Kathleen froze. Colour drained from her fair face as an uneasy and panicked expression took over. “Samuel, what are you doing?”
His dark eyes turned misty.
Samuel ran his long and slender fingers along her jawline before forcing her to tilt her head up. With his thumb, he rubbed her red lips gently.
He craved her desperately. Yet, he was doing his best to suppress the intense desire.
From the moment he threw aside all caution and dragged her away from the stage until kissing her eye earlier, he had been holding himself back. Otherwise…
“Aren’t you letting me go?” Kathleen said anxiously as his action against her lips was starting to hurt a little.
Samuel loosened his grip.
“Open the door!” she yelled angrily. She wanted to leave the car.
“Head to the Johnson residence,” Samuel told Tyson calmly instead.
“Okay.” Tyson then started the car engine.
“Samuel, you can’t be this forceful!” Kathleen was furious.
Snorting, he crossed his legs and stared at the petite woman next to him.
She had been incredibly alluring earlier on the stage. No wonder he had been hearing news about his ex-wife being the campus belle in her school lately.
Looking at her flawless face, he flashed her a gentle smile that was laced with affection. “I’m sorry for what happened just now.”
Kathleen ignored him. He’s a freaking rule breaker!
“I apologize,” he said solemnly.
She maintained her silence.
“Sorry.” Samuel sounded extremely serious and earnest.
Upon hearing that, Kathleen was shocked.
When she had come back this time, Samuel had apologized to her too for the past mistakes he committed.
However, she didn’t expect him to make an apology for this matter.
Samuel was a proud man with a powerful status. There was no way he would apologize to others.
When Samuel saw her startled expression, he asked, “What’s there to be surprised about?”
“Nothing.” Kathleen withdrew her gaze from him.
At that moment, his phone rang.
Picking up the call, he said, “Yes, she’s in my car. I didn’t do anything to her, and I’m sending her home. Yes, all right, I’ll ask her about it.”
With that, he hung up on his mother.
“Mom said the family has prepared a celebratory dinner for you. Do you want to go over?” His voice was deep.
Celebratory dinner? Kathleen wasn’t feeling convinced.
“It was Grandma’s idea. She said it was the first time she saw you performing on the stage, and you even won the first prize, so she wants to celebrate it for you.”
Upon hearing it was Diana’s idea, she agreed to it immediately, “Okay.”
Samuel frowned. Would you still go if it was my idea instead? I bet you wouldn’t.
“By the way, why did they call you?” Kathleen asked puzzledly.
“Because when they called your phone, it was your brother who answered it. He obviously talked bad about me,” Samuel said in a flat tone.
It was then she realized she didn’t have her phone with her.
She extended her hand in Samuel’s direction.
He gave her his in response.
Kathleen was speechless for a while before shoving his hand away. “Phone!”
Samuel gave it to her obediently.
When Kathleen was dialing Charles’ phone number, she noticed it had already been saved in Samuel’s contact list.
However, upon seeing the display name, she was at a loss for words.
“Why did you save his name as Husky?” she huffed.
His expression darkened. “He names me Retriever.”
“How can you guys be so childish?” she blurted and rang Charles up.
“Samuel, I’ve already spoken to Old Mrs. Macari about this! Where the heck did you bring Kathleen?”
“Charles.” Kathleen didn’t expect him to be this mad.
“Darling, where are you? Is everything okay?” The sudden change in his tone was obvious.
“I’m fine. I’m on the way to the Macari residence now. Why don’t you come over too, Charles? Then we can head back together.” Kathleen stole a peek at Samuel.
He wasn’t showing any reactions.
“Okay! I’m coming over to save you!” He ended the call as soon as he finished speaking.
When Kathleen was about to hand the phone back to Samuel, she accidentally saw the display name he set for her—Wife.
Her eyes darkened as her gaze fell on his finger once again.
He was still wearing his wedding ring.
Pretending as though she had not seen anything, Kathleen returned the phone to him.
“Why did you join this kind of variety show all of a sudden?” Samuel asked.
“Those people are from Charles’ company,” Kathleen explained. “What about you?”
“It’s a television program sponsored by my company.”
I see.
After some thought, she decided to remind Samuel.
“Samuel.” Her voice was sweet, but it sounded aloof at the same time.
“Hmm?” He turned, gazing at her smooth and pretty face.
“You should take off your wedding ring, or else people might misunderstand.”
“I’m not used to the empty feeling.” Samuel stroked his ring. “Just like I’m not used to you not being by my side either.”
Staring at his exceptionally attractive lips, she said, “You have to move on with your life. Don’t dwell on the past.”
“You’ve never asked me why I liked Nicolette so much.” He diverted the topic.
Kathleen kept quiet.
“Aren’t you curious?”
“Does one need a reason to like someone else?” Her gaze darkened.
Grabbing her wrist, he rasped, “I thought my feelings for her were love, but they weren’t. They were merely a sense of gratitude because she had saved my life before. I didn’t expect myself to be so terribly wrong.”
Samuel had never dated anyone before, so he didn’t know what love was.
After Nicolette saved him, he developed favorable feelings toward her.
He had thought it was love.
However, it was nothing close, merely a sense of gratitude.
Unfortunately, it had overshadowed his love for Kathleen, leaving him oblivious.
By the time he understood everything, it was already too late.
Still looking outside the car window, Kathleen pulled her hand from his grip and didn’t say a thing. What’s the point of understanding it now? We can no longer go back to how it was.
Soon after, they reached the Macari residence.
The moment they stepped inside the house, Diana and the rest of them were already there, holding party poppers.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
They pulled the strings of the poppers, and confetti rained down on Kathleen and Samuel.
Kathleen felt like they were a pair of newlyweds.
“Katie! You looked so amazing today!” Diana said excitedly. “Seeing how successful you are now, I regret letting Samuel marry you back then. Men are definitely the stumbling blocks in women’s career paths!”
Samuel was silent.
He stretched his hand in Kathleen’s direction, wanting to clear away the confetti that was all over her head.
However, Wynnie shoved him aside. “Go away. Don’t touch her!”
Samuel was rendered speechless.
Diana then dragged Kathleen to the living room.
There was a huge strawberry cake placed on the coffee table.
“Come, come! Cut the cake.” Diana handed Kathleen the knife.
“Old Mrs. Macari, this is too grand,” Kathleen said embarrassedly.
“Our little princess has performed on television and even got first place! Of course, we need to celebrate.” Diana was extremely happy.
“Exactly! You were abroad when you won the Best Actress award. We couldn’t even celebrate for you that time. Thus, we’re making up for that now,” Wynnie said.
Kathleen blushed. Holding the knife, she cut up the cake.
A message was written on top: “Kathleen’s Domineering Return.”
Offering the slices to the people around, she gave Samuel the piece with the “Domineering” word.
