Jonathan had just finished showering and changed into his home clothes when he heard a loud, thunderous knock on the door. He narrowed his eyes warily. Over the past few days, he had learned that the most basic survival skill was vigilance. No one knew he lived here yet, so how could an enemy have found him so quickly?
He walked to the door and checked the video phone to see Clarisse standing outside. Her fair little face was full of unease, and behind her was an unfamiliar girl. His brows furrowed with impatience. He was about to turn around and ignore her, but then he recalled her aggrieved look in the yard earlier.
Almost involuntarily, he turned and opened the door for them, but his tone was indifferent as he asked, "What is it?"
Outside, Clarisse had been anxiously pulling Farah to leave since no one had answered for a while. When Jonathan finally opened the door, she was taken aback, but his cold expression made her lower her eyes and bite her lip, forgetting the purpose of her visit.
Farah, seeing this, gave her a push. "Clarisse, why are you standing there in a daze? Quickly explain to him!"
Clarisse, unsteady from the push, fell into Jonathan's arms. He instinctively caught her, and the faint scent of the young girl filled his nostrils. The softness of her body pressed against his chest through the thin fabric. For a moment, his heart wavered, and he chided himself, thinking it must be because he hadn't been with a woman for a long time.
Clarisse clambered off him in a fluster, her face as red as a tomato. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to..."
She thought, It's over. He already thought she was pestering him, and now she had thrown herself into his arms. Who knows what he would think of her now?
Jonathan said nothing. He had seen the other girl push her, so he looked at her flushed face and asked calmly, "Why are you looking for me?"
Hearing that he wasn't angry, Clarisse finally mustered the courage to lift her face and look at him, her clear eyes full of sincerity. "I-I came to explain that this house was found by Farah. I had no idea you were living here..."
A flicker of surprise crossed Jonathan's face before he returned to his usual demeanor. No wonder she looked so aggrieved earlier. He had misunderstood her. He wasn't unreasonable, so he said, "Sorry, I misunderstood you earlier."
Clarisse quickly shook her head. "It's okay, as long as the misunderstanding is cleared up."
Farah, seeing Clarisse being so spineless, was furious and rudely said to Jonathan, "Hey, you hurt her with those harsh words, and now you think a simple apology will suffice?"
"What do you want?" Jonathan's sharp gaze swept over Farah, making her inexplicably shiver. She silently thought, I really don't know what Clarisse sees in him. Sure, he's good-looking, but his personality is unbearable.
However, she still stubbornly said, "I want you to properly apologize to her. You can't just dismiss her with a cold apology."
"Farah—" Clarisse tried to stop Farah, but Farah, seeing Jonathan not responding, angrily kicked him and shouted, "Didn't you hear what I said?"
Though Farah was a girl, she disliked being followed by bodyguards, so she had trained herself in martial arts, unlike the delicate Clarisse who always needed Fadrique's protection.
Farah launched an attack, and Jonathan instinctively defended himself. Farah didn't expect him to be capable, so she pushed Clarisse aside and started fighting with him. Today, she was determined to teach this man who dared to look down on Clarisse a lesson, so she put all her Muay Thai skills to use.
Although Jonathan didn't want to fight a woman, Farah's aggressive moves left him no choice but to counter them. The two fought from the doorway to the yard outside, terrifying Clarisse, whose face turned pale. At first, she didn't know Jonathan had martial arts skills and feared Farah would hurt him. Later, she realized Jonathan was not only skilled but also better than Farah, so she worried Farah would get hurt.
Caught in a dilemma and unable to separate them, she could only stand there, stomping her feet and shouting, "Farah, Jonathan, stop fighting—!"
"Please, I'm begging you, stop fighting!"
Jonathan wanted to stop, but Farah refused to back down. So they continued until Bruno arrived and, upon seeing the scene, coldly shouted, "Farah, stop!"
Seeing Bruno, Farah finally stopped. Bruno walked over and pulled Farah into his arms. "What are you doing, causing trouble like this?"
Farah angrily glared at Jonathan. "He bullied Clarisse!"
Bruno found it both amusing and exasperating. She really was meddlesome, but it was her straightforward nature that he loved. So, he could only apologize to Jonathan. "Sorry!"
Jonathan snorted coldly, "Keep your woman in check!" He then turned and went back into his house. Clarisse, who was about to step forward to ask if he was hurt, froze in place. Forget it, he probably didn't care for her concern anyway.
