No matter how she looked at it, Clara was just an ordinary, unremarkable young lady from a wealthy family. Why did she receive Ethan’s exclusive affection?
“Mr. Logan is right.”
“Mr. Logan is a real man.”
“Mr. Logan treats his wife so well.”
The three secretaries in the office said with smiles.
They weren’t flattering anyone; they genuinely felt that Mr. Logan treated his wife very well.
Among today’s men… how many would consider it natural for a husband to support his wife? And how many men would stand up to their own mothers for their wives?
The madam… was truly blessed with an enviable happiness.
Clara’s face reddened slightly.
Although she had deliberately shown off in front of Nora, she still felt a bit shy, embarrassed, and awkward about it.
This was just a small interlude. The secretaries were busy, and after this brief exchange, they all got back to work.
Iris invited Clara for afternoon tea.
Clara didn’t want to go.
She was still quite afraid of spending time alone with her sister. It was predictable-whenever she was alone with her sister, Iris would bring up Ethan, and then… she would feel very uncomfortable.
But she couldn’t refuse.
Her own sister-she couldn’t possibly cut off contact with her because of Ethan and never see her again.
Clara agreed.
During lunch in the office, Clara asked Ethan for leave.
“This afternoon… I’d like to take some time off,” Clara said.
Ethan gave Clara a casual glance. “What for?”
Clara: “… I just have something to do. I need to go out for a while.”
Ethan looked at Clara: “What is it?”
Clara: “…”
Did he really need to pursue this so thoroughly?
Clara wanted to make up an excuse to deceive Ethan. But… first, Ethan wasn’t easily fooled, and second… even if she managed to deceive Ethan now, if he discovered her lie later…
Ethan would make her pay.
She was afraid.
Forget it, she’d just tell the truth.
After all, it wasn’t something shameful.
Meeting her sister was perfectly natural.
“My sister invited me for afternoon tea,” Clara said.
Ethan looked at Clara.
Iris invited Clara for afternoon tea?
What good could come of that?
Certainly nothing good.
But… Iris didn’t invite Clara frequently, sometimes only once every week or two. They were sisters; he couldn’t possibly prevent Clara from seeing Iris, could he?
Even though their relationship was awkward now, they couldn’t just cut off all contact because of it.
His personality would allow him to do that.
But Clara’s personality… definitely wouldn’t.
He could restrict Clara in many ways, but in some matters, if he imposed restrictions based on his own personality and style, it would be very difficult for Clara. It would be hard for her to comply and would put pressure on her.
“Go ahead,” Ethan said.
Letting Clara see Iris more often-if Iris kept showing that she couldn’t forget him, kept bringing him up… gradually, Clara would naturally distance herself from Iris.
No woman would want another woman pining after her husband.
Clara paused, looking at Ethan with surprise. She hadn’t expected Ethan to be so accommodating, agreeing so easily to let her meet her sister.
Before asking, she had thought Ethan would definitely refuse sternly, not allowing her to go.
It seemed… she had misjudged Ethan.
Ethan was actually quite good, and quite magnanimous in many situations.
In the future, she would definitely change.
She wouldn’t judge a gentleman with a petty person’s mindset.
She wouldn’t make wild speculations about Ethan.
Clara’s expression was so obvious that Ethan glanced at her.
He snorted coldly.
Did she really think he was that unreasonable?
That he wouldn’t even allow her to see her own sister?
Seeing Ethan’s expression, Clara realized he was upset, and quickly sweetened her tone: “Thank you, husband.”
Ethan paused, giving the sweetly smiling Clara a glance, let out a light snort, and said nothing more as he continued eating…
This was a signal that he was no longer angry with Clara.
Clara looked at Ethan, her smile growing even sweeter.
She had now discovered that although Ethan appeared cold and stern, never smiling and seemingly difficult to get along with… he was actually quite easy to appease.
