Be My Man, Mr. Jenkins By Flora Julius
Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Anger shot through Albert when he heard the maid he had assigned to take care of Adriane calling his son useless. It was an insult not only to Arthur. It was also an insult to Albert, who was Arthur’s father.

Adriane was only eighteen and had just graduated from high school, Albert admired Adriane’s courage and maturity for not running away after hearing what the maid said and decided to face the problem herself.

Taking off the earphone, Albert promised Adriane, “Adriane, don’t worry. I’ll see through this matter and give you a result soon.”

Adriane started her diva–level acting. Pretending as if she had endured the humiliation for a long time and finally had someone who could help her, she looked at Albert with her flooded eyes and nodded her head as she bit her lips. The wronged look on Adriane’s face melted Albert’s heart. He felt pity for

her.

“Thank you, Uncle Albert,” She glanced warily at Arthur, then quickly withdrew her gaze. Then she said with her soft and trembling voice, “I have one more thing I want to show only to Art…Mr. Arthur.”

She had no idea how she should address Arthur, so she called him Mr. Arthur like others.

Albert was furious about the maid and felt sorry for Adriane. Adriane was certain that he would agree to her request.

Arthur snorted silently because of how Adriane addressed him, but he still nodded. He agreed to Adriane’s request because of the recording he listened

to just now.

As for the other guests, Albert would have his means to calm them down.

There was a vacant guest room at the end of the hall. Adriane pushed Arthur’s wheelchair into the room and closed the door.

Stuck in the wheelchair, Arthur had his back facing Adriane when they entered the room. He crossed his fingers on his lap, and he asked coldly, “What else do you want to show me?”

All the way to the room, Adriane kept encouraging herself to be brave. As the first step to getting away from the Stewart family, she should make the engagement ceremony continue. Determined to carry on her plan, Adriane lifted her skirt and walked in front of Arthur.

The man with a cold face looked casually at Adriane. He seemed careless, but in fact, he was curious.

Then he noticed that a flush crept up the face of the young girl in front of him. Even her ears were red.

Adriane did not dare to look him in the eye. When she lowered her head, her eyelashes fluttered gently, like butterfly’s wings.

Unconsciously biting her lower lip with her teeth, Adriane took a deep breath. She did not realize that Arthur was instantly captivated because of her tiny facial expression.

After taking a deep breath, she put her hands down and suddenly pulled up her gown.

A pair of long, slender, and fair legs caught Arthur’s eyes. It startled Arthur.

*What are you doing?” He was no longer a boy, but he still looked away panickily when he saw those beautiful legs. His voice filled with anger, which he did not know why,

If it had not been for the inconvenience of his wheelchair, he would have left the room. Even then, without pausing, he continued, “You don’t have to do that ever if you wanted to get engaged with me so desperately.”

“She is only eighteen, yet she is seducing me to get married to me. The Stewarts have indeed adopted a great daughter!” Arthur mocked her in his thoughts.

Adriane ignored Arthur’s misunderstanding and interrupted him with a sad voice, “Arthur, I’m injured.”

The few words brought Arthur back to his senses. He was still startled by her sudden act. But he forced himself to stay calm and glanced at Adriane’s thigh.

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Chapter 5

There was a large bruise on the inner part of her right thigh. Arthur was indifferent when Josie said that he was useless. But now, he felt anger burning in him, and his voice was cold and merciless.

“Who did it?” It could not be an accident since Adriane had brought him into a room and showed him that.

After making sure that Arthur saw the bruise clearly, Adriane slowly put down the gown. Tears began to roll in her eyes without her needing to prepare herself to cry. The tears did not flow down her cheeks. It seemed like she was trying hard not to let her tears shed, which made her look more pitiful.

“It was Josie Burton,” Adriane said. Just in case Arthur did not know who Josie was, Adriane added, “it was the woman in the recording you listened to

just now.”

Josie had only pinched her once. The bruise looked terrifying not only because Josie had pinched on her thigh hard, but also because Adriane had thin layers of skin and easily breakable blood capillaries.

Even an ordinary bump would cause a bruise on her skin that would never fade for days. In contrast, the bruise was more visible on her tender skin.

From the moment Adriane recorded Josie’s insulting words, she had decided to get rid of that maid. So, it was not enough to make Albert support her. She needed to spark Arthur’s anger, making him her ally.

Now it seemed that her risky action paid off.

Burning with anger, Arthur laughed maniacally, and his gaze was as though he was a predator in the wild.

She heard Arthur say something coldly, “I’m not dead yet.”

Arthur would take care of Josie. He suppressed his rage and looked at Adriane, “Why did you show me that?”

Adriane lowered her head timidly. Then she gripped on her gown and spoke in her sweet voice, “Because you are my fiance.”

“Fiance?” Arthur repeated that word carefully. A complicated feeling rose in him.

After all, a few minutes before, he had expected her to cry and break off the engagement. However, things did not turn out as he thought they would. Instead, the timid girl in front of him took him as the closest person she had.

“Mm,” Adriane nodded her head profusely, as if afraid that Arthur would not believe her.

Arthur lifted his eyebrows and said, “We are not engaged yet.”

Panic overpowered Adriane as her eyes turned red. She quickly squatted beside Arthur’s wheelchair and looked at Arthur like a kitten waiting to be adopted, “Are you saying that because you don’t want to get engaged to me?”

Adriane sounded like she was about to cry.

Arthur held his breath. He panicked, too, as he cursed himself for making a little girl cry.

“If she wants to get engaged with me, then… well,” thought Arthur.

Arthur stretched out his cold hand and wiped off the tears at the corner of Adriane’s eyes. He might look brutal on the outside, but his fingers wiped off Adriane’s tears gently, as though he was afraid that he would break her.

“There is nothing to weep about,” the man said in a low and deep voice, like a cello that Adriane loved to play, “you still have me.”

Adriane’s eyes widened and lit up in excitement as her jaws almost dropped in disbelief. She realized that she was losing her composure and quickly covered her mouth with her tiny hands.

However, her pair of slightly bent eyes revealed her excitement. It elevated Arthur’s mood too.

“Does getting engaged to me make her so happy? She looks thrilled as though I have given her a candy,” Arthur thought as he looked at Adriane.

Of course, Adriane was more than thrilled. It was her golden opportunity to change her life. She planned to make Arthur her protector. So she had to

cherish him.

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Chapter 5

After tidying up the hemp of her gown, Adriane pushed Arthur out of the room.

The engagement ceremony had been delayed for half an hour. The attention of all the guests was on Adriane and Arthur when they came out of that room. They were curious about what the two were doing in the room. Albert quickly approached them and gazed anxiously, waiting for the answer.

Adriane said nothing, but her grip on the wheelchair tightened.

Arthur straightened his body and gazed into his father’s eyes. Then he spoke with his mature and steady voice, “Father, I want to be engaged to Miss Stewarts.”

Albert could not believe his ears. His stubborn youngest son agreed to the engagement!

Albert would like to know what they did in that room. But he was an elder and the patriarch of the Jenkins family. To maintain his reputation, Albert pretended like he was not interested at all. However, he was impressed with how Adriane managed to convince his son.