Chapter 1065: Chapter 1065: Bertha, I will treat you well.
Milne Swift’s arrival disrupted all of Adam Piers’ plans.
The previous arrangements were completely withdrawn. He took Bertha Swift’s hand and got in the car, driving all the way to a private beach closest to the film city.
Bertha Swift had been filming all day and was already exhausted. After Milne Swift’s disturbance, she fell asleep soon after getting in the car. When she woke up, she heard the sound of the waves hitting the beach and looked at the man in surprise.
"Awake?" Adam Piers turned his head at the sound.
"Where are we?" Bertha Swift asked and leaned her head towards the window, seeing the sea not far away. Her shock deepened, as she hadn’t expected to be brought to the beach after just a nap.
"What do you think?" Adam Piers loved Bertha Swift’s adorable, dazed look when she just woke up, with a mischievous and charming smile on his lips.
After speaking, Adam Piers opened the car door and walked around to her side, opening the door gentlemanly, "May I have the honor to invite Miss Swift to dinner?"
Bertha Swift froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but laugh. This man really has the consistent flare of a dandy, going so far just to have a meal. But perhaps because she had slept well, and everything had been sorted out, she was in a good mood and extended her hand to Adam Piers.
Adam Piers took her hand but did not lead her directly to the restaurant; instead, he walked to the back of the car.
"Ah..." Bertha Swift was about to ask if Adam Piers needed to get something, but then the trunk suddenly opened automatically. A row of macaron-colored balloons floated up, followed by a car full of red roses that made Bertha Swift exclaim softly and look at the man beside her.
"Will you be my girlfriend?" Adam Piers asked, looking at her intently.
Bertha Swift’s mouth opened slightly, about to say something, but then heard the man continue, "You are already my girlfriend. Whether good or bad, there’s no option to choose. I’m asking just to formally respect you, because what others have, Adam Piers’ girlfriend must have too."
"Ha." Bertha Swift looked at him incredulously. To respect her formally, it’s odd this man thought of that? Both amused and annoyed, she said, "Are you just afraid I’ll reject you?"
"No way," Adam Piers denied awkwardly.
Bertha Swift suddenly found this man incredibly cute, stood on tiptoe and gave Adam Piers a light peck on the cheek, "Sure."
Adam Piers was stunned by Bertha Swift’s sudden affection, and then heard her say "sure." It took him quite a while to come to his senses, "You’re agreeing?"
From the moment he forced Bertha Swift to be his girlfriend today, he hadn’t given her any chance to refuse, seemingly domineering but actually lacking confidence inside. Deep down, he understood Bertha Swift would never agree to him. But what did he just hear? She said yes? What does her yes mean? Did she agree to him?
A string of questions arose, making Adam Piers somewhat anxious as he looked at Bertha Swift, yet he didn’t want to lose face as the dandy young master, trying to control his excitement.
"Hmm." Compared to Adam Piers’ emotional turbulence, Bertha Swift gently hummed.
Adam Piers’ eyes widened, finally confirming she was genuine. At this point, he didn’t care about his image, reputation, or demeanor, wrapping his arm around Bertha Swift’s waist and lowering himself for a kiss.
Bertha Swift let out a pained whimper and pushed Adam Piers away, her voice slightly whining, "That hurt."
Only then did Adam Piers remember Bertha Swift’s cheek injury, internally cursing Milne Swift, and released Bertha Swift, "I’ll keep that in mind."
Bertha Swift looked at Adam Piers’ serious nonsense, wanting to tease him, but upon meeting his sparkling eyes, she suddenly smiled and picked up a large bouquet of flowers, "Can I hold them?"
After speaking, Bertha Swift just hugged them. Before, she always thought it was cliché for a man to give a woman flowers. But today, watching Adam Piers’ somewhat clumsy attempt at creating romance brought an inexplicable joy to her heart, even making the roses in her hands appear quite beautiful.
Adam Piers nodded, reached out and held Bertha Swift’s hand, "Of course, they are yours. Also, this."
Then Adam Piers, like a magician, pulled out a pair of rings. While Bertha Swift was holding the roses, he slipped them on her fingers smugly, saying triumphantly, "Wearing my ring means you belong to me. Don’t even think of running away in the future."
"What if I want to run?" Bertha Swift looked down at the simple yet exquisite ring and asked with a soft laugh.
"I’ll break your leg," Adam Piers answered without hesitation.
Thinking of this man’s past misdeeds, Bertha Swift rolled her eyes in feigned annoyance, "Jerk."
