Female Novel
Chapter 42
Chapter 42 Senior Crawford, Luke Crawford, One And The Same
After Luke left, Bianca stood at the door and stared for a long time. 1
He was right, and the doctor's diagnosis was right too. However, she did not know if she was right. Herbody and senses had completely betrayed her.
There would probably be very few women who would not feel anything for such an accomplished andcapable man.
However, when faced with a man as superior as Luke Crawford, many women would appraisethemselves. They would consider if they had any right to feel anything for him, and what theconsequences would be.
Aside from someone like Charlotte Shaw, which normal woman would be able to match up to him?
Bianca knew herself well, so she had managed to keep her defenses up all this while. Today, though,when he forced her so overbearingly, her body had thrown in the towel and betrayed. It almost felt asthough this body was not hers...
"Your body will speak the truth your mouth does not." That sentence was actually extremelydiscriminatory, but today, Bianca had to tragically admit that there was some truth in it.
She hated herself the way she was now.
She hated her body, which succumbed to his rough touch so easily, even more.
That night, Bianca did not sleep well at all.
First, she had to clean the soiled sheets before she could lie down in bed. Even then, her mind wasfilled with too many things, and her early period made her body feel exceedingly uncomfortable too.
At Crawford Manor.
Blanche stood in the first-floor living room, looking solemnly at his younger sister, who was drinkingmilk on the first second-floor landing. 'Take your time, drink it slowly."
Just then, Old Master Crawford entered the house from the yard and looked around before asking,"Your father isn't back yet?"novelbin
Rainie's mouth was covered in a milk mustache as she shook her head at her great-grandfather.
"He isn't at work either." Louis Crawford sat on the black leather couch, placing his legs on the coffeetable and putting his phone down as he addressed the old man, "Maybe my brother has a dog outside."
"A dog?" Old Master Crawford leaned against his cane, but he could not figure it out. His eldergrandson, Luke, was always a bit of a neat freak.
Why would he have a dog? Why would he keep it outside?
There was a huge garden right here at home. He had plenty of space to keep a dog here.
Blanche looked around, his impish eyes turning. He hurriedly wiped his little sister's mouth beforerunning back to his uncle and saying with a grin, "Uncle Louis, does my dad really have a dog?"
He really loved dogs!
"You kids and old men don't get it. I meant, my brother may have found himself a b- I mean, a femaledog." Louis had wanted to say "b*tch", but there were two kids here, so he refrained.
If he actually said it out loud, his grandfather would probably beat him to death with his walking cane!
This time, the old man saw through the generation gap with his younger grandson and somehowunderstood what the latter meant!
Old Master Crawford sat on the couch and tapped his cane onto the marble floor, deep in thought-True, Luke was not too young anymore. He had children, yes, but he never had any women with him. Itwas inevitable that...
He was a man, after all, and men had needs.
Old Master Crawford remembered the call he had received from the
Shaws that afternoon,
Director Shaw was adamant on having his daughter marry into the Crawfords, but at the same time, hisolder grandson might have a woman out there.
What should he do now?
The next day, the sky cleared after the rain.
Bianca got up early in the morning.
It was rare for her to get the week off, so she took the supplement prescription Dr. Joyce gave her lastnight and left the house.
The department store was right next to the subway station, so Bianca walked toward it.
It was a working day, and there were far fewer people inside than there usually were on a Sunday.
Bianca brought her shopping cart to the shelf with the brown sugar and put one packet into her cartbefore heading off to get some fresh ginger.
Finally, she pushed her cart to the sanitary napkin aisle.
She was taking a packet of night-safe when some called her name, "Bianca ... Bianca Rayne?"
Bianca looked toward the voice, turning her head.
That person had just only arrived at the sanctuary napkin aisle too. She saw Bianca before she couldpick her poison, but it had been many years since they last met, so she did not dare to run up toBianca. Instead, she just called Bianca’s name tentatively. 1
The moment Bianca turned around to face her, she heard the girl scream," Is it really you, Bianca?!"
Bianca looked at her blankly.
"Aaaah, it really is you!" 1
The girl ran right toward her and enveloped Bianca in a hug.
That hug was so tight that Bianca could barely breathe...
After a while, the girl finally let go of her, tears in her eyes as she said, "Do you remember me? Wewere in the same class in middle school. I sat in the back row because I was too tall. My mother wasour English teacher, and she gave you tuition at one point too!"
Bianca nodded at her. "You're Claudia Clinton."
"You remember my name?" Claudia had always been a bit boyish, but now she was touched to reunitewith her old classmate that she nearly burst into tears.
The two of them had been in the same class for all three years of middle school, and they had eveneaten cup noodles together at the school store before.
Such schoolyard friendships were actually quite common, but not for Bianca. This was because Biancaused to be bullied all the time at school, and Claudia was the only girl who dared to befriend her. 2
At the same time, their other classmates were somewhat wary of Claudia because her mother was ateacher. In other words, Bianca could avoid their bullying everytime she hung out with Claudia.
After they bought what they needed, they paid and left the store.
Bianca invited Claudia back to her place. The latter nodded and went with her.
When they entered the neighborhood, Claudia said, "My mom had a problem with her leg two yearsago, and the two of US moved here to this city to get it treated."
Claudia’s father was a teacher too, but he had cheated on her mother with a beautiful young teacher atthe school so the two of them had amicably divorced. 1
Bianca knew that Claudia had changed her last name since elementary school to match her mother's.
"How is Ms. Clinton now?" Bianca was more worried about Claudia's mother's health.
Miss Clinton had been very kind to Bianca back then.
Besides, rumor had it that Miss Clinton had specially given the senior named Crawford from the highschool next door some private one-on-one tuition too.... 1
Back then, Bianca did not care what Senior Crawford's real name was. He was only a vague silhouettein her head.
After all, he was so far away and unreachable to her.
Now that she had met Luke Crawford, though, she could not help but compare him to the senior fromback then. No matter how she cut it, they seemed to have similar features. The only difference was thatone of them was a young teen whereas the other was a successful and mature adult man. Thedifference in their personalities and situations was huge.
"My mom had to get an amputation," Claudia replied after a long pause.
Her voice was filled with dejection.
Bianca tried to comfort her, but Claudia shook her head and said she was fine.
When they reached Bianca's door, Claudia seemed to remember something suddenly. She said, "Mymom's having a birthday party next weekend. You gotta come and meet some of our old classmates."
Old classmates...
Those words were supposed to give her a warm and fuzzy feeling, but Bianca shrank away at them.
She was still traumatized by the bullying she suffered as a student.
Claudia did not notice anything amiss, following her into the house as she said, "Last night, my momand I looked through the names in the class register and saw that you were the only one who neveronce attended the gatherings. All the other students my mom used to teach who are in this city nowhave visited before, and they come from all walks of life. There are parcel deliverymen and even CEOsof big companies. They came to visit anyway.”
Bianca remembered Senior Crawford...
If Senior Crawford attended the gathering this year too, she would be able to determine if SeniorCrawford and Luke Crawford really were one and the same...