Out of Control: Into Your Everything-Chapter 141: Why Were They Fighting?

"You’re single right now, so how do you have a girlfriend?" Scarlett Shaw sniffed, glancing down at his arm wrapped around her waist. "Hands off. And don’t touch me."

Julian Ford didn’t let go. "You always say I talk shit, but look who’s throwing boomerangs now. Pretty good at it, aren’t you?"

Scarlett: "I’ve evolved, thanks to your cautionary tale."

Julian: "Give me either your phone or WhatsApp, at least one."

"Not happening."

Scarlett stood firm, totally not backing down.

Julian lowered his gaze, staring at her.

His eyes were calm and unreadable, impossible to tell if he was happy or pissed, but Julian Ford like this was intimidating enough.

But Scarlett wasn’t scared. Right now, she felt invincible, like she could join the national debate team. Mood: ten out of ten.

"Aren’t all you Fords up on your high horses, nothing you can’t do? Ryan Ford could stalk me as easily as scrolling through Twitter, always finding new dirt. Aren’t you the big brother? Aren’t you supposed to be even more capable than him?"

Julian’s icy stare softened when he saw the little twinkle in her almond eyes. With a faint smile, he said:

"You really have leveled up. Now you dare to block me and talk about me like I’m Ryan, huh? To you, I’m just another Ford."

"Pretty much. You brothers are two peas in a pod. If the younger one’s crooked, you can bet the older one’s not straight either."

Scarlett finished, casually shoved Julian, and slapped away his hand from her waist.

"Enough. Stop bugging me. Goodbye."

She started to walk away, but out of the corner of her eye saw Julian’s brows knit together for a split second, then quickly returned to normal.

The fight Julian and Ryan had earlier? Totally not for show. They went full force. No way either came out of it unscathed. Her shove just now probably hurt too.

Scarlett pretended she didn’t notice.

Then she remembered, uncontrollably, last year when Julian got hurt in the stomach. If she hadn’t found out, he would’ve just sucked it up, not given a damn about those wounds.

"Don’t forget to put medicine on those injuries."

In the end, she couldn’t help but remind him.

Julian looked at her deeply. "Yeah."

His voice was low and cold, like moonlight falling from the night sky.

Scarlett’s pupils flickered. She jogged past him, not looking back, disappearing into the elevator hall.

The moonlight was gentle, but distant and cool.

Julian stood tall and silent, watching Scarlett’s back vanish from sight, watching the light turn on in her apartment, then switch off again, before turning and walking away alone.

...

The next day, when Scarlett got to work and sat at her desk, she was immediately bombarded by two colleagues’ nosy yet cautious stares.

She tried to ignore them, but thanks to Julian Ford burning the midnight oil with her last night, the overtime was a breeze. Meaning she actually had free time today. And in the three-person group chat, her idle coworkers were dying to gossip.

Lily: Last night’s rom-com and action flick left me hanging. Such a shame, right Scarlett?

Skyler Miller: Seriously, with President Ford starring and The Fords’ Second Son making a guest appearance, Scarlett, you were front row—why were they fighting?

Scarlett: ...

Scarlett: How did I never notice you two are masters at asking questions you already know the answer to?

Lily: So just tell us, is President Ford your boyfriend or not?

Scarlett: Maybe you should add "ex" to that label.

Lily: ???

Skyler Miller: No way. With the way President Ford and his brother were throwing down—giving us a live "dance battle"—you sure it wasn’t pure jealousy? Like, gladiator love triangle?

Scarlett: ...

"Dance battle"—now that was hilarious. Thinking about the Ford brothers’ tension, Scarlett crying buckets, and the whole heavy drama scene, that phrase definitely added some slapstick to it.

Remembering it, Scarlett instantly cringed so hard she could dig a three-bedroom apartment with her toes.

Really, being a turtle in her shell wasn’t so bad.

At least it saved her social life from annihilation.

Skyler and Lily teased Scarlett for a while and then backed off, both getting back to work.

While working, Scarlett noticed the date at the bottom of her computer and remembered she had a debt to pay off. So she whipped out her phone and sent the money.

But barely a minute later, the person sent it straight back, telling her the debt had already been cleared—a month ago.

Scarlett froze for a second.

She got a nagging suspicion, so she checked her other debts. All paid off, all about a month back.

Only one person could’ve forked out that much cash and cleared her debts like that—Julian Ford. No question.

Sure, for her these debts would’ve taken decades, but for Julian, it wasn’t even pocket change.

But still, it was her life to sort out, and rich or not, Julian had zero obligation to bail her out.

Scarlett felt conflicted.

Debts paid off—good. But now wasn’t Julian technically her creditor?

She was mouthing off to him yesterday, and today she’s got his money in her pocket. Not only was she not embarrassed, she even felt secretly delighted.

Yep—

Money really is the root of all evil.

Scarlett was so caught up she even showed up to dinner with Yana Yarrow, all pouty and sighing.

Yana asked, "You two still haven’t made up?"

Scarlett shook her head.

Yana: "You gonna break up?"

Scarlett shook her head again.

Yana got it—the couple were just in fight mode.

Scarlett: "Julian Ford paid off all my debts."

"Isn’t that a good thing?" Yana didn’t look the least surprised. "Julian just cleared your biggest headache. Now all your future earnings go straight to your own wallet. Didn’t you say you wanted to buy a place once your debts were gone? That dream’s come fifteen years early! Time to pop the champagne!"

Scarlett was silent for a bit.

She remembered the fat red envelope Julian had WhatsApped her last time.

That amount was more than enough for a down payment in Capitoline—even with a loan, a little apartment would be a cinch.

But with them barely on speaking terms, that’s not a minor gesture. Maybe she was getting a little too comfy accepting it.

Yana caught her unease and said,

"You don’t have to feel bad. Julian does this stuff because he cares about you. You care about him, too—otherwise you wouldn’t still think about him even when you’re fighting. Relationships are all about that, right? I do what I can for you, you do what you can for me, and we both care about each other. Isn’t that the point?"

"Besides, there’s no such thing as ’natural chemistry.’ All those couples who go the distance? They squabble and make up and slowly figure things out."

"And listen, I never once heard Julian Ford go out of his way for any woman before."

Even Yana, like everyone else, always thought Julian and Zoe Sutton were the perfect match—polite, classy, textbook couple.

Thinking back, no wonder no drama ever leaked about those two—it was all smoke and mirrors.

Scarlett: "So following your logic, maybe I should just bow down to money?"

Like they say, offend whoever you want—just never offend the almighty RMB, right?

Yana burst out laughing. "Is it really about caving to cash, or is it because Julian Ford did all that and you can’t stay mad?"

Scarlett scratched her nose. "Both."

Yana raised an eyebrow.

Scarlett put on a straight face, looking determined enough to join the Communist Party: "Seriously."

No matter what, you gotta respect the almighty RMB.

"Let yourself soften up, sure, but don’t let him off too easy," Yana said suddenly.

Scarlett gave her a confused look.

Yana: "Every couple goes through the crash, the re-adjust, then cruise control. You and Julian are rushing through stage two. Make him sweat awhile."

Scarlett: "You sound like a relationship guru all of a sudden. Don’t tell me you’ve been secretly dating a flock of guys without telling me?"

Yana: "You don’t get it. Only us single dogs hit god-level theory."

Scarlett: "All theory, no practice. You try it on the battlefield, crash and burn."

Yana: "..."