Is He Your New Boyfriend
Puzzled as to the sight that was making Shannon so worked up, I curiously looked in the direction she
was pointing.
Hmm? Isn’t that Dominic and Camille?
They were chatting while watching the group of people dancing around the bonfire. It seemed that they
hadn’t spotted Shannon and me yet.
I wasn’t in the mood to deal with Camille’s pretentiousness or fight with her, much less watch her being
all lovey-dovey with Dominic.
Thus, I reached out to pull Shannon away, but she had already rolled up her sleeves in preparation of
charging forward to brawl with them.
I swiftly grabbed her and demanded, “What are you trying to do? Are you planning to beat them up?”
“Yes, I’m planning to beat them up, alright! I’m even going to find a rod and wallop them until they beg
me for mercy!”
Torn between amusement and exasperation, I chided, “Stop messing around. Look at your petite stature.
Considering your puny strength, Dominic can crush you with just one finger.”
Shannon thumped me on the back in chagrin and huffily retorted, “Why are you disparaging yourself and
lauding others? I’m trying to stand up for you!”
“I’m just worried that you’ll be hurt,” I hastily mollified her with a smile. “Alright, let’s just ignore them and
leave. They’re no one important anyway.”
As I said that, I tugged at Shannon, eager to leave so that we could look for Royce and Quinn.
Another reason for my urgency in leaving was my worry that Dominic would see Royce when the latter
returned.
Alas, Murphy’s law always applied when it came to the very thing one dreaded.
Tugging Shannon up with me, we got to our feet. But before we could even take a step away, Camille
was already heading our way with her hand on Dominic’s arm.
As usual, she wore a mask of harmlessness with a tender smile on her face. Meanwhile, Dominic
appeared calm and unruffled.
I’ve truly got to give it to him for being so unflappable while his fiancée and… well, lover… bumped into
each other. He’s probably the only man who can maintain his composure in such a situation.
“Liliana, I just told Dom that I seemed to have caught sight of you. Unexpectedly, it’s really you! What a
coincidence that we actually met here!”
Irked, I closed my eyes for a moment. A coincidence, my foot! She’s the one who simply has to pester
me endlessly!
She put on an act every single time I met her, so I had long since grown tired of it. This time, I ignored
her altogether and spun around to leave with Shannon.
However, as soon as I turned around, I saw that Royce and Quinn were back.
All at once, I stiffened as a sense of impending doom assailed me.
Shannon shook off my hand and trotted over to them. Then, she took them by the hand and strode back.
Oh God, I’m dead! She pushed Royce over to me and glowered provocatively at Dominic. “Don’t think
that you can still bully Liliana like before! She now has someone to back her up and protect her!” she
declared.
Putting aside the fact that she was spouting nonsense, Royce abruptly reached out and pulled me closer
to him. In the next moment, I realized that he was using his body to block me from Dominic’s line of sight.
It was just an insignificant move, but I suddenly shuddered under Dominic’s placid scrutiny.
Worse still, I even broke into a cold sweat at his cold stare though he didn’t say a single word.
Just then, Camille dropped her hand from his arm out of the blue and came up to me with a sweet smile.
She took my hand and exclaimed exuberantly, “Is he your new boyfriend, Liliana? He seems a perfect
match for you! Aren’t you going to introduce him?”
At that point, Dominic spoke up all of a sudden as though he was very much interested.
With an unfathomable smile hovering over his lips, he languidly questioned, “Boyfriend? Then, you really
ought to introduce him.”
A chill struck me, and I almost bit my tongue. The look in Dominic’s eyes as he regarded me then was
truly too grim that terror ricocheted within me.
Before I could say anything, Shannon stretched out a hand and pushed Camille away. She shielded me
behind her back as though she was a mother hen protecting her chick. Then, she thrust a finger into
Camille’s face and started berating her.
“What has it got to do with you whether Liliana has a boyfriend? Why? Are you planning to steal her
boyfriend a second time after having done so once? I’ve seen too many women like you, but none as
shameless as you are! You’re not even afraid that your face will rot off when you’re wearing a mask and
putting on an act every moment of every day!”
Camille’s face flushed bright red, and I knew from the way she kept twisting her fingers that she was on
the verge of blowing her gasket.
Alas, she couldn’t do so if she wanted to maintain her kind and innocent facade.
As I looked on, utter glee suffused me.
“And you!” Shannon turned on Dominic as she continued chewing them out. “Are you blind? Never mind
if you don’t like Liliana, but you should find someone better than her at least. Yet, you ended up with such
a witch despite having your pick of women. What horrible taste!”
To tell the truth, I completely agreed with Shannon’s reproach. But at the sight of Dominic’s dark and
chilly expression, I didn’t dare express my concurrence.
Afraid that he would teach Shannon a lesson out of anger, I hurriedly tugged at her even as I was
gripped by the urge to clamp a hand over her mouth.
However, Shannon was plainly hooked on tearing into them. She danced around and dodged my hand,
simply refusing to stop hauling them over the coals.
I wasn’t certain whether Camille was putting on an act or otherwise, but she was now sobbing at
Shannon’s condemnation. Turning, she burrowed into Dominic’s embrace.
Seeing that, I curled my lips without saying anything.
With a hand against Camille’s back, Dominic eyed me coldly, his gaze brimming with menace.
A few words that seemed to be coated in frost proceeded to fall from his mouth. “Boyfriend? You have
someone backing you up, huh? Well, well… That’s good. Excellent, in fact.”
Hearing that, I shuddered.
Good and excellent, he said? He’s clearly threatening me now! And the emphasis on backing me up…
Darn it! I’ve really got to pray hard and thank my lucky stars if he doesn’t back me into a corner and
torment me relentlessly!
After saying that, he then left with his arm around Camille, who was now weeping aloud.
Shannon snorted loudly in the direction they went before turning to me and consoling me.
Likewise, Royce looked at me with concern in his eyes though he seemed hesitant to speak.
Nevertheless, I merely pretended as though I didn’t see his look lest I gave him the wrong idea. That
wouldn’t be fair to him, after all.
As for Quinn… His reaction was truly odd, for he said nary a word from beginning to end.
After that incident, we didn’t continue taking in the sights but returned to our respective rooms.
When Shannon had gone to shower, the front desk suddenly phoned and claimed that they found
something of mine, asking me to go down and retrieve it.
Upon hearing that, I was taken aback for a moment. Hmm? I don’t think I lost anything.
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