With a self-deprecating smile, she walked over to Farah and asked, "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine!" Farah responded heartily. "Let's go home. If he dares to bully you again, I'll teach him another lesson!"
Bruno flicked her forehead. "I wonder if it's you teaching him a lesson, or him teaching you."
Farah protested angrily, "Hey, Bruno, why are you siding with him?"
Clarisse watched Bruno and Farah walk away lovingly, then glanced back at the closed door, feeling a faint sense of loss. She lowered her head and returned to the house next door.
Almost as soon as Clarisse and the others went back, Jonathan opened the door and came out with his car keys. For some reason, every time he closed his eyes, he recalled the moment she fell into his arms, the feel of her soft, warm body against his made him feel a tense discomfort.
Since Catherine, he hadn't been with another woman. Sometimes he had needs, but whenever he thought of Catherine, any desire vanished. However, today, he had been aroused by a girl he liked the least, and the desire wouldn't go away. He was angrily tempted to go next door and grab the woman who ignited the fire in him to put it out.
Of course, reason told him he shouldn't. He didn't want to get entangled with her in any way, so he could only go out to find another woman. It just so happened that Cesar Rollin Balas had asked him to keep an eye on a bar during this period, so he went there, hoping to find the kind of cold and seductive woman he liked.
In the dimly lit hotel room, two figures were closely entwined on the large bed. The man's heavy breathing and the woman's increasingly loud moans echoed in the room. The man's thrusting hips and the woman's body, bent at an extreme angle, were faintly visible in the shifting light and shadows. When the man finally released, the woman was completely exhausted, lying limp on the bed. She prided herself on being skilled in bed, but this time she was thoroughly worn out.
The man got up, pulled a wad of cash from the wallet at the bedside, and threw it at the woman, coldly instructing in Spanish, "Get out!" Then he turned and walked into the bathroom without looking back.
Since the day Farah and Jonathan had a big fight, Clarisse Balas hadn't seen Jonathan return to stay for a whole week. She got up early every morning to prepare breakfast but didn't see him. She came back early after classes and stayed until midnight but still didn't see him return.
She was very worried about him. After all, given the current environment, he could encounter danger at any time. But she didn't know his phone number and had no way to contact him. Although she told herself to forget him, how could she just forget him so easily? The only thing she could do was to secretly care for him without letting him know.
When Clarisse Balas went back to the Jian residence over the weekend, she heard from Cesar that Jonathan hadn't been back for a week either. Cesar Rollin Balas also casually mentioned that Jonathan seemed to have a woman outside.
Hearing this, Clarisse felt her heart being pierced with a needle, an unbearable pain. She had been worrying about his safety every day, but it turned out he was simply reluctant to leave the soft and warm embrace of another woman.
But then she deceived herself, comforting herself with the thought that he wouldn't have a woman outside. Didn't he love his girlfriend deeply? How could he betray her? Her father only said "seemed," so maybe it was just a rumor. By comforting herself this way, she felt the pain in her chest lessen.
That night, after Clarisse and Farah had just finished dinner at home, Bruno came over. The two of them went to Farah's bedroom, and soon the sounds of their intimate activities filled the room, making Clarisse blush and her heart race. Unable to bear it, she ran out with a red face.
When Jonathan drove back, he saw someone sitting on the stone steps at the gate next door from a distance. As he approached, he saw it was Clarisse Balas, idly fiddling with her phone.
She was only wearing home shorts and a camisole, looking delicate and shivering in the night wind. The weather forecast had mentioned a typhoon coming, and it was already starting. Jonathan frowned, parked his car, and walked over to ask her, "Why are you sitting outside?"
Since he considered her a little sister, it was normal to show some concern, especially on a night when a typhoon was approaching.
Clarisse's face lit up with surprise when she saw him, then blushed when she heard his question. She glanced at the house and said in a very small voice, "Farah is with her boyfriend inside..."
Jonathan immediately understood. Seeing her shivering, he uncharacteristically offered, "It's windy, come stay at my place."
"Huh?" She looked up, her face full of surprise, clearly not expecting him to invite her. Jonathan, feeling a bit impatient, turned and walked into his house. Clarisse Balas glanced at her own house and resignedly followed Jonathan inside. Those two wouldn't be done for a while.