7
Sunday night.
For today’s live broadcast, both groups were to return to the hot spring resort from the beginning. To create buzz, the production team made all
four of us ride back in the same car.
The live comments were still mostly about shipping Ashton and Vera.
But the tide was subtly turning.
[if you think about it, unless you’re as blind as her husband Ashton, you’ll join our side.】
[She’s dancing right in front of the real deal, and her husband is just sitting there happily counting his money.]
It’s probably just a coincidence. Cole and her have never interacted before.]
The discussion about me and Cole had increased significantly. Some fans who loved unconventional pairings had even created a fan page for us,
20.15
So before we got in the car, the producer secretly handed me a task card.
“Open it in the car. Only you can see it.”
Ashton was driving, and the car was rigged with cameras.
Vera, rushing ahead of me, took the passenger seat.
“Hey,” she said with a look of pure innocence, deliberately turning to gauge my reaction. “It doesn’t have your name on it. You’re not going to be
that petty, are you?”
Ashton enjoyed seeing her put me in a difficult position. He was about to watch me get flustered and then step in as the impartial judge, offering
me a small consolation prize.
But he didn’t expect me to completely ignore her and get into the back seat.
At a red light, the two in front, in unison, glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror.
Ashton looked at me.
Vera looked at Cole.
And Cole and I sat at opposite ends of the seat, maintaining the maximum possible distance.
“Chloe,” Vera said, showing me the ring on her hand. Ashton had given it to her last night. It was the same style as my wedding ring.
“Don’t get the wrong idea,” she said to the camera. “This represents our characters‘ relationship in the show. I’m just showing you so you don’t
overthink it.”
“But you probably don’t understand the love Ashton and I have for our roles, right? After all, out of the four of us, you’re the only one who’s not an
actor, with no real career ambitions.”
She chattered on, trying to see a hint of jealousy or resentment on my face. She was speaking to me, but also to Cole.
Unfortunately, Cole had a habit of falling asleep the moment he got in a car.
And I was looking down at the small task card, my mind a complete blank.
it read: [Hold hands with Cole without the other couple noticing.】
The highway was wide and clear on this sunny morning. The tropical plants on either side stretched out like a green sea. The bright, gentle winter
sun filled half the car.
Everything was in broad daylight.
‘Entering a tunnel ahead, the GPS announced.
Finally, a chance.
I glanced to my side. Cole’s eyes were closed, his long, distinct fingers hanging loosely in the air.
Just do it.
He probably won’t notice.
Darkness enveloped us, with only the tunnel lights flashing by. I summoned my courage.
I reached out, to touch.
The person who was supposed to be sleeping coughed, and his hand moved.
Did he notice?
My heart hammered in my chest. I wanted to pull my hand back but was afraid it would be too obvious. I could only place it on the leather seat
between us.
‘Chloe,‘ Vera was still talking. “Don’t you think the person who gets cheated on in a marriage has a problem too? If she can’t keep her lover, she can’t blame others for snatching him away.”
The tunnel was short, so short that I didn’t have time to pull my hand back before the car was in daylight again.
2015 N
I turned my head and withdrew my hand.
But in that instant, it was caught.
Warm and clean.
I instinctively tried to pull away, but he followed my movement.
Our fingers intertwined.
An old love song played on the car radio, its cheerful tune telling the story of a woman who, upon discovering she’s been cheated on, leaves home
at the crack of dawn while her husband sleeps, waiting for him to wake up and find her gone.
The same line repeated over and over.
“He’s about to find out, isn’t he?
He’s about to find out, isn’t he?
He’s about to find out, isn’t he?”
Five seconds before the song ended, Ashton, annoyed that I wasn’t responding to Vera, said to me through the rearview mirror, “That’s why some
people deserve to be betrayed.”
He was so focused on my expression that he completely missed the two hands tightly clasped on the leather seat in the back.
I had forgotten.
Cole was a possessive madman.
Holding hands in the dark was not an option.
It had to be in the light of day.
