Chapter 67: Willingly

Eric's voice was calm but it felt like a sudden thunder, shattering the intimate and ambiguous atmosphere.
Monica instantly snapped out of it. Her body reacted faster than her mind as she opened the door, forcefully pushed Steven out, and slammed it shut.
She turned around, nervous, leaning her back against the door, her movements smooth and fluid.
After doing all this, the living room fell into silence, with only the two siblings looking at each other wordlessly.
Monica avoided eye contact, trying to cover up the situation. "Brother... what are you doing here?"
Eric found it amusing. "This is my home, why can't I be here?"
She responded slowly with an uncertain gaze, clearly still searching for an explanation.
Eric lifted his chin, lazily gesturing towards the direction of the door, signaling, "Why did you leave him outside? Weren't you passionately kissing just now?"
Monica understood his teasing and her cheeks flushed. "No! We weren't—"
Being caught by her brother while kissing his best friend in front of the door early in the morning was such an awkward situation that she wished she could find a hole to hide in.
"You've grown up, bringing men home," Eric looked at her with a smile that wasn't really a smile. "When did this start?"
Monica honestly replied, "...It's been a few months."
"Why did you keep it a secret from me? Didn't I say that if you have a boyfriend, the first thing you need to do is tell me?"
"We're not what you think!" Monica didn't know how to describe her relationship with Steven. "We... can't really be called boyfriend and girlfriend..."
Eric suddenly said, "Move aside."
She became alarmed. "What are you planning to do?"
He casually replied, "I'm going to beat him up."
She panicked and pressed her body against the door. "No."
He started rolling up his sleeves at a leisurely pace. "No fighting? Should I thank him for that?"
"Did he deceive my sister's feelings?"
"He didn't deceive me!" Monica stopped his arm, "It's me... I haven't figured it out yet, and I'm a bit confused right now..."
From childhood to adulthood, Monica was raised in indulgence, with a wealthy and harmonious family, parents' indulgence, and her brother's care.
The privileged princess never lacked money or love, never experienced hardship, and always took others' kindness towards her for granted, even if something was missing, it didn't matter to her, and it had no effect on her.
She had never learned how to respond to others' emotions, nor had she ever tried putting herself in a position to provide emotional love, because she didn't need to.
That's why her first reaction upon realizing Steven's deep feelings was to run away. She only wanted to enjoy, not to give, but Steven was unwilling.
He wanted her love; he wanted her heart.
Monica opened the door, and Steven was squatting at the door, casually stroking the fur on Chocolate's head.
There was a red mark on the back of his fair hand, which seemed to be accidentally scraped when she pushed him out of the door. It looked somewhat shocking.
When he heard the door move, he turned around and calmly met Eric's gaze first.
"You narrowly escaped a disaster," Eric half-jokingly said, "If my mom was home today, you would definitely get a lecture."
The beloved little princess of the family being taken away by a man and spending the night at his place, what Steven had to go through was only the first test for Eric, and it was also the simplest one.
Monica walked over, instinctively reaching out to cover his injured hand, her fingertips moved, lightly stroking it twice, but he took control and grasped her hand in his palm, then let go.
The warmth covering his injured hand didn't last for more than a few seconds before it suddenly disappeared. She couldn't help but look up at Steven and found that he had withdrawn his hand, his gaze not looking in her direction.
He was unhappy.
Monica keenly sensed his emotions.
"It's cold outside, you should go back first."
He adjusted the collar of her clothing and buttoned up the top button of her pajamas, covering the numerous marks on her fair collarbone with a natural pattern, raised his wrist to check the time, "I have to go to work, I'll leave first."
After saying that, he turned and followed Eric towards the garage. Monica couldn't help but run a few steps and grab onto the hem of his clothes, saying, "Steven..."
Steven turned around and sighed softly, "Baby, I'm not mad at you. I acted impulsively today, I'm sorry."
Monica didn't understand why he was apologizing to her instead.
She was about to say something, but he held her shoulders and turned her around, "Go back, I was a bit harsh this morning, rest well."
"Can I get a ride?"
Eric looked back at the only car in the garage that didn't belong to his family, "Isn't your car there?"
"It's broken, can't drive." Steven shrugged.
"You didn't use this excuse to deceive my foolish sister, did you?"
"Quite the imagination you have." Steven asked, "Got a cigarette?"
Eric glanced at him, opened the car door, and took out a pack from inside, throwing it to him.
Steven lowered his head and checked that there were none left
The cigarette box in Eric's hand: "You've been smoking a lot lately."
"Too many things on my mind." Eric also took out a cigarette, borrowed a lighter from him, and held it between his lips.
The two stood by the car, smoking, with smoke swirling around, entangling their chaotic thoughts.
"A few days ago, I had a chat with a few IH executives, and I found out that you acquired IH," Steven suddenly brought it up.
Eric flicked the cigarette ash: "Yeah, just acquired it, it's not a big deal, didn't mention it to you."
"Is this a move to enter a new field?" Steven continued, "Acquiring IH now is not a wise choice, you are at a loss, it's not your style."
"It's just changing shareholders, I won't interfere with their business model, with their momentum, I'll still make a profit in the future."
Steven exposed his attempt to make up excuses, "Sheryl Carlson works at that company?"
Eric didn't expect him to ask so directly, took a deep breath: "Yes."
Steven understood in his heart and didn't ask any further.
The two remained silent until the cigarettes burned out, and they threw the cigarette butts into the trash can before turning to get in the car.
"You saw me downstairs just now, but you didn't stop." Eric paused for a moment, sounding certain, "You did it on purpose."
Steven didn't say anything, he reached over and fastened his seatbelt around his waist.
"How does it feel to be kicked out? I don't think I've ever seen you in such a sorry state before."
Steven admitted that when he saw Eric just now, he did have selfish thoughts. Perhaps it was the romantic atmosphere between them last night and this morning that gave him some confidence and made him impulsive to make a decision, wanting to directly test, force her to be honest, and try her courage.
But she backed off.
He was too hasty, which scared her.
He was only human, not a perfect machine. He sometimes had moments of emotional instability. Especially when it came to Monica, he couldn't always remain rational and calm.
"It doesn't matter."
Steven looked out the window, the car slowly drove away from the villa.
His gaze moved up, through the car window, and he saw the familiar room on the second floor, the closed curtains lifted slightly, someone was also looking over, motionless.
Happiness, joy, disappointment, jealousy, sorry state, desire, loss of control...
Feelings that he had never experienced before in his life, after meeting Monica, he tasted them all.
But so what? He was willing to be manipulated by her.