Ethan took a drag of his cigarette, then suddenly lifted Clara’s chin and kissed her, transferring the smoke into her mouth.
Clara had never smoked before and felt a strange, slightly spicy taste hit her throat.
“Cough…”
She felt uncomfortable and placed her hand on Ethan’s chest, trying to push him away. But Ethan deepened the kiss, and finally…
—
Ethan and Clara arrived around eleven in the morning. It wasn’t until dinner time that they went to check out.
As usual, Ethan handled the checkout while Clara stood far away with a flushed face and lowered head.
During checkout, the front desk would call housekeeping to clean the room and check what items were used or damaged.
They used a walkie-talkie.
Clara stood far away and couldn’t hear clearly.
But she vaguely heard that they had used two boxes of condoms.
Clara lowered her head even more.
She didn’t dare look at anyone, wishing she could find a hole to hide in.
“Get me a VIP card,” Ethan suddenly said to the front desk clerk.
Clara heard this and looked at Ethan in surprise.
He… wanted a VIP card?
What did that mean?
Did it mean… they would come again?
“Sure,” the front desk clerk said with a smile.
Ethan added, “Load fifty thousand dollars onto the card.”
Clara was stunned.
Fifty thousand dollars?
She vaguely remembered their room cost over three thousand dollars per night… fifty thousand dollars…
That meant… they would come at least a hundred more times?
This…
“Sure,” the front desk clerk said with a smile, respectfully handing the card to Ethan. “Sir, here’s your card.”
Ethan took the card and walked over to Clara. “Let’s go eat.”
Now he remembered to eat?
At least he had some conscience, knowing she was starving.
She was already hungry, and they had done physical activities.
She wasn’t exaggerating when she said she was starving.
They took the elevator to the parking lot and drove out.
In the car, Clara looked at Ethan hesitantly. “You… loaded so much money onto the card… what if we don’t use it all? Wouldn’t it be wasted? Maybe… you should return the card.”
She didn’t want to come back again.
“How could we not use it all?” Ethan said.
How could they not use it all?
Did he plan to bring her to this hotel every day?
“Fifty thousand dollars… is far from enough,” Ethan said with a smile, giving Clara a meaningful look.
Far from enough…
What did that mean?
Fifty thousand dollars wasn’t enough?
How much more did he plan to load?
Was he planning to settle down at Cloud Hotel?
“Cloud Hotel…” Ethan muttered to himself. “The name… is fitting.”
Clara blushed and bit her lip, glaring at Ethan.
Shameless.
She turned angrily to look out the window.
Ethan took Clara to a restaurant and ordered many dishes.
They started eating.
Clara ate a little and felt full.
Even though she had been very hungry earlier, now looking at the table full of delicious food, she didn’t have much appetite and stopped after eating a little.
“Full?” Ethan asked.
Clara nodded. “Yes.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Just this much?”
Clara: “… I’m already full.”
Ethan gave Clara a meaningful look.
She felt uneasy under his gaze, as if he was about to say something inappropriate.
“Indeed…” Ethan said meaningfully.
She looked at Ethan in confusion. Indeed what?
Ethan leaned in and whispered something in Clara’s ear.
Her face turned red instantly. She looked around nervously and glared at him, whispering, “Stop talking nonsense.”
This scoundrel.
Why was he like this now?
Saying anything that came to mind.
This was a restaurant, during meal time, full of people coming and going. What if someone heard him?
It would be so embarrassing.
“I’m talking nonsense?” Ethan raised an eyebrow, looking at Clara with a meaningful gaze.
Oh no.
That uneasy feeling came back again.
“Not full?” Ethan asked.
She… seemed to know what Ethan was about to say next.
But… how should she respond?
“Full…” Clara said softly with a red face, then lowered her head, not daring to look at Ethan again.
Ethan looked at Clara and smiled silently… She was really cute.
He used to think that finding a woman much younger than himself would be troublesome, like taking care of a daughter. But now… after marrying Clara, he finally understood why many men liked having a young wife.
A young wife was small, young, inexperienced, relatively pure, and sometimes fun to tease…
At this moment, he suddenly felt grateful.
Grateful that Iris betrayed him, grateful that the Everett family had Clara marry him instead of Iris.
Otherwise, missing out on such a cute and interesting girl might have made his married life dull and joyless.
—
Back home, Clara took a quick shower and went to sleep.
Ethan didn’t bother her again.
Clara slept until the next morning. She stretched lazily… except for some soreness in her waist, she felt good… well-rested and energetic.
Clara got up, washed up, and went downstairs for breakfast.
Ethan wasn’t there.
He must have gone to work.
After breakfast, Clara went to school for her classes.
After class, Clara returned to the Everett family home.
She came today to return some documents to her father.
She specifically chose the time after school for this purpose.
She finished school early, around four o’clock, while her parents were still at work and probably not home. Her sister might not be home either. This way, she could just leave the documents in the study without encountering her parents or sister.
After what she said to her sister and mother yesterday… they probably wouldn’t be in a good mood if they saw her now.
She did it on purpose.
Her situation with Ethan was already settled, but she couldn’t stop worrying about her sister.
She didn’t want things to be like this.
Ethan had clearly moved on and wouldn’t give her sister another chance.
So she deliberately said hurtful things to make her sister realize that there was no hope with Ethan anymore.
This was… hitting rock bottom before rising again.
She hoped her sister would pull herself together in despair and start a new life without Ethan.
Her sister was young and had many good years ahead of her.
She shouldn’t waste her best years entangled with Ethan.
Moreover, it was one-sided entanglement from her sister’s side.