His Little Wild Cat(4)

10

I didn't know if I had something on my face. After getting in the car, Jones kept staring at me.

I felt a little awkward under his gaze.

In the end, he concluded, "Bertram is quite perverted, but his niece is really beautiful."

I thought he was praising me. I felt a little shy.

"Are you his niece? Why hadn't I seen you before? Or did he hide you so well?" He drove with one hand and teased me with a smile.

"Kind of," I said slightly.

"Then I will have to call the beast uncle?" He smiled and cursed.

I was a little confused, "What do you mean?"

"Don't be afraid. I’m joking with you. Are you hungry?" He looked at my growling stomach.

I was a little embarrassed.

"A little." I reached out and covered my stomach.

"Do you like seafood?" He asked.

"Yes."

He turned the steering wheel and took me to a seafood restaurant by the sea.

He was probably a regular at this restaurant. He was enthusiastically greeted by the restaurant owner as soon as he entered.

"Why did you come alone? Where is your classmate?" The restaurant owner greeted him and took him to a private room.

I was a little puzzled, but I didn't want to interrupt their conversation. So I could only stand in the place awkwardly.

"He is busy. I ask him out ten times, but he won't even show up once. So I just decided not to take him anymore." Jones smiled and complained.

At this moment, the restaurant owner finally saw me behind Jones, "Well, sorry I didn’t notice. Who is this? Your girlfriend?"

"A friend," Jones looked at me and smiled meaningfully, "Sandra, this is Mr. Brian. I often came here with your uncle when we were students."

"Is this girl Bertram's niece?" Mr. Brian looked at me in surprise.

"Yes, what a surprise."

"His niece is a lovely woman now!"

"Hello." I greeted lightly.

Mr. Brian looked at me a few more times and immediately talked to me enthusiastically.

"Some good seafood just arrived today. I will arrange for you."

"Thanks, Mr. Brian."

Later, I didn't eat much. It wasn’t because I disliked it, but because eating seafood was a bit troublesome.

I had always liked to eat shrimp. Bertram had always peeled shrimp and then handed the meat to me. Now when I tried it with my own hands, I somehow didn’t know what to do with it.

Seeing me so awkward, Jones couldn't help laughing.

"Do you need my help?" He asked with a smile.

"Can you?" I asked.

He laughed even more.

He put on a pair of disposable gloves and skillfully peeled the shrimp. He smiled brilliantly, “I can, but I’ve never done it for any girls before.”

Then he handed a piece of shrimp meat to my mouth.

I opened my mouth reflectively and ate the meat.

"After eating the shrimp I peeled, you have to be my girlfriend."

"Oh..." I was so frightened by his sudden words that I kept coughing.

"Don't be nervous." He hurriedly reached out and patted me on the back, "I won’t do anything to you. What are you afraid of?"

Later, we ate quietly. I listened to him talk about many things. He was very humorous and easygoing. I felt very relaxed during the whole process and was not embarrassed at all.

As for what he had said, we didn't mention it again. I thought he was just joking.

I learned from our conversation that he was only 4 years younger than Bertram. He was 28 years old. They had gone to the same high school. He had grown up with Bertram.

He had to call Bertram's uncle because of his low seniority.

But he had never called Bertram that. He even claimed that he would never call Bertram uncle.

11

"If Bertram scolds you, you tell me, and I will avenge you." Jones took me home. Standing at the door of the house and with a cigarette between his teeth, he looked at me and said he would protect me since.

"How will you avenge me?" I asked him with a smile, and felt that I started to get familiar with him after going out with him once, "Aren't you afraid of him?"

"I... I'm afraid of him." He took a drag on his cigarette and smiled, "but I’m good at being beaten."

What?

I was teased by him and laughed hard.

Then the door behind opened at this moment.

I saw Jones's smile freeze. When I turned around, I saw Bertram standing at the door. In the moonlight, he looked even more handsome.

Bertram?

Seeing him, my good mood was gone and I became irritable.

I suddenly thought of something. I turned back to Jones and pretended to say it naturally, "You asked me to be your girlfriend. I have to think about it."

Jones was stunned.

He looked at me, and then at Bertram. Finally, he smiled bitterly and snuffed out his cigarette, "Okay, take your time. There is no rush."

"Then, good night." After I said that, I ignored Bertram's surprised gaze, and walked straight in.

"OK, good night."

Bertram turned his face slightly. After he thought I was gone, he stared at Jones straight.

