Chapter 15 Lily’s Red Lips–His Personal Curse


    Let her <i>drown</i>!


    Simon kept telling himself he didn’t care about this ungrateful woman. He just didn’t want a dead body showing up at his vi.


    But after parking the car, he stormed toward the pool.


    Lily had already crawled out of the water.


    The temperature had dropped tonight, and the pool was freezing.


    Earlier, she had felt like her entire body was aze.


    The fire had spread like wildfire, threatening to reduce her to ashes.


    But the icy water extinguished those mes little by little until they were nothing more than dying sparks -eventually snuffed out entirely.


    Now that the burning had stopped, the cold set in.


    She tried to pull her clothes tighter.


    But too much had happened tonight. Her body had endured too much. She’d been drugged, thrown around, jumped out a window, and plunged into freezing water.


    Dragging herself from the pool had drained everyst ounce of her strength. Before she could even gather her clothes, she copsed to the ground,pletely still.


    “Lily, are you trying to die?!”


    Simon’s expression turned uglier as he saw that even after throwing herself into a freezing pool, she still refused to ask him for help.


    His eyes brimmed with contempt.


    Still, when she didn’t move at all, he grudgingly stepped forward and hauled her up with one arm.


    “Call the private doctor.”


    Seeing her soaked through, he frowned in disgust again, then turned to the waiting maids. “Get her changed. Now.”


    After jumping from a window and into a freezing pool, even the strongest person would struggle.


    Her right ankle had swollen into a red lump, and soon after, she developed a high fever.


    When it spiked past 100°F, the doctor administered an IV drip immediately.


    By the time Lily finished the treatment, it was almost 1 a.m.


    Chapter 15 Lily’s Red Lips–His Personal Curse


    Simon was in a foul mood all night. Every minute had been aggravating. He felt irritable, restless, andpletely unable to sleep.


    Standing stiffly by the bed, he remembered the doctor’s instructions–apply the ointment to her sprained ankle every half hour on the first day. Begrudgingly, he reached for her foot.


    While the doctor had been treating her earlier, Simon had taken a call from his men.


    Those thugs had been delivered to the police.


    They imed the man who hired them–wearing a ck mask–was Simon.


    But their description didn’t match his face or build.


    Clearly, someone had impersonated him.


    Unfortunately, the payment had been in cash. No wire transfer. No call records. Nothing traceable.


    Because he’d taken the call on the balcony, he hadn’t seen what Lily’s feet looked like before.


    Now, gripping her foot, he finally noticed: it was unbelievably small and pale.


    She wasn’t short–at least <i>5’5</i>“, maybe taller–but her foot looked like a size 36 at most.


    Simon, used to his own size 44 feet, almost thought it was fake.


    But the warmth and softness in his palm were real. He couldn’t deny it–some people really did have feet this delicate.


    She wasn’t wearing nail polish, but her nails were neat, smooth, and slightly pink under the white. Somehow adorable.


    Her legs were beautiful too.


    Long, slender, fair–like they’d been carved from the finest jade.


    Which only made the swelling around her ankle look more jarring. He frowned instinctively at the sight.


    “Hideous<b>.</b><b>” </b>


    “And John still chose to hurt Elsa over and over again because of you… He must be blind.”


    He muttered with a scowl, then reluctantly dipped a cotton swab into the ointment and began applying it to her ankle.


    The sting made her flinch, foot jerking in his hand.


    The sudden motion snapped Simon out of his daze.


    Only then did he realize–he was still holding her small, porcin–white foot.


    Their skin was practically pressed together. The contact set his nerves aze, heating his cheeks with a slow, creeping blush.


    “Lily, don’t touch me! Stay away from me from now on!”


    His voice exploded in anger–but it was panic more than anything.


    Because it wasn’t her clinging to him.


    It was him gripping her foot like a fool.


    Simon’s expression turned stormy.


    Like he’d been stung, he quickly let go and stormed into the bathroom to wash the ointment off his hands.


    When he returned, he stood at the bedside again.


    Not because he wanted to be near her.


    No–she was on his bed. He had nowhere else to go.


    At first, he kept his gaze away, staring coldly at the nk wall.


    But eventually, his eyes drifted back to her.


    Her fever had gone down a bit after the IV, but her face was still flushed.


    It looked like rouge had been brushed across pale porcin—or like red maple leaves settling beneath moonlight.


    Surprisingly… she didn’t look as ugly as usual.


    Hershes were long, naturally curled, like little fans.


    And below them…


    Past her delicate neck, he caught sight of her trembling, crimson lips.


    That day in the hotel… she’d used those very lips to shamelessly steal his first kiss!


    Simon’s ears burned red.


    He yanked his face away, not wanting to look at those lips anymore.


    But it was like he was under a spell. Momentster, his gaze


    found its


    way back.


    And then–he reached out and touched them.


    Just as soft and pillowy as he remembered.


    “Lily!”


    At that moment-


    Elsa was staying in a luxury VIP suite at a private hospital. There was avish adjacent room for visitors.


    John had promised to stay with her tonight, so naturally, he stayed in the next room.


    After his shower, he realized he’d left his phone in Elsa’s room.


    When he went to retrieve it, Elsa had just ended a call from Lily. She hadn’t deleted the call log yet, so she told him Lily had called but said nothing and hung up.


    He dialed back immediately–but no one answered.


    rmed, he had his men trace Lily’s phone location and rushed over–only to find out she had been in danger and that Simon had taken her away.


    Without hesitation, he raced to Simon’s ce.


    And the moment he stepped in–he saw it.


    She was curled up softly in Simon’s bed, and Simon was leaning down… his finger gently tracing her lips… the air charged with tension, like he was about to kiss her.


    John was always cold andposed, rarely ever showing emotion.


    But in that instant, a searing wave of jealousy ripped through him, burning his reason to ash.


    He stepped forward and punched Simon square in the face.


    “What the hell are you doing?! Simon, who gave you permission to touch her?!”