High School Again: The President’s Secret Lady Boss - Chapter 156

While the desire to touch and feel is there, a sense of desperation is also present.

Marcellus remembers how cold, pale and limp she was. He remembers Winter in her most vulnerable form – weak, fragile.

That night was the worst night he ever had. Seeing her lying in his arms, unmoving and lifeless, had made him feel like crumbling from within. Like dying. It hurt him a lot more than those times when he was tortured and tormented. Now that he has seen her conscious again, though, steadily recovering, he finds the urge to make the most of the moment.

To make it last. To touch and feel. To convince himself that she’s there with him.

Safe. Sound. Breathing.

“Marcellus.”

He heard Winter whisper his name after she parted from the kiss for a bit, but he immediately placed his finger over her lips, not letting her speak. Marcellus looked down at her before he buried his face in her neck.

Her wonderful scent hypnotizes him – enthralls him more than he already is. That’s when he decided to let his mind wonder off. He leaned down to kiss her again, but this time, he let his hands explore around.

‘How could I stop? Should I stop?’

Marcellus had stared at her for so long while she was asleep – wanting to hug her, to kiss her. But he didn’t do it because he knew that he would be disrespecting Winter.

Besides, he wants her to be awake when he does it. He wants to see her make the helpless expression she’s making right now, hear her let out all those sweet sounds, and feel her returning the gesture by her own will.

“Marcellus.”

Without noticing it, Marcellus already had his hand underneath her shirt. He blushed at the same time he flinched. The feeling of Winter’s soft, smooth skin is just too much for him.

He feels like he is close to bursting, but even though he now appears like a total wimp, he does not falter and only continues to kiss her heatedly.

His hand was about to go a bit further up when he suddenly felt hers touch him on his cheek. Then, ever so gently, she pushes him away. He opens his eyes to see her already out of breath, her whole face bright red. As his senses returned to him slowly, he parted from her but remained on top of her.

His heart is still racing, his body still feeling the rush of adrenaline.

“Marcellus,” she called once more, panting a little, voice barely audible.

“Winter,” he responded dazedly, still stuck in a trance-like state.

At that moment, they feel like they’re the only ones in each other’s world.

Her hands were quivering. But her narrowed, glazing irises were firm on his half-lidded, glinting ones. He gently brushes away the strands of hair that’re covering her face. His hand then stays on her cheek, stroking it tenderly.

“What is it, Winter-”

“You dirty little bastard! Get your hands off of her!”

Then came August, startling Winter and Marcellus.

He suddenly stormed inside the room and continued to stomp his way towards them. They blushed fiercely at the realization that they’d been seen in that intimate position. Thrown into a panic, they hurriedly scurried away from each other.

Even so, it was too late – they already got busted out.

“This is what I mean! This is what I mean…!” August bolted out angrily.

“As I thought, I couldn’t leave her to you for too long!”

“It’s not what you think it is, Sir Agreste…” Marcellus tried to reason calmly.

“I swear I didn’t do what you’re probably thinking I did.”

“You think I’m gonna fall for that?! I saw you pinning her down!”

“And it’s not what it looks like-”

“I’m a man too, Sir Lexington! I know how that dirty little mind of yours works!”

Before this can go on, Winter steps right in and throws her arms over August.

He was taken aback when she embraced him out of nowhere, and though the first thing that came to his mind was that she was trying to divert his attention from her boyfriend, he had the impression that there was more to the gesture than that as he felt her squeeze him tighter. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in its crook. He caught her waist before both of them stumble backward and fall, his eyes blinking rapidly in surprise and confusion.

“What’s this? Are you trying to appease me?” August muttered with a gruff voice.

“Not really. I just want to hug you. Thank you for everything,” Winter said softly.

Her expression of gratitude is sincere but serious at the same time. Thinking that she really just wanted to thank him, he sighed in defeat and let her off the hook – for now, at least.

“Okay, let’s forget about this guy for now…” August continued, briefly shooting a sharp look at Marcellus who slightly winced from the scrutiny and eventually stepped aside.

“How’re you feeling, Winter? All good?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now, and it’s thanks to all of you…” Winter replied with a grateful smile.

“While I’m sleeping here, everyone’s working. I’ve heard that you’re managing the household and dealing with my uncle and aunt’s case all at once. You’d been watching over me, too. I appreciate all of that, and I’m sorry for troubling you.”

“It’s no trouble at all. As long as you recover, I’ll do it for as long as I have to.”

“Oh, but you really don’t have to do it on your own for any longer. I’m okay now. In fact, I’m already getting a headstart on the company’s paperwork-”

“Wait, what?! You’re working already?!”

It was then that August noticed the piles of paper on her bed. He pulled away from Winter and gave her a reprimanding look, making her take her turn to blink at him in bafflement.

“Are you seriously working?! Right after waking up?!” he scolded her.

“Well, I can’t leave the company unattended for too long, especially now that our family is facing a lot of issues-”

“Screw the company! If you want it attended, you can just tell Sir Victor to act as your proxy or something!”

As if summoned, Victor appeared right then. He entered the room along with Harold. Winter straightened herself up as soon as she saw them, ignoring August’s reproach.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve finally awoken, Ms. Middleton,” Victor greeted amicably.

“It’s nice to see you again, Sir Victor. Thank you so much for all your service,” Winter expressed, delighted.

“It’s nothing. I’m just doing my job, though I do like to apologize for last time. I didn’t mean to frighten you, but as it turned out, not everything went as planned that night.”

“Huh? What is there to apologize for?”

“Didn’t Sir Lexington already tell you? I was in a disguise.”

She had to take a moment to process what he said. Her gaze then shifted from him to Marcellus who suddenly looked uncomfortable. It just happened that August turned to look at him the same time she did. He began to glare at him again, puzzling her more.

“Hey, you. Didn’t you tell my sister about what you did with Sir Victor?” August rasped, clearly displeased about something.

“What did they do?” Winter blurted out, having a hard time piecing it together.

“Well, you see, Ms. Middleton, there had been an unprecedented addition to the plan. Sir Lexington had initially asked me to act as Bianca Middleton’s bodyguard during the party,” Victor disclosed with an apologetic smile.

“I didn’t expect he’d really be hired, though, so I nearly dropped that plan. But it seemed that the Middleton’s were in need for some staff. Originally, I asked him to disguise himself as a bodyguard so that we could keep track of the enemy’s movements…” Marcellus further explained.

“While he did get to spy on Bianca Middleton and even earned a part in her scheme, he failed to inform you and the others that he had to pretend to take you away. It happened at the last minute. Totally uncalled-for. Your relatives were monitoring him the whole time, making sure that he’d obey their orders. He also didn’t tell you that it was him so that he could earn a realistic reaction from you.”

Winter was speechless.

The fact that Victor was disguised as Bianca’s bodyguard was mind-blowing. That explains why he suddenly sided with Marcellus before she fell down into the ocean.

“I’m really sorry that you had to go through all of that. If only I thought better than leaving you alone with Bianca Middleton, I could have prevented what happened. Nobody expected that she’d go that far,” Victor continued to apologize.

“I take that you’re after the evidence here. Considering that you had to go all through the trouble of recording her confession, the Middleton family must have had a lot of power to counter claims and accusations,” Harold commented from the side.

“Well, they did get away from the case with Neil Schwartz despite all the evidence. We wanted to crush them once and for all, so we had to do this,” Marcellus pointed out.

“Still, you should’ve told me about that whole disguise thingy. I almost lost it when I learned that my sister got taken away again,” August complained.

Winter simply listens to their conversation, astonished through it all.