League 9
League 9
Millie’s heart missed a beat, and her eyes widened in shock. She couldn’t believe Winston had said that.
Hadn’t he refused to acknowledge their marriage all along? Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
Winston noticed her thunderstruck reaction, and for some reason, he felt a sense of frustration. Why was she so taken aback just
because he said he was her husband?
With a look of confusion, Henry gestured between the two of them and asked, “You two are married?”
Millie immediately looked at Henry, feeling apologetic for having unintentionally tricked him.
Henry looked at Millie and Winston with a disappointed gaze. He felt as though they were toying with him and not showing him any
respect.
However, he was indeed attracted to Millie.
“I admire you very much, Millie. I won’t pry into your matters, but I’m willing to help you if you need me,” Henry said with utmost sincerity.
Alas, that made Millie feel even more apologetic. It had been so long since she received such care from someone other than her family.
She was just about to thank Henry when she felt someone gripping her wrist. Then, she heard Winston saying in an icy voice, “Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Yarrow, but my wife doesn’t need anyone else’s help.”
After shooting Henry a cold glare, Winston dragged Millie toward the car.
Henry was a little startled.
Frowning, Millie snapped, “Let go of me, Winston! What’s gotten into you? Why are you acting so crazy?”
Winston walked briskly, still clutching Millie’s wrist tightly. He
didn’t care that she was struggling to get away with him. It felt like he was furious.
Millie’s toes ended up touching the damp ground, chilling her to the core. She accidentally stepped on a pebble and immediately gasped. in pain.
Upon hearing that, Winston finally stopped walking. When he turned around to look at her, he saw that her eyes were reddened
with discomfort.
He looked down at her feet.
Choking back her sobs, Millie said in a soft, slightly hoarse voice, “It hurts, Winston.”
Winston was always like this–he never cared about how she felt. Would he have been this rough if it had been Joanna who was following behind him?
For some unknown reason, Winston felt a tug in his heart. He scooped her up in his arms to carry her, only then realizing how light she was, and how slender her waist was.
Millie’s eyes widened once more as she stared incredulously at Winston. She carefully held onto his shirt with one hand.
After setting Millie down in the car, Winston got in on the other side.
Millie couldn’t figure out what he was doing.
All was silent in the car as neither one of them spoke.
The raindrops clinging to her fair cheeks and neck made her look even more like a beautiful damsel in distress.
IS BONUS
Glancing at her, Winston recalled the passionate kiss they shared at the club last night. The thought of that made his throat turn dry.
He took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up before asking with mixed emotions, “What’s your relationship with Henry?”
Millie looked up at Winston and met his gaze as he turned to look at her as well.
Did he care a lot about the relationship she had with Henry?
“We’re friends,” Millie responded bluntly.
Winston frowned. It was clear from his expression that he didn’t believe her. Smoke filled the air, and he didn’t bother asking further.
Biting his cigarette, he abruptly reached behind, retrieving an alcohol pad and some gauze. Tossing them to Millie, he said curtly, Clean it up.”
“What?” Millie asked, blinking in confusion. She didn’t know what he was referring to. Was he talking about her foot? It was merely a light sprain, so there was no wound. She didn’t need to disinfect anything.
“Your hand,” he said impatiently.
Millie opened her palm. She only just recalled the cut she sustained from the fountain pen earlier.
Nevertheless, she was still puzzled. She had only belatedly noticed. her injury, so how did Winston, who never gave a damn about her before, know that her palm was injured?
“It’s just a scratch,” Millie said. Balling her hand, she was just about to hide it behind her back when Winston grabbed her slender wrist.
As he tended to the wound himself, he growled in exasperation, Didn’t you used to be a fragile princess? You always cried at the
slightest injury and insisted on going to the hospital!”
Millie’s thoughts wandered. He was talking about what happened. when they first got married.
At the time, she kept resorting to petty tricks and making frequent trips to the hospital, thinking that it would make Winston care more about her. She would even injure herself for that purpose.
Later on, she realized it made no difference. He never paid any attention to her. The harder she tried, the more humiliating it got for her.
“As you said, that was in the past, Millie replied, feeling a tinge of pain in her heart as she watched while Winston carefully tended to her cut for her.
Was he suddenly being so nice to her because he was afraid she would change her mind about getting a divorce?
Winston abruptly looked up, still biting his cigarette. That sharp tongue of hers irked him.
Meanwhile, the smoke made Millie cough, her eyelashes fluttering as she did.
Gaze darkening, Winston stamped out his cigarette before opening all the car windows.
“You’re so fussy,” he said sternly.
Millie remained silent as she continued to stare at his face. She had always hated the smell of cigarette smoke, and no one in her family smoked.
Winston had started smoking before they’d gotten married. After Millie mentioned her dislike of cigarette smoke several times, he did stop smoking.
Millie thought he did it for her sake–until the day she went to see
him and saw Joanna in his arms, saying coyly, “You stopped smoking because I told you to. You’re so incredible, Win! As your reward, I’ll let you have dinner with me tonight.”
Only then did Millie realize it hadn’t been for sake after all.
Just then, Winston’s phone started ringing. It was connected to the car’s audio system, which now displayed the caller–Jo.
Millie snapped out of her train of thought as she watched Winston take the call.
Immediately, Joanna’s coquettish voice rang out. “The doctor just finished checking on me, Win. He said I’m fine.”
“Okay,” Winston calmly replied.
After two seconds of silence, Joanna asked, “Have you met up with Mills yet? Have you discussed the divorce with her?”
Millie flinched and retracted her hand.
She knew it. Winston wouldn’t be treating her so well for no reason. He had an ulterior motive.
Disconnecting his phone from the car’s audio system, Winston picked his phone up and brought it to his ear. “I did. I’ll come over and see you tonight.”
The atmosphere in the car was a little heavy. Although Winston had disconnected his phone from the car’s audio system, Millie could still hear Joanna saying suggestively, “Okay. I’ll wash up and wait for you.”
Millie looked out the window, her heart so badly wounded that she could no longer discern what she was feeling.
After Winston ended the call, Millie said, “Whatever it is that you have to say, just come right out and say it.”
She didn’t want him to beat around the bush anymore. It was exasperating.
As Winston gazed at Millie’s back, he couldn’t bring himself to say the words.
In the end, he broke the silence by saying, “Grandma’s birthday is coming up. Since it’s her 70th, it’s going to be a grand celebration. She wants us to attend it together.”
His voice was grim. It sounded like he was vexed, though she didn’t know if it was due to her or the complicated situation they were in. Millie turned back around in surprise. His grandma’s birthday?
Once she got her phone out and checked the date, she fell into a daze. Her life had been such a blur lately that she’d forgotten that Winston’s grandma Selma Sigmund’s birthday was coming up.
The raindrops came in through the open window, splattering on Millie. Winston brought up the window on her side as he calmly said, “I’ll prepare your outfit for you, and I’ll pick you up.”
However, Millie looked at him and said, “I won’t be joining Grandma’s birthday celebration this year.”