Chapter thirty-five

In the bathroom, Zoe was left with only a black sling top, with Nick buried in her collarbone, kissing her.

Zoe felt hot and her body went limp, sliding down.

He pressed her down with his body and held her with his arms, not letting her escape.

Although Zoe's consciousness was blurred, she pushed him weakly, only to have her lips covered by him.

Both of their tongues carried the taste of alcohol, slightly stimulating their nerves.

"Woo, Nick, let go of me."

Nick pulled down one of her slings and said in a hoarse voice, "Not drunk yet?"

Zoe cried out.

But her body was also very hot.

Nick chuckled and dragged her towards the bathtub, shutting the glass door and pushing Zoe into the bathtub.

He reached for the showerhead, adjusted the temperature, stripped her completely, and let the water splash on her body.

Nick fondled her, and soon red marks appeared on her pale skin.

The sound of knocking on the door outside persisted, as if he wouldn't give up until he opened the door.

Nick closed his eyes, holding the showerhead in one hand, bending down and kissing Zoe who was surrounded by hot water.

His voice was low, "Do you want it?"

Zoe was almost awake, huddled in the bathtub, only feeling the comfort of the hot water.

There were still some tears in the corners of her eyes, spilling out.

She grasped the edge of the bathtub, shook her head, her vision blurry, looking at the tall man.

Nick's eyes were like knives, piercing through her body, and then he bit her lower lip, "I want it badly."

Leo was originally a bit drunk, as the hotpot and alcohol mixed together made one more prone to intoxication.

But now, he was completely sober, very clear-headed.

Coupled with his anger, he almost spat blood, and his hands were trembling.

He didn't expect Nick to be such a beast.

This was unlike something Nick would do, but the fact proved that Nick had just never encountered a woman he wanted to touch before.

Leo pounded on the door fiercely, cursing Nick, scolding him harshly.

Then he called Zoe's name, urging her to wake up quickly and not let Nick take advantage of her.

But no one responded from inside except for panting and banging sounds.

If it were any other place, Leo might have had the heart to appreciate the scene.

But here, he had no such thoughts.

He was only angry.

Finally, he leaned against the coffee table, after two seconds, bent down to search the drawers, looking for a tool to open the door.

As he searched, he wondered, should he go in?

It wouldn't be right not to go in.

But what if he saw something he shouldn't?

Just as he found a hammer-sized tool and straightened up, the bathroom door opened, a wave of hot air greeted him.

Leo turned with the hammer in hand and saw Nick carrying Zoe in his arms, his sweater slightly damp and clinging to his body, his jeans also half-wet.

Zoe was wrapped in a large towel in Nick's arms, her head buried in his chest, a little of her pale legs peeking out.

A wave of anger surged through Leo's brain: "Nick, you fucking go die."

Nick lazily squinted his eyes: "So noisy."

Then he descended the stairs and headed towards Zoe's room.

Leo followed closely with the hammer in his hand. As Nick entered the room, he hooked his long leg, and the door was about to close.

Leo reached out to push the door.

Nick tightened his grip on the girl in his arms and said coldly, "If you dare to come in, I'll take her right now."

Upon hearing this, Leo stopped in his tracks.

In a daze, he widened his eyes, "So, you haven't touched her yet?"

His tone was filled with doubt.

Could this wolf really be so kind to let Zoe go?

Nick sneered and continued to walk forward, the door shutting again as he hooked it.

Leo reached out to block it, but paused and withdrew his hand.

Pressing against the door, he growled, "Nick, behave yourself. I'm not leaving. I'll be here. If you dare to misbehave, I'll kill you immediately."

Inside the room, Nick listened to Leo's voice outside and snorted. He bent down and placed Zoe on the bed.

Beneath the towel, Zoe was completely naked. She was already drowsy, and after taking a hot shower, the alcohol seemed even stronger.

She turned over and instinctively burrowed into the quilt. Nick threw the large towel on the clothes rack.

He knelt on the bed with one knee, pressed Zoe's back, and lowered his head to kiss her.

Zoe furrowed her brows and kept shrinking back.

Nick grasped her shoulders and wouldn't let her escape.

He kissed her again.

Leo was getting impatient outside.

The hammer swayed in his hand left and right, and several times he asked, "Is it done yet? I didn't drive here, I'll take your car."

The room was silent, and no one responded to him.

Leo cursed.

After about ten minutes, the door opened.

Nick stood inside the door, while Leo stood outside. The two men, of similar height, stared coldly at each other like walls. Nick impatiently rubbed his lips and said, "Get lost."

Leo pursed his lips and tried to peer inside.

But Nick stepped forward and slammed the door shut with a bang.

"Go back."

He said.

Leo raised his eyebrows and put down the hammer.

His hand was aching from gripping it.

He followed Nick, staring at his back.

He thought.

Ten minutes.

That's too short.

It shouldn't be enough for him to do anything.

The temperature dropped during the day and was even colder at night.

Zoe was wrapped in the quilt, perhaps due to the alcohol, allowing her to have a good night's sleep.

The next morning, before the sky was fully bright, Zoe woke up, still a bit confused about what day it was.

She reached out from the quilt to grab her phone from the bedside.

She noticed that her arm was bare.

She was startled and quickly pulled off the quilt.

