Luna Axton was genuinely afraid Blaze Fairchild would lean in for a kiss. It was too easy to get lost in his kisses. She had just experienced it last night and was utterly defenseless.
She defensively pulled the blanket up, covering most of her face and leaving only her two bright, watery eyes showing. She asked Blaze Fairchild uncertainly, "Really?"
"Targeting him would have massive repercussions, especially since his surna is Leng. Unless soone is a complete idiot, they wouldn’t try anything during this critical phase of economic cooperation and developnt between our countries. Even if they did, they wouldn’t succeed."
"Why?" Luna Axton didn’t understand.
"For one, this is a matter of my uncle’s personal feelings. For another, he’s so exceptional that people will actively overlook the things you and your mother are worried about."
Luna Axton seed to be getting it. "You an that in the face of major issues and the bigger picture, these things are trivial."
"That’s right. Love and romance are just part of human nature."
Luna Axton understood. It was like dical triage—so things were simply more critical than others.
’Blaze has been talking with for so long. He shouldn’t be late for his appointnt.’
She gave his shoulder a gentle push and urged, "You should get going. I have no idea what Mr. Kingston wants, but you shouldn’t keep him waiting."
Blaze Fairchild smiled, knowing she was getting shy.
"Get so sleep. Your school week is exhausting. Take the weekend to get a good nap. I might even be back by the ti you wake up."
With that, he adjusted the blanket for her again before getting up to leave.
Luna Axton watched him stride away and disappear through the doorway, her heart soaring.
’I have such a patient and reassuring husband, and now... I have a father.’
’Dad. Such a strange yet familiar word.’
’I wonder when they’ll co back to Valoria? Maybe for the May Day holiday?’
Filled with the wonderful anticipation of seeing her parents, Luna Axton’s eyes grew heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.
Blaze Fairchild drove to Nightscape, a bar on West Riverbend Street.
"Young Master Fairchild." Soone who had clearly been waiting for a while at the entrance saw him get out of the car and imdiately ca over to greet him.
Blaze Fairchild handed him the car keys and frowned. "What’s with your boss?"
"I don’t know." ’He just ran the bar; who was he to pry into his boss’s private life?’
Blaze Fairchild cut through a side corridor on the first floor, went straight to the second, and pushed open the door to a private room. The potent stench of alcohol hit him imdiately.
The main lights were off. Only the glow from interwoven strips of sky-blue and pale pink light illuminated the room.
’Binge-drinking in broad daylight. This lovesickness of his was running deep.’
Blaze Fairchild entered the room, closing the door behind him.
He walked straight to the window and yanked the curtains open with one pull. Afternoon sunlight flooded the room, and the intense glare made the man on the sofa shield his eyes and swear.
"Close them, you little bastard!"
Blaze Fairchild raised an eyebrow. "In that case, I’m leaving."
’He wasn’t about to stick around and babysit a drunk.’
Wyatt Kingston shielded his eyes with his hand, peeking through a narrow slit between his fingers.
After confirming it was the man he had begged to co over, his tone softened considerably. "Well, you’re here now. Have a drink!"
’Look at him, standing there backlit by the floor-to-ceiling window. Slender build, small head, broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs... Even as a man, he had to admire Ian’s perfect, model-like proportions.’
’Joy must’ve seen a guy as handso and successful as Blaze Fairchild, and that’s why she looks down on .’
The re thought of Joy made his heart ache all over again.
’Her indifferent gaze had truly wounded him.’
’She’d clearly seen him, but she acted as if she hadn’t, laughing and chatting with soone as she walked into a private room.’
"Ian, why doesn’t Joy like ?"
Blaze Fairchild’s dark eyes narrowed slightly, as if he were genuinely deep in thought, trying to find a reason to comfort him.
After a mont, he said flatly, "If liking soone was a matter of logic and reason, there’d be no such thing as ’feelings’."
"Huh?"
A little dizzy from the alcohol, Wyatt Kingston couldn’t make sense of the words.
His brain was complete mush right now; no matter how he tried to stir it, he couldn’t form a single, coherent thought.
And yet, he felt the sentence had a profound depth. He swayed on his feet as he shoved his phone into Blaze Fairchild’s hands. "Here, put... put it in my notes for ."
’He’d study it, really dig into it, once he sobered up.’
The words had co from a place of genuine feeling for Blaze Fairchild, too, so he typed them out word for word.
