Chapter 369 Don’t Go Back Tonight
Because she knew what had been on Alexander’s mind that day, after their meal, Courtney asked him to return the movie tickets before dragging him to the riverbank for a walk.
It was bitterly cold, and the wind along the river was particularly harsh.
Alexander held her hand and stuffed it into his coat pocket. “If I had known you didn’t like all that, I wouldn’t have wasted my time. I should have stayed home with you today.”
“It’s all right.” Courtney spoke in a gentle tone. “At least I know that you think about me and will think of ways to treat me well. If Aunt Alicia knows about this, she would be happy.”
Alexander fell silent for a second.
“Don’t tell anyone about this.”
Courtney laughed. “What else did you have arranged besides watching a movie today? Honestly, I’m quite curious.”
Alexander’s gaze fell on the trunk of his car in the distance.
Taking a glance at him, she jogged over. The trunk opened slowly, revealing a huge purple gift box.
“This is for me?” Courtney pointed to herself and asked Alexander, who gave a slight nod, looking slightly embarrassed.
After she undid the bow, she saw that inside was a brown stuffed bear. “It’s cute!””
She took the bear out of the box and had just squeezed it when the bear suddenly burst out laughing.
It frightened her, and with a shake of her hand, the bear was thrown onto the ground.
The fat doll twisted around on the ground, looking like it was suffering a cramp as it continued to laugh.
Courtney was stunned for a long time. Then, unable to hold it back, she held the car and laughed louder than the bear, nearly bursting into tears.
“Is it so funny?”
Alexander felt even more miserable now. He bent down and picked up the twitching bear. “When we left the amusement park today, you stared at the bear a few times, so I thought you liked it.”
Courtney clutched her face, which was aching from laughing so hard.
“If I had known it had such a strange sound effect, I would have looked at it for a longer time.”
Looking ashamed, Alexander hurriedly threw the bear back into the box before exclaiming angrily, “Josh can forget about his bonus this year. His advice is really useless!”
When Courtney saw how enraged he was, her heart suddenly filled with warmth. She passed her arms under his armpits so that she was in his embrace, then tilted her head up and blinked.
“Actually, I quite like it. I like the feeling of you being with me all day.”
Usually, Courtney had the appearance of a successful career woman in the workplace, and it was rare to see her showing weakness. Even in Alexander’s impression, she rarely took the initiative to be so dainty and delicate, so his heart melted at once.
He held her tightly, then leaned forward to place a kiss on her forehead.
“If I had known you didn’t like it, we would’ve done something else.”
“What else can we do?” Courtney pouted. “I can tell that you don’t have an ounce of romance in you, so you must’ve used up all your capacity to be romantic on the day of the proposal.”
The proposal that day was extremely sincere, and it was a wonder that he managed to think about buying ten rings.
Alexander lowered his head to her ear and said in his deep voice, “We can do what we both like to do.”
His remark was so ambiguous that Courtney was stunned at first, then her ears turned red as she hammered his chest in a huff. “I should’ve left you in the haunted house!”
The corners of Alexander’s lips curled up into a warm smile.
Across the river was the bustling Melrose City, which was lit with neon lights. The sky was foggy, and neither the sun nor moon were in sight as the busy world washed away the loneliness of the night.
As Alexander embraced the woman in his arms, he was overcome with emotions and couldn’t help but kiss her.
It was a cold winter night, so there was no one by the riverbank. They grew increasingly intimate, and their breaths gradually became heavier.
“Don’t.”
Courtney stopped Alexander’s roaming hands. “I have to go home later.”
“Don’t go back tonight.”
Without waiting for Courtney to come to her senses, he pulled her into the back seat of the car.
…
Nearing the mid-winter holiday, the renovation of Alexander and Courtney’s house were nearing completion.
Fiona was efficient, and the renovation team was extremely reliable too. After countless sleepless nights, they finished the renovation of the house in half a month.
“The curtains looked strange and dull because the color was too dark, so I changed them for you. I didn’t move the furniture much. There’s a passage in the bedroom leading to the walk-in closet next door, which is more convenient. If there’s anything you don’t like, you can change it.”
“I think everything’s good. There’s no need to change it.”
Courtney led Fiona to the sofa. “Get some rest. You haven’t had a good rest in half a month. I told you before that I would ask the housekeeper to send someone to keep an eye on the project, but you didn’t feel comfortable with it.”
“I’m fine. Since I’ve been put in charge of this, I have to do it well.”
Fiona gave her a warm smile. “It’s good as long as you’re satisfied. By the way, have you told Alicia to come here for dinner at night?”
Now that the house had been renovated, Fina invited Scott as well as Courtney’s family to come over for dinner at night as a housewarming activity.
“I’ve informed them, but they’ll be a little late. Alexander should be arriving early. Sunhill Enterprise is having their mid-winter holiday, and quite a lot of people in the company have to prepare for the annual dinner tomorrow, so he should come back in a while.”
“Really?”
Fiona was suddenly in a hurry. “Then I’d better go check on the food for tonight first.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be here with you.”
Courtney knew that Fiona was nervous. After all, they had never lived together for the past years. Although the relationship between the mother and son had eased, she was still unfamiliar with his life, so it was inevitable that she would find it strange.
Shortly after the two of them entered the kitchen, an engine sounded in the courtyard, signaling that Alexander had returned.
Then, Courtney heard him asking the servant in the living room, “Where’s Courtney?”
“The young mistress and Madam Fiona are cooking in the kitchen.”
Right after the servant finished speaking, Courtney poked her head out of the kitchen. “Alex, come and help me bread the fried chicken.”
Behind her, Fiona hurriedly said, “It’s all right. I can do it myself. How could he possibly know how to do this?”
“He does.”
Courtney giggled, then raised her eyebrows at Alexander. “Right?”
“Yes.”
Smiling, Alexander took off his coat, then rolled up his sleeves before walking over. When he entered the kitchen, he avoided his mother’s gaze in an unnatural manner and only asked Courtney, “So, what should I do?”
Courtney pulled him to Fiona’s side. “Madam, why don’t you teach him? I’ll call Aunt Alicia to see if they’ve left.”
“Uh…” Before she could stop Courtney, Fiona turned around and saw Alexander standing in front of her. She looked unnatural at once, and she stumbled over her words as she said, “It’s okay. You don’t need to help. You can… go get some rest.”
After she said this, the kitchen fell silent.
The atmosphere was turning tense when Alexander’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Should I bread the marinated chicken wings?”
