30 Days of Passion and Revenge-Chapter 197: The Spark of Romance

Lily rubbed her sleepy eyes and raised her head from Ethan’s chest. In the darkness, the light from his phone illuminated Ethan’s face, which was filled with irritation.

Noticing she was awake, Ethan’s gaze deepened, and he quickly ended the call, his voice still tinged with frustration. "Did I wake you?"

"Mm. Who was calling you?" Lily’s voice was husky with sleep as she lazily snuggled back into his arms.

"Nothing important," Ethan replied, then added, "Business."

Lily didn’t pay much attention to it and murmured a sound of acknowledgment, ready to drift back to sleep.

Click—

Suddenly, the bedside lamp was turned on, casting a dim, warm glow across the room.

The bright light stung Lily’s eyes, and she raised a hand to block it. Why did he turn on the light?

Ethan gently patted her shoulder, his voice low as he spoke close to her ear. "Go wash your face."

"Wash my face?" Lily was still groggy, wondering why he was asking her to wash her face in the middle of the night.

"Yes, go wash your face. I’m hungry. Go make me some noodles," Ethan said, patting her cheek.

"You’re asking a pregnant woman to get up at night and make your noodles?" Lily frowned, surprised he even dared ask that.

She was carrying his baby, yet he asked her to make noodles in the middle of the night.

"Yes, I’m hungry," Ethan said, completely unapologetic, as if his request was perfectly reasonable.

Lily shot him a glare but didn’t say much. Maybe he was hungry. Fine. After all this, she was already wide awake.

Yawning, Lily got out of bed and walked into the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face to shake off her sleepiness.

When she came out of the bathroom, the lights in the master bedroom were off, leaving the room completely dark.

Lily was startled. "Ethan, why did you turn off the lights?"

Did he want her, a pregnant woman, to stumble and fall?

Ethan did not respond, so Lily carefully felt along the wall, trying to find the light switch.

A slight sound broke the silence of the night.

In the darkness, a spark flickered, followed by a burst of golden fireworks, lighting up the night sky. They seemed to be coming from the balcony...

Suddenly, several small fireworks were set off, illuminating the entire balcony. Ethan’s tall figure appeared in her line of sight, standing in front of the fireworks, looking at her.

So asking her to make noodles was just a pretext—he had planned to set off fireworks for her. This man...

Lily couldn’t help but smile, touched. Using the light from the fireworks, she walked toward the balcony. When she opened the door, a gust of cold wind blew in, and a long man’s coat was draped over her shoulders from above.

Ethan stood in front of her, straight and tall, his hands carefully buttoning up the coat. His left hand moved awkwardly, and his right did most of the work.

Lily didn’t stop him. She quietly watched his slender fingers as they moved, enjoying his attentiveness.

"What made you suddenly think of fireworks?" Lily asked with a smile, noticing that there were also sparklers on the balcony.

Sparklers—hardly anyone plays with those anymore.

"Don’t you like them?" Ethan asked, though he already knew the answer. She didn’t like it when he lit sparklers in the middle of the night. Was she crazy?

Ethan pulled her onto the balcony. Lily grabbed two sparklers, blinking as she said, "Ethan, there’s something I want to tell you."

"Hmm?"

"You can’t get mad."

Ethan spread two soft cushions on the ground. Hearing her words, he glanced up suspiciously. "Lily, what did you do this time?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Had she secretly met with Alex again?

"Well, I like fireworks because... when we were kids, I always set off fireworks with Alex for his birthday," Lily said slowly, her eyes fixed on Ethan’s expression.

Damn it!

Of course, it was about Alex again!

Ethan glared at her, then seemed to remember something. His teeth gritted as he asked, "And that time at the kindergarten?!"

"That day was Alex’s birthday... I was planning to celebrate it with him," Lily confessed for the first time, biting her lip. "But when I saw his fiancée, I backed off."

Damn it! He had personally driven three hours to the kindergarten that day only to pick up a woman planning to celebrate Alex’s birthday.

How stupid could I be?!

No wonder when he lit fireworks for her that night, she wasn’t moved at all!

She wanted to be with Alex, not him!

Ethan’s breathing grew heavier, and he glared at the fireworks exploding on the balcony, suddenly feeling incredibly jealous. With a scowl, he snatched the sparklers from Lily’s hands and snapped, "We’re not doing this anymore!"

They were setting off fireworks in the middle of the night—what for?

To remind her of Alex? He was an idiot!

"Ethan..." Lily sighed. She had known he would get angry. "I told you because I don’t want to hide anything from you anymore. That’s all in the past."

"Go away!" Ethan grumbled though he softened the word slightly.

Lily blocked the entrance, preventing Ethan from going back inside. He glared at her in frustration.

"I’m touched that you went through the trouble of setting off fireworks for me," Lily said softly, standing on tiptoe and wrapping her arms around his neck. "This is your way of being romantic, and I appreciate it."

Her sweet, gentle voice was like a soft caress to his heart, soothing his anger.

