In a luxurious and elegant restaurant, Clara Grant and Miles Quinn sat facing each other, the table between them laden with food.
She had been to this restaurant before, back when she was still the young lady of the Grant family, so she knew how pricey everything was.
Clara Grant glanced at the feast laid out before them, and her hand slipped under the table, furtively reaching into her purse to squeeze her ager wallet.
She hadn’t expected Miles Quinn to bring her straight to such an upscale restaurant without even asking her. What she expected even less was for him to order so much food all at once, even including dessert.
As he was ordering, she desperately wanted to say, ’That’s more than enough, there’s no way the two of us can finish all that,’ but she was ultimately too embarrassed to speak up.
Miles Quinn ca from a prominent family; of course he would be both extravagant and discerning when it ca to food.
Since she had promised to treat him to a al, she couldn’t be a spoilsport about it.
’But my money... my poor wallet!’
’After this al, my wallet will be even flatter!’
Clara Grant silently mourned her wallet, her brow furrowing unconsciously.
’Well, what’s ordered is ordered. It can’t be sent back, so I might as well dig in.’
With that thought, Clara Grant picked up her knife and fork, cut off a piece of steak, and popped it into her mouth.
’Mmm, this is delicious. It’s been so long since I’ve eaten anything this good.’
After just a few chews, the worried expression on her face lted away, replaced by a radiant smile of pure satisfaction.
In an instant, all thoughts of money and her wallet were tossed to the back of her mind. ’Money? What’s money? To hell with money! If it’s gone, you can always earn more!’
Miles Quinn, of course, took in her every action and expression. His face remained impassive, but inwardly, he was bursting with amusent.
’This girl is so wonderfully transparent. She wears her heart on her sleeve.’
Watching her devour her food with gusto, Miles Quinn found the girl he’d known for three years—but only recently gotten close to on two occasions—to be cuter and cuter the more he looked at her.
With one completely absorbed in eating and the other in watching, neither of them noticed soone in a distant corner, aiming a cara and taking pictures of them.
As Clara Grant was stuffing a large mouthful of pasta into her mouth, she happened to glance up and saw Miles Quinn staring at her.
Realizing her table manners might be a bit unflattering, she blushed in embarrassnt and slowed her chewing.
She looked at Miles Quinn and asked, "Miles, why aren’t you eating?"
Miles Quinn didn’t answer. Instead, his lips quirked, and he let out a soft chuckle.
Before Clara Grant could react, he had already grabbed a napkin, leaned forward, and reached for the corner of her mouth.
Clara Grant instinctively flinched away. Miles Quinn’s expression didn’t change as he said softly, "Don’t move. You have sothing on the corner of your mouth."
With that, he gently wiped her lips.
When he was done, he sat up straight and gestured for her to continue. "Go on, eat."
His intimate gesture had already made Clara Grant’s face turn beet red. She lowered her head and began eating even more furiously, though now the food was tasteless to her.
From a distance, the cara’s shutter clicked away. CLICK. CLICK.
...
At 2:15 in the afternoon, Chloe Grant appeared in front of the Aegis Entertainnt building.
Gazing up at the skyscraper that seed to pierce the clouds, Chloe Grant, who had arrived full of bravado, suddenly felt her courage falter.
However, the mont she thought of Clara Grant, she found her courage once more.
’What do I have to be afraid of? Clara Grant is the one who should be scared!’
With this in mind, Chloe Grant straightened her clothes, threw her shoulders back, and strode inside with her head held high.
...
In the president’s office, Seth Quinn was staring at the photo on their open marriage certificate.
In their marriage photo, one of them had a forced smile while the other was expressionless. They looked like a couple united in appearance but divided in spirit. No, even their appearances weren’t united, let alone their spirits.
But in Seth Quinn’s eyes, he and Clara Grant were the perfect couple—a match made in heaven!
’There could be no woman more suited to him, nor any man more suited to her!’
Unconsciously, his finger reached out, caressing the image of Clara Grant’s beaming face in the photograph.
’What the hell... they only parted this morning, and he was already starting to miss her.’
Suddenly, the ringing of the phone shattered Seth Quinn’s train of thought.
He frowned slightly, set down the red certificate, and answered the phone with a sweep of his arm.
"President, the front desk says a Miss Chloe Grant is here to see you."
It was Chase Childs’s voice on the line.
Since Seth Quinn’s mind was still on Clara Grant, his first thought upon hearing the surna "Grant" was of her, and the corners of his lips curled up unconsciously.
’She ca to the company to find . Could it be she misses , too?’
’But why didn’t she call before she ca?’
’Thinking about phone calls, he suddenly rembered she probably didn’t have his number.’
’Right, I’ll have to put my number in her phone later.’
Only after this series of thoughts flashed through his mind did he process the rest of what Chase Childs said, and his softening expression imdiately turned to ice.
"Chloe Grant? What is she doing here?"
"She says she has sothing to discuss with you in person regarding Clara Grant."
After Chase finished, the line went silent. Just as he assud the president wouldn’t see her, Seth Quinn spoke again. "Let her co up."
...
"Speak. What is it?"
Seth Quinn said, leaning back casually in his office chair, his gaze cold as he looked at the woman standing before him.
Seeing his completely unfriendly expression, Chloe Grant felt a renewed sense of unease.
But a mont later, she gritted her teeth, looked at Seth Quinn, and got straight to the point. "President Quinn, I heard that Clara Grant is going to play the role of Tina in *A Lifeti of Splendor*. Is that true?"
"Who told you that?" Seth Quinn’s voice betrayed no emotion.
Seeing that Seth Quinn had responded, Chloe Grant grew bolder and began to embellish her story.
"Who else? Clara Grant herself, of course. She’s been bragging all over school that you personally chose her, even claiming that you begged her to take the role.
"Of course, nobody believed her, so to convince them, she claid it’s because you two have a special, even intimate, relationship. That’s why you were supposedly begging her to accept the part."
After saying her piece, Chloe Grant snuck a glance at Seth Quinn, surprised to see the man still looked completely unfazed.
Logically, after everything she’d said, Seth Quinn should be furious with Clara Grant. In her mind, a man as high and mighty, as exceptionally gifted as Seth Quinn, would naturally possess a deep-seated pride and an imnse sense of dignity.
’He would never tolerate a woman slandering him like this!’
And yet, he didn’t seem the least bit angry. In fact, by the end, a faint smirk was even playing on his thin lips.
"Is that so?" Seth Quinn raised an eyebrow. He knew perfectly well how much of Chloe Grant’s story was true and how much was fabricated.
’That woman wouldn’t even let reveal they were married. She’s desperate to draw a clear line between them, so how could she possibly be bragging about it?’
"But she’s absolutely right. I did beg her to take the role." ’And I forced her to marry , too,’ he thought. ’What are you going to do about it?’
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