Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 59: Side with her childhood sweetheart

Chapter 59: Side with her childhood sweetheart

Mia was panicking the whole ride to whispering way. Her panic did not stem from being late in returning home, but rather from knowing how concerned her mother would be and the potential consequences of her worries. Her mother was still taking high blood pressure medications and her doctor had advised her to avoid situations that would cause excessive worry. Until today, Mia had been successful in following this advice and avoiding to cause any worries to her mother.

If she hadn’t gotten into trouble with Diane in school and hadn’t followed Leo to his house, she wouldn’t have been in such a situation in the middle of the night. Because of her anxiety, she did not even pay attention to Leo’s speeding through the streets of Zen city until his tires made a scraping sound as he sharply turned into Whispering Way street.

Mia’s heart made a jump in her chest as the black Ferrari came to a sudden stop in front of their apartment building. She had intended to tell him to drop her off at the streets junction to avoid raising gossip, but due to her distracted mind, she hadn’t even realized he’d reached their apartment building.

Whispering way was a street that never sleep despite the late hours, there were still people moving around and carrying on with their night life. However, the moment they noticed the black Ferrari, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look towards the car.

They couldn’t help but wonder who was it this time that came into their town in an expensive car. The last time was a limo and now a Farrier. It couldn’t be Elizabeth’s daughter again who studied in an expensive school to show off to them how different they wanted to be from the rest.

As Mia noticed the eyes on the car, she hesitated to open the door until Neil’s questioning cold gray eyes swept towards her, he arched a brow, "Why are you still sitting? Don’t tell me you’re expecting me to get down and open the car door for you. Get out." He deadpanned in a detached calm tone.

Mia laughed nervously as she met his eyes,"Can you perhaps drive back to the junction so I can drop there and walk back here?" She asked. Coming down here would only raise more gossip about her and questions about what she had been doing out the entire day to return home In the middle of the night in a man’s car. It was best if she went back to the junction and walked back home than to climb down with all those eyes waiting to see who would climb down from the car.

However, the man beside her in the car wasn’t that considerent, or perhaps didn’t seem to even care about her situation. He let out a humorless laughter that sent a slight nervous shiver down her spine. "Harrison, either you get the fuck out right now, or I turn back and drive you back to my place. I am not going to make any stops from here." He warned nonchalantly with his indifferent aloof eyes regarding her like a predictor giving it’s prey a chance to escape.

Neil had abandoned his sleep to drive her home, but here she was asking him to take her back to the junction. Did she take him as her driver? She should even feel lucky that he had driven her twice in his car today, he wasn’t a guy to drive people in his car but he had done that for her. He had a lot of things to get done in the morning before he would head to Ivy Grove institute, but here he was wasting his time with this young woman, who had done nothing but made his life hell the whole day today!

He didn’t know why she wanted to go back to the junction, but he didn’t give a fuck.

Mia pursed her lips at how arrogant he was. She hadn’t asked for something impossible but for him to just drive her back to the junction. Yet, he acted as if she had requested his entire car. Did all wealthy people behave this way, she wondered, as she grabbed her bag and decided to exit the vehicle before his annoyed stare turned deadly.

As Mia opened the slid up car door, she noticed Owen pacing outside the apartment building. She didn’t need anyone to tell her that he was waiting for her - she already knew. Climbing out of the car, she immediately felt the weight of judging eyes upon her. It was the 20th century, for goodness sake, people should be free to do as they pleased. Yet, it seemed as if the people in whispering way were still stuck in the past.

Before Mia could even close the car door, Owen spotted her and stormed towards her with an angry expression. He had been sick with worry when she hadn’t picked any of their calls since afternoon. He had even looked for her friend’s number in the phone book in her room and called only to be told that she had left school before their classes even ended. He had lied to her mother that Mia was with her friend when he’d noticed how worried Elizabeth looked, but then he had come out here to wait and see if she would return or if he would need to inform the police, only to see her coming out of an expensive car wearing a man’s clothes!

He didn’t have to be told to know that it was a man who was in the car. And whoever that man was, he was going to make him regret ever knowing his Mia! Owen thought in rage as he walked towards the car. Instead of approaching Mia directly, he headed for the driver’s side and flung open the door without caring who was inside.

