Rachel was stunned, and a strange feeling came over her. She stopped in front of her door and turned
around. "Are you sure? Do you know what you are talking about right now?"
"I'm sure," Jack replied in a low voice. "I'm not completely drunk. I can still get home on my own."
For a moment, Rachel squinted at Jack, whose tall figure and handsome face were illuminated by the
dim light in the room.
But in the end, she didn't know what a drunk man looked like, so she just accepted his words without
thinking too much.
Jack had thought a lot about what to say to Rachel, but now that he was here in front of her, he was
tongue-tied. Finally, after a long pause, he said, "About what happened today..."
As soon as Rachel heard these words, her face changed. She coughed in embarrassment and cut in
before he could continue. "What happened today was my fault..."
"Hush," Jack said, silencing her with his finger on her lips. "Stop talking and listen to me first." His voice
sounded so steady that Rachel was not sure whether he was really drunk or not.
Nevertheless, she was curious about what he wanted to say, so she just kept silent and waited for him
to speak.
Instead of withdrawing his hand, Jack cupped her cheek and gently rubbed her lips with his thumb.
Rachel shifted slightly under his touch, feeling goose bumps run up her arms.
Just before she lost her patience, Jack pulled his hand back and whispered, "Sorry. Your lips..."
Rachel swallowed hard as her racing heartbeat finally settled down. 'Isn't he drunk?' she wondered in
confusion.
"As for what happened today, I never thought that you were embarrassing me," Jack said, abruptly
changing the topic.
Staring at Rachel earnestly with his deep black eyes, he continued, "I just felt uncomfortable after
seeing the look in those people's eyes..."
His voice was getting softer and softer.
"I didn't like the way they were looking at you. Rachel...you don't have to be so stubborn, you know. It's
not a bad thing to lean on others sometimes."
It was rare for Jack to say so many words in one breath, especially to Rachel. Although he felt nervous,
he added, "Don't treat me as an enemy, Rachel. I have no intention of hurting you. You can let yourself
lean on me. I sincerely apologize for everything that happened in the past. It was all my fault."
Back then, Jack hadn't known anything about Rachel except for what he saw on the surface, so he had
treated her like a stranger. And every time Eric had tried to get close to Celine, he had vented his anger
on Rachel.
Rachel clenched her fists, feeling a vortex of emotions swirl up inside of her after hearing Jack's words.
Her mind was in such a mess that she didn't know how to reply. Finally, she settled with, "You're drunk.
Let's talk tomorrow."
This was not the response Jack had expected. Feeling a little annoyed, he reached out and pulled her
into his arms. "I'm not drunk. I promise that I'm clear about everything I'm saying now."
"What are you trying to do?" Rachel asked, her voice hardening as she tried to struggle out of his grip.
"Let's talk about it tomorrow. I don't think now is the right time to discuss it. Anyway, I'm sorry about
what happened tonight. I shouldn't have thought about you that way."
Upon hearing this, Jack finally loosened his grip on Rachel, and she let out a sigh of relief. Now that
she could breathe again, she caught a strong whiff of the smell of alcohol coming from him. "You're
acting so weird. Since you're not drunk, just go back and get some rest. We can talk about it tomorrow.
Okay?"
She had barely finished speaking when the tall man in front of her suddenly swayed and fell toward her.
Rachel let out a startled cry as she reached out to catch him and tried to steady him on his feet. Then,
she leaned back against the door frame with her hands on Jack's chest. "Hey? Jack? Don't fool around
like this." Jack stayed silent with his eyes closed, so she once again prompted,
"Jack? Come on! Don't play dead. If you don't respond now, I'll throw you out of the house!
Jack!"
Jack finally opened his mouth and let out a sleepy sigh, but his eyes were still closed.
For a moment, Rachel stood still, feeling speechless. Then, she jerked back into action and tried to
shake him off, but failed. In the end, she had no choice but to drag him into her room, though not
without some difficulty.
This man, who was over six feet tall and weighed more than 70 kilos, was really testing her physical
strength.
After struggling for a long time, she laid Jack down on her bed, took off his shoes and socks, and
tucked him in.
She was about to leave the room when she heard his cell phone ring. When she picked it up, she saw
Michael's name on the screen.
She looked hesitantly at Jack, who was sleeping like a log, and then decided to answer the phone.
Walking to the door, she whispered, "Hello?"
On the other end of the line, Michael paused for a moment, but then he smiled and said, "Rachel?
I take it that Jack reached home? I was a little worried about him."
"Did you guys go out for drinks?" Rachel asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she walked out of her
bedroom and gently closed the door behind her.
