Chapter 698 Clinging to a Dog's Life
If Oliver was the sort to show his feelings openly, he'd probably want to roll his eyes at this moment.
Communicating with this woman was truly... a waste of time!
"I came to remind you," Oliver said, not wanting to stay another second, "that when you write, you may not need literary merit, but you need to use your brain."
Mia, a well-known web novelist was dumbfounded and wondered, ‘How do I lack literary merit? I sometimes make six figures a month! How do I lack brains? I have a hundred thousand followers!’
"Right, Mr. Windsor, what you've said is very instructive!" While Mia's mind was filled with question marks, she maintained a respectful exterior and humbly requested clarification, "But, Mr. Windsor, what exactly do you mean by that?"
Before she had finished speaking, Mia felt like she was already a dead woman in Oliver's eyes.
Oliver said nothing more and simply walked past Mia toward the others.
Mia didn't notice Natalie's puzzled gaze on her and Oliver until she turned around. Oliver walked over and pinched Natalie's cheek as if whispering something. The idol glanced in Mia's direction, seemingly asking Oliver another question.
With her not-so-literary but not-too-dumb brain, Mia quickly pieced together the clues. Mr. Windsor had intended to punish her but spared her to maintain a benevolent image in Natalie's eyes after being caught in the act. Natalie must have been asking Mr. Windsor why he had sought Mia out.
Regardless, Mia owed her life to Natalie! She could still obsess over this divine couple.
"Honey, Mr. Windsor is so scary!" Mia clung to Ethan's arm, feigning tears when he finally showed up, "I felt like when Mr. Windsor looked at me earlier, he was just short of saying 'What kind of idiot are you?' with his eyes."
"You might be slow, but at least you're somewhat self-aware," Ethan nodded in agreement, earning a stern glare from his wife.
Mia then mentioned the words Oliver had said to her, asking Ethan for their meaning.
"He was probably warning you not to write raunchy stories about him and Natalie," Ethan quickly responded, already accustomed to his wife's obtuse cognition.
Mia was shocked, saying, "How can you call them raunchy... I mean, my writings are realistic, they're art!"
Who could deny that couples have their intimate moments?
Humph!
"Leaving the rest aside," Ethan said, "what did you post in the fan forum last night? Bondage? Is that realistic?"
"Ah... about that..." Who knew if Mr. Windsor and Natalie were into that sort of thing?
So thrilling, and certainly worth possessing!
Hehehe!
Indeed, when Oliver returned, Natalie had asked him what he wanted with Mia.
Mia, naive as she was, felt a bit afraid of Oliver, while Natalie had watched from afar, pitying Mia like a chicken up for slaughter in front of him.
Moreover, Natalie couldn't fathom what Oliver and Mia could possibly have in common and was surprised that Oliver would even initiate a conversation with her.
Did these two have anything in common at all?
"I wanted to confirm something with her," Oliver said, looking at Natalie.
Natalie felt uneasy when she caught Oliver's glance. It seemed to her like there was something slightly sinister behind it. With caution, she asked, "Confirm what?"
"Do you know that Mia is one of our biggest fans?" Oliver's voice wasn't loud, but he hadn't made any effort to whisper either. His presence was always like that of a spotlight, capturing attention wherever he went. Once he spoke, everyone around them overheard.
Biggest fan?
Wow—
Natalie shot a glance at the others, feeling a tad embarrassed.
With an unspoken agreement, everyone else looked away, pretending they hadn't heard a thing.
Natalie had a hunch that Oliver had more to say but chose not to probe right away. She waited until just before dinner to pull Oliver aside to continue their conversation. Because she had noticed that Mia had been avoiding Oliver like a scared mouse during the latter part of the event.
"Did you threaten Mia?" she asked Oliver.
Oliver didn't respond. His expression all but spelled out, "What does she have that's worth threatening?"
"What did you go talk to her about anyway?" Natalie remembered, "Oh, you mentioned she's a big fan? How did you even find out?"
Natalie always thought of Oliver as somewhat old-fashioned, not adept at surfing the internet, yet here he was, aware of what being a big fan meant!
"Do you know that Mia writes... articles online?" Oliver countered without answering directly.
He had scoured his memory and all that had come to mind was the word "articles."
Natalie pondered for a moment and asked, "Fanfiction?"
If she remembered correctly, Mia was something of a high-profile socialite and a part-time online writer. Although her writing earnings were just a drop in the bucket compared to her spending money, she was still doing quite well among her peers.
Oliver had no idea what fanfiction meant, but that wasn't important.
He stepped closer to Natalie.
Natalie instinctively sensed danger and stepped back, her back pressing against the marble of the washstand. She turned her head and saw in the mirror her body tilting back and Oliver's form looming over her. There was an unnerving symmetry between them, his gaze in the mirror seemingly filled with a teasing amusement.
Realizing he had caught her looking at the mirror, he lifted his eyes to meet hers in the reflection.
Even through the mirror, Natalie felt an unsettling intensity in Oliver's gaze.
It was then that Natalie remembered that she had led Oliver into the bathroom.
The manor was designed as a retreat for the elite, some bathrooms were segregated by gender to protect the privacy of guests, and others were unisex single units designed like washrooms to meet the various needs of the clientele for convenience.
So, what on earth got into her head ten minutes ago when she decided to drag someone into this decidedly unsafe restroom?
"Don't, don't mess around, this is a pub-, a public place," Natalie's hands rested against his solid chest, her heart fluttering with a tinge of panic.
Mr. Windsor didn't care one bit whether it was a public place or not.
Oliver had intentionally brought Natalie out today to meet these industry insiders, naturally, he had no plans to make a move on her here, but that didn't stifle his penchant for teasing.
"Natalie," Oliver said, his hand gripping her waist, the other hand tilting her chin up, "This morning, I accidentally stumbled upon some fan fiction about us in our couple's social media hashtag."
Natalie blinked.
The term "fan fiction" didn't sound simple.
"One of them went like this..." Oliver's lips brushed close to Natalie's ear, whispering the gist of what he had read.
Natalie was stunned.
BDSM... What on earth?
Had the Couple's fandom developed such a bold taste?
Natalie was aware that the internet was full of creative types, and the skillful writers were numerous enough to be described as a "heap," but... how had Oliver come across this?
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