Love the Second Time Around
Chapter 100

Chapter 100 Unexpected

“Oh, no… You don’t think it’s some journalist, do you?” I asked anxiously.

“No. Security here is pretty tight, so they won’t let anyone in without permission. Wait here while I go get the door,” Nicholas replied calmly, and I nodded in response.

Even if he didn’t say that, I wouldn’t have dared go near the door anyway.

Despite what he said about the security guards not letting outsiders in without permission, the traumatizing experience of having my phone number exposed still left me feeling incredibly nervous.

I should be safe inside the house… At the very least, these journalists wouldn’t dare force their way in as that would count as trespassing, which is illegal!

Before I could finish my train of thought, Nicholas had returned with someone else behind him.

I couldn’t really tell who it was from afar as I didn’t have my glasses on, but I could at least see that it was a woman.

It wasn’t until the two of them got closer that I got a clearer view of her face, and my jaw dropped in shock when I realized who she was.

Holy sh*t! T-That’s Scarlett Williams!

I quickly scrambled to my feet in a state of panic and tried to say something, but the words were stuck in my throat.

Nicholas burst into laughter when he saw my reaction. “What’s with that look on your face, Liliana? I didn’t think you’d get this excited over a woman! If I recall correctly, you weren’t this excited when we first met!”

He’s right! I think I was able to call him by name when I first saw him, but this is different! I mean, Scarlett visiting Nicholas at his villa in the evening? This could only mean one thing! The two of them are having an affair…I mean, a relationship!

“Hello, my name is Scarlett!” she said with a smile while holding her hand out.

I wiped my trembling hands frantically on my jeans before shaking hers.

“I…I’m L-Liliana… Zanetti.”

Scarlett gave me a friendly nod before motioning at me to let go of her hand, which I did very quickly.

Being the smart person that I was, I knew Scarlett must have come over because she had something to discuss with Nicholas. Not wanting to be a third wheel and make things awkward, I decided to quickly excuse myself.

“Right, uh… It’s getting late, so I should get going now. You two carry on, all right?”

“I saw that it was still raining heavily outside when I opened the door earlier. It’d be dangerous for you to head down the mountain by yourself, and the road’s too slippery for me to drive downhill. I’ve got some spare bedrooms here, so you can just pick one and stay over for the night.”

Being able to have dinner at his house was surprising enough for me, but spending the night here was completely beyond my expectations.

Even Scarlett seemed rather shocked and had a strange look on her face when she heard that. “Nicholas…”

“No, I can’t possibly do that! Don’t worry about me, I can manage myself just fine. I’ll just hail myself a cab or something. These drivers won’t say no to a good tip!” I refused his offer immediately as I found it inappropriate to stay over at his place.

“That’s even more dangerous! What if the driver is a perv*rt and tries to rape you or something? You would have no one around to save you!”

My goodness, I didn’t know he had such a vivid imagination!

“I’ll have Shannon come pick me up, then. We’ll be perfectly safe since we have each other!”

I thought I had come up with a great idea, but Nicholas shot it down once again by saying it was twice as dangerous.

“I live pretty close by, so you can stay over at my place instead, Ms. Zanetti. If you don’t mind, that is,” Scarlett spoke up all of a sudden.

I didn’t know what else to say at that point as both options felt inappropriate all the same.

Still, if I had to choose between the two, I would probably go with Nicholas as I knew him longer than I knew Scarlett.

“Just stay over at my place tonight and forget about everything else. Go up to the second floor and pick a room that you like. I’ll head over to Scarlett’s and fetch you a change of clothes. Come on, Scarlett, let’s go.”

Just like that, Nicholas had made the decision for me. Scarlett too, nodded after a few minutes of silence.

The two of them then left the villa, leaving me there all by myself.

A few minutes later, I decided to check the weather outside and opened the door, only to be hit in the face by a mix of water droplets and a chilly breeze.

Holy sh*t, he wasn’t kidding about how heavy the rain is!

Not wanting to give up just yet, I stubbornly gave Shannon a call, but her phone was switched off.

Damn it! Her phone is usually on 24/7, so why is it off now? Huh, it looks like I really will be spending the night here… Oh, well… I’ll just have to accept my fate, then…

I thought to myself as I put my phone back into my handbag.

Nicholas had asked me to go take a look at the rooms on the second floor, but I was too scared to wander around such a big house all by myself.

In the end, I decided to sit on the couch and wait for Nicholas to come back.

About ten minutes later, he came in through the door with a bag in each hand.

“You haven’t checked the rooms out?” Nicholas asked while handing the bags over to me.

I shook my head and replied honestly, “No, I was a little scared to go upstairs by myself.”

Nicholas burst into a chuckle upon hearing that. “Come on, I’ll go upstairs with you.”

Instead of having me choose my room, he led me straight to one of the bedrooms and said, “You said you were scared, right? Well, you can have this room, then. Mine is right next to it, so if anything happens, all you have to do is scream and I’ll come over right away.”

Nicholas sure is thoughtful!

I gladly accepted his arrangement, and we both entered our respective rooms.

After taking a shower, I retrieved the clothes from the bags and saw that they were all brand new with the price tag still on, including the underwear.

On top of that, he got the measurements for everything down perfectly. Okay, maybe he’s a little too thoughtful…

I did a quick calculation in my head to see how much the clothes cost, and I nearly choked when I saw how expensive they were. Regardless, I would still pay Scarlett back the full amount.

I then tidied up the stuff and snuggled into the covers before going through my daily routine of scrolling through Twitter before bed.

The thought of Shannon not answering her phone earlier got me annoyed once again, and I sent her a ton of text messages on WhatsApp to express my annoyance.

Nicholas’ message came in right after I was done scolding Shannon: Hey, you asleep? Is it cold?

I replied accordingly and transferred fifty thousand into his bank account, insisting that he accept it as payment for Scarlett’s clothes.

Feeling relieved that he did, I chatted with him for a little bit more before saying good night.

However, I couldn’t seem to fall asleep no matter how much I tossed and turned. Eventually, I decided to grab my phone and log into my old Twitter account.

After going through my old posts, I posted a new Tweet: Don’t be silly, he doesn’t care about you!

With that, I closed my eyes once again and tried to put away all feelings of sadness.

The next morning, I was woken up by the loud blaring of the ringtone on my phone.