Finn’s words said it’s nothing, but the cold smile hanging on his lips and the gloomy eyes didn’t look like nothing.
No one suddenly gets angry, a change in attitude always has a reason, and Finn was fine before he came in.
Lily scanned the surroundings, finally focusing her gaze on a pair of men and women, the man wearing sunglasses and the woman wearing a mask.
A woman’s sixth sense isn’t just talk, Lily had a gut feeling Finn’s unusual emotional change was because of this woman.
Her expression twitched, as she carefully looked at them, her heart felt uncomfortable as if a lump had formed inside her upon seeing those beautiful eyes.
Finn and Lily entered the reserved private room, took a few bites, Finn glanced at his phone, and after a while, a call came in. He answered and said a few words, his face seemed somewhat urgent as if he encountered some trouble.
After a few words, he hung up, Lily, sitting opposite him, put down her fork and asked, “Are you having trouble at work?”
“It’s not a big deal, just a billion-dollar project has run into problems. Originally it was urgent to wrap it up, but now because of some issues, it got delayed, and the progress came to a halt.”
Finn sounded casual, but his eyes were filled with anxiety, clearly not as simple as he made it sound.
Involving a billion-dollar project, Lily didn’t want to delay him, “You go do your stuff, no need to accompany me.”
Finn frowned, his face filled with apologies, “How could I do that? You’ve taken the time to wait for me.”
“We have plenty of time in the future; it won’t delay us to spend this bit of time. You go do your work, next time you’re free, we’ll make plans then.” Lily smiled, showing understanding and reasonable.
Finn reached out, holding her hand, and softly said, “You’re so good, I’ll leave now. I’ll make sure to take some time to accompany you next time. Finish your meal, call me, and I’ll arrange for a driver to pick you up.”
Lily nodded, rubbed his hand, and let go, “No need, I’ll call the driver myself later. You better hurry, don’t keep people waiting.”
Finn didn’t say anything unnecessary, grabbed his phone and car keys, picked up his coat, paid at the front desk, walked out of the restaurant. His previously anxious face suddenly turned gloomy, there was no trace of apology now.
He opened the car door, got in, lit a cigarette, as he thought of Aoife and Ethan, his gaze became colder and colder, he squeezed the cigarette breaking it.
He didn’t want to see Aoife and didn’t want to bother about her, even if Aoife was really with Ethan? Whether she’s alive or dead has nothing to do with him.
She was just a toy he bought randomly, now that he can’t play with her anymore, naturally, he would discard her.
But every time he tried not to think about Aoife, his mind would suddenly remind him that he would regret it if he didn’t care about her.
Some people, once they part ways, may never meet again.
His body had developed an unconscious reaction to the name “Aoife,” couldn’t resist taking out his phone, knowing she had blocked and deleted him, he couldn’t help but click on their chat to see if she had messaged him.
Late at night when it was quiet, Finn always felt like Aoife was still there.
Habits are really hard to break, if Aoife were to apologize to him now, ask him to come back to her, actually… it’s not impossible.
Finn closed his eyes, he rarely did things that contradicted Old Burns’ words.
After a long silence, Finn looked in the direction of the restaurant, Aoife hadn’t come out yet.
He took out his phone, made a call, and soon the person on the other end answered.
“Is Burns Group currently collaborating with the Jiang family on a project?”
“Yes, Mr. Snearl.”
“Terminate it immediately, tell Director Jiang to keep his son in check, let him think carefully about which women to touch and which not to touch.” Finn held the phone, his face filled with coldness.
Finn was in charge of most of the Burns Group, if he wanted to terminate a project, no one dared to object.
After getting a satisfactory answer, Finn hung up the phone, now it was time to wait for the person to come out.
He waited, waited for two hours, and the sky was completely dark.
…
Ethan led Aoife into the private room, everyone was already seated waiting for them. When they saw the two enter, the director joked.
“When did you two sneakily become closer to each other behind our backs?”
“Look how well-matched our female lead and male supporting actor are, Aoife, do you have a boyfriend? Would you consider Ethan?”
Aoife couldn’t resist the joke, her face blushing red.
Ethan didn’t mind, helping Aoife out, “Don’t say nonsense, my relationship with Aoife is pure, don’t ruin her reputation.”
“Just a few jokes, you were holding hands with Aoife when you came in, why didn’t you think about someone else’s reputation?”
Ethan suddenly realized and quickly let go of Aoife’s hand, his ears turning slightly red.
“Sit down and don’t block the way! Aoife, come sit over here.” Ethan’s tone towards others was completely different from how he treated Aoife.
Ethan had a good personality, carefree and easy-going, but sometimes he would also show a kind of young master’s temper. He quickly lost his temper and withdrew it, having almost turned his face to everyone in the crew, but never once to Aoife.
