Chapter 404 - 384: He’s Really Not a 1

"Okay, Teacher Hughes, just a second!" The little boy grabbed his drawing paper and rushed inside.

"Where are you?" Dylan Heston asked over the phone.

"Teaching children how to draw," she replied evasively.

"Address."

Nancy Hughes fell silent. ’Did he seriously not get my hint?’ "...Mr. Heston, are you planning on coming over? It’s already so late. By the time you get here, I’ll probably be gone for the day!"

’I’ve made it so obvious. He has to have understood this time.’

"Wait for me."

She had to admit, Dylan Heston had outplayed her.

Nancy Hughes reluctantly gave him the address of her art studio. Dylan Heston said, "Nancy Hughes, do you really not understand?"

"..."

Nancy Hughes truly didn’t know what to say. ’What does he want me to understand?’

Nancy Hughes taught the children absent-mindedly, her attention constantly drifting toward the window.

She was too nervous to think straight.

The sound of an engine roared from outside. She gripped her paintbrush, forcing her attention back to the drawing.

A minute later, Dylan Heston was standing at the door, looking into the art studio.

Nancy Hughes sat quietly in a corner, her back to him, seemingly absorbed in her drawing.

Only she knew how badly her hand was shaking.

Ms. Chandler came over to her. "Nancy Hughes, there’s a super handsome man at the door looking for you."

She froze for a second. ’It couldn’t be anyone but Dylan Heston.’

She put down her brush and walked toward Dylan Heston.

"Do you want to come in and sit for a bit?" Nancy Hughes asked, nervously twisting the hem of her clothes.

She wasn’t good at socializing, especially not with someone like Dylan Heston.

Nancy Hughes led him to a sofa to the side, where many of the children’s parents were also waiting.

She poured him a glass of water. "You can wait here for a bit."

Just as she was about to walk away, he grabbed her wrist. "How much longer?"

"Not long. About twenty more minutes."

His grip was powerful. The heat of his palm against her wrist seemed to travel straight to her heart.

Like a startled rabbit, she quickly wrenched free from his grasp and hurried back into the studio.

Twenty minutes passed quickly.

With a cheer, the children streamed out of the studio to meet their parents.

A parent who had seen Nancy Hughes bring Dylan Heston in earlier smiled while picking up her child. "Teacher Hughes, your boyfriend is so handsome!"

As she spoke, her gaze darted back and forth between Nancy and Dylan.

"N-no, that’s not it. We’re just regular friends," she explained, shaking her head frantically.

The parent gave her a knowing look and said earnestly, "But Teacher Hughes, a boyfriend like that is a real catch. You’d better hold on to him!"

"..." ’She completely ignored my explanation.’

With a helpless smile, she saw off the last of the parents.

She packed her bag and looked at the man across from her. "We can go now!"

Dylan Heston took her bag, carrying it in his own hand as he strode outside.

Nancy Hughes cried out in protest. ’What is with this guy!’

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No," Nancy Hughes mumbled, sitting sullenly in the passenger seat.

Dylan Heston chose a quiet, elegant restaurant. She followed him into a private room that had a classic, antique charm.

Nancy Hughes was quite pleased with the place, but when she saw the prices on the menu, she physically winced.

’This place looks pretty ordinary. How can the prices be so scary expensive?’

The moment she saw the high prices, she lost her appetite and didn’t dare order anything carelessly.

She ordered something simple and put the menu down.

Dylan Heston ordered quite a few dishes. It seemed his rule was: if it was expensive, he ordered it.

’Tsk, tsk. Rich people, right?’

’Well, I’m not the one paying. He ordered it all, anyway.’

The dishes arrived quickly. Nancy Hughes tried a few bites; everything tasted pretty good.

The wine, in particular, was aromatic and delicious.

She just had no idea about its alcohol content. She glanced at the bottle but couldn’t see the percentage listed.

Nancy Hughes couldn’t hold her liquor nearly as well as Georgia Thorne, so she usually didn’t dare drink much.

She stopped after drinking half a glass.

But even that half-glass was enough to do her in. Her cheeks began to feel warm, and her head grew fuzzy.

As she ate, her head swam in dizzying waves, until she barely had the strength to hold her chopsticks.

’I’m done for.’

’Just how strong is this stuff? I only had half a glass.’

That was Nancy Hughes’s last thought before she blacked out.

As for what happened after she got drunk, however, she couldn’t remember a thing.

When she woke up, she found herself once again in that strange bed.

The difference was, this time there was a man in the bed with her.

The mess in the room, the men’s and women’s clothes strewn across the floor, and the ache in her body all pointed to what had happened the night before.

’Did we... have drunk sex?’

Her gaze fell on the face of the man beside her. And of all people, it was Dylan Heston.

It was like a lightning bolt striking her from a clear blue sky.

She shifted slightly, trying to get out of bed.

But the moment she moved, Dylan Heston stirred as well, looking as if he was about to wake.

She quickly rolled over, pulled the covers over her head, and burrowed underneath.

Terrified, she squeezed her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep, chanting frantically in her mind.

