Standing Right Next To You - Chapter 419

A strained smile took over Lina’s face as she stood before the half-opened door.

“Aren’t you here a little too early?” She chuckled awkwardly while questioning the person standing on the other side of the door.

In the empty corridor, a tall and muscular man stood still as his eyes flitted from the door to the woman who stood inside the room.

A nervous sweat was beginning to form on her forehead and the way she avoided his gaze made him wonder what was wrong with her.

However, he shoved those thoughts aside and glanced at his watch.

“I decided to come earlier to help you pack your stuff.” The man announced his reason for his early arrival.

Lina felt like slapping her forehead when she heard this but all she could do was smile and nod.

Benji, her assistant, and the man who had appeared here tilted his head as he gazed at her.

“How long do you plan on making me stand outside?” He narrowed his eyes while questioning her odd behavior.

Lina let out a sheepish chuckle and after a moment’s pause, she stepped aside and let him into her hotel room.

‘Stay inside, Ruby! I’ll somehow send him away.’ She prayed as she watched her assistant walking into the room.

Benji’s eyes scanned the main hall he had just entered and sighed.

‘She did not turn it into a pig’s sty this time.’ He was glad that he would not have to chide her for being unruly.

Every time Lina went into her closed-door cultivation period, it would appear as though she lived like a wastrel.

She would only do the bare minimum to sustain herself as she immersed herself into completing her task.

Thinking of this matter, Benji turned around to question her about something but paused when he saw her weird actions.

Lina, with her hands joined together appeared to be praying when he turned around which caused him to gulp down the words that he was about to utter.

“What are you doing?” He inquired while eyeing her suspiciously as she had been out of sorts ever since he had arrived here.

Caught red-handed, the young lady panicked for a second but her quick-witted brain came to her rescue.

“A Yoga pose to relieve tension in my arms.” She nodded vigorously and repeated the same action to prove that she wasn’t lying.

‘Huu…’ She let out a secret sigh of relief when she saw her assistant nodding with hesitance.

“Okay…” Benji drawled while rolling his eyes then moved on to what was more important.

“You called me yesterday evening so I suppose you completed your work ahead of schedule?” He inquired as his eyes sparkled.

Yesterday around five in the evening when he had just completed a task given by VP Luo regarding Obsidia’s official business, he was surprised to see that he had received a call from her.

He hurried to answer and a short conversation later he discerned the purpose of this call.

‘She wants to return home since she finished her work earlier.’ He summarized the contents of their conversation and was glad that she was done already.

It had been more than a week since she stayed holed up in this room and he did not wish for her seclusion to go on any further.

So when she hung up after informing him about her decision to return home, he stayed up late last night in the excitement that he could get back to his usual duties.

‘Wade really took advantage of me!’ He grumbled when recalling how the younger Luo twin was milking him for every penny.

That miserly man was handing over task after task to him when this was supposed to be his mini-vacation time with Lina being away for a short while.

While Benji was lost in his complaints regarding Wade, Lina was busy thinking of a way to escape the tsunami that might hit her at any moment.

‘If Benji realizes that Ruby is also here then I am royally screwed!’ She felt the urgent need to pull her hair out due to her frustrations.

Not to mention that if her family members learned that they were spending their nights and days together then just thinking of the outcome was making her shudder.

“You sit down and I’ll go pack my stuff up.” Lina declared as she guided him towards the couch.

Benji moved his feet along with her but if he wanted to, then this little lady would not be able to even push him a single inch from his original position.

“Why can’t I help?” He retorted as his butt touched the seat of the couch.

‘Because you will see that man’s clothes in the wardrobe next to mine.’ Lina coughed as this was not something she could say to him.

Instead, she rolled her eyes and looked at him as though he had just said something stupid.

“I need to shower and then get dressed. You think that I would be ready just because you are here earlier than expected?” She scoffed at him while flipping her messy hair to the side.

Looking at her diva-like attitude, Benji raised his hands in defeat as she must have gotten off from the wrong side of the bed this morning.

‘So grumpy!’ He decided to let her do as she pleased to not get his head chopped off.

Lina was satisfied with her believable acting skills as they had saved her this time.

“You stay right here and I-” She repeated once again to ensure that he did not follow her.

“Yea yea.” Benji nodded in compliance, thinking of how fussy she had gotten in just a matter of days.

‘I shouldn’t let her do this seclusion thing again.’ He determined to keep her away from these tactics which were affecting her mood so widely.

Lina gave him a quick glance and turned in the direction of her bedroom.

However, even before she got the chance to lift her leg, she froze in the same place.

She was not the only statue in the room as the man seated on the couch had also frozen in time and place.

“Did our breakfast arrive?” A man’s voice echoed from the bedroom and soon the door was pushed open from the inside.

‘Busted!’ Lina grimaced and wished that she could just bury her head underground like an ostrich.

From the corner of her eyes, Lina sneaked a peek at her assistant and found that he was already on his feet.

‘That voice!’ Benji glared at the door which had fully opened and the figure was now visible for everyone to see.

His eyes glinted as he found that his suspicions were right!

In a fluffy bathrobe, with a towel in his hand, as he wiped his hair was the CEO of the Ming Enterprise as he stepped foot outside the bedroom and headed out.

Looking at his current appearance, it was easy to make out what he had just finished which further increased Benji’s annoyance.

Reuben had just come out of the shower when he had heard the bits and pieces of the conversation taking place in the hall.

It did not take long for him to recognize that the new voice belonged to his Kitten’s assistant.

However, thinking of a certain information he had acquired recently, his eyes narrowed as he glared at the door that was between them.

‘He entered Kitten’s bedroom before I did.’ The jealous boyfriend scoffed but his lips soon formed a wicked smirk when he thought of a way to release this pent-up anger.

Therefore, though aware of who it was, this cunning man pretended to be oblivious of what was going on and made his presence known.

If it wasn’t enough that he had just tossed a question from inside the room, he even made it a point to step out while still in his bathrobe to flaunt what he had just done.

With the entrance of this man into the room, Lina’s attempt to hide his presence was completely uprooted and discarded.

“Ruby, look… It’s Benji…” She chuckled sheepishly while making sure to not look at the glare she was receiving from Benji.

‘I haven’t told him about my plan to end my cultivation period because of what we were busy with last night.’ She mocked herself as this was all her fault.

Reuben was quick to notice the deathly glares that the other man was shooting at him then at his Kitten.

However, could he tolerate this? The answer was a big no!

Therefore, he raised his hand, gesturing for her to come closer to him.

Lina did not even have to think twice as she walked towards him and stood next to him.

She had been worrying about what might happen now that Benji had seen Reuben in her hotel room but those uncertainties faded when she felt his strong arms around her shoulders.

“Since you have seen us together…” Reuben began as he smiled while looking down at his girl who was also looking up at him.

‘Why am I blushing in this kind of a situation?’ Lina chided herself but the flushing of her cheeks did not halt even then.

Witnessing her adorable behavior, all Reuben wished to do was kiss her but he could not as there was someone who was still staring at them.

“Since you already know then there’s no point in hiding anything. I was here the entire time, accompanying Kitten during her ‘Closed-door cultivation’ period.” Reuben announced without concealing the truth from the other man.