprised, what did he mean by that? Would the elegant and noble Mr. Hawkins personally aid her foot?
She gestured to him and said, "It's fine, I can do this by myself." She couldn't allow herself to trouble him.
Ernest though didn't even give her a chance to decline his demands, he reached down to grab her food, and put her leg on his lap.
Florence was astonished as she saw her own leg lying on his.
When she caught herself again, she tried to pull her foot back.
"Mr. Hawkins, really, I can do this alone."
Ernest pressed his lips together but didn't speak, with one hand he held her leg, with the other he used some disinfection on a cotton pad, and tabbed it gently on her injured ankle.
The cold pad on her skin made her nerves burn.
She stared at the man in front of her, her heart started to race.
His head was slightly lowered, focused on his task, he didn't look like he was allying medicine on her foot, more like he was doing something very important, something he cared about a lot.
It was as if he cared about her...
This thought made Florence freeze out of shock, she shook her head quickly, trying to get rid of the thought.
The relationship between her and Ernest was based on a contract, he knew the worst part of her...
"How do you feel?"
Ernest asked her in a deep voice, he looked up and saw the complicated expression on Florence's face.
She answered carelessly, "It doesn't hurt anymore."
Ernest squinted his eyes, and looked at her sharply.
Her reaction...
He knew whatever she was thinking about, it involved himself.
He wasn't afraid that she would have messy thoughts, he was only afraid she wouldn't think about him at all.
Ernest's lips formed a tiny smile, his hands laid on her ankle naturally.
"I will check on you tomorrow morning, if it isn't any better, I will take you to the doctors."
"Okay..." Florence answered, while she thought in her heart that Ernest really took his role seriously, even thought he was only her fake fiance, he took good care of her.
Because of what Ernest said to her, she got up early the next day.
She emptied her suitcase with all her clothes and tried to pick out an outfit.
Ernest was coming to her room in the morning, she couldn't look too formal, but neither too casual...
She took a long time, before she finally picked an outfit that was somewhere between casual and formal.
It didn't take long before she heard the door bell.
Florence was weirdly nervous, she took a deep breath and went to open the door.
There was Ernest, standing at the door.
Ernest looked at this woman standing in front of him, dressed and everything, and his eyes flashed.
"How is your foot?"
"Much better, it barely hurts anymore." Florence answered.
Ernest nodded, and Florence thought he would leave, but instead, he walked into her room.
Florence was surprised, what was he doing?