Love Me The Way I Did

Chapter 22 

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Gideon forced down all his worries about Margaret. He thought that some distance would be beneficial to their future development, but he forgot that there was still Clifford by her side, who had been looking for opportunities. 

Clifford was finally free after being busy for about half a month, and the first thing he did was to call Margaret. Initially, he wanted to ask her out to dinner and then watch a romantic film or something, pretty much the classic activities of a date. 

Margaret had always been amiable but rarely opened up to others. Although she got along fine with people, she actually didn’t care much about anyone. 

This was something that took Clifford a long time to realize. He knew that if he wanted to really win her heart, he had to take it slow and walk into her life one step at a time to make her get used to him. 

Regarding this, Clifford’s strategy was better than Gideon’s, but he came too late. 

Before Clifford, someone had already earned a place in Margaret’s heart, rooted there, almost impossible to be removed. 

As soon as Margaret answered the phone, her weak voice made Clifford change his plan. He brought some cooking ingredients with him, prepared to show his culinary skills at her place. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

He had heard that the way to someone’s heart was through their stomach. As such, he planned to first earn her approval with his cooking, then slowly win her heart over completely. 

Margaret, on the other hand, didn’t expect that Clifford would really bring a bunch of groceries to her place. She had assumed he was merely kidding on the phone. 

Seeing the confusion in her gaze, he teased, “What? Am I not welcome?” 

“Of course you are. But are you really going to cook at my place?” Margaret stepped aside to make way for him and his several large bags of 

stuff. 

“I never lie.” Clifford took the things to the kitchen. 

The cleanliness in there took him by surprise as he wondered if the kitchen was purely a decoration for Margaret. There weren’t even any seasonings for cooking. He looked back at her rather speechlessly, remarking in a somewhat reproachful yet concerned tone, “Are ou ever going to learn to take good care of yourself?” 

“I am! Technology has made things uber convenient in this time and day. It’s just a few clicks away for food to be delivered to me every time. Why would I still go through the trouble of cooking myself? It not only stinks up the place but all that oil and smoke may also be bad for my skin.” She found a perfect excuse for herself. 

Facing Clifford, Margaret would occasionally act as mischievous as a child, likely because he had saved her life once, causing her mixed feelings toward him. It was both a sense of reliance and indebtedness. 

“Go get changed,” he instructed. As this came fairly out of the blue, she didn’t react for a moment, looking quite silly and adorable. 

Clifford couldn’t help but pinch her cheek, and she subconsciously tried to slap his hand away. However, he reacted faster than her, and she ended up accidentally slapping herself in the face instead. 

Even though she didn’t use that much force, it still made a crisp sound, leaving both of them stunned. A few seconds later, they burst out laughing. 

Margaret laughed so hard that she couldn’t even stand straight. She grabbed the counter beside her as tears of laughter fell from her eyes. This was the first time she laughed so heartily ever since she came back. Of course, it would’ve been even better if she wasn’t the one being 

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the butt of the joke. 

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“Other women would’ve wanted a hole to open up and swallow them by now, and yet you’re laughing like a maniac,” Clifford commented. He directed her toward her bedroom and stopped at the door with great consideration before pushing her in. 

“Hurry and get changed. I’ll take you to see the outside world.” With that, he helped her shut the door like a complete gentleman and went to the living room to wait alone. 

Margaret selected a simple, loose T–shirt and a pair of ripped jeans, taking only three minutes to get dressed up. 

When the bedroom door opened, Clifford glanced at his watch and thought, ‘This woman is even faster than some guys! 

“Come on. We can come back earlier if we go earlier.” He rose from the couch. 

Margaret presumed he was taking her to a special place of sorts, but to her astonishment, he brought her to a lively supermarket. 

“So, this is the outside world you mentioned?” she asked as she got out of the car. Finally, she understood why he was still single. Of all the guys she knew, no one would ever think to take a girl to the supermarket. 

“Don’t underestimate this place. It has a variety of products from all over the world that will absolutely meet all of your needs.” Clifford opened his arms as if he wanted to hug the whole supermarket. 

“I gotta say, Clifford, you look nothing like a doctor this way. Contrarily, you’re like a fervent salesman who’s impossible to reject,” she joked while walking up to him and bumping his shoulder. “How about you try out a salesman job? Purely based on your looks alone, I’m sure you’ll attract many young women to buy your products” 

“You think so? What about you? Will you buy from me?” he asked. 

“Of course!” Margaret was very supportive. 