Yet, despite the mild cursing, she used the hand wearing the ring to hold Adam Piers’ hand firmly, "Now that the ceremony’s over, can I have something to eat?"
This afternoon, she had felt a bit downcast, thinking this man didn’t care enough about her. But unexpectedly, she was romanced by him tonight, feeling fulfilled instead of regretful, enhancing her mood quite remarkably, even seeing Adam Piers as more handsome and charming.
Adam Piers sensed Bertha Swift’s good mood, realizing she was happy because of him, his mood improved further, and he nodded towards her, "Alright."
After speaking, he led Bertha Swift towards the reserved restaurant.
To respect Bertha Swift’s request for confidentiality, Adam Piers had reserved the entire restaurant, and as they entered, the staff respectfully greeted them.
The two sat down, and someone on stage started playing the violin, followed by the gradual arrival of their dinner.
Bertha Swift rested her head on her hand, looking at Adam Piers, "Spent quite an effort, huh?"
Adam Piers felt awkward; he had never seriously dated before. In the past, girls kept throwing themselves at him, and he never needed to pursue or please anyone. This was his first time, for which he consulted a bunch of people, ultimately recalling Brandon Piers’ study collection of romantic guides, from which Pullan had selected the most likely to move her, to try. Due to Bertha Swift’s request for a secret relationship, part of the plan was withdrawn.
Otherwise, he would have made an even bigger scene today.
But whatever the scale of the event was his business; hearing Bertha Swift say this made him embarrassed, pretending to respond nonchalantly, "If not for your insistence on keeping the relationship private, I wouldn’t need to book the entire place."
"I’m very happy." Adam Piers awkwardly said, originally expecting Bertha Swift to counter him as usual, but unexpectedly she simply said she was very happy.
Adam Piers looked at Bertha Swift in surprise.
Bertha Swift’s gaze softened, "I’m very happy to be your girlfriend."
This year her life had been too terrible—forced childbirth and a fallout with her father, kicked out of the Swift family, troubled by Oswald Lewis, sold by her father for thirty million to a forties man. She thought life couldn’t get better anymore and never imagined a man like Adam Piers would be part of her future. Yet, it turned out he was the one who brought her warmth.
Even though she had been resisting it inwardly, Bertha Swift had to admit one thing: she was moved by Adam Piers, and with deeper interactions, she had long been emotionally attached to him.
Today, it seemed she was forced to become his girlfriend. But who could say it wasn’t the direction her heart wanted?
"Hmm?" Adam Piers thought he misheard, and he stared at Bertha Swift.
Bertha Swift suddenly got up and walked to the stage in the restaurant, whispered something to the violinist, who readily handed the violin to her.
Adam Piers was curious about what the woman was going to do, and then he saw Bertha Swift place the violin on her shoulder. The next moment, he heard her soft yet firm voice, "This piece ’Heart and Soul’ is dedicated to Mr. Piers."
Although he had a guess in his heart, Adam was still uncertain. But upon hearing Bertha’s words, his pupils slightly widened, filled with disbelief, followed by an uncontrollable joy. It wasn’t until Bertha returned to her seat that he still felt a bit dazed.
"Do you like it?" Bertha saw Adam staring at her without blinking, and her cheeks felt somewhat hot. She didn’t know what had provoked her today to impulsively walk up, but when she saw the amazement and joy in Adam’s eyes, she felt it was all worth it.
"Yes." Adam tried hard to maintain his composure, but his response still carried a hint of hoarseness. He reached out to hold Bertha’s hand, "Bertha, I will be good to you."
Bertha was slightly stunned. Compared to all the sweet nothings she had heard and seen before, Adam’s words seemed somewhat mundane. Yet, she was inexplicably touched, her heart feeling warm, and she solemnly nodded towards Adam.
Adam looked at Bertha’s rare docile expression, his heart swelling with emotion. It was only when he heard Bertha’s abruptly growling stomach that he hurried her to eat.
The dinner was plentiful, but unfortunately, Adam didn’t really taste anything. He only felt that everything was sweet, as if even the air carried a lingering candy flavor.
After eating, Adam led Bertha to the beach, handing her one of the fireworks that they had packed.
Bertha was confused, and then she saw Adam leading her over, realizing there were a lot of fireworks laid out on the beach, which puzzled her as she looked at Adam.
"I had originally planned to set them off at the film set, but you said no, so I had Ray Leighton bring them here. Only, that fool had a last-minute bug, so we have to light them ourselves." Adam shrugged helplessly.
Bertha was happy to hear this, "Then let’s do it ourselves."
She had always been well-behaved and had never lit fireworks before, so hearing Adam say this made her excited.
