Trapped Belle(10)

20

It was a long drive to the hotel.

The two of them sat in the car silently. It was so quiet that an embarrassing atmosphere surrounded them.

While Belle was playing with his phone, she felt a weight on her shoulder.

Startled, she turned to only find that he had rested his head on her shoulder with his eyes shut.

She was a bit annoyed and awkward.

"Get off me," Belle said, pushing his head away.

But in the next second, he leaned on her shoulder again.

She wanted to get him off her again, but he groaned in pain and frowned.

"I feel a little uncomfortable," he said in a hoarse voice. He made it sound like he didn't feel well.

Since he didn't look well, she thought it would be too mean of her to push him away. But she really couldn't standing coming into contact with others.

"Hang on. We're almost there," she said as she still got him off her.

He didn't open his eyes and just leaned against the back seat. She didn't know if he was asleep or not.

After a while, he asked her with his eyes still shut, " Are you getting on well with him?"

Belle became alert when she heard his words.

"Who are you referring to?!" she asked

"You know who I'm talking about..." he murmured.

She was confused by his words. After thinking about it, she found that there were only a handful of people who knew them both.

"Are you talking about Brandan? I work with him. Of course, we get along," she said.

"I see..." he whispered thoughtfully.

Noticing that he really got intoxicated, she came up with an idea. She planned to strike while the iron was hot.

"As far as I observe, you and he..." And there she stopped thinking how to bring it up. "You and he are getting on well. Have you often hung out together recently?"

He fell silent. Without getting his response, she thought that he had drifted off to sleep.

The next second, his head rested on her shoulder again.

"Miss, your friend looks very uncomfortable to me. Just let him be. He has drunk so much. You should feel lucky that you don't need to get him to a hospital," the driver said as she was about to push him away again.

She withdrew her hand from his head embarrassedly.

Bell tried to keep her head as far away from him as possible.

"What if we're getting along well? What if we're not getting on well?" Louis whispered in her ear.

His familiar breath blew past her ear, which reminded her of every moment when they made out.

She was bearing such a grudge against him, but her body said otherwise.

She hated him, and she hated herself too.

"He has a girlfriend. "Even in this situation she still didn't forget to warn Louis not to hit on Brandan or cross the line.

However, it was inappropriate to voice out her real thoughts.

After all, she didn't know what he was up to.

He fell into silence. After a long time, he murmured, "I'm not interested in his girlfriend."

Upon hearing this, Belle snorted speechlessly.

She didn't know if it was because he made her angry or she was mad at herself for having such a wild guess.

It seemed that he didn't have any feeling for Brandan.

She gave a sigh of relief.

However, what he said next hit her like a thunderbolt.

"Now that I'm a friend of his, can I call you Belle like he does?"

When he mention her name, her memories six years ago flooded her.

Caught off guard, she felt goosebumps all over her body.

"You can call me Ms. Murphy," she said.

"I got it." He rubbed his head against her shoulder to feel more comfortable. "Belle, why can't I call you Belle?"

He was driving Belle crazy.

"There's no reason," she said, rolling her eyes.

He went silent again.

It was like he had started to take a nap.

However, just as she breathed a sigh of relief, he opened his mouth again.

"Why can't I call your first name, Belle?" he started to murmur as if he was sleep-talking. He repeated it over and over again.

Seeing this, Belle broke in a cold sweat.

Even the driver began to complain that he was too noisy.

Belle said he behaved well after getting drunk. But now she wanted to take that back.

"Who would have thought that he would be such a pain in the ass after he got befuddled?

"Give me a break!" she thought.

"Fine, you can call me whatever you want," she had to agree. If she let him be, she was worried that the driver might throw them out halfway. "Shut up."

"Okay," he said obediently as he buried his head in her shoulder.

Just let it go. Anyway, he was drunk. Perhaps he would forget all when he woke up next morning.

Thank goodness he finally got quiet.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Belle..."

