Love the Second Time Around Novel

Nicholas had also ended his call and returned to the living room. “Well? What did your dear Jake say to you?” |

smirked.

“What else but the sold things?” Nicholas said with a sigh. “Jake’s becoming such a nag, and that’s why |

didn’t tell him that | was sick. If | did, it'd only send him into a complete state of panic.”

“Haha, that’s because Jake cares about you! All right, enough of that. Have your cake first, and I'll give you your

medicine in a while.”

“Okay.”

Before long, Nicholas and | had once again settled into a comfortable conversation as we ate our cake.

“Nicholas, do Jake and Ms. Williams not know about your birthday tradition? There's no way they wouldn't

celebrate it with you if they knew about it.”

“They don’t know. Everybody knows my birthday, but only my family celebrates it early with me.”

I nodded understandingly. After all, shabits were personal and need not be disclosed to everyone.

“What about your parents? Since Mrs. Scott lives alone, does that mean your parents live somewhere else?”

| uttered the question out of genuine curiosity, but unfortunately, it didn’t sit right with Nicholas.

My heart skipped a beat when | saw how much his gaze had darkened. | knew then that | had said something

wrong.

“I'm so, so sorry! | shouldn't have asked that. Just pretend you haven't heard anything!”

Argh,and my big mouth! Why did | have to bring up his parents? | must have upset him real bad.

Pin drop silence befell the room as Nicholas sat with his lips tightly pursed.

Since we had finished the cake and it was also getting late, | decided it'd be better to make a quick exit.

Moreover, | had lied to Dominic that | was out shopping, so I still had to pick up sgroceries to cover my

tracks.

“Nicholas, | still have something on, so I'll be taking my leave now. Remember to have your medicine later.”

“I'll give you a lift,” he finally replied.

“No, that's too troublesome. | can easily hail a cab. Besides, have you forgotten that you aren't feeling well?”

Even if he weren't sick, | still wouldn't want to trouble him to sendhome.

“Fine, if you don’t wantto send you home, you can stay here tonight. I'll get Jake to drive you back in the

morning.”

He hascornered! No matter what, there’s just no way | could stay here overnight!

Left with no other choice, | eventually agreed to let Nicholas senddown the hill.

Nicholas was silent throughout the journey, which madeeven more sure that | had upset him with the

question about his parents.

It was clear that he didn’t have fond memories of them.

We soon arrived at the supermarket in the city center. | gingerly stepped out of the car. “Nicholas, | didn’t mean

to bring up your... I'm sorry. Nevertheless, it's your birthday today, so I hope you'll cheer up a bit more.”

Nicholas held my gaze and broke into a smile. “Okay. And again, thank you so much for today.”

| heaved a sigh of relief as | watched his car drive off into the night. After everything that had happened, I'd have

to watch my mouth even more from now on.

After getting my groceries from the supermarket, | made my way home.

That night, | had just cout of the shower when Shannon finally called. It was a weight off my mind after

hearing that she was fine and that she didn’t blme at all for the highly unorthodox solution.

She was, however, incensed at what Quinn had done and proceeded to telleverything from the night before.

According to Shannon, she had asked a few fellow editors out for dinner when she ran into Quinn with another

woman.

With her suspicions about him confirmed, Shannon was understandably furious, so she confronted Quinn.

Perhaps knowing his gwas up, Quinn's attitude changed for the worse as he started cursing and swearing at

Shannon.

After that, Shannon was forcibly taken away by him. It then took her a great deal of effort before she could even

text me.

The more Shannon recounted her experience to me, the angrier she became, and | had to try my best to calm

her down. Thankfully, Shannon was no innocent or naive little girl, while Dominic and | arrived in the nick of time

before Quinn could do anything else to her.

“I'm happy that Quinn is finally out of the picture. But now, | worry about you and Benjamin,” | muttered.

“Don’t worry, he and | have cto an understanding. We'll take it as a consensual one-night stand and never

speak of it again in the future.”

Once again, | felt a wave of guilt crash overas | listened to her. After all, none of these would've happened if

it weren't for Dominic and me.

“Shannon, are you sure you're okay? | never wanted any of this to happen, but Dominic said there were no other

solutions. Will you blme for it?”

Shannon laughed before replying, “It's okay. It’s not like I'm a virgin. In fact, I'm grateful that you got Benjamin

for me. He's not bad. Ill just treat last night as a night of indulgence.”

Even though Shannon always seemed so liberal and carefree, | knew that, deep down, she wasn’t a promiscuous

person.

She might have had several boyfriends in and out of her life, but she knew better than to cross any boundaries. |

really hope she could cto terms with what happened the night before.

| was too exhausted to do any work after my conversation with Shannon, so | got into bed instead.

The next day, | stayed hto work on my sketches, but even as night caround, Dominic was nowhere to

be seen.

He never chin the next three days, either, much to my chagrin.

However, it didn’t take long forto get over Dominic because my father called to informthat Grandpa had

been hospitalized.