"Patrick! You bastard! You promised me!" Gloria's eyes turned red.
The pain in Patrick's eyes almost froze. He focused on doing what he was doing.
Suddenly, Gloria's eyes widened in fear. Her body was shivering all over.
She felt a sudden chill down her back since her pajamas were lifted.
She screamed with all her strength, and her voice was harsh and unpleasant, "Patrick! I hate you!"
Patrick's eyes were full of pain.
He lowered his head abruptly and kissed her passionately on the scar on the back of her waist. He would rather dig out his heart to fill the missing flesh on the scar.
Gloria struggled even harder, but the more she struggled, the more passionately Patrick kissed her.
"Patrick! I hate you! Can't you hear me?" She twisted her waist frantically, trying to avoid his endless kiss.
Patrick remained silent. What he wanted was not just her body.
He wanted her to respond to him.
He admitted that he was always cruel to her.
Yet there was no other way for him to prove that he was in her heart.
He forced her to face him, face their past, and face their love.
Gloria gasped for breath, while the bitterness in her eyes was heart-wrenching. She murmured, as if she had given up, "Patrick, I can take off all my clothes and lie down, and you can do whatever you want. Please, I'm begging you. Stop touching there."
Patrick paused, and his body tensed up. "What the heck are you talking about?"
Tears welled up in Gloria's eyes. "You want to torture me. Fine. You may have your way."
"No!" Patrick's voice was hoarse. He looked at her and said, "That's not what I want."
He hugged her tightly from behind and thought, 'How could she say such cheap words?
It's my fault. I forced her again!'
He looked down at Gloria with eyes full of regret. He thought, 'I'm wrong. I won't force her in such a way again.'
His kiss landed on her hair-covered shoulders, and he wanted to give her everything he had.
At this precise moment, the truly humble person between them was not Gloria, but the seemingly tough Patrick.
"Don't say such things again, OK?" Patrick tried to play tough to conceal his humbleness.
"Go away! I don't want to see you right now!" She swung wildly, picked up whatever was next to her, and threw all the things at him.
"Gloria, calm down!" Patrick said in a panic.
"Are you leaving or not?" She glared at him with red eyes. "Fine! You're not leaving, are you? I will!"
"Gloria, stop it." Patrick stopped her.
"Patrick, I don't want anything anymore! Including the Carter Group!" she roared.
Patrick, who was opposite her, felt utterly uneasy. "Gloria!"
"And you... I gave up on you a long time ago." Gloria lowered her eyes.
Patrick's heart shattered at her words.
"Gloria, be rational." He reached out to hug her.
She threw an alarm clock at him.
"Go away! Don't touch me! I will move out now." Gloria was throwing things madly, and Patrick panicked when he saw the fruit knife on the nightstand.
"I will go now. Gloria, calm down. We will talk tomorrow." He was so worried that she might hurt herself.
In the end, Patrick left in a sorry state.
There was only Gloria and the mess left in the room.
Gloria slid down the wall and slumped to the floor.
She thought, 'Why did he have to touch me there?
Did he have to remind me over and over again how miserable I had been?'
"I just want to forget," she whispered. "I know I can't. Can't I pretend that I have forgotten?"
Patrick didn't want to ask for help, but he was already flustered.
He sat by Gloria's bed. He waited until she fell asleep and came in, and there was helplessness in his eyes.
He had no choice but to mind link Sean. It was already late. Sean picked up drowsily and listened carefully to Patrick's words.
"People from the Hammond family are all mean," Sean suddenly said. "You never know how to love someone. You push her into a corner, and then you reach out to save her. This is how you and your family love someone. You are like this, and so does Ellison.
"Have you ever thought that the person you love in this way might not be happy?" Sean's words were like a sword that pierced Patrick's heart.
"What should I do?" Patrick lowered his head and whispered, showing his weakness.
After Sean confirmed that he had heard Patrick correctly, he said, "Love her as those ordinary men do."
"How?" Patrick didn't understand.
"If you don't know the answer, then go online and search for yourself." Sean thought, 'Seriously? I'm single, and I haven't found my mate yet. Who am I to teach you? Forget it. I don't know the answer either.'
After telling Sean what had been troubling him, Patrick felt sleepy. He said, "Sean, that's enough for today. Good night."
Then he cut off the call.
Sean lowered his eyes and thought, 'If having a mate is so torturing, I might as well never find my mate.'
Patrick wiped the sweat off Gloria's body with a warm towel. Finally, he removed her slippers and carefully wiped her feet.
Then he cupped her cold feet in his palms and warmed them carefully.
He looked at Gloria, feeling bad.
"Gloria, I'm so, so sorry." The regret in his eyes was more than obvious.
He dared not sleep next to her, so he dragged his heavy body back to his bedroom.
The next day at the dinner table, Gloria put down her cutlery and said to Patrick, "I want to move out."
"OK." She was worried that Patrick would refuse. After all, he was so overbearing. But, to her surprise, he agreed.
Gloria looked at Patrick suspiciously.
"How about the apartment in Moonlight Garden?" Patrick had a habit of drinking black coffee in the morning. After drinking the coffee, he said to her, "You can move out, but I have to make sure you are safe. The apartment in Moonlight Garden is close to your office and is safe."
Gloria was about to refuse, yet Patrick had already put down the coffee in his hand. "Gloria, you have to know something. Personally, I don't want you to move out."
Allowing her to move out was already the biggest compromise he could make.
Sean told him to learn to love her, since he didn't know how.
So, he would try his best to learn to love her.
"OK. Moonlight Garden it is," Gloria said numbly.
The moment she opened her mouth to ask to move out, she had already prepared for a long battle with the domineering Patrick.
She was wondering if she was dreaming now, since things went so well.
Yet Gloria soon ran out of time to think about it.
The Carter Group had many troublesome issues, and she had to transfer Mandy over. She did not trust anyone else. Instead, she had to have her own people in the group.
She thought about the things that had happened these days and then Patrick. He had been acting weird recently. She still couldn't believe that he let her move out.
However, he would still come to her office on time at noon and take her out for lunch. As long as she showed any signs of unwillingness, he would immediately act tough, which was precisely the man he always was.
She wondered, 'Doesn't he have anything else to do?'
Other than that, other signs also showed how strange he had been.
For example, he would drag her to the cinema from time to time. Thinking about the last time, Gloria pulled a long face. He took her out in the middle of the night, put a thick coat on her, and led her to the cinema to watch a horror movie!
Also, he took her shopping! How could she not find him weird?
Gloria couldn't describe how she felt, only that she was afraid.
She could tell that he was trying his best to be nice to her.
However, she was terrified.
From past experiences, this would only cost her a lot more, which would be too much for her.
She didn't know what he was up to.
Sitting in Mandy's car, Gloria thought about all of this and chuckled.
Mandy asked, "Miss Carter, what are you laughing at?"
"Isn't it funny? My life is someone else's game." Gloria looked out the window.