Adam looked at Bertha in surprise, his mood soaring as well. The two of them held hands, running barefoot on the beach to light the fireworks. They laughed freely as they watched the fireworks bloom above, and finally, Adam wrapped an arm around Bertha’s waist, "Girlfriend, can I kiss you now?"
Bertha said nothing, gazing up at the suddenly illuminated sky, as if she were in a radiant dream, so beautiful it seemed surreal, until she felt the warmth on her lips, bringing her back to the present, looking at the man beside her without rejecting him, even shyly responding as Adam’s grip tightened.
They kissed all the way from the beach to the beach villa.
It was one of Adam’s properties. Before they arrived, he had the servants clean it—not without some thought in mind. Yet, when he pressed Bertha onto the sofa, it all felt somewhat unreal, and he repeatedly called out "Bertha" with his thin lips.
Bertha, lost in passion from the call, just as things were about to get out of hand, her phone abruptly rang.
The villa was very quiet, with only their breathing and kissing sounds. The ringtone suddenly rang, pulling Bertha’s rationality back, making her realize what she was doing. She quickly pushed Adam away, "Are we... going too fast?"
Adam, interrupted, looked at Bertha with reddened eyes, his handsome face full of unfulfilled desire and a hint of grievance.
Seeing this, Bertha couldn’t bear it and was about to say something when her phone rang again. She could only awkwardly look at Adam, "Can I take this call first?"
"Once you’re done, we can eat?" Adam’s eyes lit up.
Bertha didn’t respond, turning her head to pick up the phone, calling out "Mom" with a guilty conscience when she saw the caller. However, it wasn’t her mother’s voice on the other end.
"Bertha, can you and Adam come back? Auntie is hospitalized." Mary Scott said with some worry and helplessness.
Bertha suddenly sat up, "My mom is hospitalized? Why? Wasn’t she fine when I left?"
"This... it’s hard to explain over the phone. Better to talk about it when you get back." Mary glanced at Mrs. Swift, who had almost no color on her face, unsure how to explain to Bertha.
Bertha hurriedly agreed, scrambling to get off Adam and clumsily organizing her clothes, only to be held down by Adam.
"What are you doing? My mom is sick..." Bertha thought Adam was still thinking about those matters, her voice tinged with urgency and annoyance.
Adam held her trembling hands lightly, "Don’t panic. I’ll go back with you."
As he spoke, Adam personally helped Bertha arrange her clothes.
Bertha realized she had misunderstood him, a hint of apology coloring her beautiful face, "I’m sorry, I..."
"Shh, unless we’re breaking up, don’t ever apologize to me again," Adam interrupted Bertha’s apology.
Bertha was slightly dazed upon hearing this, then looked at this man who had a dandy-looking face, always impatient with everything, yet extremely patient with her. Unable to resist, she hugged Adam’s waist, whispering a low thank you.
Once they sorted themselves out, Adam drove them back. The originally planned romantic evening was interrupted, and he had to drive for over an hour, but Adam himself was fine, only feeling distressed for Bertha.
Compared to Mary Scott’s vagueness over the phone, Adam had already heard the whole story from David Locke.
Milne Swift and his home-wrecker had suffered a setback from Bertha and him, and having nowhere to vent, they drove away only to encounter Mrs. Swift, who was returning from buying groceries.
Whatever they had said to her on the road, Mrs. Swift returned and, half an hour ago, attempted to slit her wrists.
If it hadn’t been for Mary going to knock on the door to cover up for Bertha and, after knocking for a while with no response, anxiously finding a crew member to open it and rescue her in time, perhaps Bertha wouldn’t have seen her mother again tonight.
Adam, driving, occasionally glanced at the woman beside him, his eyes filled with distress and reluctance.
When they arrived at the hospital, as soon as Adam parked, Bertha quickly opened the door and jumped out, rushing toward the inpatient department.
Adam followed quickly behind her.
When Bertha reached the ward, both David and Mary were there. She urgently asked, "What’s wrong with my mom?"
Neither Mary nor David spoke, and Bertha’s expression changed as she quickly pushed open the ward’s door. Her eyes immediately fell on her mother, lying on the bed with no color on her face, worriedly calling out "Mom." The next moment, her gaze landed on her mother’s wrist, her eyes widening in shock as she turned to look at the couple, "My mom slit her wrist?"
"Bertha, rest assured, she was rescued in time. The doctors say she’s out of danger." Mary offered a small comfort.
However, Bertha shook her head in disbelief, "Why? Why?"
"Bertha..."
At this moment, Mrs. Swift suddenly woke up.