Chapter 4

Alex kept delaying the signing of the contract.

The manager came to see me and tactfully conveyed Alex’s request.

"Have Wren bring the contract to me, and I’ll sign it."

I spent most of my time at headquarters and rarely visited the branch office.

Alex had secretly asked about me more than once, but had never gotten any useful information.

With no other choice, he focused on the contract and tried to force me to show up by making the signing dependent on my presence.

The manager finally found me and hurriedly explained what had happened, asking what I wanted to do.

After our last meeting, the manager had assumed Alex and I had some kind of special relationship and didn’t dare make a decision lightly.

I didn’t even blink.

My voice was as cold as ice.

"Let him do whatever he wants. Deep Sea has no shortage of potential partners."

"Next time, make your own decision over something this minor. Don’t come to me."

The manager had already reached the door when I called him back.

"Make Alex suffer a little."

The manager acknowledged my order and closed the door behind him.

I stood up, stretched my muscles, and looked out the window.

The view outside was completely unobstructed.

Six years had passed.

Deep Sea Group had become the leader of the industry.

I had finally fulfilled my mother’s dying wish.

…

Not long after I returned to the country, Jason got dumped and insisted on dragging me out for hot pot.

Ever since I took over Deep Sea, words like "hot pot" had been far removed from my life.

But the craving stirred up my appetite.

When I arrived at the hot pot restaurant, Jason was hugging a liquor bottle and crying so hard that his nose was running.

I avoided him with some disgust and asked the server to give me another private room.

When he saw me leaving, Jason ignored the alcohol stains on his clothes and grabbed me.

"Are you leaving too? I only have you…"

I held back the urge to kick him and kept reminding myself that he was my younger brother, born to the same mother.

In the end, I couldn’t hold back and hit him anyway.

The server moved me to another private room.

While I had a moment to spare, I went to the restroom to clean the stains from my hands.

Cold running water poured over them.

"Wren?" a woman’s voice asked tentatively.

I turned toward the sound and saw a familiar face.

"It really is you!"

The woman’s sincere surprise and fake smile appeared together.

She discreetly looked me up and down.

When she saw that I wasn’t wearing any designer logos, she suddenly looked relieved.

Her tone became more affectionate.

"How have you been all these years?"

Whitney and I had never been close enough to ask about each other’s lives.

I ignored her and walked straight out of the restroom.

Whitney shouted angrily at my back.

"What are you pretending for? You’ve fallen so far that you have to eat here, yet you still think you’re some rich heiress!"

The people passing by heard her words and looked at her with disapproval.

Whitney seemed to realize that she had said the wrong thing.

She pulled her lips into an innocent expression, tears welling in her eyes.

The same old routine.

I gave a soft, mocking laugh.

"Wren?"

Another familiar voice sounded.

What a small world.

I must have forgotten to check my horoscope before leaving home today.

Alex, who had originally come looking for Whitney, unexpectedly saw me.

His gaze burned into me.

The smell of hot pot spread everywhere, like cockroaches that could never be exterminated, scattering and hiding in every corner.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment.

We stood face-to-face, sizing each other up.

Compared with the last time we met, the dark circles beneath Alex’s eyes looked especially stark against his pale face.

I laughed quietly to myself.

It seemed my manager had been doing his job seriously.

The corner of Alex’s lips twitched slightly.

Suddenly, Whitney let out a cry, but it failed to draw Alex’s attention.

I raised my eyebrows, my tone light and teasing.

"Hey, your childhood sweetheart is hurt."

Alex opened his mouth to argue, but a muffled sound from behind him interrupted him.

His expression flashed with panic.

After hesitating for two seconds, he decisively rushed toward the back.

I turned to look.

Whitney had fallen to the floor.

Alex carried Whitney away.

As they passed me, Whitney opened her eyes and curled her lips into a smile at me.

"Look down," I suddenly said.

Although Alex seemed confused, he still did as I said.

The moment he lowered his head, Whitney hurriedly controlled her expression.

How boring.

I turned around and went back to my private room.

I was enjoying my hot pot when the door suddenly opened.

Alex stood in front of me with his eyes lowered, breathing slightly harder than usual.

The dark strands of hair on his forehead were dotted with sweat.

I glanced at my watch.

Only ten minutes had passed.

What a master of time management.

Alex pulled out the chair beside me and sat down without asking.

He didn’t say a word.

After I finished eating, Alex instinctively picked up a napkin and brought it to the corner of my lips.

My gaze darkened by three shades.

Come to think of it, I was the one who had trained him to do that.

In other words, all my former boyfriends had developed the same habit.

When he saw that I didn’t pull away, Alex went a step further.

The burning warmth of his fingers passed through the napkin and onto my face.

Alex wiped me carefully and seriously, as if he were handling a priceless treasure.

It was something he could have finished in thirty seconds, yet he took two full minutes.

Only after noticing the impatience on my face did Alex slowly pull away.

Then he spoke in an unhurried tone.

"Wren, can we talk?"