You Are The Apple of My Eyes
Chapter 544 I'm Here

Ivy continued to urge, "If you still haven't made up your mind, you don't need to confess your love now. The flirtation between lovebirds is the most beautiful."

"There is no flirtation between us." Cali stopped in her tracks, turned towards Ivy, and looked at her in the eye. "Ivy, can you please stop saying things that might mislead others?"

Ivy froze. She quickly hid the hatred in her eyes and squeezed out a flattering smile. "Oops, sorry. That was just a slip of the tongue. I didn't mean anything bad. It won't happen again."

"Please be more mindful in the future." Cali's expression softened. "Don't blame me for being harsh. I said that for your own good. If you continue speaking without thinking, you'll definitely offend someone one day and bring trouble to yourself."

"I know, Cali. You've always had my best interest at heart. Well, you'd better hurry up. Sean must've already been anxious waiting for you. I'm looking forward to your wedding." Ivy smiled and hugged her. However, the smile on her face vanished right after Cali left.

"Bah!" she spat. "I'm much more popular than you. What are you feeling so proud of yourself for? When I become Count Nangong's woman, I'll make you serve me every day. At that time, I'd like to see if you can still show off in front of me."

Cali naturally didn't hear any of those. She was in such a hurry that she was practically jogging. She only slowed down when she spotted John's back from afar.

"Good morning, Sean." With a heart that was beating like crazy, she walked slowly towards him. She was so nervous that her palms were sweating.

"Come with me." John took a glance at her, turned around, and walked away without responding to her greetings.

Cali was dumbfounded. It was only after he was about to disappear from her sight that she finally regained her train of thoughts and chased after him. He didn't say anything on the way, so she also kept her mouth shut. Nevertheless, she still sneaked furtive glances at him from time to time and found that he was frowning. It was as if there was something urgent he was concerned about.

After some time, she finally couldn't hold her curiosity and concern back. "Sean, is there a problem?" she asked.

John didn't answer. In fact, he didn't even show any sign of hearing her question. But Cali didn't really expect to receive an answer either. The Sean she knew indeed wasn't the type to explain much. More than ten minutes later, Cali stood at the bottom of the stairway leading to the second floor, staring blankly at the steps.

"Sean, we don't have the permission to go to the second floor."

"I have. Come with me." John started to walk upstairs without waiting for her answer.

"Oh, I dare not. Sean, you might've been given permission, but I haven't. I can't break the rules. I'll be punished by Count Nangong otherwise." Cali hesitated but eventually decided to not follow him. This time, John finally stopped and turned to look at her. "I'm here. I won't let you be punished."

Cali's heart missed a beat and then started to thump wildly. His words were like a huge boulder thrown into a calm lake, bringing about violent waves in her heart.

She felt like she was catapulted to cloud nine again.

'I'm here. I won't let you be punished.' These were probably the sweetest words she'd ever heard.

A dark-red hue spread on her face.

"Why aren't you moving?" John, who finally noticed she wasn't following him, spoke rather coldly.

Cali quickly followed after him. Her heart was practically boiling with happiness that she didn't even feel the cold aura he emitted.

John walked along the corridor and led her towards Nina's bedroom. "Princess Nina took some medicine and slept alone in the master bedroom last night. She's missed the time for her morning run. I need you to go in and check on her. If she's still asleep, wake her up."

"Okay." Cali nodded, but when she saw the biometric fingerprint lock on the door, she couldn't help but frown. "But I don't think we can get in. Let me knock on the door first."

"No need. Go in. Keep quiet." John pressed his thumb on the scanner and unlocked the door.

Cali was taken aback. She looked at him with a rather bewildered, complicated gaze. "Sean, how could you...? Isn't this Princess Nina and Count Nangong's bedroom?"

John didn't offer any explanation. The expression on his face didn't even change.

Cali understood that he wouldn't explain, so she changed her tactic. "Sean, you are a good friend of Count Nangong, aren't you? You can freely access the second floor and even unlock the master bedroom's door. Count Nangong must trust you very much."

"Yes. Go in." John nodded.

With the conviction that she must've over thought things just now, the haze in her eyes cleared up in an instant.

She walked into the room quietly and found that Nina was indeed sound asleep. There was a healthy blush on her face that made her look more like a baby instead of the mother of two children.

Most of the time, women liked to see beautiful women even more than men did, and Cali wasn't an exception. She couldn't help but take some time to admire Nina's beauty. "Your Highness!

Wake up. It's time to get up. Sean is waiting for you to do your morning run."

"Hmm." With a groan, Nina turned over and continued to sleep. John, who stood at the door, naturally heard her groan. A smile appeared on his face. Although he hadn't seen her, he could guess from the noise that she was still asleep. He felt relieved. It seemed that he worried for nothing. There was nothing wrong with her. She just overslept.

Helpless, Cali started to gently shake Nina's shoulder. "Your Highness..."

After a while, Nina finally opened her eyes and squinted sleepily. "Vicente, what did you get up so early for? And what's with the wig?"

Cali giggled and said, "I'm Cali, not Count Nangong. This is my real hair, not a wig."

"What?!" Nina exclaimed in surprise and sat up. All her sleepiness was gone in a flash. "Cali? How did you get in here?"

Cali said respectfully, "Sean said that you took medicine last night and asked me to check on you. He said that if you're okay, I should wake you up for your morning run."

Nina looked at the door. Although it was ajar, there was no one there.

Nevertheless, she still heaved a sigh. "Well, what time is it?"

Cali took a look at the time. "It's two minutes to seven o'clock."

"I overslept." Nina lifted the quilt and made her way towards the window. She then stood at the open window, stretched herself, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath of fresh air.

Sure enough, the medicine she took last night worked. She could feel that there seemed to be some kind of strength in her body.

"Thank you, Cali. Please tell Sean that I'm fine and that I'll be downstairs in a minute. I need to get change and freshen up first." "Okay."

Cali left the room and conveyed Nina's message to John. The two of them then went and waited downstairs.

After a while, Nina eventually appeared. She was wearing a loose T-shirt and hot pants, and her hair was tied up high in a ponytail. All in all, she looked sporty and very energetic.

Now that she was fully awake, Nina finally found that Cali seemed to be somewhat different from before. She walked around her and asked, "Cali, has something good happened to you today?"

"No, no. Nothing has happened." Cali quickly waved her hands in denial. She stealthily took a glance at John but withdrew her sight with a guilty conscience.

Nina didn't really put the matter in her heart. She said casually, "You're very beautiful. You should dress up as you like in the future. No need to follow the rules in the castle. Those rules shouldn't apply to you anyway."

"Thank you." Cali smiled happily.

John said in a low voice, "Let's start."

The two of them jogged as usual. When they finished, Nina still had problem breathing, but her face wasn't as pale as before.

Drops of sweat rolled down from her forehead and almost fell into her eyes. She quickly closed her eyes and wiped the sweat off with a towel.

As for John, not to mention gasping for breath, he didn't even sweat. He just stood next to Nina, staring at her in silence. His gaze was extremely gentle, and his eyes were as bright as stars in the night sky. When Nina opened her eyes, their eyes met. The gentleness in his gaze sucked her in and enveloped her like a pair of invisible wings.

Ignoring her wildly beating heart, she cleared her throat and asked, "What's wrong?"

John smirked. "I want to smell the fragrance of roses and try their taste."

Nina pretended to not understand. "The rose garden is over there. Do you need me to show you the way?"

"But those aren't the roses I want." John raised his eyebrows. A devilish smirk soon bloomed on his face.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