Chapter 2

A car sped down the road as a man sat at the back. Proposal in hand, the man furrowed his eyebrows as he paid attention to what he was reading.

It had been some time since the Larson Corporation was interested in the development project of an old town.

It so happened to be that Christina Williams’ home was one of the houses that stood within that area.

Staring at the blueprint, Michael Larson scanned through the housing areas labeled in red as flashbacks tranced through his mind.

As the car accelerated, a familiar figure by the roadside caught his eye. The corner of his eyes glinted and he straightened his back. “Stop the car!”

Shocked, the driver hit the brakes as the car came to an immediate halt. “Is everything okay, President Larson?”

Michael stared into the crowd of people as he felt his chest tighten. A moment passed before he let out an awkward laugh. “Nothing, I must’ve been mistaken.”

He knew that it could not possibly be her. Her hatred towards him was so deep that she would probably never step foot in this place again.

He had searched for her high and low these three years, yet there was no sign of her existence. She had simply vanished from the earth’s surface as if she had not existed in the first place.

Knowing her character well, he knew she would rather die than cross paths with him again.

====

In the lobby of a hotel, Christina gazed around anxiously with her luggage behind her as she blindly followed Matthew Henderson.

The man before her hurriedly scurried through the lobby as he turned his head and asked, “Is there anything planned for today?”

Taking out her memorandum, Christina replied, “Yep! There’ll be a meeting with our business partners about the development project at 2:00 p.m., a talk at 4:00 p.m. and dinner at 6:00 p.m. They’ve already made reservations for this dinner in which you agreed to attend.”

The man gave a sharp reply. “I’m not attending the dinner tonight. You’ll be taking my place instead.”

“Huh?”

Confused, her mouth formed into a round circle, so huge that she could fill a hard-boiled egg in it if she wanted to.

She shook her head violently. “No, no, I can’t do this! It’s much better if you attend it yourself, President Henderson...”

Matthew Henderson turned as he glared at her. “Don’t give me that c*rap! Just do what you’re told!”

He had never liked women who wore spectacles, yet the one arranged to accompany him today wore shades that covered most of her face.

Why did the secretary choose to wear this anyway? Who was she trying to hide from?

Honestly, he had been pissed the moment he saw Christina. Awfully bland and boring, she ruined his mood as soon as he laid eyes on her.

“What a blockhead! I’m going to give her a hard time just for fun. It’s not like she’ll do anything about it anyway.” He thought to himself. If he got lucky, she might even resign. However, he did not anticipate her to be so headstrong. Not only did she endure his temper, but she also managed to stick around for two whole months.

He admitted that her endurance impressed him. Throughout these two months, the woman had never once fought back nor complained about anything, no matter how demanding and impossible his requests were.

His boss had obviously wanted to test her capabilities during this business trip. That was why the old man had arranged for Christina to tag along with him. Although she was just a secretary, her responsibility was significant as she would be monitoring Matthew’s actions throughout the trip. She would probably also report back to the boss when the trip came to an end.

To be frank, nobody liked the feeling of being monitored. Just as she made him feel uncomfortable, he would too. Keeping this in mind, he vowed to make her feel miserable.

On the other hand, Christina had not been expecting to visit this city at all. Initially, she did not want to come along at all. It was, after all, natural for her to think as such given the history she had with this place.

The next thing she knew, Matthew had already dragged her along with him. Despite knowing that she did not like this place, he made her attend the dinner on his behalf. Why did he have to make things so hard for her?

“You know how rigid I am when it comes to business talk, President Henderson. I don’t have the best looks in the world, and you know how I am when it comes to drinking.”

She tried her best to belittle herself, hoping that he would let her off the hook this once.

“So you knew that part of yourself too? Your looks are the main reason why I want you to attend this dinner, you know. If I had a beautiful secretary, I won’t even have the heart to deliver her to those beasts you’ll meet tonight,” Matthew replied as Christina felt her blood boil.

Beasts?

Christina started to panic. It had been a known fact that men tend to take advantage of women when it came to drinking. She instantly knew that nothing good would come out of this.

Knowing that she would reject, Matthew added on, “It’s fine if you refuse to attend. Resign, then I won’t force you to take my place tonight.”

“But...” Christina paused for a moment. Clenching her teeth, she made up her mind as she tried to catch up with Matthew.

She noticed that the hotel’s lobby was rather crowded.

“I heard that President Larson will be coming?”

“Oh my god, really? Where’s the bathroom? I need to fix my makeup before he arrives!”

……

Christina felt a chill down her spine the moment she heard Michael’s name. Lowering her head, she hastened her pace as she followed tightly behind Matthew.

Not realizing that Matthew had stopped in front of a door, she rammed into his back headfirst.

“Hiss...”

Startled, she took in a deep breath of cold air. Tears welled up in her eyes as her nose started to feel sore.

“Watch where you’re going...” said Matthew as he turned around to glare at her. His sentence hung mid-air as he noticed that her eyes were filled with tears. He did not have the heart to finish what he wanted to say.

He had not expected to see her cry.

This made him feel rather odd.

He thought that she was just another emotionless person who would follow orders blindly.

Who knew that he would see the soft side of this iron lady? She had always portrayed herself as such a tough person that he forgot she was human too.

Opening the car door, he coldly said, “Get in the car or get your own ride.”

Although he was still mean, the way he spoke was much gentler than he had been.

Boarding the car, her hand rubbed her nose as she pouted, irritated. It hurt so bad that she began to wonder if the bruise would leave a scar on her nose.

Matthew stole a glance at her from the rearview mirror. Noticing how delicate she looked, a weird sensation overflowed him.

The way she looked now was no different than the models he had at his beck and call.

If only she had those shades off. With it covering half of her face, he found it pointless to check her out as he looked away.

Eyes on the road, a wave of pity rushed over Matthew as he started the car. “I’ll attend the dinner tonight.”

Stunned, it took Christina a while to come back to her senses. “Thank you, President Henderson! That’s great news!”

This piece of news made her forget about her pain momentarily.

Matthew gave her a look. “I’m not finished. You’re coming with me!”

“Ahh ?”

The smile on her face faded away as her complexion became ashen.

Seeing how crestfallen she looked, a wave of satisfaction instantly filled his heart. He never realized how nice it felt to toy around with her emotions.

He never cast a second glance at someone he did not like. Somehow, something about this woman was different and he found himself breaking that rule.