My First Love Died, Now My Step Uncle Wants Me-Chapter 133: Entanglement

It was a while before Nina Wynn answered the phone.

She didn’t speak, and it was so quiet he could hear her breathing.

Caleb Rhodes’s voice was a little cold. "You went back to the hotel by yourself?"

She answered softly from the other end, then asked, "Are you with... with your family, Caleb?"

Even over the phone, Caleb Rhodes could tell something was off, but he was also upset.

She had gone back to the hotel on her own without sending a single text or making a single call.

’She’s twenty now, not ten. She should have that much common sense.’

But he had forgotten that for all these years, Nina Wynn had been on her own. She was long accustomed to relying only on herself, so when something happened, her first instinct was to handle it alone.

He gripped the phone tighter, his expression indifferent. "I’m with friends. I might be back late tonight. I’ll have the kitchen send some food up. Call me if you need anything."

Nina murmured her assent and said nothing more.

Just then, Rosalind Lowell suddenly laughed. "Is that Nina? I’m here with Caleb. We’re going to that restaurant we used to go to all the time. Do you want to come join us?"

The moment she finished speaking, Nina hung up.

Rosalind Lowell glanced at the phone and smiled. "Is Nina here too? How come I haven’t seen her?"

Caleb Rhodes managed a noncommittal "Mm" in response.

He had no intention of sharing anything about Nina with anyone, nor did he want anyone getting between them.

A glint appeared in Rosalind Lowell’s eyes.

The tone Caleb Rhodes had just used with Nina Wynn filled her with a profound sense of danger.

She had grown up with Caleb Rhodes and was intimately familiar with his every word and action.

He was cold and heartless, almost never initiating contact with people, let alone proactively calling someone to check on them, explaining he’d be home late, and even thoughtfully arranging for their dinner.

Most terrifying of all, she had the strong sense that something was going on between them.

A single man like him, living alone with a twenty-year-old girl—it was already questionable.

And now, his attentiveness towards this young girl was so shocking it completely upended the twenty-plus years of her understanding of him.

’No matter what their relationship is, I have to make my move!’

Rosalind Lowell’s eyes twinkled, and she smiled gently. "Caleb, it’s the middle of winter. It must be inconvenient for a man like you to be running around with a young girl. If you’re worried about her, let her stay with me for a few days. I promise I’ll whip her into shape to your satisfaction."

Caleb Rhodes’s tone was curt. "No need. She’s shy around strangers."

Rosalind Lowell was momentarily speechless, fuming internally, but her face remained wreathed in an exceptionally gentle smile. "She didn’t have a good upbringing, and her relatives are all low-class. She’s probably picked up some bad habits. If she’s with me, I can find someone to properly teach her etiquette and some common knowledge."

Caleb Rhodes frowned. "Not necessary."

He had considered having Nina Wynn learn some etiquette, but he had already missed too much of her life over the years. From now on, he decided, he would not entrust anything related to Nina to anyone else.

His blunt refusal set off alarm bells in Rosalind Lowell’s mind.

Caleb Rhodes valued Nina Wynn too highly. Even Crystal Rhodes had never received such treatment.

Rosalind Lowell lowered her head, her eyes turning red. "Caleb, is it that you don’t trust me? I thought we could still be like we were before, but now you..."

Caleb Rhodes shook his head and patted her shoulder reassuringly. His voice was light. "You’re overthinking it."

After saying that, he told the driver in front, "Drive faster."

*****

Back at the hotel, Nina Wynn sat in her room in a daze.

The room was exactly as she had left it. Caleb Rhodes’s overcoat hung on the rack, and the watch he hadn’t worn was lying on the bedside table.

Even the air retained a trace of the scent from their entanglement.

’I only wanted a few days, but not even one full day has passed before the rightful owner showed up.’

After sitting for a while, she couldn’t resist pulling out her phone and logging into her side account.

The post she’d made in the afternoon had already started trending and been shared many times.

’Ivy Lawson must be ready to explode from all the harassing calls and texts by now.’

’Everything she did to me is now coming back to haunt her.’

’Serves her right!’

After scrolling through Ivy Lawson’s post for a while, she finally gave in and tapped on a certain user’s profile.

An account named "LowellAndRhodes."

It only had a few hundred followers. It was Rosalind Lowell’s side account, one that Nina Wynn had spent a lot of effort to find.

This side account was old, and it was all just posts about little things from her daily life.

But within Rosalind’s posts, she had discovered many traces of Caleb Rhodes.

Like the photo Rosalind posted a few days ago, a picture of a hand wearing a ring. The inconspicuous letter "Y" on the ring was all the proof she needed.

After looking for a moment, Nina discovered the account’s profile picture had been changed. It was a photo of a small bear.

It was identical to Caleb Rhodes’s chat avatar.

An empty ache started in Nina Wynn’s heart. She stared at that profile picture for a long time.

’So, they’re using matching couples’ avatars?’

After a long while, Nina Wynn finally came back to her senses. Just as she was about to exit the account, she suddenly noticed that Rosalind Lowell had posted an update.

It was two photos.

One was a photo of two people’s hands with their fingers intertwined. Although it was blurry, you could make out a silver ring on the man’s middle finger.

In the other photo, two articles of clothing were thrown messily on a hotel bed, and next to them, a lean, strong arm was visible.

’So incredibly suggestive!’

An image of Caleb Rhodes and Rosalind Lowell tumbling together on a large bed appeared uncontrollably in Nina Wynn’s mind.

She remembered his reddened eyes, his sweat-slicked chest, the way he gripped her waist and thrust fiercely into her.

Those suggestive, intimate memories now turned into sharp swords, piercing her heart.

She sat in the room for a very, very long time, and finally picked up her phone again.

Rosalind Lowell’s voice came through. "Is that Nina? Caleb’s still in the shower. Do you need something?"

Her voice was clear and sweet, with a slight pant. Even over the phone, the suggestive undertones were unmistakable.

Nina Wynn felt as if her heart was being violently yanked out of her chest, and the empty ache started all over again.

She didn’t say a word. She just hung up, stood, and slowly walked out.

At the restaurant, Rosalind Lowell looked at the disconnected call. Before she could delete the call log, she saw Caleb Rhodes coming out of the restroom.

She smiled and held up her phone. "I think that was Nina calling. She hung up as soon as I answered. That girl is just too introverted. She doesn’t handle formal occasions well."

Caleb Rhodes took his phone and looked. It was, indeed, a call from Nina Wynn.

He called back.

No one answered.

He dialed again. Still no answer. The third time he called, she hung up on him immediately.

A layer of ice entered his eyes. He quickly dialed Willson Lawson’s number. "Go and see what Nina is doing."

He hung up, and ignoring Rosalind Lowell’s shocked expression, he grabbed his coat and walked out. "That’s all for today. Something’s come up, I have to go."

Back at the hotel, Nina Wynn wandered into the hot spring room in a stupor.

Her mind was filled with images of Caleb Rhodes and Rosalind Lowell tangled together, driving her to the point where she felt her head would explode.

She didn’t even know how she had gotten into the hot spring room.

She soaked in the hot spring for so long that her skin started to wrinkle. Then, still in a daze, she got out, casually threw on a bathrobe, and fell asleep on a nearby lounge chair.

At some unknown point, the door to the hot spring room was pushed open, and a young man reeking of alcohol stumbled in.