She didn’t even know what she was chanting, only that the whole situation was completely unbelievable.

’After more than twenty years of life, I actually gave myself to someone last night.’

’What a blunder! A complete and utter blunder!’

As she was crying out in silent agony, an arm suddenly reached out from under the covers and wrapped around her waist.

Nancy Hughes was ticklish, and her waist was a particularly sensitive spot. Unable to stop herself, she let out a shriek, threw off the covers, and leaped out of bed.

Like a hissing cat with its fur on end, she clutched a corner of the blanket to cover herself. "Dylan Heston, you pervert!"

Perhaps, in Dylan Heston’s eyes, this feisty, spitting version of Nancy Hughes was the real her.

He found this side of her particularly adorable and couldn’t resist teasing her. "Do you remember *how* I was a pervert?"

Nancy Hughes stared at Dylan Heston with wide eyes, as if she’d seen a ghost.

Her impression of Dylan Heston had always been that he was handsome, gentlemanly, considerate—the perfect man.

For him to say something like that was completely shocking.

As the man advanced on her, she clutched the blanket tighter to her chest, leaning back and crying out in alarm, "Dylan Heston, what do you think you’re doing?!"

"Nancy Hughes, I want to make you understand!"

Dylan Heston continued to close in. Just as she was about to lose her balance and fall, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into his arms. "Do you understand now?"

She was certain that if she dared to shake her head, Dylan Heston wouldn’t let her go.

She nodded frantically. "Let me go!"

「In the bathroom.」

Nancy Hughes, now dressed in a clean set of clothes, stood in front of the mirror giving herself a pep talk.

’It’s just your virginity. What modern woman still cares about that stuff? Besides, medicine is so advanced these days, getting it ’fixed’ is a trivial matter.’

’Everything I was supposed to remember came flooding back. No wonder Dylan Heston complained that I’d left without a word last time. So *this* is what he was talking about.’

’I was so scared back then. How could I dare stick around to see who took me in? What if it was some creep?’

’And as it turned out, Dylan Heston really was a bad guy. Or at least, not the perfect gentleman she’d imagined. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have ended up having a drunken one-night stand with him.’

’And to think I trusted him so much!’

She pressed a hand to her throbbing forehead. ’Damn it, how could I have been so naive as to trust Dylan Heston!’

She tried to force herself to smile, pulling at the corners of her mouth. The result was a grimace uglier than a crying face.

Her heart was filled with a sense of loss. She truly never thought she’d be the type to have a drunken one-night stand.

She was kicking herself so hard. ’How am I going to deal with this mess?’

’The other party is Dylan Heston, and he already has Hannah Gunn. What am I supposed to do?’

The clothes Dylan Heston had picked for her were a perfect fit, neither too big nor too small.

When she came out of the bathroom, she saw Dylan Heston getting dressed in the bedroom.

His white shirt revealed taut muscles underneath. To be honest, she couldn’t remember a thing about the previous night.

’Sleeping with Dylan Heston... you could say I came out ahead. It’s just a shame I can’t remember any of it.’

He buttoned his shirt, one button at a time from top to bottom. He glanced at Nancy Hughes out of the corner of his eye. "Come here."

Nancy Hughes looked up, her expression guarded. She swallowed hard. "What for?"

’Once bitten, twice shy.’

Right now, Nancy Hughes was terrified of Dylan Heston, afraid that he’d lose control and come at her again.

"Help me with my cuffs." He held his arm out toward her.

’Your hands aren’t broken, can’t you do it yourself?’ Nancy Hughes wanted to retort.

But that was just a thought.

She obediently walked over and fastened the buttons on his cuffs.

"Um, about last night... I drank too much. I don’t remember anything, so let’s just..."

"I’ll take responsibility for you."

Dylan Heston cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

Nancy Hughes was shocked once again. ’Isn’t he reading from the wrong script?’

’After a one-night stand, aren’t you supposed to go your separate ways and not interfere in each other’s lives?’

"Um, actually, you don’t need to take responsibility!"

"Fine. Then you can take responsibility for me."

"..."

’I’ve seen shameless people before, but never anyone *this* shameless.’

Nancy Hughes stood frozen in shock, at a complete loss for words.

She ran a hand through her hair, thought for a moment, then said hesitantly, "This isn’t as serious as you’re making it out to be. It’s really fine."

’If she, the woman, didn’t mind, what was there for him, a grown man, to get worked up about?’

Dylan Heston moved closer. Nancy Hughes’s first instinct was to back away. She looked up at him, terrified. "What do you want?!"

"Just because you don’t remember doesn’t mean I don’t." His hand shot out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her flush against him, leaving her no room to escape. "I told you, I want forever."

’Uh, forever...’

Nancy Hughes remembered him saying that, but... wasn’t he talking about fireworks?

His body was burning hot. Through their thin layers of clothing, she could clearly feel the heat radiating from him.

She twisted her wrist but couldn’t break free from his grip. "Um, Dylan Heston, can you let me go first? Then we can talk about this properly."