Love My Friends with Benefits

"Queena."

Leonard straightened his handkerchief leisurely, seemingly pondering something. After a moment of silence, he put it back inside his suit pocket and said slowly, "If you don't mind being my mistress... we can continue like this."

Mistress?

Continue like this?

I flipped the covers open and glared at him. "Don't you think you're being ridiculous?"

It was supposed to be his and Phoebe's wedding night, yet he'd ended up in bed with me and was even asking me to be his mistress.

It was ludicrous!

Leonard threw the red rose into the rubbish bin coolly. "Think about it, Queena."

Despite my exasperation, I tried my best to maintain my composure. "No, I don't need to. I don't want to have anything to do with you for the rest of my life."

"You don't want to have anything to do with me?"

Leonard chuckled as he repeated my words. He then leaned into me.

I reflexively backed away.

Unexpectedly, he merely lowered his head and swiped a hand on the sheets.

"That's not what your body says." Leonard showed me his fingers. "Queena, don't lie to yourself."

Without hesitation, I slapped his hand away.

He didn't get angry, merely walking towards the door while laughing. "Think it over. I have all the time in the world to wait for your answer."

"Save it!" I yelled furiously. "I'll never agree to it, not in this lifetime!"

He ignored me and continued towards the door.

When he reached the entrance, he bent down to put on his shoes, then turned back to say to me, "Oh, right. Since we're on the topic of a lifetime, you should remember this well. Even if I don't marry Phoebe, I won't marry you. Not in this lifetime."

With a click, he turned off the lights. The room fell into darkness.

I lay on the bed and listened to the sound of his footsteps fading away.

Leonard was gone.

I was so enraged that my chest ached. I stared at the ceiling blankly.

I never expected to end up in Leonard's hands.

I felt humiliated thinking about what had just happened.

I was sticky with sweat, and the sheets were damp from our previous activities. I wasn't in the mood to bother about it.

...

A familiar ringtone suddenly rang out.

Someone was calling me.

I didn't want to move, still staring at the ceiling.

At such an ungodly hour, only Gail or Bell would be calling me. Phoebe would never call.

As I recalled Phoebe's reaction during the wedding, I smiled, then sighed.

She'd put in so much effort to maintain her image, painstakingly playing the part of a stately, gentle lady. That had been completely ruined on this day. However, I wasn't much better off.

Both of us had suffered from humiliation, hers in public and mine in private. Neither of us had won this round.

However, if Phoebe were to find out that her fiancé had slept with me on their wedding night...

I shook my head, imagining her reaction.

She would probably want to kill me... even if her fiancé was the one who'd forced himself on me.

While I was deep in thought, my phone had stopped ringing.

I finally regained some strength and flipped onto my side, trying to get away from the dampness on the sheets.

...

Suddenly, my phone started ringing again.

They were really persistent.

I sighed and felt around behind me for my phone. I was just about to reject the call when I saw that May was the one calling.

"Hello?"

I answered the phone, my voice a little hoarse.

May didn't notice anything wrong and laughed happily on the other end of the line. "Queena, did you see the news?"

"Yeah," I answered simply.

"It's wonderful!" May was caught up in her own world. "I never would've expected there to be so many reporters at the wedding... Did you see all those photos of Phoebe's humiliation splattered all over the Internet?"

I was not in the mood to chat with her. I answered her perfunctorily, ready to hang up.

"Wait, Queena. Let me finish." May stopped me.

I sighed. "Go on."

"I did some sleuthing online." May's voice turned serious. "It turns out that Leonard comes from an affluent and powerful family. Now that you've messed up his wedding, he won't let you off the hook so easily."

I didn't say anything.

In fact, I'd found out about Leonard's background much earlier than May had. It was just that I'd been so caught up in the exhilaration of getting revenge that I'd completely forgotten about the fallout. Unexpectedly, May was thinking ahead this time. She had never been the type.

She went on to say, "You should be careful during this time."

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry,"

I answered and quickly hung up.

I was doomed to insomnia on this night.

I tossed and turned in bed. All I could think about was Leonard's hateful face.

Leonard, Leonard, Leonard...

I let out a low scream and covered my face with my pillow.

Aside from physical pleasure, Leonard had brought me nothing but shame and hatred.

I hated Gail, Phoebe, Bell, and now, even Leonard.

If not for them, my life wouldn't be in such a sorry state.

The next day, I woke up with a matching pair of dark eye circles. After washing up and getting dressed, I left without even putting on makeup.

When I arrived at the company, May was already waiting for me.

When she saw me, she let out a surprised cry. "Queena, why do you look so haggard?!"

"Me?"

I touched my face, finding that it was indeed rather swollen due to water retention.

May looked at me reproachfully and pulled me to the washroom, making me look at myself in the mirror.

"Take a look at yourself, Queena. Your dark eye circles are so obvious!" she reprimanded. "I know you were happy last night, but you don't have to put your health at risk to celebrate, do you?"

May thought that I'd lost sleep because I was too happy.

I smiled bitterly, not knowing how to make things clear to her.

For the whole day, I was unable to focus. I even managed to ruin a deal.

"Queena, Mr. Chow wants to see you in his office."

I rubbed my aching temples and looked up.

The new secretary stood at the entrance of my office.

I smiled at her and got to my feet unsteadily before heading to Mr. Chow's office.

I knew what I was in for. After all, it was my fault for ruining the deal.

"Queena, what's wrong with you today?"☐☐☐☐