Here it went again.

She wished she could knock him out.

"Spill it..." she said after she took a deep breath.

"Belle, don't..." he said. "My uncle is not a good person."

"Sick!" Belle thought.

She didn't understand why he suddenly brought Charles up.

She just thought that it was beer talking.

"Talk to me when you sober up." Belle didn't want to waste more time talking to him.

"He is really not a good guy," he continued.

Belle felt like he wouldn't stop repeat this until they got out.

He was such a pain in the ass.

"You're right. Can you sleep now?" she yielded.

"Okay," he said meekly.

Belle really thought that his behaviors after getting drunk did harm to his image.

Then, as expected, he became quiet.

After alighting from the taxi, Belle asked a hotel staff to get him to his room and went to her room.

She was beat.

She washed up quickly and fell into a sound sleep.

Louis sprawled on the bed with his eyes closed, recalling everything that had happened in the taxi.

Her body scene, her body heat and her breath was familiar yet strange to him.

If possible, he wanted to be with her on that taxi for the rest of his life.

"Belle, this is on you. Now that you hid, why did you let me find you?" he whispered.

21

Louis and Brandan achieved great popularity after this.

Relying on the intriguing behind-the-scenes shot by the crew, the show became a hit domestically and the nature of their relationship became a hotly-discussed topic among viewers.

On the trending list every day, six or seven of the top ten hot topics were about this couple.

After receiving many variety shows' invitations, as well as many scripts' invitations, Belle sighed at how unpredictable fate was, but she was also a bit worried about the boy who chuckled childishly while holding his phone all day.

She didn't know if Louis had expressed his sexual orientation to Brandan, but seeing that Brandon was in a good mood every time he was filming, she was even more uneasy.

Louis played a minor role in the show and relied solely on his appearance to attract attention. Furthermore, his popularity far surpassed Brandan's.

Everyone in the industry was envious of the fact that they became a hit overnight.

Belle had been busy dealing with Brandan's contracts recently, barely going to the set.

It wasn't until she saw Louis at the gathering held by the Reed family that she realized she had not seen him for a long time.

Today, Charles came to pick her up to attend Lawrence's party, formally introducing her to the Reed family and the business partners.

Belle didn't intend to come at first. She had been swamped with work.

But Charles insisted because they had already agreed to get married in the future, and there would be many such occasions in the future.

So he asked Belle to cooperate with him.

"Dad, this is my girlfriend, Belle Murphy." Charles brought her over to Lawrence, introducing her to everyone.

"Well, you aren't young anymore. It is time to get married and start your own business." Lawrence took a glance at Belle indifferently.

Then Lawrence glanced at Charles, indicating that he should stop messing around, get ready to marry and work harder on his business.

Belle stood at his side with a bit of embarrassment, with a fake smile hanging on her face.

Just at that moment, she noticed Louis.

As soon as Louis showed up, he caused an uproar in the crowd.

He was dressed formally today, in a white shirt and a black suit, like an elite.

Belle was quite stunned by his appearance.

Louis' hair had grown a little longer, combed back, but he did not look too mature at all. Instead, he seemed very young and energetic.

Belle remembered the last time she saw him. On the night he was drunk, he leaned on her shoulder and called her name childishly.

Now Louis appeared so different from the drunkard that day.

Bella was lost in thought.

"Why did it take you so long to come?" Charles' voice interrupted her thoughts.

Belle raised her head and saw Louis already in front of her. When she looked at him, Louis didn't look back at her.

It was fortunate for Belle, or she might have been embarrassed.

"I've just finished filming. I'll go and greet grandpa first." Louis exchanged a few words with Charles and then walked straight toward Lawrence with a glass of wine in his hand.

Meanwhile, during the whole process, it was as if Louis didn't notice Belle's existence at all, not giving her a look.

"My nephew is becoming more and more devilishly attractive." Charles sighed. He took a sip of wine, glanced at Louis' back, and then turned around to look at Belle.