He didn't know that I just turned around, hid behind the door, and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Dude, no... Uncle, don't do it. I just thought your niece is very cute and teased her.

"Bertram, don't look at me like this. I’m scared. But we’re both single. I think chasing your niece is not illegal.

"Okay, I'm wrong. I should have told you. Isn't it too late now?"

...

"You said that you took her out for a ride," Bertram said after a long while.

"Yes."

"I agreed to let you take her for a ride, not hit on her."

"Well..."

"I think you are too idle and your company has developed too smoothly recently, right?"

"Bertram, how can you do that to me? Are you crazy? We grew up together..."

...

I didn't listen anymore.

I didn’t know why. When I heard this, I was both happy and irritable. I was happy that Bertram did not seem to like me seeing other men, so I felt a little hopeful. I was irritable that he kept rejecting me.

I had never understood him.

12

The next day, I went back to school.

As soon as I went back, Jenny came over and said to me, "No way! You’re Bertram’s niece? He’s the richest man in the city."

"Yes." I was a little annoyed. I didn't want to be his niece, but more and more people knew that I was his niece.

"Well, you are a rich girl. You hid it well enough." Jenny said with a flattering smile, "I may need your help in the future, girl."

I sighed and said after a while, "He just adopted me. I am not a rich girl."

"Adopted?" Jenny was taken aback. I had expected her reaction long ago.

When I told others before, they also responded like this.

Their reaction made me a little uncomfortable, so I never told others again.

However, now I suddenly felt that I needed to talk to someone about my pain and hesitation.

"Yes."

"Then does your uncle have any... special habit?" Jenny whispered.

I was dumbstruck.

I had never thought about this question, but I thought her guess was outrageous.

Bertram had paid great attention to the distance between us since I was a child. After I grew up, he even stayed further away from me. When Jenny asked like this, I felt that it was so unfair to Bertram.

So, I was a little annoyed and couldn't help telling the truth, "Jenny, haven't you found that I never mentioned my parents in the past two years?"

"I noticed. Why?"

I glanced at her and was silent for a while.

"We all thought that your parents may be big shots who need to be kept secret, so we didn’t dare to ask."

My thoughts were pulled back to 8 years ago. After so many years, I thought it would not hurt anymore, but how could it be possible?

"My parents are not big shots. My dad is a university professor, and my mother is a librarian." I paused, "Bertram was not my uncle at first. He was the last graduate student taught by my dad."

He was my dad's last graduate student and favorite student.

"So amazing?" She couldn't believe it, "Then why do you call him uncle?"

I still hesitated, but those memories suppressed in my heart were so overwhelming recently.

"My parents had an accident 8 years ago, and Bertram has raised me since." I smiled bitterly.

I tried to describe the incident as lightly as possible, but in the next second, I was caught in the infinite darkness.

We both fell silent.

Then Jenny reached out to hold me in her arms and comforted me silently.

But it didn’t work. I had seen too much sympathy, and their eyes always hurt me.

At this moment, I suddenly missed Bertram.

I wanted him to take my hand and tell me, "Don't be afraid, Sandra. I am there."

However, he would never take my hand again or comfort me like this.

Thinking of this, I burst into tears.

Jenny felt that I was crying and hugged me tighter.

I felt so sad.

Bertram called me at this time.

He was using a new phone number, and I was not prepared.

Every time I felt upset, he would call me. I had thought that I had a telepathic connection with him. But now I thought it might only be accidental, and only I took it seriously.

"Hey." His voice was light and magnetic. I cried even more.

I tried not to speak as much as possible, and I didn't want him to know I was crying.

"Why aren’t you talking?"

I tried to hold back my tears.

"I will go to France tomorrow for a week. Don't block this phone number." He paused, "If anything happens, send me a message. Call Mr. Barret if I don’t reply."

"OK," I said.

"... Are you crying?" His tone became low.

"No." I denied.

He fell silent, and finally sighed, "What's wrong?"

I didn’t speak. I didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he sounded so tender. It made me just want to fall.

I reminded myself not to fall into such a trap of tenderness.

I hung up the phone.

"Your uncle?" Jenny asked me curiously.

"Yeah." I pinched my phone, a little upset.

Jenny saw that I was in a bad mood and didn't ask anymore.

I sat in bed in a daze and received a text message from Bertram.

"Don't be willful. What gift do you want? I will bring it back for you."

I looked at the message and felt confused.

But when I looked at the calendar, I found it was Children's Day soon.

I was speechless.

So, he still treated me as a child now?

I turned off my phone and didn't text him back.