48 Don't Let Him Touch You

Lucas didn't know why he was feeling more and more uneasy about her situation, and the more he didn't want her to get married to Jiang.

"Celia, please…I don't want you to be sad. Try to hold off the marriage till I find some solution. Let me at least try asking my mother for a solution. Maybe she might know a way," Lucas said anxiously.

Celia didn't expect Lucas to be so against her marriage, but it made her feel better, realizing how much he cared about her.

"But why?...Even if I don't get married to Jiang, my family will get me married to someone else. All these years…I always dreamed of marrying you, settling down in a quiet village, and having beautiful kids. But now…that dream seems so distant," Celia said with misty eyes.

Lucas's lips quivered as he unconsciously extended his hand to touch her hand. He never knew she loved him so much. If she did, why didn't she tell him before? But even then, he only reunited with her after getting into a relationship with Nadia.

For some reason, her words and sentiments were strongly resonating with his heart since he shared the same dream as well but with Nadia in mind. But now, he unconsciously pictured Celia in that dream, confusing his heart even more.

Celia came out of her reverie as she realized that she was saying unnecessary things and quickly apologized with an awkward, sad smile, "I-I am sorry. I never meant to tell you such embarrassing things. My mind is a mess right now. I hope you can forget whatever I said just now. I always forget myself whenever I am near you…"

Lucas took a deep breath as he held her hand after some hesitation and said with a firm gaze, "Celia…you are someone very important to me. And even if…I already have someone, I just…I just can't bear seeing you sad like this. I know this might sound extremely selfish but please…let me take care of you. I want us to stay near each other like always. I know I shouldn't say this, but…I like you…I just realized that I had always been oblivious to that fact, or maybe I just didn't want to accept it. Sigh…I really sound pathetic…" Lucas rubbed the bridge of his nose in a tired manner, wondering why he was saying things that were unfair to Nadia.

It was not that he loved Nadia any less, but he realized that he loved both these women and cared about them more than his own life. He never expected to fall in love with two women at the same time and wondered if he was a pathetic man.

Celia looked at him with disbelief, wondering if she heard him right about him having feelings for her. She didn't know whether to feel happy or sad, considering the situation she was in.

She wanted to tell him something but then decided not to, feeling that he wouldn't feel happy about it.

"I know I shouldn't say this, but…I love you too, Lucas…I always have and always will. I don't know what my fate has in store for me, but I will always be waiting for you till whenever you are ready," Celia said as she held his hand with a complicated smile.

Was there any hope for her and Lucas to have a relationship even without Nadia in the equation? It seemed as if they weren't destined to be together, no matter how much both wanted to be beside each other.

But even then, Celia hoped that one day she would get to be together with him since that was her dream. However, she felt that maybe she was not fortunate enough for that.

"Can I kiss you once more?" Celia wanted to ask, but she didn't, feeling that maybe it would be too much and Lucas might still hesitate because of Nadia.

"Can you please hold me for a while?" Celia softly asked as Lucas immediately nodded and hugged her while conveying his feelings silently. He thought that Celia was asking for these affectionate gestures due to her worry that she might not get to see him if she got married.

This only made Lucas even more anxious as he firmly hugged her and said, "Celia, you have to promise me that you will try your best to hold off the marriage, okay? I don't want you getting married to a horrible man like him. Please…wait for me," Lucas felt that his request was an impossible one since it seemed as if her marriage was close.

"But in the off chance you have to marry him, don't let him touch you," Lucas said as his eyes became hard.

Lucas was already feeling a weight in his chest, unable to even think of his childhood friend getting married to his enemy. He felt that the only way he could make sure Jiang wouldn't touch Celia was to make sure Jiang wouldn't feel like touching Celia.

And the only way for that was to make Jiang incapable of using his little brother. He got this idea all thanks to how Nadia told him that Yiman can't touch her due to his little brother not functioning.

As a man, he knew that men were proud of their junk, but if it didn't function, they would die from shame. So how could those men possibly engage in any lecherous activity with girls?

All he had to do was use his herbal knowledge to concoct a pill that would destroy Jiang's ability to get it up.

Previously, Lucas would never think of harming someone like this, especially rendering one's little brother useless. But after going through hardships and pain over the last week, he was forced to have his thinking adapt accordingly.

Of course, he knew how dangerous this whole thing was, but Lucas was desperate to make this happen since he couldn't bear to see anything bad happening to Celia.

However, Celia had no idea of what Lucas was thinking.

She knew the reality of her hopeless situation, but she didn't want Lucas to waste his time worrying about her. So she forced a smile as she said, "Okay, Lucas. I will try my best. But I don't want you to get into any kind of trouble for me. If something like that happens, then I will be upset at you, okay?" Celia wanted to make sure Lucas wouldn't do something reckless for her since he was already going through a lot.

She cannot make him more miserable because of her. Even now, she was holding back a lot of things as she didn't want Lucas to learn about them and get upset.

Lucas nodded as he hid his thoughts, "Of course. Let's now head back to class."

Celia nodded with a small smile as the two left the secluded place. However, on their way, the two came upon someone that made them frown immediately.