"Right." Belle picked up the red wine and took a sip, trying to avoid his eyes.

"Do you like him?" Charles' words almost choked Belle.

Belle calmly took out a tissue to cover her mouth and coughed a few times.

"Now my nephew is very popular. The girls on Twitter are crazy about him." While patting her on the back, Charles stared at her reaction and said, "Why are you so nervous?"

Belle's acute tension was finally relieved.

It turned out that Charles meant that. Belle had thought that he knew something and had been so thrilled.

She took a deep breath and said, "As you said, the girls online are all crazy about him. Why put myself through so much trouble?"

"Really?"

Charles chuckled and took another big sip of wine. Then, he stared at her deeply and said, "That will be good for you."

His tone sounded more like a warning, despite its joking manner.

"Mr. Reed really likes to joke around, making it seem like I'm a woman with several lovers." Belle paused for a moment, and then said, "Don't worry, since I agreed to marry you, there won't be any rumors about me going around. However, Mr. Reed, don't forget about my family's shares you promised me before."

Hearing that, Charles chuckled again.

He laughed at her shrewdness and honesty.

Charles suddenly lowered his head, leaned close to her ear, and whispered with a smile, "After we get engaged, I'll take back the shares for you. But Ms. Murphy, are you ready to be Mrs. Reed?"

Belle widened her eyes in shock!

This posture between the two of them was embarrassing!

It looked too intimate.

Belle's body was full of resistance, but she smiled because many people were looking at them enviously, and reporters were taking photos of them.

She couldn't push him away at this moment.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?" Lawrence saw that his grandson's smiling face suddenly darkened and thought something had happened.

Louis held his wine glass and lowered his head in silence.

After a few seconds, he raised his head and forced a smile. "Grandpa, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired."

As he spoke, he raised the wine glass, downing it in one gulp. The moment he raised his head to drink, he still couldn't help but glance in Belle's direction from the corner of his eyes.

Seeing the intimacy between Belle and Charles, Louis had to admit that he had overestimated himself and underestimated the influence Belle had on him.

At this moment, every cell in his body was shouting and was about to lose control.

"You've done a good job under your uncle's leadership. The stock price of your film company has multiplied several times. Well done. Keep on that!" Lawrence's opinion of Louis had improved.

Lawrence hadn't expected that the company, which was about to collapse, would come back to life after Louis joined, and it could be said that Louis' fame earned most of the credit.

Moreover, considering Louis was only 24 years old, it was an awe-inspiring move.

"Okay." Louis retracted his gaze and nodded obediently.

"Then you can continue to work with your uncle, but don't learn to misbehave like him," Lawrence said meaningfully.

"Got it, grandpa." From beginning to end, Louis stood meekly by Lawrence's side, letting Lawrence introduce him to the elites of all the business field.

After meeting all kinds of people at the banquet for an hour, Louis turned around again, but he didn't see Belle's figure.

Even Charles had disappeared.

Although Louis was still smiling, he began to feel impatient.

"Where did she go? Louis drank another glass of wine. While people were talking, he quickly looked around for Belle's figure at the banquet.

He made an excuse to go to the bathroom, but then he heard that Charles had taken Belle away.

His heart was emptied and hanging in the air.

Louis took a cigarette, stood in the corner, and smoked. When he smoked the third cigarette, he suddenly put it out, pulled his tie, and took a taxi to her apartment.

Louis waited downstairs, leaned against the trunk, and smoked, staring blankly at the lights in her room.

His surging emotions gradually quieted, and he was almost sober from the alcohol.

Seeing that the light in her room went out, Louis stubbed out the cigarette in his hand and slowly said, "Belle, you sleep so late as in the past..."

After saying that, Louis seemed to have thought of something, and a malicious smile appeared. "It seems that you're not tired enough."

Then, he put his hands in his pockets and slowly walked away.