After Elena hung up the phone and set her mobile phone aside just as Michael returned to the room from the balcony.
“I was just talking to my friend.” Elena did not know why she cared to explain, but she did so when she noticed he had glared at her mobile phone as she stowed it away.
“Hmm…” Michael pursed his lips, and his intense eyes became even more incomprehensible. Elena coughed softly and smiled at him to break the awkward atmosphere.
“Eldest Young Master Williams, it’s already so late. Don’t you… want to go back and rest?”
It was late, and he was still in her room. When she asked if he had anything to say, he had kept quiet. Elena was stressed to be in the same place as him. Michael peered at her again, and when he caught her hypocritical smile at the corner of her lips, his mood shifted downward. He let out a cold snort before he turned toward the door and left the room.
As the door was closed, Elena felt only relief as she sat in the quiet room. Things had almost backfired again! It was always dangerous with him around! If she were not careful, she might be ravished at any time! Even though he was the most sought-after man in Bentson, that was not a reason for him to do as he pleased. She could not give her body freely just because he was a handsome man, right?
Michael was still in a bad mood after he left Elena’s room. He did not seem to be able to relax. There must be something wrong with him as he had never experienced such mood swings before that.
His phone rang just as he got to his room.
Michael answered the call, and a cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone. “Big Brother, we are short of one player. Would you like to join us?”
“Not interested.”
He was about to hang up the phone when someone knocked on his door. Elena also did not expect she would go in search of Eldest Young Master Williams right after he left her room. She had hesitated, but it was not enough to suppress her desire to go out. The door to her fiancé was not completely closed, so she popped her head through it as soon as she had knocked. Michael held his phone in his hand, and he had not hung up the call. When he saw her, he simply put the phone aside.
“What’s the matter?”
“Are you… busy?” Elena looked at his mobile phone. It looked like he was on the phone.
“Shall I… come back later?”
“Not busy.” The man shifted his phone aside. “Come in.”
Had she finally decided to go looking for him? He thought that she did not want to get close to him. He deliberately kept his poker face, as if to make himself look colder. He had just been kicked out of her room. Since she had come to find him, he decided that he should retain a little dignity. However, Elena stood by the door; it did not seem as if she had any intention to enter his room.
After a moment of hesitation, she cautiously asked, “Eldest Young Master Williams, my… my classmates asked me to go out for… a karaoke session. I’d like to…”
“Do you know what time it is now?” Michael’s proud heart instantly crumpled!
“If you’re worried about me disturbing your sleep when I come home, then I’ll just stay at my friends’ place tonight. They had just moved to a bigger unit with two bedrooms. Both Layla and I can stay there.”
She did not notice that the man’s face had grown colder and darker when she talked with such excitement.
Two bedrooms unit? Did she say that she wanted to stay there? Did she think she could stay under the same roof as Luacs and Caleb? Elena had noticed his annoyance, and she paused to observe his reaction carefully.
“Eldest Young Master Williams, you said that you would not… interfere with my life.”
She was an adult, and there should not be any problem if she had wanted to hang out with her friends. It was only a karaoke session, so that should be appropriate for her to join her friends, right? Suddenly, Michael stood up and walked toward the bookshelf before he lit a cigarette with a snap of his fingers. Elena still stood at the door as she waited for his reply.
“Eldest Young Master Williams…”
“Mmm…” Finally, Michael grunted a soft reply without a glance backward.
Elena breathed a sigh of relief. “I shall get going then. Good night!”
Elena walked hurriedly to her room. When Michael went out, he saw that the girl had put on a casual T-shirt and jeans before she hopped her way downstairs happily. Her attire made her look even more youthful. Michael looked at his suit. He had not taken a shower since morning, so he was still in his formal shirt and pants. He had never doubted his style, but strangely, at that moment, he felt a bit old-fashioned. He was only twenty-seven years old. He always thought that he was still young, but on second thought, that girl was only eighteen years old.
Michael returned to his room, took a set of clothes, and went into the bathroom.
When he came out again, he appeared in chic casual wear. However, his black-colored clothes seemed rather dull. He did not know what had happened to him. Why had he begun to question his fashion sense?
His mobile phone rang again, and he answered the call. On the other end of the phone, Monty Harris’s voice came through the line, “Big brother…”
“No time!”
He was still a little upset, and he was about to hang up the phone. Then, he heard Monty’s muffled voice as he said, “This guy is so boring. Is he really only 27 years old? He behaves like a 72-year-old man.”
Monty sounded a little disappointed. However, before he could hang up, Michael’s low and bone-chilling voice said, “Where?”
…
“That’s better. You are only in your twenties, and it’s a youthful age. You should have some fun and not spend all your time working in your lousy company. Don’t you think so?”
Monty was the only one who had the guts to call Eldest Young Master Williams’s Century Corporation, a lousy company. If it was someone else, one might have been thrown out the club’s door.
Michael did not answer him. He sipped his drink quietly before he lit a cigarette for himself. Monty appeared quite bothered.
“Big brother, since you are already here, don’t you want to have a go?”
For those who were not in the loop, they might think that they were there to play cards or mahjong.
One player short for a four-player game sounded like a mahjong game, right? However, there were four laptops on the table. They were there to play an online game called The Empire, and they were short of a sniper. Hence, they called for their big brother to join them.
When they were young, they used to train in a team as a group of brothers. Michael had been their big brother then, and they still addressed him as such. Nonetheless, they never appeared as a group in public. Therefore, only a few people knew that the young masters from the four most affluent families in Bentson were tight with each other. Even Elena, who spent several years with Michael in her past life, did not know that he had friends. Elena thought that he was indifferent, lonely, and unapproachable. She felt that he would not have had any friends at all.
“I heard that you rescued a girl from Paradise Island last night.”
Henry Sharp put down the mouse, spun his chair around, and looked at the man on the leather sofa.
“You have always stayed out of their way, and they have done the same for you. Was it worth it? Was that woman your fiancée?”