Love My Friends with Benefits novel Chapter 23

I could hear my voice trembling.

Was there someone else other than me in here?!

With a click, the lights were turned on.

The whole room suddenly lit up, almost blinding me. I held up a hand to cover my eyes and saw a tall figure through the slits between my fingers.

It was Leonard.

My heart suddenly sank.

Leonard walked over to me, still dressed in his wedding tuxedo. A handkerchief was neatly tucked into his chest pocket.

He walked over and appraised me.

I felt like I had been stripped naked. I backed away on the bed.

Leonard stopped by the bedside and asked coldly, "Why'd you stop laughing?" He paused, his voice turning even frostier. "You're scared."

It was an affirmative sentence, not a question.

I gulped and tried my best to look as threatening as I could. "Of course. How could I not be, with you suddenly coming over here for no reason, Mr. Nell? In fact..." I dragged my sentence out. "I've never given you the key to my home, have I? How'd you get in here?"

Leonard didn't speak. He merely looked at me pointedly with his arms crossed over his chest.

His gaze seemed to pierce straight into my heart through my eyes.

I was flustered by his gaze, but I refused to give in to him. "Mr. Nell, please leave now!"

"Leave?"

He laughed in an ambiguous manner, and it made a chill run down my spine.

I reached for my phone and pretended to make a call. "If you don't, I'm going to call the police!"

Leonard nodded leisurely. "Go ahead, then."

I was stunned as I held my phone.

"When they come, I can just tell them that we're having a lovers' quarrel." Leonard bent down and placed his arms on both sides of my body while looking into my eyes. "Think about it, Queena... Is there a single inch of your body that I don't know?"

My face reddened with rage. "How shameless can you be?!"

Leonard answered in a lukewarm tone, "However shameless I am, at least I didn't ruin someone's wedding."

...

I could only remain silent.

"Queena, tell me the truth."

Leonard inched closer, the tip of his nose a hair's breadth away from mine. His breath fanned over my face, tickling me slightly. 

"Are you still hung up on me?"

I didn't know how to answer him.

I opened my mouth, wanting to mock his narcissism. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't bring myself to actually say them.

Perhaps in the deepest crevices of my heart, that was exactly how I felt.

Leonard watched me for a while, then smirked. "Looks like you're really hung up on me."

"Are you kidding me?!" Stung, I denied his words vehemently. "Who do you think you are? You're the last person I'd fall in love with!"

His eyes suddenly frosted over. "Then why'd you ruin my wedding?!"

I wanted to dig myself a hole with his eyes trained on me.

With no other choice, I scoffed deceptively and turned away to avoid his gaze. "I was doing it for your own good. It's not like you're unaware of how Phoebe really is... I was doing you a favour by helping you escape from her clutches! You wouldn't want to be a victim of her adulterous ways, would you?"

The more I spoke, the more jumbled my words became. In the end, I didn't even know what I was saying.

Leonard did not speak.

The room fell into silence so palpable that I felt chilly.

"Very well."

After what seemed like ages, Leonard finally said indifferently, "I guess I should thank you, then, Queena. Thank you for being so considerate of me."