Chapter 197 You Can Have It Back! Who Cares, Anyway?
Alexander’s face sank, and he fiercely shook off her hand.
“What are you doing? You startled me!” Courtney shot him a discontented look.
“Didn’t you say that it’s over between us? Do people who have broken up still touch each other like that?” Alexander’s tone was cold and distant, but if she listened carefully, she could hear a hint of resentment in his voice.
The look on Courtney’s face was matter-of-fact. “How else was I supposed to unlock it? Can you stop fussing over everything?”
“You could’ve asked for the PIN.”
There’s more than one way to unlock a phone.
Courtney was speechless. Peeved, she turned off his phone, then said, “All right, tell me what’s the PIN.”
He paused for a second, then two words rang out in the car. “Your birthday.”
Courtney was shocked.
She admitted that both she and Alexander were considerably sensible people, so they weren’t exactly romantics when it came to relationships. She wasn’t even like the average girl who would look through her boyfriend’s phone and messages.
Personal space was a must.
Therefore, it was a surprise to find out that Alexander’s PIN was her birthday.
The car was silent, and she could hear the sounds of the waves lapping against the rocks, as well as the whistling of the mountain breeze. She was skeptical as she lowered her head and keyed in her birthday precisely.
A thought struck her all of a sudden. Her birthday this year was spent with Alexander, and after leaving the cemetery where they paid their respects to her mother, he had held her hand in front of Alicia, appearing absolutely certain and confident.
What did he tell Aunt Alicia that time?
She was doubtful, but the two of them had been so frightening that she dared not ask what they were talking about.
“Where were you headed?” Alexander’s voice sounded beside her, clear and distinct as if nothing had happened.
“Oh, Eldham Town.” Returning to her senses, Courtney glanced at him, then remembered that she wanted to call Cameron and tell her that she was safe.
The sound of the engine drowned out the howling of the wind. After staring at the phone for a long time, Courtney rolled her eyes at Alexander. “Your phone doesn’t have reception either. Why’d you even give it to me?”
Alexander frowned. “Did I say that there was reception on my phone?”
“Aren’t rich people’s phones supposed to be equipped with a GPS? Unlike us peasants’ phones?”
Alexander was at a complete loss for words when he heard Courtney’s senseless comeback. “Miss Hunter, from your point of view, do you think that rich people need to drive their own cars?”
Isn’t a rich person driving her to her destination now?
While they were bickering, the car sputtered and visibly slowed down.
Not long after, Alexander parked the car on the side of the road. They had started driving for less than a minute, and Courtney’s Audi was still fifty meters behind them.
“What happened?”
Sensing Courtney’s uncertainty, Alexander pointed at the fuel gauge and said, “We’re out of gas.”
The fuel level had long passed the minimum warning line and was now empty.
“Oh my God! How could you do this?” Courtney simply couldn’t believe it. “It was already so low and you didn’t even bother to refuel?”
Alexander was already in a dark mood, so when he heard her reproval, his expression changed immediately. “Isn’t this all because of you?”
When he was on the highway, there was a gas station at the rest area. However, when he received Gale’s call, he turned around in an instant. He was speeding the entire way, so how could he be bothered to refuel?
Courtney fell silent as soon as she heard Alexander’s retort.
Looking at his sour expression, a hint of annoyance flashed across her face.
How was she supposed to explain the excitement and disbelief she felt when she saw him in the deserted wilderness?
How was she supposed to explain that she was pretending to be indifferent and reserved because she didn’t want to bow down and give up on the self-respect that she had tried so hard to recover?
And how was she supposed to explain that she had initially thought that his existence was a blessing and a curse, but in the days without him, she finally knew what it was like to have trouble sleeping at night?
After a long moment of silence, Alexander seemed to have calmed down. “Let’s stay here first. Trucks will come down this road tomorrow morning; we can ask for help then.”
After saying that, he shot Courtney another glance. “If you’re tired, you can go to the back and rest.”
Alexander’s car was a remodeled MPV, so the backseat could be adjusted and turned into a temporary bed that was rather spacious.
“Okay,” Courtney answered awkwardly before stepping out of the car and getting into the backseat.
After adjusting the seats, a suit jacket tinged with the cool scent of his perfume was tossed from the front.
For a moment, Courtney was stunned. After clutching his jacket for a long while, she managed to force out the words. “Thank you.”
Alexander grunted bleakly. Then, in the driver’s seat, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
Courtney proceeded to lie down as well.
The sunroof overhead was open, and a full moon could be seen through the layer of glass. It looked like a hole had pierced through the night—as if there was an endless unknown beyond the vast universe.
“How did Cameron contact you?” Courtney asked suddenly. She really just wanted to test if Alexander was asleep.
Half of the back of his head poked out from the driver’s seat, and her voice echoed in the car for a while. Just when she thought that Alexander had fallen asleep, she got a response.
His voice was a little muffled as he replied, “Gale called me.”
Gale?
Courtney didn’t expect that Cameron would dare to contact him again.
Alexander was somewhat dissatisfied as well, so he said bluntly, “It’s one thing to be acting out of urgent expediency, but if Cameron really wanted to break up with Gale, I hope she doesn’t give him any more hope in the future. Doing a sloppy job of ending a relationship isn’t a good thing.”
Upon hearing this, Courtney’s brows furrowed. With her elbows propped up on the cushion, the top half of her body was raised as she shifted her gaze to the front. “Cameron isn’t that kind of person. She meant it when she said that they were broken up; she wouldn’t deliberately lead someone on. Don’t slander my friend.”
“Slander?” Alexander gave a bitter laugh. “From what I know, no quarrels or disputes happened between Gale and your friend. You saw how much Gale has changed. If it wasn’t because she was just on the hunt for rich men, how do you justify her rejection of Gale’s proposal? Leaving after profiting off of others; is that both of your styles?”
He was obviously pointing an accusatory finger at her.
A bitter expression appeared on Courtney’s face. “Who are you accusing of leaving after profiting off of others? You’d better make yourself clear; don’t give me indirect criticisms. That day at the Duncans’, it was obviously you… you…”
Just thinking about it made her wound ache—both the physical wound and the one in her heart. After several attempts, Courtney still couldn’t get the words out.
She gritted her teeth as tears brimmed her eyes. Hurling his jacket at his head, she snapped, “You can have it back! Who cares, anyway?”
With that, she pushed open the door and walked into the night without turning back.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, Alexander was silent at first. As he watched her gradually disappear, he gritted his teeth and got out of the car before chasing after her.
“Courtney.”
“Let go of me.”
“Don’t you know that you’re going to get into trouble if you wander around this late at night?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Do you really have to talk to me like that?” The man’s irritated voice echoed throughout the wilderness.
