adbindia Chapter 251 - 249: Worries of Gain and Loss
Chapter 251 - 249: Worries of Gain and Loss
On the plane back to the capital, Mia Grant only saw Kian Keller.
She didn’t, however, see Felix Sinclair or Ian Sinclair.
She had tried to contact the two of them before boarding, but she didn’t have a phone.
’I wonder when Kian Keller arrived, and if he ran into Felix and Ian...’
She sucked in a sharp breath.
’Should I ask him?’
’But he’ll just get angry if I do.’
Sensing she had something to say, Kian Keller slowly closed his eyes. "Your classmates are in Portia."
"Huh?" Mia Grant was stunned for a second before she realized who he meant.
"Did they go over on their own?"
"Mm."
Hearing this, Mia Grant breathed a sigh of relief. ’Good, then there’s nothing to worry about.’
Her gaze swept over his face, then slid down to the beaded bracelet he was clutching in his hand.
’This bracelet is really cheap, at least for someone like Kian Keller.’
’For a man of his status, anything less than four figures is cheap.’
’But it’s obvious he takes great care of it and always keeps it on him.’
’Back when I took it to a master to be blessed, I genuinely hoped it would protect him.’
’Kian Keller has a terrible temper, and the original novel even described him as a dark and twisted person—mentally unstable, with blood on his hands, and burdened by deep sins.’
’But love comes with its own filter, I guess.’
’I still want him to be safe and sound.’
’But now...’
Her gaze fell to his leg.
Mia Grant pressed her lips together.
When she saw Kian Keller appear as if from the heavens last night, she’d truly felt like she had survived a catastrophe.
’Once the shock wore off, I was really worried about his leg.’
’I haven’t been away from the capital for that long. Logically, his leg shouldn’t have recovered enough for him to walk, let alone jump from such a height.’
’It was the same way last time.’
’Even though his leg wasn’t healed, he still insisted on coming to find me.’
Kian Keller was only resting his eyes; he wasn’t asleep. He was still waiting for Mia Grant to speak.
He waited and waited, but the person beside him remained silent.
The cabin was so noisy he couldn’t even hear her breathing.
He was about to open his eyes when a sudden touch on his leg stopped him. The whole thing felt so unreal, it was like he was dreaming.
After a long moment, he finally realized a hand was really on his leg, gently massaging it.
He looked down at the pale, almost dazzling, hand on his suit trousers.
Kian Keller frowned and, a second later, grabbed her hand and pulled it away.
Mia Grant froze, looking up at him in surprise.
’I wasn’t pressing too hard, and I was massaging the right spot, wasn’t I?’
The atmosphere grew a little awkward.
Mia Grant opened her mouth to explain, "I learned a little bit about this before, but... my technique probably isn’t as good as a professional’s. Why don’t you go rest in the back room and have the doctor give you a proper massage?"
She knew he had several doctors in his entourage.
’I think they even gave him some medication before we boarded.’
Kian Keller seemed to ignore the last part of her sentence. "You learned? Learned what? Massage?"
"Yeah." At first, Mia Grant didn’t think anything of it. But when she met his dark eyes, she quickly realized and explained, "I just read some books about it and studied acupressure charts a little."
"When?"
"..." Mia Grant had thought that would be the end of it. She didn’t expect him to press further.
"I don’t remember exactly. I was just bored one summer vacation, so I picked it up."
"Is something wrong? Was I pressing the wrong spot?"
After staring at her for a long moment, the tight line of Kian Keller’s lips finally relaxed. "No."
"Oh, then let me just..."
"Don’t."
Mia Grant’s outstretched hand froze in mid-air. ’If it wasn’t because I was doing it wrong, then his revulsion... there’s only one possibility.’
’What I said this morning actually worked.’
’So he’s thought it over and is getting ready to make a clean break and draw a line between us?’
Mia Grant pressed her lips together, averted her gaze, and said softly, "Um, when we land, I can get back to school on my own. You don’t need to have your people drive me."
The implication was clear: he didn’t need to go out of his way to drive her just to be polite.
She silently pulled her hand back.
The next instant, he suddenly grabbed it.
She looked up, stunned, and met his inscrutable gaze.
Their eyes met, but Mia Grant could never figure out what he was thinking.
The only thing she knew for sure was that his grip was incredibly tight.
It started as a grip, but after a brief moment of eye contact, it softened into an intertwined hold.
Compared to the roughness from before, this gesture was tender, almost cherished.
Kian Keller seemed to gather his thoughts for a moment before saying, "What I meant was, you don’t need to be the one doing this."
"..."
His words instantly sent Mia Grant back to the time she’d worked at a massage parlor.
When she first ran away from home, she couldn’t find a legitimate job because she was too young.
Eventually, starving and desperate, she found a massage parlor hiring in a back alley.
The proprietress was very kind and patiently taught her the trade.
But before she could officially start working, the place was raided. The police said it was a brothel operating under the guise of a massage parlor.
In a stroke of luck amid the misfortune, she had dodged a bullet.
Perhaps heaven was looking out for her.
Sparing her tragic life from yet another tragedy.
She never dared to imagine what would have happened if that place hadn’t been shut down...
Mia Grant looked down at her hands and fell silent.
"Leave the professional work to the professionals."
"It’s not that you’re doing anything wrong. It’s that I don’t need you to do these things for me."
A wave of sadness had just begun to swell within her, but Kian Keller’s words pulled her back to reality.
Mia Grant was dazed for a second, then slowly nodded once she understood what he meant.
In truth, Kian Keller had no idea what she was thinking, but he could tell she was unhappy.
He paused, then said tentatively, "When we land, I’ll take you back to school."
Mia Grant nodded again.
Seeing this, Kian Keller finally let out a breath of relief.
"Why are you suddenly upset? Did I say something wrong? You have to tell me so I can fix it."
He had taken Zelo’s advice to heart: ’When problems arise, communicate. Don’t let things fester, or it’ll blow up sooner or later.’
Mia Grant didn’t know what to say, so she just shook her head.
When he insisted, she had no choice but to say, "I thought you didn’t want me to touch you. That you thought it was weird."
"So when you said you didn’t want me to take you back, you were trying to draw a line between us?"
"...It wasn’t me trying to draw a line, I thought that’s what *you* meant." Mia Grant scratched her cheek awkwardly, her eyes darting everywhere. "I just figured, since you were making it so obvious, I should be sensible enough to know when to get lost."
Kian Keller’s brow deepened. He used his other hand to cup her jaw, forcing her to turn her head and look at him.
Mia Grant jumped, her pupils widening slightly. "Wh-what are you doing?"
"You really do overthink things more than I realized." Kian Keller was discovering just how much she let her imagination run wild.
"Have I ever done anything to make you feel this insecure?"
"All this time, when have I ever not put you first?"
Mia Grant let out a short laugh. "But you hardly ever say it."
"Say what?"
"Say that you..." Mia Grant faltered, unable to bring herself to say those three little words.
"You rarely express yourself, so sometimes I’m not sure what you’re thinking, or if I’ve made you angry again. That’s why I get so insecure."
Glancing at him cautiously, Mia Grant muttered, "You’re like a ticking time bomb."
The words had barely left her mouth when a sudden warmth pressed against her lips.