Everything happened so quickly. Before Mia could intervene, he yanked Neil out of the car by his collar.

Neil, who had been caught off guard by a strange man who dared to pull him out of his own car, frowned in displeasure. He was not just an ordinary person; he had undergone rigorous training for years, in addition to his military experience, and only a few people in the country could surpass him in combat and armed tactics. Neil had earned his reputation as the infamous Neil Wayner by not just being the country’s Major General. Thus, his trained instincts kicked in the moment the other man lunged at him.

With a calculated ease, Neil deftly blocked Owen’s punch, his movements precise and unhurried. A cold smirk played on his lips as he effortlessly countered, delivering a calculated blow that sent Owen staggering backward, and not waiting for him to find his balance, Neil charged at him again. He had been itching to really hit someone for the past few days, and this man just happened to cross boundaries when he had been minding his business in his car waiting for the girl to step down.

"You fucking messed with the wrong person, man!" Neil gritted with an arrogant tone, gripping Owen’s collar and landing another punch at his face. His gray eyes, usually indifferent, now held a glint of something darker as he relished asserting dominance.

As Owen crumpled to the ground, Mia subconsciously rushed towards him, "Owen, are you alright?" She asked in concern upon noticing his bleeding nose.

Neil’s gaze briefly hardened at the mention of Owen’s name, a flicker of realization crossing his face. So this was the childhood best friend that replaced him in her life? He thought with a strong dislike towards the other man. Though he hadn’t seen Owen’s face when he was in Mia’s room that day, but he had disliked him immediately he noticed how annoyingly persistent he was. He was too protective for a friend, and his actions now did nothing to make Neil like him any better.

Seeing how people were starting to gather around them and looking as if they would attack Neil for beating up one of their town folks, Mia frowned in worry. Owen was clearly the one to start the fight, but to the town folks who valued their class over rich people wouldn’t hesitate to join hands and beat up her professor.

"Who the hell do you think you are for hitting him?" Yelled one of the men in the crowd as he stepped forward. Just because he drove to their town in an expensive car didn’t mean they wouldn’t beat him up for beating someone from their town.

If they knew who he really was, they wouldn’t dare be asking him or even attempt to fight him. However, Neil wasn’t going to lower himself and fight a bunch of drunken commoners. He had better things to do. He glanced at Mia and saw her holding Owen’s arm while looking up at him. He looked away and decided to just leave. Besides the girl he had gone through the trouble to drive home had picked to side with her childhood sweetheart.

However, Owen wasn’t satisfied yet. He was still boiling with rage from where he was thrown to the ground. He clenched his fingers around a stone on the ground in anger, and seeing that the man was about to turn away and get into his car, Owen was fueled by his rage. He grabbed the stone and hurled it at Neil’s face then stood up while jerking his arm away from Mia.

Time seemed to freeze as the stone collided with Neil’s forehead. His stoic expression wavered for a moment, a subtle flinch betraying the impact of the stone against his forehead. For a moment, Neil didn’t move and stood rooted in his spot in disbelief. Blood trickled down his face yet he didn’t move.

"How dare you touch Mia?! Who do you think you are?!" Owen asserted in rage. He had watched over Mia for years but now some stupid arrogant man had taken her before he could even claim his love for her, that he wouldn’t allow it! He wasn’t blind not to recognize the gray eyed man from that night when he bumped into him on the stairs. Which also meant he had come from Mia’s room that day. What had they been doing in her room?

The air thickened with tension as Neil slowly looked up, meeting Owen’s determined blue eyes. The simmering anger in Neil’s gaze slowly transformed into a burning rage as his fists tightened with a crunching sounds.

The onlookers held their breath, sensing the impending storm from the strange man as he glared at Owen murderously. They might not know who Neil was, but they knew danger when they saw one. And this man before them, wasn’t someone they would want to offend with that look in his eyes; not to mention the kind of car he drove. They had only meant to scare him away so he wouldn’t end up beating one of their town folks, but it seemed Owen was stupid enough to throw a stone at him when the man was already willing to leave!