"Oliver?" Bella whispered as she rose from her recumbent position.
But Oliver wasn't alone.
One of Oliver's hands was tightly gripping the collar of Patrick's shirt, who looked even more frightened after seeing Oliver do a flying kick that sent Adonis flying.
"Dad?" Bella said, looking at her father.
"Are you okay, kiddo?" asked Patrick shyly, probably because he remembered that he had left his daughter behind and run away to save himself like a coward.
"I'm fine." Bella got out of bed and approached her father.
However, the peace between them didn't last long because a moment later, Adonis got up with a bright red face.
"Who are you, you bastard?!" he roared angrily.
"I'm a nobody." Oliver still had time for a friendly smile before Adonis leaped forward and attacked him with a flurry of punches.
Although Adonis was quite good at fighting, he was clearly not a match for Oliver. Especially in a one-on-one fight like that.
Oliver was able to easily pull out his signature moves that made Adonis fall flat on his stomach on the hotel room floor in just a few moves.
Patrick and Bella watched it all from the safety of their corner of the hotel room.
Another kick landed on Adonis's side ribs, leaving him flat on his back. Oliver stepped forward and planted his foot on Adonis's distended stomach.
Fresh blood oozed from Adonis's nose, which seemed to have been broken by Oliver's fist.
"Now do you know who I am?" Oliver asked as he pressed his foot into Adonis's stomach.
"Ahh... know, boss." Adonis stammered in response to Oliver's question due to his trampled stomach.
"So, how much more money does Bella have to pay?" asked Oliver as he increased the pressure on Adonis's stomach with his foot.
From where she stood, Bella seemed surprised by the fact that Oliver knew about her father's debt. She had no idea that Oliver had a such sharp hearing.
Without realizing it, all of her conversations on the phone with Adonis could be heard by Oliver, every word, clearly.
"It's... nothing, boss."
"How much do you owe Bella?" Oliver growled again as he increased the pressure on Adonis's stomach with his foot.
Oliver's foot was already digging into Adonis's distended stomach. It wasn't impossible that if Oliver increased the pressure of his foot one more time, Adonis's stomach would pop like a hot air balloon.
"Hhhh... nothing, boss. Nothing... ahhh... all of Patrick's debts have been paid off... hhh ...." Adonis seemed to gasp. His head was shaking left and right so fast.
His hands were flailing in the air like someone drowning in the ocean.
"Good." Oliver lifted his foot from Adonis's stomach with a satisfied look on his face. "Now get out of here before I change my mind," Oliver growled again.
Hearing that, Adonis staggered to his feet and crawled quickly out of the hotel room.
After Adonis left, Patrick stumbled over to Oliver and knelt at his feet.
"Thank you, boss. Thank you very much, Boss," he said. Now she looked miserable.
Oliver's attention was now on Patrick. He looked at Bella's father and grabbed his shoulder to make him stand up.
"Did you see how I beat up Adonis?" Oliver asked in a menacingly hoarse voice.
"I-see. I saw..."
"If I find out once again that you're in this kind of gambling debt, I assure you that I will personally beat you up like I beat up Adonis!"
"I'm sorry. I promise I won't gamble again." Patrick lowered his face in fear of Oliver's intimidating gaze.
"Alright. Please go to the hotel reception to get your wounds treated!"
"T-thank you. Once again... thank you." Patrick glanced and nodded at Bella once before leaving the room.
The sound of the door creaking and slamming shut followed Patrick's departure.
Now there were only Oliver and Bella in the hotel room.
"You're okay, right?" Oliver approached Bella with a tissue box as he saw the mess on Bella's face.
"I'm fine. Thank you very much, Oliver." Bella accepted the tissue box Oliver held out to her.
"You're welcome. You've helped me before too."
Bella's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. There was no longer any resentment in her. She realized that she had misjudged Oliver all this time.
"Oliver, I'm sorry if I've misjudged you all this time." Bella rose to her feet and approached Oliver.