As soon as the door was closed, the eyes of the man in the bed shot open. There was a shrewd look
on his face, and it was clear that he was not drunk at all.
This was the first time that he had ever pretended to be drunk, thanks to Michael.
At first, he had been skeptical of Michael's idea, but now, after seeing Rachel's reaction, he was
thankful to him.
Hours ago, Michael had grasped the steering wheel and said in a firm voice, "Don't provoke a woman
when she is angry. By the way, Rachel is nothing like Celine. She's much more stubborn. There are still
ways to calm her down, but it all depends on your attitude toward her."
"I feel sorry for everything I did to her before. I just want to make it up to her," Jack had explained with a
grateful look on his face.
Then, ignoring the suspicion in Michael's eyes, he had urged, "Hurry up. If you have any ideas, tell me
right now.
I need all the help I can get."
Michael had leaned over and whispered something in his ears.
Now, as he lay in Rachel's bed, Jack hazily thought about what he had just done. Anyway, he was not
completely sober; otherwise he wouldn't have allowed himself to do such an unscrupulous thing.
He had realized that he couldn't win Rachel over with just words, so he had pretended to be drunk to
prevent her from continuing to argue with him.
Now, as he vaguely heard Rachel speaking on the phone, he wondered what Michael was telling her.
He shifted uneasily in the bed, which smelled just like her. Under the impact of the alcohol, he suddenly
felt a pang of longing in his heart.
As the drowsiness set in, his head tilted toward one side. Then, all of a sudden, he woke up to the
sound of footsteps.
Jack opened his heavy eyes and saw Rachel standing in front of him. "Are you awake?" she asked,
feeling stunned.
As Jack looked at her, he felt his heart beating to the drum of an upbeat song. He was now so drowsy
that he felt like he was falling.
Of course, Rachel didn't know that. She approached him and asked in a low voice, "Are you awake?
Go back to your room if you are awake."
'What a heartless woman! Can't you see how drunk I am? How can you throw me out like this?'
Jack thought bitterly. He immediately closed his eyes as if he didn't know what was going on and
stayed silent.
Rachel furrowed her eyebrows in suspicion and poked him. "Jack? Jack? Hello? Wake up."
Jack continued to breathe deeply with his eyes closed, pretending not to hear her voice.
Rachel was speechless. She stood beside the bed for a while, looking at him, touched her forehead
and sighed.
Michael had explained to her on the phone that he had been down in the dumps today and had forced
his friends to drink till midnight. He had dropped Jack back home, but Jack had insisted on entering the
house by himself so as to not wake Rachel up.
Strangely enough, Rachel had felt a little touched after hearing about Jack's concern for her.
But that feeling had been accompanied by a hint of fear, and she had stayed silent without responding.
Sensing her embarrassment,
Michael hadn't said anything else.
But before hanging up the phone, he had added, "Jack is a very protective man. That's why he treated
you and Eric that way."
Upon hearing this, Rachel had been confused. Until then, it had seemed like Michael was trying to
persuade her to cut Jack some slack, but he had suddenly brought up Celine's matter on his own
accord.
Then, Michael had continued, "Now is the best time for you to take revenge. He has finally realized that
he did wrong and he's trying to make it up to you, but you have every right to stay pissed off at him.
Well done!"
Rachel had curled her lips and murmured, "I'm not that narrow-minded."
"Okay. You doctors are so honest and loving," Michael had replied, but his voice had been dripping with
sarcasm.
"That's why I have to ask you to take care of Jack tonight. Don't worry, he won't do anything crazy
when he gets drunk.
But you have to keep your eye on him in case he sleepwalks in the middle of the night."
After that, Michael had hung up, leaving Rachel feeling more confused than ever. She had heard about
drunk people getting up to all kinds of antics, but she had never heard of them sleepwalking before.
She didn't know how to deal with it, but she knew that it could be dangerous. If he suddenly got up in
the middle of the night and went out,
who would take responsibility for him?
Rachel sighed as she looked at the drunk man in her bed. Then, she took a wet towel and wiped his
face and his hands with it.
The whole time, Jack stayed completely still, letting her take care of him. Even if she was rough with
him, he would still pretend to be fast asleep, but luckily, Rachel's movements were soft and gentle.
After cleaning his face, Rachel went back into the bathroom to wash the towel. It was only then that
Jack opened his eyes with a faint smile on his lips. Then, he closed them again and waited for her to
come out.
There was still a slight buzz in his head from the alcohol, and he couldn't get Rachel out of his mind.
The seductive scent from her body was something that he could barely resist.
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