The Unfaithful Mr. Scott

Melanie looked thoughtful, asking Xander, “Are all your designs like this?”

Xander paused, his pen stopping in mid-air. He glanced up at Melanie. “Business fairs are all about money, aren’t they?” Melanie laughed. “You’re pretty practical.”

All of a sudden, she heard something. It sounded like some parts falling off.

Melanie blinked and looked up in a daze. The next second, she heard Xander barking, “Move!”

Melanie was so shocked that she was a second too late to react. The large wooden frame came crashing down toward her head! At the very last moment, an arm wrapped around her waist. Xander pulled her away just before the frame struck her.

Melanie stared at the shattered wooden frame, deeply shaken. Xander pulled his arm back after putting her down.

He frowned at the forlorn pieces of the frame, saying to Melanie in a low voice, “I’m sorry, | forgot to tell you that the frame was only temporarily suspended up there. It could have fallen at any time.”

They were still in the early stages of setting up the exhibition hall, so most of the decor was not permanently fixed in place. Although Melanie was startled, she had not been hurt, so she said, “It’s okay.”

When she turned around, however, she saw a scratch on Xander’s right forearm. He had probably been scraped by the corner of the wooden frame when he saved her just now.

Melanie’s brow furrowed as she rummaged in her bag for an alcohol wipe. “Xander, you're hurt.”Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

Xander looked down at the wound on his forearm, his expression unchanging. He nodded and continued to move the large wooden frame away.

Melanie’s attention was trained on his bleeding wound. As he strained his muscles to lift the frame, more blood seeped out. Even so, Xander seemed completely unfazed. He simply put down the wooden frame and continued to sketch in his notebook.

Melanie waited for him to finish writing before she said softly, “Xander, you should go to the hospital and get your wound bandaged.”

Fortunately, there was a clinic nearby, and the cut on Xander’s forearm was long but not deep. They left the clinic after the nurses disinfected his wound and applied some medicine to it. Melanie had warned Xander about the risk of tetanus, but Xander said he was allergic to the shots and that he had medicine at home.

Who would just casually keep some tetanus medication at home? Melanie asked, “Do you get hurt a lot?”

Xander replied, “I bump into stuff when | carry things around. It’s inevitable.”

By the time they were done, it was already late in the afternoon.

Xander rushed back to the exhibition hall, and Melanie went back to the hotel on her own.

The weather was a little overcast today, and it was rush hour now. It was past dinner time when she finally got back to the hotel. Melanie went back to her room. She did not notice it when she was outside, but once she returned to the hotel, she felt physically and especially mentally exhausted.

She closed the door and took off her clothes, stepping into the shower.

The hot water washed away her fatigue.

Melanie rested in the bathroom for a while before going out. However, the moment she stepped out of the bathroom, she saw Eugene sitting calmly on the sofa.

The door was hanging open. Did she not close it tightly enough? Melanie stopped in her tracks. “What are you doing here?”

There was no emotion on Eugene’s face. His eyes were slightly cold as he looked at Melanie, almost as if he was appraising an item.

After a while, he said quietly, “Were you in such a hurry to take a shower because you were worried about being found out?”