Chapter 22 Benjamin's Warning

Annie glanced at Benjamin sitting in the passenger seat. Seeing him staring straight out the window, she felt embarrassed and lowered her head to wipe off the rainwater on her body with a tissue.
Benjamin looked through the rearview mirror at Annie's thin figure in the backseat. It was such cold weather, yet she didn't even wear a coat and had to stand outside in the rain to hail a taxi. This made Benjamin curious.
"Miss Hart, why didn't Mr MacDonald send you home?" he asked.
Hearing "Mr MacDonald," Annie furrowed her brows in confusion before realizing she was Carl's "woman" now.
She clenched the tissue tightly and casually lied, "We had an argument, and he left me stranded."
Benjamin nodded slightly, "I see."
He saw that Annie was shivering from being so cold and raised his hand to turn up the heat without asking any more questions.
The sudden increase in temperature inside the car gradually warmed up Annie's frozen body.
She gratefully looked at Benjamin and explained carefully, "I wanted to take a taxi, but my phone died, and all nearby stores were closed due to heavy rain. So I had no choice but to stand by the roadside hailing taxis. I'm sorry for troubling you."
Supporting his chin with one hand, Benjamin looked at Annie nervously, fidgeting in discomfort through the rearview mirror and comforted her gently, saying, "It's okay."
Annie relaxed after hearing this assurance from him; she leaned against the car window with exhaustion written all over her face as she closed her eyes while enjoying the warm air blowing onto her.
She was too tired; soon enough, she fell asleep under this cosy atmosphere created by warm air blowing around her body.
Not long after that, they arrived at their destination - right in front of Annie's apartment complex.
Without looking back, Benjamin said, "Miss Hart, we're here."
After waiting for a while and receiving no response from the backseat, Benjamin turned around to check on her. He saw Annie sleeping soundly with her head resting against the car window.
He widened his eyes slightly at this sight. Wasn't she too trusting? How could she fall asleep so quickly in a stranger's car?
Did she think he was a good person?
Frowning, Benjamin signalled to his assistant, who immediately got up and walked over to the backseat. He opened the door and pushed Annie gently, saying, "Miss Hart, you've arrived home."
Annie woke up feeling groggy; everything looked blurry due to rainwater getting into her eyes, but thankfully her mind was still clear enough to recognize that it was Benjamin's car.
She struggled hard to sit upright before thanking him again apologetically, then stepped out of the car after opening its door.
"Miss Hart," called out Benjamin as he turned sideways from behind his seat and handed an umbrella over to her. "It's raining heavily outside; take this with you."
Annie recognized that it was an expensive umbrella by its logo design; afraid that she might not have another chance to return it if she took it now, so hesitantly refused in a soft voice, saying: "Thank you, but I only have a few steps left until my doorstep; I'll just run there instead."
Benjamin paused for a moment when he heard what Annie said - sensing something off about how hesitant she sounded - before directly throwing the umbrella towards her, saying: "You don't need to return it."
Feeling embarrassed by all this fuss caused by herself alone, yet seeing how insistent Benjamin seemed about giving away such an expensive item made Annie feel even more uncomfortable than ever before. She tried explaining herself once more: "I didn't mean it that way. I just thought the umbrella you gave me was too expensive, and I'm afraid I won't have a chance to return it to you."
"Miss Hart," Benjamin interrupted her coldly, his eyes filled with warning. "I sent you home out of kindness; if you have any other ideas, I suggest you stop them now."
Annie felt uneasy hearing this from him but didn't say anything more. Instead, she put down the umbrella and turned around to walk towards her apartment complex.
After two steps in the rain, she suddenly felt indignant and turned back to face Benjamin: "Mr Ross, thank you for sending me home, but please don't look at me with coloured glasses next time! I refused your offer because I think this umbrella is too expensive and not because of anything else!"
She said all this in one breath before turning around again without waiting for his response, then ran into her apartment building under heavy rain.
Benjamin watched Annie's petite figure disappear into the distance before feeling slightly stunned by what had just happened.
He thinks women like Annie, who sell themselves out, will try to seduce those slightly wealthy. Otherwise, she wouldn't have turned to Carl after breaking up with Brandon. However, what she just said made Benjamin feel a little embarrassed as if he had misunderstood her personality...