CHAPTER 230: HORTON FREAKS OUT

In the end, Orlenna agreed that Hilla could attend the competition unless the checkup result showed that the fetus was in a good condition. Besides, Bruce should ask the organizers to arrange the VIP entrance for him and Hilla.

In short, no one was allowed to approach Hilla within six feet.

Hilla felt that Orlenna made a big deal about it, and the organizers might not agree, but she was very happy that Orlenna compromised.

However, Hilla had to be careful. She had given up participating in the competition for the sake of the baby. She couldn’t afford it if the baby got hurt.

In the evening, Hilla stood on the balcony and looked at Bruce, whose hair gently fell between his eyebrows, lost in thought.

His face was always attractive to her. Somehow, when he turned to look at her, she blushed at once.

"Do you want to attend the design competition?"

Bruce’s voice was very calm. Hilla nodded, not intending to hide it from him.

She said frankly, "Yes. Although this design competition is held under the name of the Richards Group, Queeney is behind it. I don’t know if I have exaggerated it."

Hilla pursed her lips and looked at Bruce with a serious expression. "Queeney held this design competition to tempt me. The champion will get not only guidance from authoritative designers and generous bonuses but also the design paintings about designing and embroidery. There are also a few very rare embroidery methods recorded on them."

Hilla had thought that she would be angry when she talked about this. But when she mentioned it to Bruce, she found that she wasn’t so angry.

Instead, she was extremely calm.

"The design paintings have been passed down by the Holts for several generations. My father was the last person who kept it, and he cherished it very much, but the accident that happened two years ago took my parents away."

Two years had passed. Nonetheless, whenever she recalled her parents’ death and the scene that she walked out of the Holt’s mansion with her suitcase, she felt desolate.

Hilla couldn’t help grabbing her clothes, as if she could get a warm feeling by doing this.

Bruce’s deep and dark eyes fell quietly on her.

The light outside the balcony was dim while the summer wind was very warm. They had hardly had such a tranquil time.

Bruce remained silent and listened when Hilla was talking.

Somehow, Hilla felt that he was as patient as when she had just married him two years ago.

Although he was not in a vegetative state, she believed that he would keep her secrets like before.

She muttered to herself, wanting to tell him what was on her mind.

"I don’t know why Queeney gets the design paintings. They belonged to my family for hundreds of years. Bruce, do you know how much I want to take them back."

After she said that, she continued before Bruce could respond.

"But I met her in advance and asked her how she could return them to me. Queeney asked for 300 million dollars, and she wanted the Anderson Group to give her a piece of land in Brightbush City."

When Hilla said this, her voice became very soft. Probably she was a little guilty, so she couldn’t help lowering her voice.

She lowered her head and leaned over the railing of the balcony. The scattered hair covered her face, so her expression couldn’t be seen clearly, but Bruce could feel that she was sad.

She had to admit. "Bruce, I think I’ve dragged you down again. In the past, I thought the design paintings were priceless because they were my family’s inheritance. I didn’t care how much they were worth. I was afraid I couldn’t live up to my parents and ancestors if I abandoned it and lost my faith.

"But now, I’ve seen sense. It is indeed very valuable to me, but the conditions proposed by Queeney are not worth it at all. You and the Anderson Group needn’t sacrifice so much for me, so I refused.

"I turned her down, but I am not sad at all."

Hilla suddenly looked up at Bruce with her bright eyes.

Looking at his calm face, she smiled. "I know you will agree if I make a request, right?"

Although Bruce didn’t respond, she knew he would nod.

She blinked with a wider smile as the mole under her eyes gradually steeped itself into the night.

"But I don’t want you to do that, and neither do I want you to take back the design paintings at the expense of 300 million dollars. Even if you and your family think nothing of it, I can’t feel at ease.

"Bruce, do you know? Since you woke up, I’ve tried to be your wife who can support you rather than the woman who needs your protection."

The night wind blew the trees in the courtyard as the surface of the lake was rippling. Under the night sky, the community was isolated from the noise of the city and was particularly quiet.

Hilla could feel the wind on her face. It blew her hair and wiped the tears on her cheeks in an instant.

A smile touched her lips and she said, "I’m selfish. I want to be equal to you, but I don’t want you to help me. I don’t want Queeney to threaten you with me."

"However, when I turned her down, I gave up the design paintings. I must admit the Holt family has become a thing of the past. I should disentangle myself from the past.

"Bruce, do you know? I have something more valuable!"

Her parents had left her, and the house and environment where she had lived for twenty years had disappeared. She had always been very unwilling.

She did not want to admit this fact, but she had to face it now.

She had thought that she could rejuvenate the Holt family once she got the design paintings. Nevertheless, she should have known long ago that she would never see her parents again. Even if she found more things about her family, her parents would not be resurrected.

The obsession made it difficult for her to drop everything in the past.

Under the night sky, Hilla looked up and fixed her eyes on Bruce, who was quietly listening to her. Her face was as white as snow and looked very delicate with a sweet smile on her lips.

Her eyes sparkled as bright as diamonds under the moonlight, and the mole under her eyes was enchanting.

She added in a clear voice, "You and the baby are more important than anything from the past!" Then, what she said began to echo in Bruce’s mind.

Probably from beginning to end, what she needed was family!

...

In summer, the fields were lush with flowers.

Some wildflowers bloomed as well, trying to be the most brilliant within a limited time.

Margaret enjoyed herself to the full like a wild rabbit that had just been set free. She ran around the field with two big black dogs like a bully.

The village knew that she was related to Halle, so they didn’t stop her from picking the vegetables.

