CHAPTER 83: CHAPTER 83: THICK-SKINNED

"Are you okay!" Luke reacted, not bothering about the flowers that fell to the ground. His forehead hurt, so Florence probably wasn’t feeling much better either.

Florence held her head, pushed his hand away, and walked in.

Luke closed the door, picked up the flowers, and followed her.

Lily emerged from the guest room, seeing her boss holding her head, and her eyes widened slightly upon seeing Luke holding the flowers behind her.

Lily walked towards Florence, "Boss, what happened to you?"

"Get me a mirror."

Florence felt her forehead was swelling.

Laura came out of her room, saw that Luke was also there, and nodded slightly. Lily handed her the mirror, and only then did Florence release her hand, revealing a reddish bump on her fair forehead.

Laura was also startled, "What happened? Did you bump into something?"

Luke put down the flowers, an apologetic look in his eyes, "I’ll have someone bring up some ice."

Florence glanced at him, while Luke was completely unscathed.

With such a big bump on her forehead, when would it finally go down?

The icepack arrived quickly, and Luke tentatively offered it to her, "Let me help you."

As he spoke, he slowly extended his hand with the icepack towards her.

Florence intercepted it, handling it herself.

"I didn’t do it intentionally."

It was rare to see him so cautious. Florence thought something was off about him today. Normally, given his character, after a bump like that, he would have said that if she had let go, it wouldn’t have happened. But today, here he was apologizing.

"Did you take the wrong medicine?" The cool sensation relieved some of the pain.

Luke looked at her, "Perhaps you should go to the hospital."

Florence took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and applied the ice pack, choosing not to respond to him.

"Do you have any plans today?" Luke asked, clearing his throat, "Would you like to..."

"I have plans."

Luke instinctively asked, "What plans?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?"

"I was just..." Luke stopped himself just in time, "No reason, just asking."

It seemed to be enough, so Florence set down the ice.

"I didn’t sleep a wink last night..." Luke looked around the spacious presidential suite, "There should be plenty of empty rooms here, I’ll make do."

Florence ignored him and went into her room.

Luke took it as her tacit agreement and picked an empty room for himself.

He replayed the recent events in his mind, recalling the swollen bump on Florence’s forehead, feeling both pained and amused.

He pulled out a long box from the inside pocket of his suit, opening it to reveal a jade necklace, full and lustrous.

Would she like it?

She probably would...

He had spent a long time choosing it.

When Luke woke up again, nightfall was slowly descending outside.

He glanced at the time; it was around five-thirty.

After tidying up, he went out and found the living room empty, the entire room exuding a sense of absence.

He called Florence.

After a long wait, the call was answered, and he happily spoke, "Aren’t you at the hotel? Where are you? Have you eaten?"

The response was silence.

Luke called again, "Can you hear me?"

"She’s with me," a gentle male voice replied.

Luke felt as if he was struck by lightning, his grip on the phone tightening, "Who are you?"

The gentle voice carried a hint of coldness, "Someone who knew her before you."

"It doesn’t matter how early or late, she’s my wife now, you must know that," Luke said.

There was silence on the other end.

Luke continued, "She’s a married woman now, you should have some respect; interfering in someone else’s relationship isn’t something to be proud of."

The voice mocked, "Do you really have feelings?"

Luke stubbornly replied, "Of course we do."

"How could someone like you, who sleeps around and disregards your wife’s dignity, have the nerve to claim you have feelings?" the man sneered, "Shameless."

"Still better than you, a pretty boy!" Luke retorted angrily, "I’m telling you, you’d better disappear from her side; when I catch you, you won’t be let off easily."

The response to him was a disconnected line.

Luke stared at the call log, sinking into the sofa with heavy breaths, clearly trying to suppress his anger.

Florence had actually ditched him, her legitimate husband, to celebrate with a pretty boy.

How could she do this to him!

The restaurant with a night view.

Florence returned from the restroom to find Ethan had already prepared a crab for her.

The bump on her forehead was quite noticeable; Florence said she accidentally hit it, but it had been iced, just waiting for the swelling to go down.

It was very swollen and painful to the touch, so Ethan was still a bit worried, "We should buy some medicine and spray it later."

"Does it look ugly?" she asked openly, sitting across from him.

Ethan shook his head, looking at her tenderly and smiling, "Not ugly, very beautiful."

His words brought back memories to Florence of the time her face was scratched by Ethan’s cat.

Several bleeding scratches.

She was seventeen then, didn’t cry during the rabies shot, just worried about scarring.

She was quite downhearted.

Aunt Monrose comforted her, "It’s okay, don’t worry, it won’t scar. Florence is still very beautiful."

"But it’s ugly now," she said voice frustrated, "Why did I go and touch it?"

The cat Ethan had was picked up from Cloudsea, with a very bad temper. The servants at home had all been scratched, even Aunt Monrose got scratched on her hands when she tried to hold the cat.

But only Ethan could touch and hold it.

Florence was told not to provoke the cat at Ethan’s house. But that day, out of the blue, while she was sitting on the sofa, the cat came near, looking quite docile, so she tentatively petted it a few times, and it didn’t react, instead lying down.

Florence was surprised, petting it a couple more times, thinking it was okay, when suddenly it pounced at her face.

Back then Ethan was sitting in his wheelchair, holding the ointment she applied, seriously telling her, "Not ugly, still very beautiful."

Florence pursed her lips, "If it scars, it’s your fault."

Ethan smiled gently, "Okay, that’s fair."

The cat lived comfortably at home with good food and care, and after her face healed, Florence didn’t bother with it but definitely never touched it again.

But suddenly, on a day she couldn’t remember, Florence noticed she hadn’t seen the cat for a while and asked Ethan. He told her he had the servants take it to the backyard, no longer allowing it inside.

Ethan, noticing her dazing off, focused on her fair and tender cheek, reaching out to softly touch it.

Her cheeks were cool and smooth.

Florence snapped back, "Hmm?"

Ethan gently pinched her cheek, "You’ve lost a lot of weight."

Compared to before, she’d really lost too much.

Florence picked up her chopsticks, "Maybe I’m just too tired."