Chapter 12: It Wasn’t Wrong
Keith looked calm and relaxed. It didn’t seem as though he was lying. “My clothes were dirty, so I took a bath in the room. Was that wrong of me?” he asked. He always kept an elegant and calm attitude and stated clearly the course of the matter. Grace faintly felt that he might persuade her, but she had to follow the man’s train of thought to go on.
“No, it wasn’t wrong,” he said. “After I took a bath, I was ready to leave, but Cathryn wouldn’t let me leave and started to kiss me and touch me… As a normal adult male, I had sex with her. Was it wrong of me to do so, was it?”
Grace was dumbfounded and slowly answered, “No, it wasn’t wrong….”
“Cathryn is pregnant now, and I take half the responsibility for it. I will not withdraw myself from any of the blame.” Keith said. “And whatever decision she makes, I will stand by her one hundred percent.”
In contrast to Grace, Keith first explained that the whole thing was that Cathryn took the initiative to seduce him. He agreed that it was consensual at last and that he had laid on top of Cathryn first. He said that he was willing to take responsibility for that.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
His words made others more receptive, which also increased Grace’s sense of admiration for Keith.
“Since you, Keith, want to take full responsibility for this child while Cathryn has no intention of marrying you, we choose the first proposal put forward by you. However, we also have the corresponding requirements. There will be an agreement drawn up, and we will implement everything according to the agreement. Do you have any objections?” Grace asked.
“No, I will do everything according to what you say.” Keith certainly had no objection to the result. “But I do have another request.” Keith’s eyes were fixed on Cathryn again. Cathryn looked up at him with her bright eyes, and then he continued, “I would like to live with Cathryn during her pregnancy.”
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Cathryn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Keith’s request caught her off guard. She hastily looked up and glared at Keith. He looked at her with a smile and with his expression being calm. She looked deep into his eyes and found herself losing her train of thought. She tried to look away. “I’m against looking into his eyes,” Cathryn frowned and whispered to express her confusion.
It was impossible for her to agree to this kind of requirement as she still didn’t know enough about Keith. For that matter, she didn’t even know anything about him at all. Yes, Keith could provide her with financial help, but what kind of man is he? He could be a cruel and vindictive man. How would she know? If he were, then she would be putting herself and her child in danger. After all she had been through, Cathryn was no longer a naive woman. She had a child to think about, and her child’s safety was what mattered the most.
Somehow Keith knew what Cathryn was thinking. Keith couldn’t help showing the look of disappointment on his face. He said in a deep voice, “If you are worried about your personal safety? I can give you the greatest reassurance. I will install a video surveillance system in your home. So if you have any accidents, the evidence will be on the videotapes.”
Keith added in a downhearted voice, “If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn’t be foolish enough to do it here.”
Keith’s words didn’t make Cathryn feel at ease. She shook her head and said, “I want you to live at your home, and you can come over to take care of me when you are free. If that is too much to ask, then you can hire a housemaid to take care of me, whichever option suits you best.”
Keith interrupted Cathryn and said, “I want to live with you, and it’s not because of you.”
Cathryn was surprised by his words and instantly stopped talking. Then, staring at Keith, she waited for him to continue. “You are worried about your safety and the child, and I am worried too.”
Cathryn said coldly, avoiding Keith’s eyes, “I don’t believe you. This is my child, and I will not let them get hurt.” Then, raising her hand, trying to tell him that she has had enough.
Keith interrupts her, “This is my child, too. You can’t forget that fact. You actually think that I would hurt my own child or the mother of my child?”
She looked at him very intensely and was unable to say something. Of course, when she suspected that Keith would hurt her, it also meant that she thought Keith would hurt their child.
When the negotiation came to a standstill, Cathryn and Keith knew that the best way to solve it was to pause for a while and let everyone calm down.
When Grace saw that the two of them were no longer speaking to one another, she decided to take matters into her own hands. “Well, let me discuss this with Cathryn again,” she said.
Keith was neither angry nor anxious, he was very calm. He nodded and stood up. Cathryn looked at the teacup on the table, and the flood of memories of what happened between her and Jordan started coming back. Her mind was a mess.
Deep down in Cathryn’s heart, she knew she should agree to Keith’s terms, but the uncertainty of the unknown terrified her.
She was looking for a solution. “Didn’t you say that you would respect my wishes no matter what I decided?” She looked up at Keith with a disapproving look.
Instead of answering her question, Keith smiled and said, “What kind of cake would you like to eat next time?”
“I’d like a chocolate cake,” replied Cathryn.
“Okay then,” Keith smiled and nodded.
Grace was listening to their conversation and was speechless.
“One minute they are arguing and now though nothing ever happened. What is going on,” she thought to herself. She was so confused.
After Keith left, Grace asked Cathryn to take out her laptop. She started to create a new document and typed the title, The Agreement.
“Do I really have to live with him, Grace?” asked Cathryn while watching Grace’s fingers move swiftly on the keyboard. After a while, Grace had finished writing down the agreement that Keith proposed to Cathryn. She carefully looked at the content of the agreement and told Cathryn to think about all the pros and cons of each of the choices that Keith had given her.