Patrick immediately looked innocent, and his facial expression changed so quickly that it was like nothing the employees of Pansy Group had ever seen before. He tightened his grip on Jane’s waist, and the two of them were practically pressed together.
“Honestly, I can only say such non-serious things to you. What else can I say if I don’t sweet-talk my wife?”
Jane had seen Patrick be this affectionate before, but perhaps because the atmosphere was heated enough and ambiguous enough, she slowly relaxed. She reached out from under the covers to wrap her arms around Patrick’s neck and leaned in a little closer with a smile.
“Patrick, you’re so good.”
Patrick remained silent, but his gaze deepened, and his heart felt as if it had been ignited by sparks, burning intensely. He reached out and cupped Jane’s face, staring at her for four or five seconds. Suddenly, he lowered his head and kissed her, tender and lingering, as if he wanted to devour her completely.
At the same time, his hands became restless, rolling under the sheets, leaving kisses of various sizes on Jane’s neck and collarbone.
Just when things were getting steamy between them, Jane abruptly regained control of herself. She was someone with principles who would never give herself away before marriage, even though it was Patrick whom she really loved.
“No,” she said firmly as she put a hand on his chest. “You promised me we’d wait until after we get married.”
“…”
Patrick gritted his teeth in frustration; it was the first time he’d ever felt regretful about something in life.
Jane could be so exasperating sometimes! But when he saw how determined she looked, he couldn’t bring himself to force anything upon her either. In the end, all he could do was reluctantly agree, even though it gave him a headache thinking about it , because what else could he do? He had no choice but to spoil his own wife sometimes.
“Fine then,” Patrick sighed heavily while trying not to let any emotion show through too much in his voice. He gazed down at Jane beneath him for another moment before finally giving her nose a playful flick.
“You’re going to kill me like this… Alright then go ahead and sleep first; I’ll… step outside for a bit.”
Jane’s face and neck turned red as she nodded slightly, half-turned and wrapped herself in the blanket. The door opened and closed, and she tightly closed her eyes, a sweet smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
…
“That’s it for today’s interview. See you next time!” Maria walked out of the studio, lay down on the couch, stretched lazily and let out a sigh of relief.
Since working with Osborn, her popularity had skyrocketed. Her agent arranged several interview programs for her to appear on live broadcasts.
“You did great.” Her agent handed her a glass of water.
“I’m so tired!” Maria slumped on the couch to relieve some pressure from sitting too long. “Can we do something like food tasting next time?”
“Food tasting? What do you want to eat?” The agent looked at Maria while organizing some documents.
“I’ll eat anything! Or maybe prepare me a cup of milk tea.” Although Maria thought this in her mind, she still showed an eager expression on her face. But then she was poked in the forehead by her agent.
“Don’t you know that milk tea is called ‘the star killer’? And have you forgotten that you need to control your weight? I saw your last magazine cover shoot; it seems like you’ve gained some weight.”
Hearing this made Maria stand up straight away while waiting for makeup removal. She quickly refuted, “I’m not fat! Don’t cameras make people look bigger? I was born beautiful!”
“Didn’t someone say they were hurt by comments about their weight just recently?” The agent teased before hearing another ridiculous argument from Maria.
On their way back home via chauffeured car service provided by their agency, the agent suddenly informed Maria that there might be an advertisement job coming up soon.
“Don’t stay up late when you get back home; take care of your skin,” said the agent.
“What kind of advertisement is it? Makeup or skincare?” Curiosity got hold of Maria as she leaned forward to ask more questions
“It’s shampoo,” replied calmly by her agent.
“Shampoo?” Maria paused for a moment, then grabbed her freshly dyed ash brown hair, which had been featured in a magazine a few days ago, and fell into silence.
She couldn’t believe that she would have to dye her new hair back so soon. Her heart truly ached.
“It’s not confirmed yet, but most likely, this advertisement is perfect for you.”
As the agent spoke, she turned to look at Maria, only to find her already engrossed in taking selfies with her phone, which puzzled her.
“Just commemorating the moment, after all, it’s not easy for me to dye my hair.” Although Maria sounded disappointed, her selfie expressions were lively and vibrant.
“By the way, you should interact with your fans on Twitter since you just finished the live stream,” reminded Maria’s agent.
Maria understood naturally and selected a few satisfactory photos from the ones taken earlier to post on Twitter. Her phone was immediately flooded with replies from her fans.
As she read through their messages, a smile formed at the corners of her mouth. Initially, Maria didn’t think entering the entertainment industry was a good thing because she had to face cameras and media every day which made her feel oppressed. However, after meeting her fans and seeing how many people genuinely loved her, she felt touched.
Just then, a message came in from Kim. Since he saved her last time they met, they exchanged contact information and often chatted casually.
“You did a live stream today? Unfortunately I just got off work so I missed it,” Kim messaged.
“You’re only getting off work now? You’re such a busy doctor,” replied Maria.
“A patient’s condition suddenly worsened after surgery so things are tough right now.”
“That sounds really hard,” murmured Maria as she typed out another message to Kim.
“It’s my duty but your new hair color looks great!” said Kim as he looked at the photo on his screen with amusement.
“Thanks but it won’t last long since I’ll be changing it soon.”
Maria added crying emojis at the end of that message which reminded Kim of when he saw Maria being scolded by her agent over their phone call before.
They continued chatting for awhile until Maria returned to her apartment and Kim politely ended their conversation by saying goodnight.
The next day when Maria arrived at work as usual, she was stopped by a receptionist who had an enigmatic expression on her face.
“What happened?” asked Maria confusedly when she saw all these flowers in front of them.
The receptionist smiled mysteriously before pulling out an enormous bouquet of flowers from somewhere unknown which startled poor little Maria!
“These are for you!” said the receptionist while handing over those flowers.
“For me?” questioned Maria skeptically while feeling something strange inside herself that couldn’t be explained easily.
The receptionist quickly explained, “Oh! They were delivered by courier this morning specifically for you but there wasn’t any name attached.”
Maria held the bouquet with a confused expression on her face. The only thing missing was a childish card with a smiley face drawn on it, which looked somewhat comical.
White roses were Maria’s favorite flowers, and that wasn’t a secret.
Of course, Maria didn’t think much of it since she had received many bouquets from fans before. However, this time was different. Every day, Maria received fresh bouquets without any signature except for the simple drawing of a smiley face.
“Received another bouquet?”
Maria’s agent was no longer surprised to see her holding yet another large bouquet of flowers. She reached out to touch the blooming petals and smiled at Maria.