Billionaire's Hidden Princess by Alegna Ciee (romance novel chinese novels TXT) 📗

Chapter Thirty-Two: Insecurities Piled Up

Hearing Malcolm’s words had Leticia remembering the fact that Livius used to wear a disguise when he was courting Alice back then.

Then and again, this whole disguise thing is puzzling her. She should’ve asked him before, but since she has gotten too carried away with the pleasures and wonders of being in a relationship with him, she has completely pushed that matter aside.

Now that she heard what Malcolm said, though, she came up with a hunch on what could this be all about. Based on his story, Livius had courted other women before but always ended up not seeing this through.

“Indeed, most ladies who’d happen to catch his eyes wouldn’t hesitate to date the head of a huge conglomerate. He’s just so perfect that I can’t imagine him getting rejected over and over again. It could be that he only didn’t confess or he lost interest. But even then, that’s quite unlikely…” Leticia pondered silently, brows furrowing in deep thought.

“That’s unless he used to always wear a disguise whenever he tried to confess to someone – just like what he did to Ms. Alice before.”

As soon as she thought of this possibility, her eyes widened in surprise. There could be other reasons that were more probable, but for some reason, this one stood out to her the most.

After all, there got to be a good reason behind that disguise – in one way or another.

“It’s giving me the impression that he probably didn’t want a long-lasting relationship…” Malcolm started once more, taking her aback.

“I mean, there could only be three possible reasons to choose from, right? One could be that he just didn’t confess and eventually lost interest. Second was that he could’ve only gotten turned down in every single attempt, and third…”

That’s when he throws a meaningful stare at her out of nowhere, nonplussing her even more. He now has an amused smirk splattered across his face while he looks down at her as if he’s some sort of an all-knowing entity.

“He didn’t bother entering an official commitment with any of them and just went ahead to play around like some kind of a ladies’ man – for instance, having a one night stand in secret or something.”

Then, silence.

Leticia went stiff still in her seat the moment Malcolm voiced out that assumption as if dropping a bomb. She was thunderstruck for the next seconds the come, considering that possibility.

But then, she ended up not taking it for real. After all, at the end of the day, all these are nothing but a stranger’s words – some ungrounded opinions. 

“Livi isn’t like that,” Leticia muttered firmly, frowning in miff.

Caught off guard, his eyes grew wide at how she suddenly blurted that out with vehemence. She even stopped stuttering. Her expression has also contorted from nervous and timid to steely and unyielding.

“Oh, really…?” Malcolm trailed off all of the sudden, spreading a smirk once more before leaning down to her.

“Well, if you really know him that well, are you confident enough to say that he has chosen you, a country bumpkin who could barely afford her college fees, out of everybody else just because he wanted to?”

Now, it’s her turn to be thrown to sixes and sevens again. Leticia has no idea why he knows her background despite the fact that this is only the first time they’re meeting each other.   

“You really think that a man of his caliber will just choose an ordinary, timid girl like you? You can’t even face the cameras earlier, and I can tell that you’re not good with people. All you did tonight was hide behind his back…” he sneered with a venomous tone.

“You won’t last long in this kind of world, little girl, and I bet he also knows that… Why would he even choose you, then?”

Leticia can’t believe what she’s hearing anymore – this man might as well be saying that he’d been watching her movements all this time. He just knew too much, and he wasn’t even being discreet about it.

As much as she wanted to hold her ground and not be affected by his words, she just couldn’t. Most of the things he said had once crossed her mind before, after all.

Up until this day, she still couldn’t believe that it was her whom he confessed to that time instead of Alice. It was all out of the blue and completely unexpected. She sees nothing in her that he can be interested in – other than the notion that he’s just probably touched by her kindness when she helped him back then.

“Then… What if someone else approached him first? What if another girl reached out her hand that time? Would he fall in love with her instead?” she quietly asked to no one in particular, already starting to be tyrannized by her insecurities.

“Oh, but wait… There might be one thing that he wants from you, after all…” Malcolm thought out loud before holding her chin and making her stare straight at him.

“You have a beautiful face and body… Perhaps, that’s why he decided to take time to date you – to play around with you, in other words.”

Leticia doesn’t know why Malcolm seems to be persistently putting ideas in her head.

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