"Horton, take a few pictures here!"

Wearing a big sun hat and dressed in a floral dress that Halle had just made, Margaret waved to Horton, who was holding an umbrella and taking pictures at the edge of the field.

Horton narrowed his slanted eyes with sweat on his forehead. When he heard her words, he paid no attention to her. He directly threw the clothes onto the ground and sat down.

Margaret was probably mad. In half a day, she had asked him to take more than two hundred pictures. Even the dogs had been taken dozens of pictures.

He regretted coming here with her. Women were always crazy about being taken pictures of.

"Horton, what are you doing? Hurry up and come here."

Margaret stood in the field and was about to kiss the tomato in her hand, but she did not expect Horton to strike and quit.

As a famous brain specialist in River City and the associate director of the hospital, he was casually sitting in the field regardless of his image.

Although it was cool for a man to sit like this, she didn’t like this kind of style at all. "Horton, what do you want to do? Are you looking down on me?"

She had just told her friends in Far City that she would take pictures of fresh vegetables for them. She wanted to prove to them that she was enjoying country life rather than traveling abroad.

"So what?"

Horton said in an expressionless voice, and Margaret immediately widened her eyes.

Did he mean he was looking down on her? How arrogant he was!

"How dare you say so? Cookie, Candy, bite him and kill him!"

After she gave the order, the dogs that moved around her pounced towards him right away.

Horton was drinking water in the field. As he raised his head, he saw that the dogs were running towards him. They bared their fangs with their tongues hanging out, aiming at him.

Horton trembled and threw the bottle away the next second. He didn’t care about his image at all. He turned around and ran as fast as he could, only to hear that the dogs were barking behind him.

"Margaret, you are going too far!"

As Horton ran in the direction of the studio, he condemned Margaret, who stood in the field with a triumphant look.

"You refused to take a picture of me. You even forget to retouch the picture. What do I need you for? Cookie, bite off his pants."

Horton thought, ’This woman is more than unreasonable. She is simply shameless!’

Seeing that he was awkwardly chased by two dogs, Margaret got proud. A good idea struck her, and she took out her mobile phone to take a few pictures of him and the dogs.

Then, she pursed her lips and shared them on Line Moments without any hesitation. She also wrote, "If a man is disobedient, ask the dogs to bite him!"

Hardly had she posted it when it received many likes and comments from her friends, who were amused. "Her friends: This man’s back looks so handsome. He is your boyfriend, right? I envy you having a boyfriend who has such an attractive back."

"Margaret: Don’t be so ridiculous. He’s not my boyfriend."

To her surprise, her other friends also commented that Horton had a handsome back, which annoyed her, so she gritted her teeth and deleted these pictures.

These women had a strange taste. Margaret couldn’t understand them at all.

It was impossible for her to date Horton. They were doomed to argue with each other.

In Far City, no sooner had Julian finished reading the Line Moments than Margaret deleted the pictures she had shared.

He remembered the comments. "A female employee of the Jorgansen Group: This man’s back is so attractive. It’s romantic for you to date in the countryside. It’s so nice of him to sit in the field and wait for you!"

Julian frowned. The picture was blurry and the man who was chased by two dogs looked deadly awkward. Thus, Julian didn’t know why these women thought that man had a handsome back.

Moreover, why was it nice of a man to sit in the field? If they thought this way, why did they not get married to the scarecrows?

Julian blinked sharply, locked his phone, and threw it aside. Then, he made a call to

Alan through the intercom.

"Put off my work in the following days. I must go to River City tonight."

Alan answered the call. However, before he could say anything, Julian gave the order. Alan quickly figured out what was going on and said, "Okay, I will do it right now."

Even if the work couldn’t be put off, he had to manage it.

He thought, ’It is the end of the month and there are only a few days away from the first day of next month. Julian, why do you have to go to River City now? It is very busy these days!’

Halle came out of her independent studio after making a new suit. She planned to pack it and the previous ones up to Hilla, who could communicate with the clients and make some improvements.

However, when Halle stepped out of the door, she saw that Horton was running towards her with a strange look.

It was the first time that she saw that Horton was so scared. Even his glasses were stained with dirt.

"What happened?" Before Halle could finish speaking, Horton ran behind her and grabbed her shoulder. "Halle, these dogs want to bite me!"

"Dogs?"

Halle was stunned. Scarcely had she understood what was going on when she saw that Cookie and Candy rushed over and barked at Horton.

She felt that he grabbed her shoulder harder, which revealed he was very nervous. Then she frowned and ordered, "Get out!"

As expected, the fierce dogs became tame. They wagged their tails, turned around, and ran to Margaret, who was slowly walking back to the door.

"They freaked me out."

Horton muttered behind Halle. Halle was nice to Cookie and Candy, so they had much food to eat and their bodies were especially large.

Even if they didn’t bark, people would shudder at the sight of them.

Halle turned around and glanced at Horton, who looked embarrassed. She said uncertainly, "Are you afraid of dogs?"

Horton was silent.

He was hesitating whether he should tell the truth.

"No, but they are too frightening."

Horton tried his best to calm his voice. He had freaked out just now, so Halle saw a gleam of something like embarrassment in his eyes.

Margaret, who ran in from outside the door, laughed happily at Horton and almost lost her balance. "He is lying. He is deadly afraid of dogs. Halle, did you see that? He blanched when Candy bit his pants."

Margaret laughed so hard when thinking of Horton’s frightened face. She regretted not taking off his pants and hanging them on the branches.

She was delighted that Cookie and Candy were very obedient after she fed them.