Free Web NovelChapter 477: Let’s Not Lie To Ourselves Anymore
Michael really didn’t know what else he could do. He only wished that Wendy wouldn’t be troubled by it anymore and return to Lake City with him.
"Believe you?" Wendy softly mumbled. She shook her head, laughing as though she was mocking herself. "There’s no need for me to believe you. You didn’t do anything wrong."
The person who had made a mistake was Wendy, so she had no reason to make Michael give her any sense of security.
"Wendy, don’t be like this..." Michael grabbed Wendy’s hand tightly as he said seriously, "I truly wish that you would be able to put this incident behind you. And in the future, I will use my actions to show you that I like, love, and care about you as a person. So please, seriously reconsider what you said just now. Leah and Jake deserve to grow up in a complete and loving family."
"Michael..." Hearing Michael’s words, Wendy raised her head and looked seriously at him. She opened her mouth as though she had something to say.
But in the end, she kept silent.
Seeing Wendy’s hesitation, Michael squeezed her hand, as though giving her some courage. "Wendy, just say what you want to say. There’s no need for you to hide anything from me."
"I..." Under Michael’s expectant gaze, Wendy’s fingers twitched uneasily but she still plucked up courage and asked, "Were you being serious when you said that what you cared about was not my body, but me as a person?"
"Of course I was," Michael replied, nodding without a second thought. "If I didn’t, why would I hide it from you because I was scared of you finding out? If it didn’t, I would have just used this excuse to break up with you. I wouldn’t have cared about your feelings or worry about you feeling sad."
Wendy didn’t doubt what Michael had said. She knew, from the way Michael had stayed by her side ever since the incident had happened, that he indeed cared for her as a person.
If Michael couldn’t accept it, it would have been clear from when he’d met her earlier on.
But Wendy was still afraid. She was afraid that Michael would change his mind in the future, and she was afraid that she was not worthy of him now.
Additionally, Wendy wasn’t sure if he truly didn’t care about her body, or if it was just his mentality. Wendy knew that she shouldn’t have such thoughts but she just couldn’t control herself. Even though she was the one who had committed a mistake, she still wanted to gain a sense of security from Michael.
Wendy retracted her hand from Michael’s before wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. She then leaned into Michael’s embrace as she blinked, her eyes red from crying.
Her face moved closer to his.
Michael didn’t know what Wendy had wanted to do at first, until she planted her lips on his. His mind went blank.
Wendy had rarely taken the initiative to kiss him in the past. What was she doing now?
Michael couldn’t process her sudden actions. Unintentionally, he pushed her away.
By the time he’d regained his senses, Wendy’s lips had already left his.
Wendy pulled out of Michael’s embrace, disappointment and sadness shining through her eyes.
Her lips curled into a bitter smile as she said, "Michael, your body’s reaction is more honest than you. So let’s not lie to ourselves anymore."
"I..." Hearing Wendy’s words, Michael finally understood what she had intended.
Wendy was testing his response. And now she thought that he didn’t mean what he’d said, about not minding it. But it wasn’t like that at all.
Michael immediately explained, "Wendy, I pushed you away because it was so sudden. You rarely initiate a kiss so I didn’t know what you were planning to do. I..."
"It’s precisely because you couldn’t react in time, meaning that it was your most honest reaction, isn’t it?" Wendy smiled a little sadly before continuing, "I know that you really want to not mind it and I also know that you really love me. But there are some things that we cannot decide, even if we want to. Your body still showed your truest thoughts in the end. Michael, you don’t have to force yourself on my behalf.
You did nothing wrong, so you shouldn’t have to suffer."
"I really just didn’t react in time." Michael sighed resignedly before saying, "Wendy, you know that I’m not good at explanations, but I’m telling the truth."
"Alright, Michael. Let’s just go with what I said just now." With that, Wendy stood up and turned around to leave the hotel.
Michael felt resigned and sad as he looked at Wendy’s retreating figure. Could he really just watch Wendy leave him like this? If Wendy really left today, when would she be back again? She had even made arrangements for their children! Michael didn’t dare to let her leave like this at all.
’No, she can’t leave.’ The thought exploded in Michael’s mind.
In the next moment, Michael immediately stood up and chased after her. He grabbed Wendy from behind before she could even make her way out of the hotel room, holding her hand tightly, and not letting her take another step.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her head as he said seriously, "Wendy, I am telling the truth. I hadn’t expected you to kiss me at all just now so I pushed you away unconsciously. It wasn’t because I disliked you. Please trust me, I will protect you and our children for the rest of my life."
He lowered his head and kissed Wendy’s cheek and neck as he spoke. Then he turned her around so that she was facing him, forcing her to look into his eyes.
Wendy knew what Michael wanted to do. She stretched her hands out to push against his chest as she took a deep breath and said, "Michael, you don’t have to do this. This isn’t your fault, you don’t have to do anything. I would understand even if you hate me and despise me. So, you really don’t have to make things difficult for yourself."
"I will tell you right now exactly how my body feels..." Michael didn’t give Wendy a chance to reject him, reaching out to carry her by her waist.
Afterwards, he walked towards the bed...
The pale crescent moon was shining brightly in the night sky, casting a glow.
Despite that, the moon seemed to be a little shy as it hid in the clouds. The half of its face, which was showing, was also tainted with a light shade of red.
Time passed slowly and gradually like this.
Michael glanced at Wendy, who was very tired, and he gently asked, "Do you still have any energy?"
Wendy rolled her eyes at him as she kept quiet, not even wanting to lift a finger.
Afterwards, Michael’s deep chuckle could be heard.
