Chapter 90: Non-existent Romance
Her heart skipped a beat at Julian Faulkner’s sudden question, and she felt a pang of guilt.
’The act is up.’ The way he asked sounded almost like an interrogation.
However.
When she tilted her head and saw the faint hint of a smile on Julian’s lips, she muttered, "Yeah, I’m done pretending. What’s wrong? You’re not happy about it?"
"If I hadn’t pulled you away just now, Grandma would have seen and definitely asked you about it."
"I bet you were always a good kid growing up. You’ve never been in a fight before, have you? Hitting someone so rashly like that... your grandma would still worry! Her health isn’t good. You shouldn’t make her worry, right?"
Julian Faulkner didn’t say anything.
He was momentarily stunned after hearing Vivian Lowell’s words.
He had hit someone before.
Before this, he had acted on impulse and hit someone once before. It was when his mother passed away. He had hit his father, using just as much force as he had today.
A single punch had bloodied the back of his hand, and his father had lost a tooth.
Grandma had been there that time, too.
Remembering the look on his grandma’s face back then, Julian fell silent for a moment, tacitly agreeing with Vivian. After a while, he finally said, "Grandma would worry."
Julian looked down at his bandaged hand, then unwrapped the bandage to reveal the wound underneath.
The wound had stopped bleeding.
But it was still a patch of angry red, a startling sight.
Vivian’s heart clenched, and she felt a wave of self-reproach.
"This is all my fault, really."
Vivian bit her lip and said, "The person I met today was Ethan Grant, Mason Grant’s older brother. The two of them have never had a good relationship."
"Now that the Lowell Family is in trouble, it’s affecting the marriage between Mason and Shelly Lowell. Their engagement ceremony was supposed to be in three days, but the Grant Family already announced that they’re postponing it."
"The Grant Family wants to call off the wedding. And with Mason losing the marriage alliance, it naturally creates an opportunity for Ethan to get ahead."
"I originally wanted to contact Ethan to see if I could offer him some help, and then use him to deal with Mason."
"But I never expected... Ethan does have plans to deal with Mason, but I didn’t think that reckless good-for-nothing would be so crazy!"
Vivian only had to think about tonight’s events for a moment to understand what had happened.
The water the young waitress at the restaurant gave her was most likely drugged.
And all of it was Ethan Grant’s doing!
’What did Ethan want to do to me?’
Vivian wasn’t entirely sure yet, but it definitely wasn’t anything good. After a moment’s thought, she added, "Don’t worry. Ethan tried to set me up, but I didn’t fall for it."
"Even if you hadn’t shown up today, I would have been fine. I carry a taser with me. If he had gotten any closer, I would’ve zapped him!"
Vivian Lowell was not some frail girl with no strength to defend herself. She had studied judo and was perfectly capable of self-defense. While she might lack a bit in raw strength, she made up for it with flexibility and agility.
She was confident.
As long as her opponent wasn’t some massive brute over six and a half feet tall and weighing more than two hundred pounds, she could find a way to deal with him!
After saying her piece, Vivian looked at Julian.
She had only said all that because she didn’t want him to worry about her, but she quickly noticed that Julian had frowned, looking none too pleased.
’Huh?!’
Vivian hesitated for a second before she remembered something and quickly added, "Of course! When you suddenly appeared, President Faulkner, it was... amazing!"
"Um, did you know that Tanya used to love watching *A Chinese Odyssey*?"
???
Julian had, in fact, been a little unhappy.
The way Vivian had put it made it sound as if his timely arrival had been somewhat redundant!
Now Vivian was suddenly bringing up *A Chinese Odyssey*. Julian was baffled and found it strange, but he still answered with a straight face, "I’m not aware of what Eleanor Rhodes likes."
"Erm..."
Vivian forced a smile and said, "She loved one of the lines from it. How did it go? ’My beloved is a peerless hero.’"
"’One day, he will ride a seven-colored cloud to come and marry me.’ I think it was The Azure Fairy who said that, right?"
"She always thought that kind of love was so romantic. She also thought it would be wonderful if the person she liked could suddenly appear to save her when she was in danger."
"I never understood it before! But Julian, the way you suddenly showed up just now... it was really cool!"
"When you punched Ethan Grant, the raw impact of each fist... it made me kind of admire you! You’re so incredible, I want you to teach me a few moves!"
"If I learned how, maybe I could fend off creeps like that in the future?"
As Vivian spoke, she recalled Julian’s punching motion from earlier and tentatively mimicked it, throwing a punch herself.
"..."
Julian watched Vivian intently, looking as if he wanted to say something but held back.
To be honest.
He had been happy when Vivian first brought it up. Especially when she’d called him cool, Julian’s heart had felt as if it were coated in honey; he was delighted.
Vivian had said, "...it would be wonderful if the person she liked could suddenly appear to save her when she was in danger."
’The person she liked.’
Julian’s mind lingered on those words.
But then...
’So it turns out what Vivian was really thinking about was getting me to teach her how to fight?’
Julian closed his eyes. It was as if all the pink, bubbly feelings he’d had moments ago had instantly turned to ash and vanished without a trace.
"Fighting, huh."
Julian couldn’t help but feel disappointed. His tone grew a little heavier as he glanced at his injured hand and said, "Actually, there’s a punching bag in the home gym."
"I used to practice with it when I had free time. But I don’t think I’ll be able to for the next few days. If you want to learn, I can teach you after my hand heals. How does that sound?"
"Okay!"
Vivian agreed cheerfully, practically jumping for joy.
’This is great!’
Vivian thought that if she went to a gym to learn this from a trainer, she’d have to sign up for private lessons. But she wouldn’t have to with Julian!
’Julian is handsome and a good fighter. If I learn from him, we can just practice at home after work every day. It’ll even be one-on-one. I’m totally scoring here!’
"Thank you, Julian!"
Vivian was beaming. As her smile grew wider, she suddenly remembered something and quickly said, "Oh, I almost forgot."
"I’ll go run a hot bath for you in the bathroom first, so you can have a soak later! And, um, I’ll go get the iodine antiseptic to treat your wound!"
"Just sit here and don’t move, okay? Do you want some water? I’ll get you some water!"