Chapter 20

THERE was no way she could explain her feelings. Mind-blowing was an understatement when he pushed her to the wall without parting their lips. Julian then pinned her to the wall with his body, making her feel like she was one helpless prey trapped in the lion’s den. Was he even aware of what he was doing to her? Perhaps he knew, and he was laughing at her at the back of his mind. He won against her this time.
Prudence caught her breath when his lips trailed kisses to her jaw down to her neck.
“Julian…” she drawled when she finally found her voice that seemed missing a while ago.
“Hmm?”
She grasped his shoulders, but his hands immediately caught them and pinned them above her head. Julian then kissed the top of her breast and looked at her with eyes full of desire. For a moment, she thought she was just hallucinating. However, the emotion in his eyes didn’t change even after a minute meeting his gaze. It added to the invisible fire that was consuming her from the inside, making her blood run like crazy.
And just when he was about to kiss her again, his phone started ringing. Julian shut his eyes and tried to ignore the call, but it kept ringing, again and again, ruining the moment.
“Answer the phone, Julian. It must be something important,” she told him afterward.
He let out an exasperated sigh and freed her.
“I’ll be back.” Julian took his phone and went to the veranda.
Prudence took that chance to run inside the bedroom. She made sure to lock the door before diving onto the bed face down. She groaned, tossed, and turned on the bed before sitting up and finally pulling herself together.
“Damn it. Goddamn it, Prudence!” she reprimanded herself. “You’re crazy….”
She lay down on the bed again and stared blankly at the ceiling.
“Ah, Julian! Ah!” Prudence pulled her hair.
It felt like she was slowly falling off the cliff. No… it shouldn’t happen. She must keep holding on to her sanity and think straight. Focus was what she needed the most at that moment.
Prudence flinched when she heard consecutive knocks on the door.
“Prudence? I know you’re in there. Open the door.”
She jumped out of bed and walked toward the door but didn’t open it yet and just stood in front of it.
“What do you want?” she asked loudly.
There was no way she would let him continue that kiss. She wasn’t dumb. Prudence knew that if they did that again, it would lead to something.
“I have something to tell you—”
“They say it!”
“The door’s closed—”
“But I can still hear your voice.”
And then there was silence. She waited a few moments for him to speak, but seconds had turned into minutes, and he still hadn’t said whatever it was. Was he playing games with her now?
Prudence leaned her ear against the door. She couldn’t hear anything.
“Ah, this is crazy,” she muttered and twisted the knob to open.
Julian was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed and his hands clasped above his lap. Slowly, he turned his head in her direction and gestured on the sofa across from him. To her shock, she acted like an obedient student. Prudence quietly sat on the sofa with her gaze fixed on him.
“We have to cut this vacation short, I’m afraid,” he told her afterward. She didn’t know why he sounded as though he was dismayed. “There’s an emergency that I must attend to.”
She just shrugged.
“Fine. That’s good news to me, though.” Her lip twitched when she saw Julian raise a brow. “What? Don’t you like it?”
“Do you really want to get rid of me so badly after we kissed?”
He left his seat and walked toward her. Prudence was about to leave the sofa, but he quickly cornered her. Julian propped his hands to her sides and leaned too close to her. Her pulse started rising with the anticipation that he was going to kiss her again. Ah… she could still feel the touch of his lips against her, and the taste of his mouth still lingered.
“I know a better way how you can get rid of me.” She gasped when his minty warm breath fanned her face. “Why don’t you call off the engagement, hmm?”
Prudence’s eyes widened.
“I-I can’t do that.”
“I don’t think you’re this obedient—”
“If breaking the engagement is that easy, your father wouldn’t replace Chase and just call it off.”
She wasn’t lying. There was something more to being just a mere union of two families. That was how social connection works. And besides, she wouldn’t dream of calling it off herself. She needed it, may it be Chase, Julian, or anybody else in the family.
Julian straightened his back. She saw how his hands clenched and unclenched to his sides.
“You…”
“What?” He looked at her with furrowed brows.
If she were to compare Julian to something, he would be a complicated mathematical formula she hated solving. No matter how many times she tried to find the correct answer, she just couldn’t. His mind was always unreadable; it was hard for her to predict his next move. One minute he was playing a game; the next second, he was lowering his defenses and back at it again.
“What do you really want?”
Julian raised his brows and scoffed.
“Why are you asking?”
“Well—”
“It’s none of your business, Prudence. And may I remind you not to… cross the line.”
She could only gape at him as she watched him leave the villa. Now he made it look like she was interfering with his agendas. Well, it wasn’t really the case. She wanted to know so that she could lay her plans out, and perhaps they could come up with a truce.
“Why did he have to—” She flinched when her phone rang.
The call came from an unregistered number that she knew very well. Sighing, she answered the call.
“Prudence,” said the female voice on the other line. She sounded troubled.
“What’s the matter?”
“I called to warn you.”
Her brows furrowed.
“About what?” But the next thing she heard was the continuous busy tone. She stared at her phone’s screen afterward. “What was that?”
Suddenly she felt worried. That warning made her feel anxious.
What could that mean?
Was there danger?
But first, she had to pack her things and leave the villa. The vacation was over, and she would return to her routine. Perhaps she would regain her focus.