Wendy was so tired that she didn’t have a single ounce of strength in her left. In the end, Michael even had to carry her into the shower. When they returned to bed, Michael helped pull the covers up for Wendy, who had fallen asleep quickly, bending down to kiss her forehead.
He had finally managed to comfort Wendy and calm her down. Everything would be fine as long as she didn’t leave, as long as she would return to Lake City with him.
Yet Michael feared that she would become stubborn again and change her mind. He still wasn’t completely assured yet. Wendy might still want to leave tomorrow after she’d woken up. And even if she didn’t leave tomorrow, he worried that it could very well happen the following day, or the day after that.
After thinking about it, Michael reminded himself that the most important thing to Wendy was still her two children.
She hadn’t even dared to pick up Jake and Leah’s phone calls these past two days.
She was clearly afraid that she would miss them upon hearing their voices. The best way to make Wendy’s thoughts of leaving completely dissipate then, was to use the children to hold her down.
Thinking about this, Michael smiled resignedly.
People always said that children are the best weapons for a woman to hold a man down. So how had they become his weapons now?
But Michael didn’t care as long as he could achieve what he wanted. He carefully peeled back a corner of the bed covers and crawled out. He then covered Wendy with the blankets before cautiously leaving the room.
Michael walked to the living room as he took out his phone to make a call. It was afternoon now in Lake City. The children should have just ended school.
Seeing that the call was from Michael, Zess immediately answered and asked, "How’s the situation on your end, Mr. Lucas?"
Zess had always been worried about Wendy’s situation. Although she didn’t know what exactly had happened, she knew that it was something terrible.
"It’s fine," Michael said softly. "Zess, have Leah and Jake ended school?"
"Just about. I’m waiting for them at the school gate now." She spotted Leah and Jake coming out, and she immediately smiled and waved them over.
Leah quickly ran over to Zess with short steps. Jake, on the other hand, calmly walked over.
"Auntie Zess..." Leah called sweetly.
Zess nodded as she held her hand and said to the phone, "I’ve got Leah and Jake."
"Who’s on the phone?" Leah asked curiously.
"It’s your father..." Zess said gently to Leah, passing the phone to her.
"Daddy..." Leah called out clearly. "Daddy, are you doing okay in Rheinsville City?
Where’s Mommy? I miss you guys, when are you coming back?"
In the daytime, Leah was often cheerful. But at night, she would start to miss her parents and cry. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
"Leah, why don’t you and Jake come over to Rheinsville City to play?" Michael said to Leah. "Mommy and Daddy are both here, so why don’t you two join us?"
"To Rheinsville City?" Leah thought that she had misheard as she paused for a while.
Then she became excited as she replied, "Yes, alright, I want to look for you! You can’t go back on your word, Daddy."
"I won’t." Michael promised. "Leah, pass the phone to Jake, I want to talk to him."
"Alright, Daddy." Leah was already thinking about the fact that she would go to Rheinsville City soon, and get to see her parents.
...
After receiving the phone from Leah, Jake walked a couple of steps to the side, a serious expression on his face. He had heard what Michael had said over the phone.
Leah didn’t know that Jake had walked away purposely. She wanted to follow him, but Zess pulled her back, smiling and saying, "Leah, let’s go ahead first... let’s go home and pack our stuff quickly, okay?"
Hearing that, Leah totally forgot that she wanted to listen to Jake’s conversation with their father. She immediately nodded her head and followed Zess.
Jake slowly followed behind them at a distance.
"Did something else happen over there?" In contrast to Leah, the first thing Jake felt, upon hearing that they were going to Rheinsville City, was unease.
Wendy had spent a lot of effort to get him and Leah back in Lake City and now Michael was going to bring them over again. If nothing had happened, Michael would definitely not do that.
Jake was worried that something terrible had happened.
"Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious." Michael knew that his son always thought too much so he comforted him first. "Something happened here and your mother wanted to leave for a while so she could calm down. I didn’t dare to let her leave because I was afraid that she wouldn’t come back again. So, I wanted to bring you guys over to keep her company. Maybe then, she won’t be able to bear leaving anymore."
"Why did she want to leave?" Jake frowned and said coldly, "Did you do something bad to her?"
Michael felt resigned. He had indeed done Wendy wrong many times in the past.
This time however, Michael thought that he was innocent. But since Jake was still young, there were some things that he shouldn’t know too much about. Also, this wasn’t a good thing, so the fewer people who knew about it, the better. Jake was his son after all.
"I would definitely tell you anything I can. The things that I can’t tell you, I hope that you won’t ask about it nor look into it." Michael knew that being vague would be pointless with his son. Instead of lying to him, he might as well tell him that there were some things that were not suitable for him to know. ƒreewebɳovel.com
Hearing Michael’s words, Jake frowned harder.
"I’ll book you guys the nearest flight so just pack up a bit, then leave. We won’t stay here for long, we just have to persuade your mother to come back to Lake City."
Michael said. "I will arrange for two bodyguards to accompany you guys so let Zess know that they will be waiting at the entrance for you."
"Okay." Jake didn’t say anything else, just simply agreed.
After he hung up, Jake caught up with Leah and Zess. He returned the phone to Zess before saying, "Auntie Zess, Daddy asked us to pack lightly because we’re going to Rheinsville City."
"Alright." Although Zess was curious as to why they were in such a rush, she didn’t ask.
She had been following Wendy for so long and taking care of the children since they were young, so she knew what she could ask and what she ought not to ask.
"Yay, I can finally see Mommy and Daddy!" Leah was probably the only one who was feeling excited.
She held Jake’s hand and asked, "Jake, are you happy?"
Jake nodded his head.
Jake’s solemn expression slowly faded when he saw Leah who looked so carefree, not knowing anything. He really wished that she would remain this happy forever.
He would try his best to protect his sister well.
