From Broken to Beloved-Chapter 116- uncontrollably

Catherine offered no comment on the discussion between the two of them. Everything that had happened was Lucca’s own doing—who else could she possibly blame?

At lunchtime, Silvia came over as usual to invite Catherine to eat together, but Amy pulled Silvia aside before she could say much.

"The big boss booked someone’s lunch first thing this morning," Amy said. "Looks like you’ll be eating alone from now on."

"Huh?" Silvia exclaimed.

Still confused and clearly annoyed, Silvia was dragged away by Amy. Catherine smiled, locked her computer, and stood up to go find Bert.

When Catherine arrived at Bert’s office, he was still busy working. Seeing her, he paused what he was doing, walked over, and wrapped an arm around her, speaking apologetically.

"I originally wanted to take you out for lunch, but I didn’t finish some work in time, so I ordered delivery instead..."

Catherine curved her brows and smiled at him.

"It’s fine. Anything is okay."

She wasn’t having lunch with him for the food, after all. She simply wanted to spend a little time with him after a hectic morning. Catherine believed he felt the same way.

As they stood there, gazing at each other, Catherine suddenly realized that after not seeing him all morning, she had actually missed him.

The thought made her feel slightly embarrassed. Just then, she heard him ask softly, his dark eyes fixed on her.

"Did you miss me?"

It felt as though her thoughts had been exposed. Catherine’s expression instantly grew unnatural. She had never been good at hiding her feelings, and her gaze instinctively turned shy and evasive.

Bert saw through her at once. His mood lifted immediately, and he hugged her tighter, lowering his head to murmur by her ear.

"I missed you too."

Catherine, "...."

The word too made it obvious—he had caught on to her feelings. Her face flushed red almost instantly.

Knowing that she shared the same longing, Bert felt the fatigue of the entire morning vanish. He hugged her even more tightly, turning his head to brush kisses against her pale earlobe and flushed cheek. Held gently in his arms like that, Catherine felt her heart tremble uncontrollably.

Only now did Catherine realize that being mutually in love—deeply loved by a man she herself loved, their hearts in perfect sync—was such a beautiful and blissful feeling.

Back when she was with Gerald, Catherine had been happy. She had laughed and felt lighthearted. Yet looking back now, that sweetness felt greatly diminished compared to what she felt with Bert.

At the time, it had probably been nothing more than simple happiness—nothing like the depth of joy she was experiencing now.

It turned out that although she had been in a relationship before, she had never truly understood what real love was.

A knock at the door broke the lingering tenderness in the room. Bert released Catherine and answered,

"Come in."

His assistant entered, carrying their lunch.

"Lord Washington, your lunch has arrived."

Noticing Catherine, the assistant smiled politely at her. Catherine had already stepped away from Bert, and when she saw the assistant smile, she returned the courtesy with one of her own.

After setting the food down, the assistant turned and left.

But instead of immediately sitting down to eat with Catherine, Bert turned to her and called her name seriously,

"Catherine."

She didn’t understand why he had suddenly grown so solemn. He stood there with one hand in his pocket and spoke slowly,

"Now that you’re no longer single, shouldn’t you be a little more careful about smiling so brightly at other men?"

Because of his natural presence, there was no obvious displeasure on his face, nor did his tone sound accusatory or angry. Instead, he spoke calmly, almost gently, posing it as a question—giving her room to realize on her own that her behavior had been inappropriate.

Catherine, "...."

When had she smiled brightly? She had only returned a polite, courteous smile. Wasn’t he being a little... unreasonable? And wasn’t his jealousy flaring up way too easily?

Trying to defend herself, she said,

"If someone smiles at me, am I supposed to greet them with a cold face?"

He raised an eyebrow and asked in return,

"And why not?"

Catherine fell silent again.

She had always been gentle by nature; being cold and aloof simply wasn’t her style. Besides, the assistant hadn’t done anything wrong. If it were Lucca or someone from the Channing family, she could be perfectly icy—but toward Bert’s assistant...