She wasn’t exaggerating, but now she could easily placate Ethan without much effort.
Clara felt smug inside. She was truly a genius at romance, so skilled at appeasing men.
After lunch, Clara didn’t take a nap. She played on her phone for a while before leaving to meet Iris.
Iris had chosen a cafe for their meeting.
When Clara arrived, Iris was already there.
She was alone.
“Clara…” Iris smiled at Clara. “What would you like to drink?”
A server approached, and Clara ordered coffee.
“Clara, I asked you to come today to discuss our cousin’s wedding,” Iris said with a smile.
The cousin Iris mentioned was the one Clara had previously referred to as her older cousin. She was younger than Iris but older than Clara, at twenty-four this year.
She lived in Illestead.
“Are you going to Rachael’s wedding?” Iris asked.
Clara nodded. “Of course.”
She was very fond of her cousin. She would definitely attend her cousin’s wedding.
“I was thinking… we could go two days early, spend a few days in Illestead, and then come back,” Iris said with a smile.
Clara’s eyes lit up, and she nodded. “That sounds good.”
Iris smiled and said, “Then we’ll go together.”
Clara nodded. “Yes.”
Iris asked, “By the way, is Ethan going?”
Clara paused, saying, “I don’t know… he probably won’t go. After all, he’s so busy.”
Iris replied, “… Oh.”
Clara felt that her sister’s expression seemed quite disappointed.
Did her sister want Ethan to go?
But even if Ethan went, what did that have to do with her sister?
“Ask him when you get back,” Iris said. “… This is our cousin’s wedding. If Ethan doesn’t go, it might seem… a bit disrespectful. I’m worried our cousin might take it the wrong way.”
Clara: “… Um, I’ll ask him.”
In reality, she knew her cousin definitely wouldn’t think too much about it.
If Ethan didn’t accompany her, other relatives… would definitely make assumptions. They would think that Ethan didn’t love her…
Iris nodded.
The sisters chatted about a few other things, then had dinner together before Clara headed home.
Ethan noticed that Clara seemed preoccupied.
She kept glancing at him secretly, appearing as if she wanted to say something but was hesitating.
Ethan raised an eyebrow… Had Iris been filling her head with nonsense again?
But Ethan didn’t take the initiative to ask Clara what was wrong.
He was waiting for Clara to speak up on her own.
She would tell him.
She couldn’t hold it in.
Clara managed to hold out until nine in the evening before she couldn’t contain it anymore. Pretending to be casual, she said to Ethan: “My cousin is getting married.”
Ethan looked at her and asked, “And?”
He knew.
That day, Daniel had been talking about this.
From her conversation with Daniel, he could sense that Clara was very fond of this cousin.
She liked her even more than her own family members.
“My cousin is in Illestead… I need to attend her wedding,” Clara said. “I want to go two days early…”
Ethan nodded calmly.
Just like that?
Nothing more?
Didn’t he have anything else to say?
“You want to take time off?” Ethan asked.
Was that what she wanted?
To be honest, for her job, it didn’t really matter whether she took time off or not.
Just making tea and brewing coffee-any of the other secretaries could do that with a bit of spare time.
Others might be busy, but Stephanie definitely had time.
“… Yes,” Clara nodded.
“Go ahead,” Ethan said. “I’ll give you a week off.”
Clara replied “… Alright.”
Was she supposed to thank the generous boss now?
Ethan looked at Clara, who didn’t seem happy.
So… was there something else she wanted to say?
Clara wanted to invite Ethan to go with her.
But she was afraid he would refuse.
However… if Ethan didn’t go and she went alone, she could imagine what kind of comments she would hear, and those remarks would definitely affect her mood.
Her favorite cousin was getting married, and she wanted to attend, happily wishing her cousin eternal happiness.
She didn’t want her mood to be affected.
She didn’t want any unpleasantness.
After hesitating inwardly for a moment, she decided to invite Ethan.