Love My Friends with Benefits

Phoebe looked at me with a close-lipped smile.

I was so annoyed that I glared at her in return.

I knew that she was plotting something, but I couldn't fight back. It felt terrible.

Phoebe leaned into Leonard's embrace. "Leonard, Queena's glaring at me."

What a fake b*tch! I silently cursed her, but I put on an innocent front. "Why would I glare at you?"

She wasn't the only one who knew how to put on a show. I just wasn't as practised as she was.

"I don't know," Phoebe said feebly.

Leonard let go of her and walked up to me. "Miss. Jones, I think that you and my fiancée probably have a bit of a misunderstanding."

A bit? It was so much more than that!

I cursed him silently and glared at him. "So what if there is?"

Leonard didn't get mad. Instead, he smiled. "I think that we should step out for a chat."

Before I could reply, he dragged me out.

I wanted to call out to Aunt Nancy for help, but Leonard said lowly, "Shut up unless you have a death wish."

His tone was so cold that I had to admit that I was scared.

I shrunk away from him and fell silent. Phoebe stood there and smiled at me victoriously. Out of the corner of my eye, I even saw her wave at me. Leonard dragged me out of the ward and maintained a grip on my hand as he led me towards the deserted emergency exit.

I immediately put my guard up and tried to shake him off. "What do you want?"

He said coldly, "I've already told you that I don't mind taking you here."

His smile had disappeared the moment we'd stepped out of the ward.

Leonard was gripping me so tightly that I couldn't help gasping in pain. I asked, "Are you standing up for Phoebe?"

I'd made up my mind. If his answer was a "yes", I'd be more polite to Phoebe in front of him. I was no match for his strength. Anyway, I could just come up with a way to get back at her behind his back.

I'd already rehearsed my answer, but Leonard answered, "Why would I do that?"

"You..."

I was stunned.

Leonard took the chance to pull me over to the emergency exit's platform. He cornered me in between himself and the wall.

"Queena, I told you to unblock my number," he said slowly after watching me for a while.

I acted dumb. "What are you talking about? I don't remember you saying that."

"Don't play dumb." He let out a sneer. "Don't forget that we have a deal. Now that you've gone back on our agreement, what do you think I should do?"

I steeled myself and said, "I... I don't know."

I really couldn't think of any other excuses.

...

Leonard chuckled and wrapped an arm around me, trailing his hand over my back.

His embrace was cold, giving me goosebumps. I had no choice but to set aside my pride and beg him. "Leonard, please, just let me go. Please?" His hand stilled. "Give me a reason."

A reason? How could I just conjure up something on demand?

I was anxious, but I couldn't move an inch because of his embrace. I could only stand there and feel his hand slowly trail lower down my back.

I finally lost my composure as his hand approached my belt and cried out, "You said that a deal has to be based on mutual agreement!" Leonard's hand stilled again.

"Oh? How interesting." He laughed. "Go on. I'll let you go if you please me."

He was taking me for a fool. However, I had no choice but to play by his rules.

I gave it some thought and said, "Mr. Nell, aren't you and Phoebe about to get married? It's really time to stop making deals such as this."

I was almost pleading with him.

Leonard was unmoved.

At his silence, I suddenly said ruthlessly, "Phoebe's important to you, isn't she? Or do you want her to find out about our relationship?!"

"With my net worth and status, it's extremely normal for me to have a mistress or two. I'm sure Phoebe will understand," Leonard said leisurely. "In fact, you should know this as well. Wasn't Phoebe's mother one of Bell's mistresses?"

My mind went blank. All I could hear was him saying, "Unfortunately, your mother didn't understand this. She took her own life for nothing."

"You b*stard!" I shrieked and used all of my strength to shove him away.

He probably didn't expect me to suddenly become so strong. He staggered backwards a couple of steps before steadying himself and looking at me menacingly.

"You can say anything you want about me, you jerk." Trembling all over, I pointed at him. "How dare you talk about my mother? What gives you the right to talk about her?!"

My mother was a thorn that was deeply embedded in my heart. I would never be able to move on from it, not for the rest of my life.

I would never forgive Bell, Jones, Phoebe, and anyone who ran their mouths off about this matter.

Leonard frowned at me, not saying anything.

I ignored him and continued shouting, "Who the h*ll do you think you are? You're nothing but a f*cking b*stard!"

"I'm sorry," he suddenly said.

I didn't realise what he'd said and continued raging at him.

I swore and cursed at him like a pirate.

Leonard didn't look mad. He repeated, "I said, I'm sorry."

"You..."

It was only at this moment that I processed what he'd said and stopped in astonishment.

My stream of curses got lodged in my throat.

"I shouldn't have mentioned your mother." Leonard's voice was deep and had a sort of magnetism. "I didn't expect you to still be so impacted."

I was at a loss for what to do because of his apology.

After apologising, Leonard turned and left without waiting for me to respond.

I stood there, stunned. I probably looked like a fool.

When I got back to the ward, Phoebe and Leonard had already left. Aunt Nancy and I wiped Grandma down, and she asked me, "Did you get into a fight with Leonard?"

It was only at this point that I recalled how loud I'd been. Perhaps the whole ICU had heard me.

However, I didn't know whether that could be counted as an argument. I didn't answer her.

Aunt Nancy sighed. "Queena, you really shouldn't get on his bad side. You know how powerful he is."

With the way things were between us at the moment, I was probably already at the top of his hit list.

I couldn't tell Aunt Nancy about screaming my head off at him, so I tried to play down the whole thing by saying casually, "Just yesterday, you were telling me not to owe him any favours. Isn't an argument the best way to prove that there's nothing between us?"

"That's different." Aunt Nancy frowned. "It's best if you two had just stayed strangers."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