Julian opened the door for her, inserted the room card, and the room was suddenly bathed in light.
“We’re here, you can rest now. I’ll be leaving,” Julian said, turning to leave. But Mona quickly shut the door.
“Mr. Barnet, now that you’re here, why not stay a while?”
Mona said as she locked the door behind her.
Julian strode towards the sofa with his long legs, casually leaned back, crossed his legs, and rested his arms on the armrests.
If previously he had been a tender lover in front of Aurora, now he was a monarch looking down upon the world.
“So, what game do you want to play?”
Julian asked indifferently, looking at the woman before him.
“Mr. Barnet, what do you think of me?”
Mona stood before him, tall and graceful.
As for her looks, she was not stunning, but she was not unattractive. To Julian, apart from Aurora, all other women looked the same.
“Just so, Miss Chase. If you’re expecting compliments, I must tell you I’m rather busy and don’t have much time for idle chatter,” Julian replied flatly.
“Is that so? But I find myself suddenly quite taken with you, Mr. Barnet. Since it’s just the two of us now, why don’t we do something both men and women enjoy?”
Mona said with a smile as she began to undress.
Julian did not stop her, letting her strip herself bare. Seeing his calm demeanor, Mona felt somewhat uneasy.
Shouldn’t he show some reaction, even if just a little? Men usually show some emotion when watching TV, but there he sat, expressionless, which Mona found rather odd.
“Mr. Barnet, I’m curious to see if you’re really as indifferent as you seem…”
she said, moving closer to Julian.
If Julian had been unsure of her intentions before, now he knew exactly what she was about.
Seeing the woman squatting before him possibly trying to undo his belt, he tightly grasped Mona’s chin, “Playing games with me?”
Mona smiled seductively at him, “Julian, we’re both adults here. I know my place; I don’t expect any status by your side. A little fun and then we part, no harm done, right?”
Julian’s grip tightened, turning her chin red, “Don’t address me so familiarly; you’re not worthy.”
“Fine, then what should I call you?”
Mona thought he was acquiescing. All men are the same, she reasoned, whether they’re high-powered CEOs or common workers; in their minds, they’re all thinking about the same thing.
They might act faithful to their girlfriends outwardly, but how many can resist a temptation presented to them?
Though he had pretended not to touch her throughout their journey, once the door was closed and the clothes came off, his true nature would surely reveal itself.
“Mona, Aurora considers you a friend, and this is how you treat her?”
Julian’s eyes were cold and emotionless, devoid of any desire for her.
“I told you, I’m just looking to have some fun. I never planned to compete with her for anything. We’ll part ways at dawn.”
“Fun? Ha, you?”
Julian’s gaze turned scornful. If he had been indifferent before, now he was openly mocking.
Mona clenched her fists, meeting his disdainful eyes. His look was as if he were viewing something beneath him.
“Am I not good enough?”
she continued to smile, “Mr. Barnet, let me tell you a secret.”
“Speak,” Julian said coldly.
“Actually… this is my first time, and men love virgins, don’t they? I’m not asking you to take responsibility, and being a virgin, you’re getting a great deal,” Mona negotiated as if discussing business, listing the benefits.
However, Julian simply released her chin, which now bore a red mark, stood up, and walked over to where Mona had placed her phone.
Mona’s face changed color.
“What are you doing?”
“What should I be asking you? What do you intend to do? Record this, play games with me?”
Julian saw the clear recording on the phone, which had been running for ten minutes, indicating she had started it back at the hotel.
“I just wanted to add a little excitement,” Mona’s face looked unnatural.
“Yeah, excitement! If I’m not mistaken, from the moment Aurora left, you had this planned. You intended to get me drunk and then have me take you back here. Initially, I didn’t know what you were up to. You don’t seem like a bad person, and since Aurora considers you a good friend, perhaps her judgment wasn’t reliable three years ago, but now she’s quite astute. So I didn’t think badly of you, I wanted to know your plan, until the moment you started undressing, then I figured it out.”
“You wanted to seduce me, have something happen between us, and then send the recording to Aurora? She was betrayed three years ago, and such matters are of utmost concern to her. If it happened again, with her own best friend and her boyfriend, she couldn’t handle it. What would she do? Would she flee back to America to heal, or return to Asher’s arms?”
Julian paced slowly around her. Mona hadn’t expected him to deduce so much.
“Mr. Barnet, you must watch too many TV dramas to think like this. I’m not as scheming as you. Aurora is my friend; I wouldn’t harm her.”
“Yes, you wouldn’t harm her. You have feelings for Asher, right?”
“That’s nonsense!”
Mona’s reaction suddenly became vehement.
“Would you be this upset if you didn’t like him? If you didn’t like him, you wouldn’t have been so hostile towards me from the start. I was thinking, you clearly despise me, so why would you want to sleep with me? And to remain a virgin at that. There’s only one motive: you like, no, you love Asher! You know that Aurora being with me would hurt him, so you sought to help him in this manner. You probably volunteered to come to Clothville, not to help Aurora manage her company, but to get her back with Asher.”
“This seduction scheme is well played; once this incident comes to light, Aurora would leave without even listening to an explanation. But Mona, as their friend, you would rather sacrifice yourself to bring them together, but do you realize how your foolish actions could destroy Aurora? She had just begun to regain confidence in life, had just started to let go of her reservations, had just opened her heart, and you’re going to push her back into a living death?”
Julian exploded in anger, violently smashing the phone to the ground.