Jean and Stacey, sitting on a swing not far away, looked over in Murray's direction.
"You know, they say women change a lot as they grow up, but I think it applies to men too. I saw Murray in a finance magazine last year and thought, 'Wow, this guy has become so handsome.' Seeing him in person today, he's even more striking," Jean remarked, genuinely impressed by Murray's transformation.
Stacey laughed softly, "Murray has always been good-looking. I remember saying as a kid that I wanted to marry him, but my mom said handsome men aren't reliable and strictly opposed the idea."
Jean burst into laughter, "All these years, you've been traveling around, and Murray has become one of Sandviken's top figures without a hint of scandal. Seems your mom's judgment wasn't that accurate."
"Who knows? But I feel something different about him this time," Stacey mused.
Jean suggested, "He's been in the business world for a while now. Some change is natural."
<"What?" Murray quickly withdrew his hand, causing Ronald to fall headfirst on the floor. Despite the pain, Ronald's curiosity was undiminished."Stop pretending. Look at the bite mark on your hand. Don't tell me a dog bit you."Murray glanced at his hand, noticing a neat row of bruise-like teeth marks on the base of his thumb.Ronald leaned in, "That bite, definitely from a sexy lady.""Fuck off!" Murray kicked him playfully and stood up to leave, then paused and turned back, squatting in front of Ronald. "If you dare say anything nonsensical to Stacey, I'll castrate you.""I'm naturally curious. If you don't tell me if there's a woman or not, I might just go around asking..."Murray sighed, sat down, and lit another cigarette, taking a deep drag. "Yeah.""Who is she? Do I know her? Seems like a fiery one, even daring to bite the great Mr. Gibson's hand.""Someone introduced her, you don't know her." Murray extinguished his hal
Emily, somewhat perplexed and anxious, pulled out her phone and called Murray. After a long wait, the call connected, and his deep voice came through."What's up?""What's with the house?" Emily cut straight to the point."Just accept it if I'm giving it to you. Why ask so many questions?" Murray's tone was indifferent, revealing no particular emotion.After some thought, Emily probed, "Coming over tonight for dinner? Haven't seen you in ages; I miss you." Her voice was soft and airy, stirring an itch in Murray's heart. He instantly agreed, "Yeah, I've got some things to handle first, so I'll see you later.""See you tonight." Emily hung up, pressing a hand against her rapidly beating heart. His willingness to come over suggested he wasn't planning to break up with her.She must seize tonight's chance. Even if he did want to split, she'd crush any such intention! After an hour of workout in the gym to stay sharp a
Arriving at the apartment, Genevieve meticulously arranged Emily's bedding and thoroughly cleaned the dorm room, sparing no corner.The four-person apartment currently housed only two occupants besides Emily: Sandy Melville and Lydia Sander, who was from a less affluent family and hadn't returned from her part-time job yet.The butler placed two gift boxes on Sandy's and Lydia's desks. Meanwhile, Genevieve produced a thermos container Like magic, revealing a steaming tomato and mushroom soup enriched with matsutake mushrooms and sea cucumber."Dinner, Miss Rockefeller." Having already made dinner plans with Sandy, Emily took the soup to eat at the cafeteria. “Okay, Genevieve, Malcolm, you can go back now. I’ll call if I need anything.”"Take care, Miss," Genevieve replied, reluctantly following Malcolm out of the dorm.Finally, alone, Emily washed up and changed into casual wear, bunching her hair loosely. She
"How much in there would make me 'retire' of this?" Sandy, with a playful twirled Emily's card between her fingers, which had been casually tossed on the table.Head tilted thoughtfully, Emily mused, "...Over 50 million?""What the fuck?!" Originally sitting with her legs crossed and awful posture, Sandy nearly toppled forward in shock. Her usual skimming modest sums from corrupt officials, nothing more than tens of thousands at best. Now, confronted with a staggering fifty million, she exclaimed, "Murray Gibson is obscenely wealthy!"Having dried her hair, Emily tossed a damp towel at Sandy's face. "Wipe your face and calm down. I haven't finished talking."Sandy, seemingly stunned, smeared her face with the towel.Emily slipped into a pink cotton pajama set, its ordinary coral fleece material adorned with cute bunny ears, giving her an irresistibly soft and adorable appearance.Seated at her desk, wiping her face, she casuall
Emily set her phone aside, pondering for a moment before forwarding Elton's message to Murray without alteration.His swift reply came back. 【Up to you.】Halfway through typing a reply, Emily switched to a voice message, "So, will you be at Fiduinvest tomorrow? I haven't seen you in a while, and, well, I kind of miss you."But, that moment, Lydia emerged from the bathroom, catching a snippet of the conversation. "Shameless!" she scoffed.Deep breaths...as long as I'm not embarrassed, others will be. Instead, Emily told herself while clutching her phone for Murray's response, but her phone remained silent. Unsure how much time had passed, she'd fallen asleep waiting. The next morning, Emily awoke to the loud slamming of the door by an angry Lydia. Checking her phone, she saw no reply from Murray.What was his deal, coming or not? No definite answer left her quite annoyed.Emily had planned to use the dinner with Elton as
Elton entered the room to find Murray on a call by the floor-to-ceiling windows while Emily was seated on the sofa, flipping through a magazine.The atmosphere was casual.Elton breathed a sigh of relief, laughing self-deprecatingly, overly suspicious.He walked over and sat down beside her. "What are you reading?"Emily put away the magazine and turned her head with a sweet smile, "Are you done with your work?"Elton nodded, "I've booked your favorite underwater restaurant.""Really? No one has taken me there since you went abroad for studies. I really miss QQ."QQ was a seal, a birthday gift from Elton during her 18th birthday celebration at the restaurant."We'll go see QQ first.""Okay!" Emily's smile crinkled her eyes.Just then, Murray finished his call and approached them.Elton stood up, "The Pier 9 proposal, Mr. Gibson."Murray took it, flipping through casually, "To produce such a detailed
"Emily, the promise I made to you twelve years ago still stands. You just enjoy life and leave the rest to me," Elton's hand suddenly covered hers. His palm was warm, unlike Murray's, which was always cold, making holding his hand feel like grasping a block of ice.Emily was startled and instinctively tried to withdraw her hand, but then she realized, was this a confession?Noticing his forwardness might have startled Emily, Elton quickly released her hand, stumbling over his words in an apology, "Sorry, I... I got a bit ahead of myself. Did I scare you?"Emily nodded, then said, "I've always remembered when you said you would take care of me forever, brother."Hearing her still address him as 'brother,' Elton realized she might have misunderstood his intentions. He longed to tell her that his desire to care for her was not just as a brother but as a lover. Yet, he also thought that with Emily's university life still unfinished, a conf
As Lydia stormed out, Sandy happened to come back. Seeing Lydia's angry retreating figure, Sandy asked, "What set her off again?"Emily didn't reply, simply pointing to the two lunch boxes on her desk. "I saved some food for you. Go heat it." Sandy lifted the lunch box lid, inhaling deeply with satisfaction, her eyes narrowing contentedly. “There's a lecture in the department soon. They've snagged a top-notch business mogul as the speaker. I should head over now and eat later.”Emily thought to herself that explains Lydia's return at this time.Emily thought to herself, no wonder Lydia came back now. Both she and Sandy were finance majors - Lydia had likely rushed back for the lecture, too."Want to come with?" Sandy asked. "No thanks," Emily declined decisively. "Oh, okay then," Sandy said, stuffing a crab leg in her mouth before grabbing her bag and heading out again.Once Sandy was gone, Emily felt an urge to leave, too. Ever since she moved back in, visitors had been frequ