For Ethan’s identity, discerning people knew, he was a rich young master, coming out to be an actor just to experience life.
Ethan initially didn’t care about those jokes, but in the time they sat next to each other, he couldn’t help but keep looking at her.
Aoife was beautiful, good at cooking, was she really single without a boyfriend?
If she really didn’t have a boyfriend… then did he have a slight chance?
If he became Aoife’s boyfriend, would he get to eat the lovingly cooked meals every day?
Thinking about Aoife’s excellent cooking, Ethan couldn’t help but drool.
Aoife was quiet, politely speaking was refined, harshly speaking was stiff, with her personality, it would be difficult for her to establish herself in the entertainment industry.
After dinner, the director invited everyone to go singing, Aoife couldn’t sing, wanted to leave, but didn’t want to refuse, hesitated for a while, her face twisted in indecision, afraid of ruining their mood.
This kind of small detail was noticed only by Ethan standing beside her.
“Aoife, do you want to leave?”
“Can… can I leave early?”
“Of course.”
Aoife looked at the lively group of people, not knowing how to speak up, “But I…”
“If you find it hard to speak up, I’ll do it, I’m not really interested in this kind of gathering anyway.” That was the truth, he only liked Aoife a little more than the others in the crew, if he didn’t expect to see her today, he wouldn’t have come.
Ethan went to talk to the director, and the director didn’t stop them, just made a symbolic reminder that he should take care of Aoife and send her home, a pretty girl going out alone at night might encounter danger.
Ethan’s eyes carried a smile, “Alright, let’s go, I’ll take you home.”
As soon as Aoife knew she could leave, she nodded eagerly, “Okay.”
She said goodbye to the people in the crew one by one and followed Ethan out of the restaurant.
Inside, they couldn’t feel the time passing, but when they came out and noticed it was already dark, it was already mid-August, and Chiwood’s late summer nights were cool and refreshing.
“Are you going straight home? Do you want to stroll around a bit?”
Aoife looked at the time, “My agent sent me a message asking me to visit the company tomorrow, I thought of going back early to rest.”
“Okay.”
Ethan’s tone sounded a bit disappointed, to cover it up, he quickly changed the subject, “Do you plan to be an actress forever?”
“I never thought about being an actress before, I stumbled into it accidentally. I signed a contract with the company for 500, 000, a ten-year contract.”
“Only 500, 000 for ten years, haven’t you been cheated?”
Aoife looked blankly at him, cheated? Probably not, 500, 000 was a lot, and she could still earn money in the future.
She mostly didn’t know about these contractual traps, this person was indeed naive, being deceived and still counting money for them. Ethan knew Aoife was a new artist signed by X Entertainment, and he knew little about this company, only some dark secrets, like the boss leading the way in soliciting favors, messing around with many newcomers.
Aoife, in this sense, was like a small white rabbit thrown into a wolf’s den.
With the Jiang family’s ability, it would be an easy task to help Aoife out of trouble.
Ethan sighed, “I’ve never seen anyone as naive as you.”
“Hmm?” Aoife turned to look at him, her eyes wide and bright, innocent like a deer, this kind of person, if you can’t deceive her, who can you deceive?
“I finished the beef you gave me last time, and I still want to eat more, can you make a bit more for me to buy?”
Aoife shook her head.
Ethan thought she was refusing, but who knew Aoife said, “You’ve helped me so much, if you want to eat what I make, I’ll make it for you, no need to buy.”
Had he helped her a lot? If you calculated, it would just be the time he casually took her home and helped her move luggage, right?
Aoife remembered every bit of kindness from someone and stored it in her heart. Such a good person, kind and innocent, was something Ethan had never encountered, unlike the flashy and slutty women around him.
“Aoife.” Ethan suddenly stopped in his tracks and solemnly said, “What is it?”
“When we entered just now, the director asked if you were single, and you didn’t answer…” His heartbeat was so fast, as if it was going to jump out of his throat, he swallowed a mouthful of spit, his Adam’s apple rolled, suppressing the nervousness after that, his eyes were black and bright as he watched Aoife in front of him.
“If you’re single, would you consider finding a boyfriend? Someone like, 187cm tall, 68kg, rich and handsome, can sing, dance, act, make you happy when you’re sad, accompany you when you’re happy, hold your hand, live with you, play with you, never let you get hurt…” Speaking toward the end, Ethan started to stutter, so much so that even he didn’t know what he was saying, staring at Aoife’s confused eyes, he suddenly felt his face burning and the pressure mounting.
“Would you consider something like that…”
He hadn’t finished his words when his phone rang, interrupted by the call. Ethan choked for a moment and took a breath, “Let me take this call.”