Seeing her troubled expression, Bert lowered his gaze slightly, said nothing more, and turned to arrange the lunch.

"Let’s leave it at that. I just hope that in the future, when you smile at other men, you’ll spare a thought for your boyfriend’s feelings."

Catherine pouted.

He made it sound so calm and reasonable, yet there was absolutely no room for refusal. She couldn’t help thinking that this man’s possessiveness was... a bit too strong.

She didn’t say anything more. Moments like this—being together at noon—were rare, and she didn’t want to waste them arguing over whether she should smile at other men.

They sat down across from each other to eat. When Catherine saw the spread of dishes on the table, she stared at it in surprise.

"You ordered so much food. Can the two of us even finish all this?"

As Bert placed food onto her plate, he replied calmly,

"You’re too thin. You need to eat more."

Catherine was actually quite satisfied with her current weight and figure. What girl didn’t want to be slimmer? She was no exception, so she said,

"Being thin is what’s considered beautiful these days. I think I’m just fine as I am."

"Just fine?" he echoed, then stated firmly,

"I don’t think so. You feel too fragile when I hold you—and as for how you’ll feel in bed later, that might not be ideal either. You need to put on a little more weight."

What Bert wanted to say was that she only needed to gain back to the weight she’d had two years ago. But saying that would’ve given too much away, so he held back. After all, the way her body had felt that night two years ago had been quite... good.

Catherine nearly sprayed the rice from her mouth.

"You—!"

"...Shameless!"

In the end, all she could do was scold him with a flushed face.

Thinking about her "feel in bed"—how could he say something like that so casually? Absolutely shameless!

Yet he showed no embarrassment at all. Instead, he explained seriously,

"For a normal man, thinking about things like that is perfectly normal. Not thinking about it would be abnormal."

Catherine couldn’t take it anymore. She put on a stern face and warned him,

"Are you going to let me eat in peace or not?"

That finally put an end to the topic, and the two of them ate quietly.

Still, Catherine felt that this meal...

...might give her indigestion.

Because every now and then, his comment about "how she’d feel in bed" would resurface in her mind.

Eventually, she managed to come up with another topic to distract herself.

"About Lucca—was that your doing?"

She already knew the answer. It was almost certainly him.

"Mm."

Bert admitted it readily.

"For someone like her, ending things quickly would’ve been letting her off too easily. I prefer this—slowly breaking her. First, ruin her reputation. Let everyone despise her. Then strip everything away from her..."

Taking Lucca’s life was obviously impossible in a law-abiding society. But Bert had plenty of ways to make her suffer. Exposing her plagiarism would ensure she could no longer survive in the design world. Once people knew what kind of person she was, no industry would be willing to work with her.

And once the Channing Group was acquired by Bert and handed over to Catherine, Lucca would lose her means of survival altogether. As for Channing—without the company, he would also be forced to say goodbye to his comfortable, privileged life. Lucca would be left with nothing but poverty.

For someone who had grown up spoiled and pampered like Lucca, that fate would likely be worse than death.

After admitting it, Bert glanced at Catherine.

"Don’t tell me you feel sorry for her."

Knowing how kind-hearted Catherine was, he worried she might think he’d gone too far.

Catherine shook her head immediately, her denial firm.

"How could I? She brought all of this on herself."

No matter how kind she was, she couldn’t allow Lucca to keep hurting her without consequence. Someone as malicious as Lucca—if she weren’t properly dealt with, who knew what she might do next?

So Catherine wouldn’t interfere with Bert. On the contrary, she felt grateful—relieved.

Grateful that at a moment like this, he stood up for her. That he protected her, defended her, and helped her vent her anger.

To Catherine, the way he handled everything was peak boyfriend material.

Looking at him with gentle eyes, she spoke softly again,

"Whatever decisions you make, I support you."

She expressed her trust and support in that soft, sincere tone. Hearing this, Bert’s lips curved into a faint smile.