"What’s Joy been up to lately?" Wyatt Kingston pushed himself up just as he was about to slide onto the floor, slumping back against the sofa with one foot planted on the ground.
"Don’t know." ’Why would I care about another woman’s life?’
"You’re her boss, and you’re married to her best friend. You’re telling you haven’t heard anything?"
"Nope." Blaze Fairchild’s reply was curt.
Wyatt Kingston waved a hand, expressing his intense dissatisfaction with the answer. "Are we brothers or not?"
"We’re not."
"You... you’re too much!"
Blaze Fairchild decided this conversation was pointless. ’The best way to handle a drunk is to just make him shut up.’
"Do you want to take you to the hospital to sober you up, or take you ho to sleep it off?"
"I want to go to your place. I need to see your wife and get her to help ."
"Fine." ’Better to trick him into going ho first,’ Blaze thought. ’If he stays here, he could drink himself to death, and no one would even know.’
The mont he heard Ian agree to take him to see his wife, Wyatt Kingston got so excited that it sobered him up a good deal. He imdiately started fussing over his appearance.
"Should I change? My clothes are all wrinkled. And my stubble... I’ve got stubble."
"You look fine, just fine." Blaze Fairchild slung an arm around Wyatt’s waist to keep him from sliding onto the floor, pulled Wyatt’s arm over his own shoulders, and hauled the man to the car.
The spring wind still carried a hint of a chill.
Wind rushed into the car. Wyatt Kingston watched the street twist and warp before his eyes like a wavy line, but the scenery was still intensely familiar.
"This isn’t the way to your house. I want to get out."
Blaze Fairchild glanced at the locked car doors, showing no intention of slowing down or stopping.
"I’m jumping out of the car! Through the window," Wyatt Kingston threatened loudly.
Blaze Fairchild shot him a look in the rearview mirror. ’Wyatt has been a coward who’s terrified of pain since he was a kid. He wouldn’t have the guts to jump.’
"I’m serious!" he yelled, his voice rising as he bluffed.
"If you jump, you’ll never be worthy of a single glance from Attorney Coleman."
Now that Blaze Fairchild had brought Joy Coleman into it, Wyatt Kingston actually listened.
For the rest of the drive, he sat in the back seat looking utterly soul-crushed, not saying a word as he stared blankly out the window.
When they arrived at the Kingston residence, Mrs. Kingston took one look at her son’s disheveled, alcohol-reeking state and fud.
If Blaze Fairchild hadn’t been there, Wyatt Kingston would have undoubtedly been in for a sound thrashing.
"Thank you for all the trouble, Blaze. I’m just making so flower pastries. Please, have so tea and a snack." Mrs. Kingston was very fond of Blaze.
The children didn’t visit each other’s hos much as adults, but Blaze was the most exceptional of the younger generation. He had even recently announced his marriage, one less thing for Old Master Fairchild to worry about. As a child who grew up without his parents to look after him, Blaze had always held a special place in the hearts of the elders who watched him grow, and they naturally doted on him a bit more.
"Of course, Auntie. I’ll be right down after I get Wyatt upstairs." Blaze helped Wyatt Kingston into the ho’s elevator and up to his room on the third floor.
He tossed the man onto the bed. Before leaving, he couldn’t stand to watch his friend suffer like this, so he shared a few of his thoughts.
"Whether it’s Luna Axton or Attorney Coleman, it wasn’t easy for them to leave Kensing, co to Valoria for school, and build a life here. If you really like her, you should love her in a way she can accept, not just keep trying to force a response out of her. Liking soone isn’t an investnt that guarantees a return."
’Love her in a way she can accept? That just ans stay away from Attorney Coleman!’
Wyatt Kingston was about to call it total bullshit, but he bit his tongue and stopped himself.
’Ian’s wife doesn’t seem to hate him at all. In fact, she seems to listen to everything he says. She even left passion marks on his neck while she’s pregnant.’
Wyatt Kingston’s suspicious gaze was so obvious that Blaze Fairchild tugged at the collar of his jacket, covering the mark on his collarbone.
The mory of last night’s passion flashed through his mind, and his gaze flickered away unnaturally.
And then, in his ninety-percent-sober state, Wyatt Kingston had a sudden epiphany. ’Ian has hands-on experience. I should listen to him.’
’First, I need to figure out what Joy likes. Then, I’ll pursue her in a way she can accept.’
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