"Hmph," Ethan snorted, still pretending to be annoyed. "You didn’t seem to find it romantic when I did this at the hospital."

Now, she was all sweet-talking him.

Who knew if she was thinking about Alex when he set off the fireworks?

Lily couldn’t help but laugh, remembering when he lit fireworks on the rooftops of five hospital buildings. "Ethan, that wasn’t romantic—that was wasteful."

"You love this kind of materialistic, wealthy lifestyle!" Ethan didn’t believe her for a second.

"Why do you always think I’m some materialistic, money-obsessed person?" Lily asked, letting go of his neck. "Yes, I became your mistress for money. Nobody dislikes money, and I wanted to repay my uncle. But I’ve never been into extravagance or wastefulness."

Ethan always seemed to turn romance into wastefulness.

She stepped past him and picked up the sparklers from the balcony, lighting them and watching the golden sparks burst in the night. "Even small fireworks like these feel romantic to me."

Romance was about the two of them, not about showing off to the whole world.

"Hmph," Ethan still snorted in disbelief.

"Don’t be mad. Come and light a sparkler with me," Lily said, holding one sparkler while reaching out to pull Ethan over.

Although his expression remained stony, Ethan let her tug him back. They sat on the cushions he had prepared, facing each other by the balcony.

Lily waved her sparkler, watching the sparks bloom against the night sky.

Suddenly, she looked at Ethan seriously and said, "I don’t like extravagance or wastefulness."

She had to emphasize it again.

Yes, she liked money—money would help her achieve her dreams. But she wasn’t so materialistic that she needed to burn fireworks on five buildings to feel that something was romantic...

She didn’t want Ethan to misunderstand her.

Ethan said nothing, lighting his sparkler, his face slightly dark.

After a long silence, Ethan’s low voice broke the quiet. "I hate taking solo photos because... I’ve always been alone."

His tone was stiff as if he were confessing something shameful.

Lily stared at him, surprised. She had thought he wouldn’t bring it up again.

Have you always been alone?

"You’ve always had people around you: Nanny, the maids, the drivers, the doormen, and before... those women with D-cups and E-cups..." Lily teased, using her sparkler to draw circles in the air.

How could he say he was alone?

He had always had people around him.

Ethan shot her a cold glare, his anger rising. "Say that one more time and see what happens."

"I won’t." Lily quickly kept quiet. "I just wanted to say you’ve never been alone."

"You always say your uncle treated you well, but did you ever feel like your uncle’s house was your home?" Ethan asked his voice deep.

Lily’s gaze darkened.

She had lived in her uncle’s house for nine years, and while her uncle had cherished her, she had always felt like a guest.

She wouldn’t have been desperate to have her own home if she hadn’t felt that way. She had always believed she would only have a natural home once her father was released.

Suddenly, she understood Ethan.

Sometimes, even when people are by your side, you can still feel like you don’t belong.

Nanny, the maids, the drivers, the doormen, the women with D-cups and E-cups... They were all just passing through his life.

The honest Ethan... was still lonely.

In that way, he and Lily were strangely alike.

Setting down her sparkler, Lily stood up from the cushion, walked over to Ethan, and bent down. She took the sparkler from his hand, then hugged him from above, burying her face in his shoulder. "Ethan, you have me now... I’ll take all your photos with you from now on, okay?"

Her embrace shielded him from the cool night air.

Ethan’s dark eyes deepened, and he pulled her down, settling her against his chest. Holding her tightly, he murmured, "Lily Anderson, don’t forget what you promised me."

"Mm, I won’t," Lily nodded firmly, leaning back against his warm chest.

"Then wear a nurse’s uniform and take photos with me!" Ethan immediately blurted out, his voice filled with excitement.

The romantic atmosphere they had built up instantly shattered.

"A sailor uniform works too!"

"Ethan, can you stop thinking like that for once?!" He knew how to ruin the mood.

"A schoolgirl outfit?" He was willing to give her plenty of options.

"Go to hell!" Lily punched him in the chest. "Ethan, you’re shameless!"

His chest was so solid that her punch didn’t even make him flinch. Instead, her hand started to hurt.

"Lily, you’re sharing a bed with a shameless man!" Ethan said, sitting there, unbothered. No shame? She was still sleeping with him!

Lily hit him again. "Stop saying such creepy things in the middle of the night!"

What did he mean, "shameless man"?

Just hearing that gave her chills.

"You’re the one who called me shameless!" Why did she always turn things around on him?

"You know I didn’t mean it like that!"

"So, are you going to take photos with me or not? How about a police uniform?" Ethan’s eyes lit up. He had always had a thing for women in uniform...

Lily hit him again but then recoiled from the pain. "I’m going to bed! I’m done with you! You’re a pervert! A brute! A rogue!"

Fuming, Lily stormed back into the master bedroom. Every time a moment between them became slightly romantic... Ethan would use his dirty thoughts to ruin the mood completely!

Ethan watched her retreating figure, his dark eyes filled with affection. He stood up and began to clean up the fireworks on the balcony.