The body under the quilt was completely naked, without any covering except for maybe some underwear. But even that had been removed clean, leaving her completely nude in the bed. What was most concerning was that she saw hickeys on her chest and arms...

Zoe felt a moment of confusion, her hand holding the quilt trembled slightly.

Then, her memory slowly returned.

The scene of kissing in the bathroom flashed through her mind. She had even reached out to hook his neck, wasn't that an act of compliance?

Immediately after,her clothed were taken off and she leaned softly against his arms.

She was soft and leaned into his embrace as her clothes were taken off.

Her chest swelled, and she felt the warmth of his tongue...

She was almost rejecting him but hadn't completely done so.

In the end, in the bathtub, he bent down to kiss her, and she seemed to have not put up much of a fight.

Zoe's hand continued to shake as she wrapped herself in the quilt.

She didn't say anything for a long time.

Her memory stopped at the point when she passed out in the bathtub, and everything after that became blurry.

Zoe lifted the quilt and felt around for a sleep dress to put on.

Afterwards, she picked up her phone and searched online.

"Does the body undergo any changes after having sex?"

The information on Baidu was quite mixed.

But there were some that mentioned certain physical changes that could occur after sexual relations between a man and a woman.

Zoe examined herself.

There wasn't much of a difference from her usual self besides having a lot of kissing marks.

She took off the sleep dress again and inspected her back.

Upon seeing this, she was completely shocked.

Her entire back was covered in hickeys.

In reality, even if she hadn't experienced such things personally, she had seen movies and heard people talk about these kinds of experiences before.

So that meant that Nick had only kissed her and hadn't fully touched her.

Zoe sat on the bed feeling conflicted yet with a hint of clarity. Perhaps she had already allowed him to treat her like that in the bathroom.

Alcohol served as a medium.

Her mood was affected, among other factors.

With this realization, Zoe roughly understood her own feelings.

She had only liked one guy before, and now he had come back to pursue her many years later. The loneliness of being abandoned by her mother had weakened her defenses, giving him an opportunity to take advantage.

Zoe sat there for a while longer.

When she stood up again, her ears and face turned red.

She sighed, tidied up, and stepped out of the door.

Outside, on the dining table, the leftover food from last night, the scattered bowls and chopsticks, and the empty bottles were still there. The oil stains floated on top of the soup, making it look greasy.

She tied her hair up and walked over to clean up. Once she got busy, she didn't have time to think.

After finishing cleaning the table and tidying up, it was just about dawn.

Zoe prepared breakfast for herself and, after eating, realized that her body was still quite tired. She nestled into the sofa and noticed that her tablet had been fully charged. She picked it up.

She clicked on it and scrolled through her WeChat messages casually.

Upon seeing that, she came across the message from Kaylee.

And the two replies from "her."

Zoe was shocked.

When did she reply?

After a moment, she guessed that it was Nick who replied.

Kaylee must be furious.

Zoe subconsciously scrolled through her WeChat Moments and glanced at Kaylee's post about the gold bar. It had been deleted.

Zoe: "..."

Nick is quite ruthless.

At 9:30 in the morning, Nick sent a WeChat message.

"Are you awake?"

His tone was still casual.

Zoe was scrolling through her phone when her heart skipped a beat.

She hesitated for a moment.

She replied.

"Yes, I'm awake."

Nick: "Don't you have anything to say?"

Zoe: "..."

What should she say?

!

Nick sent a voice message: "Heh..."

That laughter made Zoe even more embarrassed. She rubbed her forehead, glanced at the time, and thought it would be better to go to sleep.

So she stood up, went into her room, and prepared to sleep. Just as she lay down, her phone rang. The caller ID showed an unfamiliar number from Haishi. Zoe hesitated, thinking it might be a classmate, and answered.

On the other end, a gentle voice came through: "Is that Zoe?"

Zoe didn't recognize the voice at all, but the person knew her name.

She hesitated and responded: "Yes, it's me. Who are you?"

"This is Camila, Nick's current chef. Sorry to bother you."

Nick!

Zoe narrowed her eyes. "It's fine. What is it that you need?"

"It's a bit hard to explain over the phone. Can we meet up?"

"I just have some things I want to ask you about. It won't take too much of your time."

Camila's voice was very gentle, sounding like a kind and easy-to-bully person.

Zoe frowned: "But if you don't tell me what it is, I might not be able to go out."

Camila probably guessed that Zoe wouldn't be so easy to convince.

She chuckled, her tone tinged with bitterness, "I was introduced to Nick as a chef by Aunt Liu. I mostly cook Western cuisine, and I've only started learning Chinese cuisine in the last two years. But I can't seem to satisfy Nick's taste, and it's really affecting my confidence. I've been very down this year."

"I heard from Aunt Liu that Nick is very satisfied with your cooking, so I wanted to learn from you. I hope you don't mind."

Camila's voice lowered, sounding quite distressed.

Zoe: "..."

She understood that feeling.

Her grandmother had also been down and out because of setbacks.

That was when she was twelve years old.

Later, her grandmother went to Europe and came back much better.

She regained her confidence.

Camila asked softly: "Is it okay?"

Zoe glanced outside at the cloudy sky and thought for a moment, then said: "Where do you want to meet? Today is fine?"

Camila immediately responded: "That's fine."

"You can choose the place, and I'll be there soon."

Camila: "Alright, then let's meet at the Milai Restaurant."