Hate To Love You My Billionaire Lover

All of the stories were about her misfortunes with men. She kept repeating, “Women can depend on no man.”

After a while, Arianna began to tune her out. She had her own thoughts and did not interrupt Helena, though she wasn’t listening much either.

The woman’s stories became more and more outdated and unconnected. Helena spoke about the unfaithful man she was involved with at Arianna’s age. Then she explained how she went on a hunger strike for an unrelated cause.

Helena said, “You see, I’ve felt despair in my life at times. But look at me now, no big deal.”

Arianna suddenly asked, “How did you get over it?”

“Well, after the hunger strike, I realized that the most tragic thing in the world was hunger, not being dumped by a man. As for that unfaithful cheater, I believe a mad dog bit him.”

Her lips cracked when she smiled. Arianna said, “Thank you.”

Helena replied, “I know it’s not easy. But it gets better.”

After several moments of silence, there was a knock on the door.

A man peeped into the room at the doorway and said, “Helena, my bro Travis said you are drunk. Let me take you home.”

The gentlewoman suddenly turned into a witch, “No one is allowed to mention that asshole’s name to me tonight. Get out!”

Helena convinced Arianna to get into her car by the end of the evening. Arianna made several assumptions: first, Helena was probably a close lover of Travis; second, she was likely going to kidnap her and have her family pay ransom for her release.

Though Helena acted tough in front of the men, she was empathetic and precisely knew what Arianna was going through. She handed Arianna a phone and instructed, “Call your family and have someone wait somewhere to pick you up.”

Now Arianna felt bad about her assumptions. After all, she had kept her company for nearly half an hour and tried very hard to comfort her.

She could see Louis waiting for her from afar. When Helena parked, Arianna took her small mirror from her pocket and quickly checked her face and hair. Her eyes were still a little red from her tears.

Arianna figured she’d tell her family she had cried tears of goodbye for her classmates.

Seeing the glimmer in the mirror, Helena suddenly asked, “Your pendant is lovely. Where did you get it?”

“My grandfather gave it to me when I was a kid.” Arianna opened the passenger door as she was speaking.

After thanking Helena, Arianna shut the door, but the window was quickly rolled down. Helena called out to her, “Good luck, little girl.”

Arianna watched Helena’s car pull away and disappear into the night. Then, she quietly got into Louis’ car.

****

At present, Travis’s house.

Arianna’s internal clock was always very accurate. She set the alarm for 5 a. m. to leave Travis early, but her body woke up several minutes before the alarm went off.

She rested in the bed for a moment and then grabbed her phone to silence the alarm before it could ring.

Though Arianna usually woke up early, this was still a little too early for her. She got up slowly, avoiding any contact with Travis’s body.

Arianna didn’t feel comfortable seeing Travis first thing in the morning.

The two didn’t usually sleep together. They got together late, sometimes, Arianna would leave without sleeping or leave very early in the morning. Sometimes even Travis would be gone before she woke up early.

But they didn’t do anything last night.

She was soberly aware of his arm draped across her waist when he lay beside her. Later, he slid his hand under her pajamas and stroked her body until he passed out.

She counted his breathing several hundred times to make sure he was really asleep. After gently removing his hand, she moved towards the edge of the bed, out of his range.

However, Arianna couldn’t get back to sleep. She had a fear that he would force her to do something. After all, he usually only looked for her for one thing. But the night passed peacefully.

In the bathroom, Arianna washed her face and brushed her teeth as quietly as she could, but the sound of running water awoke him. Travis turned on the bed and spoke in a sleepy tone, “Why are you up so early? Can’t sleep?”

His voice was so soft when he was half awake, though she didn’t hear it often, it reminded her that he was kind. It was completely opposite from how he usually spoke to her.

She casually replied as she brushed her hair, “Duty calls. I need to leave now. Go back to sleep.”

Travis answered with a simple “oh” before falling back into a deep sleep again.

The diligent butler was seated at the kitchen table, drinking a coffee. When he saw Arianna come downstairs, he immediately stood up straight and said to her, “Good morning, Miss Jenkins.”

She greeted him back kindly. He asked, “What would you like for breakfast? Or are you waiting for Mr. Cooper?”

“No need to cook. I’m on my way out, but thank you.”

“Absolutely. I will arrange a car to drive you.”

“No trouble. Just a taxi will do.”

But of course, it was not a taxi waiting for her outside the home, but rather it was Ryan Cooper.

He seemed to have just gotten up as his eyes were barely opened, and his hair was a mess. Arianna thought he must be as bad as his boss when getting up early.

“Good morning, Miss Jenkins.”

“Thanks for picking me up, Ryan.”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

“You are most welcome.” He replied with a yawn.

Arianna smiled at him before opening the car door.

It seemed to have rained overnight as the ground was wet and slippery. The air was crisp and carried the scent of fresh rain as well.

She needed to go to her office to pick up her car, but Arianna asked Ryan to take her to her apartment first.

She did not take long to get changed. Ryan glanced over her body while opening the door for her. His eyes flickered a bit, then returned to normal.

Arianna wore a white short-sleeved blouse and a sky-blue pencil skirt with flat shoes. She had a clip in her hair while the rest of her hair was loosened.