Echoes Of a Forsaken Heart

Chapter 159 Ryan followed Natalia into the elevator and then cclean.

"I saw Hamilton downstairs just now, so I figured I'd cup with you. He's probably here to see you, right?" Natalia paused for a second.

She hadn't noticed Hamilton.

But whether he cor not didn't really make much difference to her now.

"Does tea keep you up at night?" she asked directly.

It took Ryan a moment to catch on, but then he realized she truly didn't care anymore.

She was letting herself move on.

"Nope." He looked at Natalia and chuckled. "You know your stuff about tea?" Natalia nodded. "Took a class." Ryan's eyes twinkled. "Well then, you might be in for strouble. My granddad's a real tea aficionado. Looks like we'll be calling on your expertise." Natalia laughed, "Alright, I'll have to show him my skills one of these days." They chatted and laughed as they stepped out of the elevator.

As soon as they did, the elevator next to them opened, too.

Hamilton's gaze landed on their smiling faces, and it felt like a punch to the gut.

Especially Ryan's smile-it just looked so off.

A grown man grinning like that-it was almost like he was selling himself short.

Natalia's stride faltered, and her brows furrowed.

"Mr. Fowler, is there something you need?" Hamilton looked at Natalia, suddenly at a loss for words.

Need something? Of course, he did.

He was there to keep an eye on Ryan, to make sure he didn't get any funny ideas.

But he didn't really have a leg to stand on for that now.

"I got a room here," Hamilton said, his gloomy expression laced with a touch of nonchalant ease.

Natalia's brows furrowed deeply. "What?" Hamilton let out a laugh. "After what happened to you last night, I couldn't just ignore it." Natalia hesitated, then fell silent.

She turned and unlocked her own door.

Ryan followed her in.

But as he started to close the door, Hamilton stopped him.

Ryan stood in the doorway, "Aren't you going back to your room, Mr. Fowler?" Hamilton's eyes bore into Ryan. "Mr. Holzer, you were all about preserving Ms. Jenkins' reputation before, and now you're shamelessly entering her room in the middle of the night?" Hamilton's words were harsh.

Ryan didn't take it to heart; he could understand Hamilton's mindset.

Seeing the woman you like getting close to another man-it's bound to sting.

He didn't mind letting Hamilton vent a bit.

Natalia's expression, however, turned sour.

"Ryan, just close the door!" Ryan gave Hamilton a smile and unceremoniously shut the door in his face.

Hamilton stared at the door that had been closed right before his eyes, his face setting into a frosty mask.

A passing bellhop tentatively asked, "Sir, do you need an ashtray?" Hamilton shot a glacial look his way.

The bellhop didn't dare say another word and quickly scuttled off. Inside the room.

Natalia went to boil swater, planning to make Ryan a cup of tea.

Ryan stopped her right away.

"What happened last night?" Natalia hesitated. "Thalia showed up with a guy, trying to start trouble." Ryan's brows knitted together instantly. "How cyou didn't call me?" "There wasn't time." Last night, everything happened so fast-from Thalia showing up to Hamilton dealing with it-it was over in minutes. Ryan still felt uneasy.

If there wasn't tlast night, what about today? He had been with Natalia all day, and she hadn't mentioned a thing.

He was the one who had brought Natalia to this hotel, and while Natalia had a problem, he was clueless, but Hamilton knew all about it.

Yet, given the current nature of his relationship with Natalia, he couldn't really say anything.

"From now on, could you call me, no matter what it is?" Natalia smiled and nodded.

Ryan balanced his approach, not pressing further, and they switched topics to sissues at the Foreign Office. He didn't stay too long.

It was his oversight before.

Indeed, as Hamilton had pointed out, it was inappropriate for him to stay in Natalia's room so late at night. After chatting for a while, he stood up to leave.

Hamilton was still standing outside when a lady from the neighboring room saw him and jumped with a start.

"Young man, what are you doing out here at this hour?" Hamilton was annoyed and frowned at the interruption.

Before he could reply, the lady seemed to have an epiphany. "Oh, did your girlfriend kick you out?" The corner of Hamilton's mouth twitched, but he didn't clarify.

Now, he suddenly found the idea of Natalia as his girlfriend rather appealing.

Seeing his expression, the lady quickly added with a laugh, "Well, you'd better apologize quickly, then." Hamilton's brows furrowed. "She's not easy to appease." "It doesn't matter how tough she is; you gotta try unless you don't want her as your girlfriend anymore." Hamilton's eyes flashed, and just as he was about to speak, Natalia's door opened.

Ryan and Natalia stepped out together.

The lady paused, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Hamilton and Ryan.

Finally, she gave Hamilton a look of utter contempt.

"A handsguy like you; I can't believe you turned out to be the other man." Hamilton's face was as dark as a thundercloud.

He had never been spoken to like that before.

"They're not a couple!" His voice was firm as he corrected her.

The lady still looked disgusted. "But she lets him into her room, not you." Hamilton's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

Before he could explain, the lady had already slipped into her room.

A heavy chill enveloped Hamilton.

Natalia turned to Ryan. "Be careful on your way home." Ryan nodded, then looked at Hamilton.

"Mr. Fowler, aren't you going to your room?" Hamilton let out a cold laugh. "What's it to you?" Ryan smiled and turned back to Natalia.

"Make sure you lock the door at night." Natalia nodded.

Hamilton let out a derisive snort from the side. Who was that comment aimed at? Ryan said nothing more and stepped into the elevator.

As Natalia was about to close the elevator door, Hamilton blocked her way again.

Her brows knitted together in an instant.

"Mr. Fowler, do I need to call security?" Hamilton's gaze was heavy as he looked at her. "I just have one question for you." Natalia pressed her lips together and said nothing, but she didn't repeat her threat to call security.

After a moment of silence, Hamilton spoke.

"Are you going to say yes to him?"

Natalia nodded. "I want to try, Hamilton. I want to live a normal life, a not forever be someone's dirty little E secret." "You're actually going to give it a shot with him?" Natalia let out a laugh. "What's wrong with that?" The expression on Hamilton's face began to crack.

Suddenly, he wanted to tell Natalia that he, too, could offer her a normal life.

But as the words reached the tip of his tongue, he swallowed them back down.

He couldn't offer it.

And he didn't want to.

What was a normal life anyway? Marriage, kids...

But he didn't want that. Not in this lifetime. He had no desire to entangle himself with love and marriage.

Natalia watched the emotions play across his face, let out a scoff, and slammed the door shut.

The next day.

Natalia caught the early flight back to Silkwood City.

She didn't run into Hamilton, nor did she go out of her way to check his flight details.

Ryan had intended to see her off, but she declined.

Leaving the airport, she hailed a taxi and went straight back to the office.

Before boarding the plane, Tess had called her, informing her that then company's new Marketing Manager had arrived. chapter there! ad the latest Natalia, of course, rushed back to start the transition.

Just before closing time, her phone rang. It was Ronin.

"Ms. Jenkins, are you free? How about dinner?" Natalia thought for a moment she did indeed need to have a talk with Ronin-so she agreed.

Little did she expect that as soon as she stepped into the restaurant, she e would run into a few familiar faces. And not just any faces-Hamilton, Victor, and Eveleen. The three people she least wanted to see were all here.