Chapter 135 - 134: Needle Marks
The warm, soft feeling of the girl’s lips still lingered on his. Simon Lockwood’s heart skipped a barely perceptible beat. It was just for an instant, so fleeting he didn’t even notice the subtle change himself. His voice was stiff and his tone serious as he said, "Don’t mess around."
Joanna Kennedy: "..."
Joanna Kennedy didn’t want to talk anymore.
After the film festival’s red carpet event, many celebrities headed home that very night. The cast and crew of *The Awakening Petals* also boarded a flight back to their home country the next morning, but they didn’t inform Joanna Kennedy.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Walter Young had made an excuse for her.
’I don’t have any important events these next few days anyway. Besides, it’s my first time in Dresland, so what’s the harm in staying to have some fun for a few days?’ Joanna Kennedy told herself, successfully convincing herself to stay.
’I’m not being lovesick,’ she insisted to herself. ’I just want to enjoy the exotic foreign atmosphere.’
For two days in a row, Simon Lockwood left very early in the morning. Joanna didn’t know if he was off to a business meeting, but he never returned until the afternoon.
Since Joanna didn’t speak the language, she didn’t dare go out and wander around on her own. She just stayed in the presidential suite, waiting for Simon to come back.
She didn’t know if it was just her imagination, but she felt that every time Simon returned, his face was very pale, and a faint, almost imperceptible smell of disinfectant clung to his coat.
During dinner that evening, Joanna casually brought it up. Simon’s expression didn’t change noticeably as he said flatly, "You’re imagining things."
Joanna Kennedy: "..."
Joanna didn’t believe him. She furrowed her brows. "Are you hiding something from me?"
She said, "I’m going out with you tomorrow."
’I’ll see for myself just what Simon is up to.’
Joanna wore an expression that screamed, ’If you don’t take me, you’re hiding something.’ Simon lowered his gaze, a flicker of darkness crossing his eyes. He discreetly moved his right hand under the table and said in a natural tone, "I don’t have to go tomorrow. The contract negotiations are mostly done. Jack Warren can handle the remaining details."
"...Really?" Joanna asked suspiciously.
Simon Lockwood nodded.
’What a coincidence. The moment I want to go with him, his business is finished?’
"If you really want to go, I can have Jack Warren take you," Simon added unhurriedly.
Joanna Kennedy: "..."
’It’s not like I’m crazy.’
"So, are we going back home now?" Joanna asked.
Simon heard the faint note of regret in her voice. For the past two days, Joanna had been all by herself in the room, obediently waiting for him to return, with no chance to go out and have fun.
After a few seconds of silence, Simon said, "We can go back in a few days."
He still had four days.
"I’ll take you out tomorrow," Simon said.
Joanna’s eyes instantly lit up. Forgetting all about her meal, she asked excitedly, "Where are we going? Where?"
She didn’t even know what fun places there were in Dresland and was just about to look it up on her phone,
when Simon spoke in a cool, detached voice, "To TUM."
The Technical University of Munden, a top-tier European research university located in southern Dresland, perennially ranked as the best university in the country.
Joanna Kennedy: "..."
She flopped backward with a look of utter despair.
’How,’ she thought, ’can a person be so... utterly... boring?’
Barely hanging on, she asked numbly, "Great Scholar Lockwood, you don’t actually want me to apply to this university, do you?"
"Why would you think that?" Simon frowned. "It’s an industrial research university."
He knew Joanna had no interest in this field of study. Besides, Munden was very far from Aethelburg, which was the main reason.
He just wanted Joanna to experience the university atmosphere, hoping it would give her more motivation to study.
Joanna was completely deflated. At 11 p.m., she was still on her phone, refusing to sleep. She was determined to pull an all-nighter so she’d have an excuse to sleep in and not go to the university the next day.
’What kind of person enjoys visiting schools! Especially a Dreslandish university, where graduating is ridiculously difficult. You could fail a course just by blinking wrong. It’s totally jinxed.’
Simon reminded her twice, but Joanna pretended not to hear. She rolled over toward the inside of the bed and kept playing on her phone.
Simon Lockwood: "..."
There’s a saying about not letting things go past a third time. Simon decided to show Joanna, through physical action, the consequences of not listening.
Sure enough, Joanna didn’t get up the next morning. It wasn’t because she stayed up all night playing on her phone, but because she stayed up all night being "played with."
Humiliated and annoyed, Joanna buried her face in the pillow and refused to speak.
The man had been much more restrained this time, not enough to make her pass out, but his actions were still rough and selfish. He completely ignored what she said, and even now, Joanna could feel her legs trembling violently.
"You want to get out of it that badly?" Simon stood by the bed, impeccably dressed. He had on his usual cool, ascetic expression, the picture of noble indifference.
This only made Joanna angrier. Her voice was muffled by the pillow. "Can’t get up... don’t want to go..."
"Then where do you want to go?"
Joanna didn’t answer.
Simon’s expression was placid. He glanced at his watch. Nine in the morning. "Let’s have breakfast first," he said.
Considering Joanna’s physical condition, he didn’t take her to any sights that were too far away. They just strolled through the old town, with its ancient city wall ruins and cobblestone streets.
The maple leaves by the roadside had turned yellow and were drifting gently down. Joanna caught one in her pale, outstretched palm. Walking backward, she showed it off to Simon smugly. "Look, a gift from Berlyn."
Simon glanced at it, his tone cold and utterly unromantic. "Does your hand not hurt anymore?"
Joanna huffed and switched hands.
Simon: "Walk properly."
Joanna Kennedy: "..."
Joanna deflated. "You... honestly."
She let her head droop, not seeing the man’s lips slowly press into a straight line.
He couldn’t share in Joanna’s happiness, nor could he say the things she wanted to hear. The needle marks on his right arm seemed to ache faintly. ’It will all be over soon,’ Simon thought.
’I might become the "Simon Lockwood" that Joanna likes, or I might... disappear completely.’
’But that’s okay. Joanna will always be Joanna, and that’s for the best. She doesn’t need to change for me, or feel sad for me...’
Three days left.
In the afternoon, the sun began to set, its lingering rays blanketing the streets of the old town. A young Dreslandish couple with backpacks walked by.
They were holding hands, radiating youthful energy, vibrant and carefree...
Love during one’s school days is the most sincere—bashful in high school, passionate in college. Joanna felt a slight pang of regret. She had only had Simon’s high school years.
Joanna thought again about Simon asking where she wanted to go. The place she actually wanted to visit most was Meridia—to see Simon’s alma mater.
There was no special reason. She just wanted to walk on the athletic fields, in the cafeteria, and through the library—all the places Simon would have been...
’It feels like that would fulfill a youthful dream,’ she thought, ’and it would be like... we attended the same university.’
The wound on the back of her hand had begun to heal and was starting to itch. Joanna couldn’t stop herself from wanting to scratch it. She could control the urge when she was awake, but when she was asleep, she would unconsciously start scratching and wake herself up from the pain.
The first time Joanna woke up in pain, Simon noticed. So he held her wrist all night, not giving her a chance to scratch the wound.
In the early morning hours, Joanna was awakened by the itching from the wound on the back of her hand. It was both itchy and numb. She couldn’t help but try to pull her wrist away, but it wouldn’t budge.
The movement tugged at the man’s loose pajama sleeve, causing it to slide down. Moonlight streamed in through the window, clearly illuminating the bruised, swollen needle marks on his arm.