"Yes." Oliver turned to look at Bella, who was now standing so close to him.
"Are you hurt?" asked Bella worriedly when she saw the blood stain on the corner of Oliver's lip.
"It's nothing, really." Oliver tried to look away to the side to avoid Bella's gaze.
"Let me check." Bella reached out her hand to touch Oliver's chin and made him face her.
Oliver's nose smelled faintly of the perfume Bella was wearing.
Bella pulled out a tissue and wiped away a speck of blood at the corner of Oliver's lip. Oliver looked down at Bella, who seemed so focused. Without realizing it, the direction of Oliver's gaze fell on Bella's chest....
Oliver's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Bella's top blouse was ripped, so the upper part of Bella's chest was poking out and looked adorable.
"Aww, that hurts." Oliver flinched as the tip of Bella's tissue touched the cut at the corner of his lip. He unconsciously swatted Bella's hand away.
"Aaaa ...." Bella slipped and fell forward.
Oliver swayed and fell on his back on the bed with Bella on top of him.
The room was very quiet. There was only a soft humming sound coming from the air-conditioning machine.
***
In the evening, Oliver went to the cafe to meet Luella, Lydia's sister. As agreed with Lydia yesterday afternoon, Oliver would work as a security guard at Luella's Cafe.
Oliver asked the barista on duty if he could meet Luella.
The barista, Hugo, recognized Oliver as the son-in-law of the Harvey family's trash. Hugo's eyebrows raised for a moment when he heard Oliver wanted to meet Luella, who was the owner of the cafe.
"Have you made an appointment with Ms. Luella yet, sir?" asked Hugo with a dismissive look at Oliver.
"I have. I was sent here by Ms. Lydia. Ms. Luella's sister. Do you know Ms. Lydia?" Oliver asked back.
"I know her. There isn't a Luella Café employee who doesn't know Ms. Lydia," Hugo said coldly.
"How pretentious of you. I don't think I know if you're the son-in-law who lives with the Harvey family," he whispered later, quietly, with his back to Oliver.
He didn't know that Oliver had an exceptionally sharp hearing.
"Hello, Hugo. So how was it? Can I see Ms. Luella now?" repeated Oliver, waving his hand to attract Hugo's reluctant attention.
"Yes... yes. Please be patient, sir." Hugo took off his apron and walked away from the barista table. "Come on, let me take you to Ms. Luella's room."
Hugo turned around and walked ahead of Oliver to the back of the café and opened a smoothly crafted wooden door.
"Excuse me, ma'am. I'm sorry. This is someone who wants to meet with Ms. Luella." In front of Luella, Hugo immediately turned polite and well-mannered.
Luella stopped what she was doing and looked up to see who was coming.
"Who?" she asked Oliver.
"I am Oliver. I was asked by Ms. Lydia to come see Ms. Luella," Oliver said casually with a friendly smile on his face.
"Oh. Okay. Please come in." Luella nodded to Hugo, who opened the door wider for Oliver to enter before excusing himself.
Oliver stepped into Luella's room, which had an all-yellow interior.
"Have a seat." Luella pointed to the empty chair in front of her.
"Thank you." Oliver sat down.
He watched as Luella rose to her feet and walked towards the mini bar in the corner of the room.
In contrast to Lydia, who was dressed formally, Luella looked so casual and seductive in a short thigh-length dress. A chiffon dress that clearly printed every curve of Luella's beautiful and eye-catching body.
Black stockings wrapped Luella's beautiful and slender lower body. And underneath the black stockings, Luella's rice-bunting calves were visible. A calf model that Oliver really liked.
"What would you like to drink, sir?" asked Luella without looking at Oliver.
"Just water, ma'am," Oliver replied shortly.
Luella took two bottles of mineral water from the minibar. One for Oliver and one for herself.
"Please drink." Luella placed the water bottles on the table as she glanced at Oliver.
A disdainful glint appeared in Luella's eyes.
Continued....