Chapter 7 His Rival Scoops Me Up

I owned a villa by Willowbrook Lake. It was a gift from my parents, and it was finally proving useful. Once I arrived, the chauffeur offered to help me move in, but I just wanted to do it alone. So, I found an excuse to send him off and started moving the boxes myself. The boxes weren't too heavy, but the constant trips up and down were exhausting since the bedroom was on the second floor. I was already panting by the second round. As I stood in front of the third box catching my breath, a surprised male voice came from behind me. "Jane?" Why did the voice sound so familiar? I turned around in confusion, and when I saw the tall man in a white shirt and black pants walking toward me, I froze. Eric Flint? What was he doing here? Eric and I went to the same college. He was the president of the student council while Jeremiah was the vice president. The two often clashed over work and constantly fought. Over time, they became mortal enemies. Since Jeremiah disliked Eric, I never got close to him. We were just acquaintances who exchanged polite nods though we crossed paths frequently. But he was the one who extended a helping hand during my lowest moments in my past life. Now that I saw Eric, it almost felt like he radiated the glow of a savior. "So it is you. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me." He approached, and his gaze landed on the boxes at my feet. "What are these?" I smiled and answered truthfully, "I'm moving." Eric seemed to instantly understand. He raised an eyebrow and said in a teasing tone, "Splitting up already? What happened? Is Jeremiah kicking you out to bring his mistress in?" Eric was sharp-tongued as ever. Jeremiah could never match his verbal sparring, and that was why he detested Eric so much. But judging from what he said… It seemed he had caught wind of Jeremiah's rampant scandals. Even as a bystander, he could see through Jeremiah and Elsa's relationship. Yet Jeremiah insisted on feeding me clumsy lies. As I recalled how I had fallen for his deceptions in my past life, I couldn't help feeling pathetic. I exhaled slowly and replied, "He didn't kick me out. I decided to move out, but his mistress moving in isn't far off." I figured that once we got a divorce, Elsa would waste no time claiming my place as Jeremiah's wife. As I bent down to lift the heaviest box, a strong arm intercepted and took it over. "I'll take this. You grab the smaller one." Eric effortlessly hoisted the box and headed inside. As I carried the smaller box and followed him, I stared at him from behind. It suddenly struck me that he lived in the villa opposite mine. In my past life, I often came here to recover from heartbreak and even ran into him several times. But I didn't expect to see him again so soon. While I was lost in thought, I missed a step and slipped. My body lurched forward, and my knees slammed into the stairs as the box flew out of my grip. I gasped in pain and could barely get back up. Hearing the commotion, Eric dropped his box and rushed over to help me. "Where are you hurt?" He tried to help me up. I grimaced and clutched his hand tightly. "My knees… Give me a minute." Eric scooped me up without a word and placed me on the couch. As he rolled up the leg of my pants, we saw that my knees were scraped raw and oozing blood. His expression grew serious. "Do you have any medicine in here that'd help?" I shook my head. I had just moved in and hadn't had the time to stock up. "Stay here and don't move. I'll grab some." Eric dashed to his villa and returned with iodine and cotton swabs. He carefully disinfected my wounds. The sting of iodine made me wince. I stared down at my scraped knees and gritted my teeth against the pain. After Eric tended to the injury, he looked up. I locked eyes with his deep ink-black gaze, and it was then I realized how close we were. We were just a few inches apart. As our eyes met, neither of us could look away. Our breathing intertwined, and the sudden intimacy thickened the air with an unspoken tension.