Simon Forrester was pulled aside by Quentin Thorne to discuss wedding details for over an hour.
When he returned to the room, Sienna Thornton was fiddling with the combination lock on a suitcase. He closed the door and asked, "Did you sign everything? Any issues?"
"The paperwork for the shop is all good, but I haven’t signed the transfer agreents for the hotel and mall yet."
Simon Forrester walked over, "Why not? What’s missing?"
"Nothing." Sienna Thornton hesitated for a mont and awkwardly said, "Thornton told not to sign yet. Let the people from Prosper Law do their due diligence first and sign if everything checks out."
Simon Forrester understood imdiately.
He didn’t bla Quentin Thorne for being cautious. Instead, he reassured the slightly embarrassed Sienna Thornton, "That’s the right move. If they end up giving us a losing proposition, we’d regret signing those papers."
Sienna Thornton still felt a bit awkward, standing on tiptoes to give him a hug, "Do you think I’m being too calculating over this?"
Simon Forrester laughed, "Is this my first day knowing you?"
Sienna Thornton burst into laughter, and they both fell back onto the bed.
She lay quietly in Simon Forrester’s warm embrace, not speaking for a while, just lost in thought and calming her emotions.
A lot happened today, but what shocked her the most was Simon Forrester offering her 25% of the shares. Based on Old Master Forrester’s reaction at the ti, she knew Simon Forrester must have made the decision on his own and she was curious about how he convinced Zane Forrester and his sister to agree to the share gift.
She tapped Simon Forrester’s chest lightly with her finger and asked, "How did you talk to your aunt and dad? Would they really agree to you giving the shares?"
"I exchanged my 10% shares in Grant USA for my dad’s support, so of course he agreed." Simon Forrester smiled, "He probably thought that if I didn’t have any shares in Grant USA, I couldn’t have a say in things there. He never wanted ddling in his affairs anyway."
Sienna Thornton was shocked, struggling to sit up and punched him on the shoulder, "Are you crazy? Why would you do that?"
Simon Forrester was nonchalant, "What’s the big deal? One day when my dad is gone, won’t Grant USA still be mine? He’s over sixty, even with all the shares, how much longer can he last? If he doesn’t do well, I’ll still have things to say."
Sienna Thornton was amused and exasperated, "When your mom was going through her divorce, you also said your dad might have an illegitimate child outside."
Simon Forrester didn’t answer right away, chuckling for a bit before slyly saying, "I had soone look into it, and there’s none."
Sienna Thornton casually remarked, "I saw on the news that so people in their eighties can still have children. Don’t get too happy yet." Saying this, she nestled back into Simon Forrester’s arms.
Simon Forrester looked down at her, amused, "So, you think it’s possible that in my fifties, I could suddenly have a new sibling?"
Sienna Thornton imagined the scenario and found it unsettling. She didn’t dare think further and changed the subject, "I understand your intentions. Even if you didn’t give shares, I’d still know. So, please don’t give any more shares in the future, okay?"
Simon Forrester hugged her gently and murmured, "I just wanted you to have more faith in this marriage. Didn’t you once say you lost faith in marriage after seeing too many divorce cases, and that’s why you didn’t want to get married?"
Sienna Thornton recalled. It was over three years ago, on a flight back to Brimfield from Norport. At that ti, she had just been through linda Linton’s illness, disputes with The Raines Family, and hadn’t found her father yet. She had an extre negative view of marriage and family, so she declared herself a nonmarriage advocate.
But back then, Simon Forrester told her that a nuclear family could also include people without any blood relation, like a couple.
"I still rember what you said back then," Sienna Thornton rested her head on Simon Forrester’s chest, staring into space, "I thought you had a healthy view of marriage and relationships. You seed like a normal man."
Simon Forrester rembered that ti too. He smiled and said, "You were wrong."
"Hm?" Sienna Thornton was puzzled and lifted her head to look at him, "What do you an?"
Simon Forrester drew her back into his embrace, kissed her temple softly, "You were pessimistic about marriage, but I really enjoyed the single life."
"Huh?" Sienna Thornton was even more confused.
Simon Forrester chuckled, "I left ho at eighteen and thought I was pretty good at being alone. I always believed if soone were to co into my life, they needed to bring aning and value. Otherwise, I was better off alone."
"But you told before that you were too busy to find soone..."
"Isn’t that what most older bachelor guys say?" Simon Forrester laughed heartily, "Who would go around analyzing their emotional world for others, especially n."
"But am I ’others’? Are you also keeping things from ?"
Noticing she was getting emotional, Simon Forrester quickly shifted the topic, "Aren’t you curious why on the plane back from Norport, I told you that saying?"
Sienna Thornton was a bit thrown, "Which saying?"
"A nuclear family can consist of people with no blood ties."
Sienna Thornton recollected, "Oh right, why did you say that then?"
"Because at that ti, I was seriously considering marrying you and starting a family."
"What?" Sienna Thornton was shocked, pointing at herself and then at him, "With ? We had only known each other for a bit over a month. You saying you liked at that point already felt fast."
Simon Forrester burst into laughter, pinching her cheek, "Considering. Do you know what considering ans?"
Sienna Thornton: ???
"It ans it wasn’t certain."
Sienna Thornton: "..."
Seeing her speechless, Simon Forrester gave her a kiss and said, "Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing you. Let’s talk serious."
Sienna Thornton rolled her eyes at him, "Then go ahead and say it."
"I can be sharp-tongued and not easy to get along with. Put nicely, it’s personality; put bluntly, it’s arrogance."
"So you’re aware of that yourself, huh?"
Simon Forrester chuckled, "How could I not? So if you could endure living with for a month, I thought we’d probably be okay for a lifeti."
Sienna Thornton covered her face, "So that’s the reason I entered your life—to tolerate your sharp tongue, arrogance, and that mysterious sense of superiority from an old Qing-era aristocrat... Thinking about it, you’re right, I might be the only one who can tolerate all this."
"Hm?" Simon Forrester pinched her waist, drawing closer, "Are you saying you’re just enduring ?"
Sienna Thornton still covered her face, "It feels not bad..."
Simon Forrester pressed further, pulling her hands away to face him directly, mischievously asking, "Then what about you? That night in Norport, why did you let kiss you?"
Sienna Thornton covered her face again, "Because you’re handso..."
Simon Forrester pinched her cheek, "And why did you avoid afterward?"
Sienna Thornton paused, needing a mont to recall her feelings at that ti, "...because I didn’t want it to be casual."
She still rembered the feelings back then, including how she kept calling Maeve to vent about Simon Forrester seeming like he was trying to hit on her.
"The first kiss was accidental, unintentional, so no one was at fault. But the next day, you not only helped wipe the cream off my lips in front of your subordinates, you also kept asking if I wanted to move back to your place. You hadn’t expressed your feelings to , nor asked if I wanted to be your girlfriend, so your hints made think that was your only intention..."
Recalling these events from over three years ago, Simon Forrester felt that it was just like yesterday, the mories so vivid as if they still carried each other’s warmth.
For the first ti, he considered these events from Sienna Thornton’s perspective and realized his approach hadn’t been entirely appropriate. It made sense she might misunderstand.
Reflecting on how he almost lost her, his heart filled with sentint as he held her tighter and gently asked, "Don’t you want to know what happened the morning after in Norport when I woke up?"
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