“Okay, I’ll try it when I have a chance,” he answered. Then, they walked into the supermarket. 

Not many people were here on weekdays, and the music was relatively soothing, making for a pleasant first visit for Margaret. She sighed somewhat regretfully. After all, she had moved here for more than half a month, and only now did she know the existence of this 

supermarket. It not only had everything but would take just about eight minutes for her to get here on foot. 

All of a sudden, she felt like she had lived so long in vain. 

“Even if you don’t usually want to cook, you can still make yourself a simple bowl of pasta when you’re sick of takeout food. So, some seasonings are a must–have at home.” Clifford led her to the condiment aisle and started putting things into the cart like someone who knew 

exactly what he was doing. 

“Whoa, I didn’t think you’d be skilled in this. Looks like I’ve truly underestimated you before. I’ve got a lot to learn from you!” Margaret 

teased, winking. 

“Don’t you think I’m super outstanding and totally husband material?” he quizzed tentatively. In fact, he was a little nervous about her answer, but he maintained the facade of focusing on his task for fear that the current harmony between them would be ruined if she could tell something was off about him 

Clifford had tried to test the waters before, but Margaret would always pull back from any conversation that even vaguely involved feelings and relationships. 

He couldn’t be certain whether she was simply slow in this aspect or deliberately avoiding it. Nonetheless, he didn’t want to force her, so he would take it easy since they had plenty of time to get along anyway. 

Mm–hmm. I wonder who’s gonna be that one lucky lady who snags you.” Margaret took five jars of bolognese sauce that she liked and placed them in the cart. Since she finally made a trip here and even had a man to do the physical work, she figured she had to make it worthwhile. Consequently, she went on to take whatever stuff she liked in bulk. 

This showed Clifford an all–new level of her laziness. He reckoned he had to bring her out to experience life more whenever he had time in the future. 

After selecting a ton of stuff, they were finally ready to leave, with the whole shopping cart piled up with products. 

But when they joined the checkout line, Margaret discovered, to her embarrassment, that she had forgotten to bring anything with her when they left her place, including her phone and wallet. 

Looking at the end of the checkout line a bit uneasily, Margaret had to ask Clifford for help. 

“Clifford, um… Actually… Well..” It was not the first time she asked others for help financially, but when facing Clifford, she just couldn’t seem to muster the words. 

Margaret couldn’t talk about money with people she was close with, as there were way too many things that concerned financial transactions in her life. Thus, she was always particularly sensitive when it came to such matters. 

She was aware that she shouldn’t be like this, but she simply wanted a plain and easy relationship with her close ones and not for things to turn out the way they did with her and Gideon, Some things would change the moment money was involved. Even if she dared to mention the word “love,” she doubted anyone would believe her. 

Realizing that she was thinking of Gideon, Margaret felt herself hopeless again, thinking, ‘I merely came back to this city. Why does it feel as though Gideon is everywhere? He keeps popping up in my head wherever I go. This isn’t a good sign. 

“What is it, Maggie? Why are you hesitating?” Clifford queried. 

There were only two more customers before it was their turn, so she knew there was no running from this. Plucking up some courage, she closed her eyes and asked, “Could you lend me some money? I left my phone and wallet at home.” 

Clifford froze briefly, not expecting that what she found so difficult to ask was about something like that. In fact, he had never intended for her to pay either. 

“Come on. I got it,” he replied vaguely. 

“I’ll pay you back right after we get home, Margaret said hurriedly, not wanting him to think she was taking advantage of him. 

Clifford didn’t know some of her past, so her behavior hurt him a little, as she sounded like she didn’t want to owe him anything. He blurted out, “Maggle, it’s not a lot of money. There’s no need to be so clear with me on this. Aren’t we friends?” 

His tone was not that nice, making her a bit awkward. She wanted to explain but didn’t know how to. After all, it wasn’t as though she could tell him she had once been Gideon’s mistress for money. 

She knew that she had screwed up a good thing. Even though it wasn’t her intention, it was still her fault. When she was brooding about how to make up for it, a girl behind her gently poked her bark 

Margaret turned around, and the girl beckoned to Margaret mysteriously. 

Margaret didn’t know this girl at all, but the girl’s innocent–looking face instinctively made Margaret lower her guard. Furthermore, even if the girl had bad intentions, she still had Clifford with her. 

Once Margaret inched nearer to the girl, the girl whispered softly, “Miss, have you guys just started dating?” She was smiling teasingly as if 

she knew she was right about that.