Spencer looked at her. “That's not what I meant—”
“I know.” Natasha met his gaze. “Though it wasn't my intention to let this happen to Thalia, I was still the cause, which means I have to claim some responsibility for it. So, I should be the one to deal with this matter. You don't have to be very torn about it.”
Pursing his lips, he remained silent.
It was then Kenneth, who was at the side, turned to her with a dark look in his eyes. Moments later, he piped up, “All right, Nat... Call someone here to clean the place up first. We can talk about the other stuff at a later time.”
With that, Natasha retracted her gaze from Spencer, turned to gaze at Kenneth, and nodded.
After she left, Kenneth's gaze fell on Spencer, and he uttered in a low voice, “I hope you understand this is just an accident, Spencer. Without Nat, Thalia may not have survived until now. Thus, she's not responsible for this matter.”
Spencer retorted, “I didn't mean to blame her—”
“You didn't, but she's blaming herself, and you know very well what kind of person she is, don't you?” Kenneth interrupted, his voice deeper than before.
Again, Spencer remained silent while pursing his lips. Of course, I do. I've known her for so many years. I was just... expressing my worries. It was never my intention to sound like I was blaming her.
Upon taking a deep breath, Kenneth continued, “You're a man, so I hope you can remain composed and rational instead of letting your emotions get the better of you. As for the antidote, I will find a way to get it, by hook or by crook, even if it costs my life.”
“Kenneth, that's not what I—”
“I don't care what you mean. This discussion ends here.” Kenneth said abruptly, cutting Spencer's attempt at an explanation short. Throughout it all, his eyes bored into the other man.
After staring at Kenneth quietly for a moment, Spencer nodded and ultimately swallowed all his negative emotions.
Soon, a housekeeper came upstairs to clean up the room.
Natasha also returned to help the housekeeper out since the room was a mess. There did not seem to be any trace of anger in her countenance.
The two men kept quiet as though nothing had happened between them.
Kenneth watched Natasha as she tidied the area without uttering a single word, then he walked over and grabbed her hand to lead her out of the room.
“What's the matter?” she inquired.
Despite that, no response came from the man, who did not stop walking until they arrived outside.
“What's the matter?” she asked again, gazing at him.
Without warning, Kenneth pulled her into his arms.
Natasha was stunned for a moment before she squeezed out a smile. “What's this? Are you trying to comfort me?”
“It pains me to see you like this,” he answered.
His reply stupefied her. While his actions had gone beyond what he was saying, it still made her feel warm to hear him say it for the first time.
“Why? It's not like I was the one having an episode earlier,” she said flatly.
At that moment, he released her and gazed at her fair, delicate face. A tranquil smile was still playing on her lips. She's always like this, showing a smile to everyone no matter what sort of situation she's facing. But the more she does it, the more it pains me to see it.
Kenneth touched her face and spoke. “You don't need to disguise yourself before me, Nat.”
The smile on Natasha's face stiffened for a beat, but she soon composed herself. “I really am fine,” she assured, still smiling.
“I know you feel guilty because you believe you've dragged Thalia into this. I also know that you're aggrieved because Spencer's your best friend, and you feel responsible. However, you should realize he wasn't blaming you for what happened, Nat. He was just venting his emotions,” he explained.
“I know. I'm fine, really. I'm not angry either.”
The man remained unconvinced and was still worried. Thus, he did not retract his gaze from her face.
“I've known Spencer for years, so I won't get angry just because he said those things. Yes, I do feel guilty because I didn't expect my good intentions to go awry... But I'm not that fragile. You don't have to worry about me!” Natasha reassured, meeting his eyes.
It was not until Kenneth was absolutely certain she was all right that he eased up.
“I swear I won't let anything untoward happen to you, Nat. Don't worry,” he promised.
She beamed at him. “I believe you.”
Although they were looking into each other's eyes, they were actually thinking about different things.
Unbeknownst to them, two pairs of eyes were staring at them from a corner nearby.
Meanwhile, the smile on Anthony's face vanished after he returned to the bedroom he shared with his siblings.
He paced back and forth in the room while mulling over the conversation between Kenneth and Spencer.
While they did not state it explicitly, based on that conversation, Anthony was sharp enough to conclude that they were hiding something from them.
Furthermore, he knew it was an extremely grave matter and that the two men would do something about it soon.
However, the boy had no idea what it was.
It was then that the door to the room was pushed open abruptly, and in came Denise and Benjamin.
“Did you hear something earlier, Tony?” Denise asked.
They made so much noise during their arrival that it startled Anthony. When he saw it was the two of them, he heaved a sigh of relief. “What are you two doing? You scared me half to death!”
Benjamin approached his brother. Upon seeing that the latter indeed had a frightened expression, he questioned, “What's the matter? Were you doing something bad?”
“Nonsense. I was just thinking about stuff.”
“About what?”
Anthony hesitated for a moment before answering, “It's nothing. I'll let you know once I've thought it through. Also, what's the matter with you two? You made such a commotion.”
Benjamin responded, “We were in Nat's room earlier, but Daddy came in and chased us out. Then, he went out of the room with Nat. Do you want to guess what they did next?”
Anthony furrowed his eyebrows. “What did they do?”
“Daddy got a key from a housekeeper, then went to Thalia's room.”
“For what?”
“Well... I don't know.” Benjamin shook his head.
“You don't know? Then why are you telling me this?” Anthony felt slightly annoyed to be kept in suspense. My curiosity was just piqued, and he ruined it instantly.
Right then, Denise approached the two of them. “Calm down. Ben hasn't reached the highlight yet.”
Anthony swept his gaze past them. “The highlight? What is it, then? Tell me.”
“The highlight is that we heard a loud bang from Thalia's room. It sounded like someone was smashing something,” Benjamin revealed.
When Anthony heard his words, he knitted his eyebrows. “A loud bang?”
“Yeah.” Denise nodded. “It was very loud; I wonder what they were doing inside.”
“You two didn't follow them to check out what was going on?”
“We did, but we didn't have the guts to get too close, so we only eavesdropped on them from a short distance away.”
Anthony was momentarily speechless before he asked, “What else did you hear?”
Denise shook her head in response.
At that, he gave his two siblings the side-eye.
She then said, “Daddy and Nat were right at the door, and they asked us to leave, so it's plain obvious that they didn't want us to approach the room. In that case, we would've been asking for trouble if we did.”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Not twins novel (Natasha and Kenneth)
Why are these novels always stopping halfway...