Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
Elspeth froze upon hearing that, and the man noticed that. “See? I can always make you stay just by mentioning them, no matter what.”
She curled her fingers up, determination filling her eyes. Slowly, she hissed, “You sc*m!”
“You’d better do as I say, or I can’t promise I won’t hurt them.” Arthur looked at her.
“Then, tell me what you know about them.” Elspeth didn’t believe him. She knew it wasn’t as simple as he was making it out to be.
He looked away. “It’s been a month since you came back. And you still haven’t found them?”
“Cut the crap. I know you know nothing about them.” She sneered. Not even my intelligence network knows where they are, and my people know a lot more than yours. You can’t trick me.
“Sometimes, a woman should pretend to be stupid, you know.”
Finally, Elspeth found the unlock mechanism, and she gave Arthur one tight slap. “You disgust me, Arthur!”
While he was still stunned, she quickly made her escape. The man stared at her, fury filling his eyes. One day, I will make you fall for me, you arrogant wench.
…
Elspeth came back to her office only to see Jethro there.
The man fiddled with his phone as he remarked sarcastically, “I was wondering why you haven’t sent us the video. So, you were meeting up with a guy.”
“You saw it?”
She went around him and took a seat, and then Jethro pointed his head at her computer. “You didn’t turn it off. I saw the email.”
Elspeth blushed. The email Arthur sent her contained nothing but threats and a demand for her to meet him.
Just when she was about to say something, Jethro stood up suddenly and leaned toward her, his gaze fixed on her. “Why didn’t you tell me that someone was threatening you?”
She froze at his words, feeling a bit bewildered. “Why should I tell you?”
“So, I can protect you, dummy.” He was smiling, but his fury almost broke his mask.
“I saw through him. I don’t need your protection.” Elspeth waved him down and tried to push him away, but Jethro wouldn’t move.
“You should have told me either way.”
Oh, boy. He’s like a child throwing a tantrum. Amused, the woman said, “Alright, I get it. I’ll tell you next time.”
It was only then that Jethro moved away. “Good. Now that I know who he is, I shall get back at him.”
“How?”
“Not your business.” Oh, this reminds me. “Anyway, just send me the video and prepare yourself for the banquet. It’s tomorrow.”
“That’s fast.” Elspeth was surprised.
“It’s the weekend. No work. Perfect for a banquet.”
Jethro smiled. The banquet was just a lie he made up so she would go with him to meet his family.
She nodded, albeit feeling suspicious. “I see.”
Good. With that, the man left.
…
Despite the comments, the little blip was finally over, and the crowd loved their Kylathro ship. Before long, the Wilstones called. Jethro was annoyed about it, but he picked up the call anyway. “What is it?”
Moriarty said, “I thought your girlfriend was Azure’s president. What’s the deal with this lowly influencer?” When he saw the news about an influencer called Skylar dating his son, he almost had a heart attack.
“Ah, it’s just an act. Besides, do you think I’d fall for a regular influencer?”
Worried, Moriarty said, “Be careful, then. Don’t overdo it, or Elspeth might ditch you.”
Jethro’s lips twitched. She’s the one who started this whole thing, old man. But I can’t tell you that. He smiled. “You don’t have to worry about that. She’s coming home with me tomorrow. Make sure you guys give her a warm welcome.”
Relieved, Moriarty beamed. “Alright. Now, figure out her favorite food and allergies. I’ll make the preparations.”
“Sure thing, Dad. Will get back to you in a jiffy.” Jethro nodded.
However, the moment he hung up, he was shocked to find someone standing beside him. On a closer look, he realized it was just Skylar. She was tearing up, and her smile seemed forced.
“What’s wrong? Did someone do something to you?” he asked. If it weren’t for Elspeth telling him to be nice to Skylar for the act, he wouldn’t have said a word to her.
“I-It’s nothing.” Skylar took a deep breath and handed a file to him. “This is the president’s plan for the next quarter. She wanted me to hand it to you. Personally.”
Jethro gave her a kind smile. “I’ll take a look.”
Skylar would have fallen in love with that smile right away had it been in the past. However, now she could only think how fake the smile was, yet she didn’t say anything about it. Not like it would do her any good. She figured the one who was in her way of getting to Jethro’s heart was Elspeth. If she doesn’t shine that much anymore, perhaps Jethro would finally look at me. Skylar was in a dilemma. She knew it was a bad thought, but she had no idea how to stop it from spreading.
Jethro noticed the woman spacing out with an eerie smile hanging on her lips. She looks creepy. “Why are you spacing out, Skylar?”
She snapped out of it and shook her head. “I’m fine. Well then, now that I’ve delivered the contract, I should get back to work.”
Jethro nodded with a smile. “Sure thing.”
…
Just when Elspeth thought the affair was coming to an end, another problem showed up. An account called ElspethHater popped up and started a long thread.
Elspeth read the thread, and she frowned. The thread said that Elspeth was the one who puked at the bar, and it compared Elspeth and Skylar’s profiles. Obviously, Elspeth was slimmer than Skylar, and if this went on, there would be trouble. Left with no choice, she opened an alternate account to argue with the poster.
Elspeth commented, ‘It’s just angle problems. You can’t tell them apart just from their body shape alone. You’d have to have perfect sight for it.’
The poster retorted, ‘This is obvious enough. That woman looked a lot more like Elspeth, not Skylar. The body shape, the way she moves, her gait. Everything points to Elspeth.’
‘You sure do keep a close eye on the lady. Are you a pervert?’
‘I just want to find out the truth. How does that make me a pervert?’
‘It was dark. Nobody could see anything. How are you so sure that was Elspeth? Not like you know her.’
‘Heh. You don’t know her, either.’
‘Of course. She had dinner with Jethro and went to a concert together.’
‘But so far, I believe there’s no information about where Elspeth had gone to or what she was doing. So, how did you find out about it?’
At that, the poster stopped replying. The crowd was still watching with interest, and now that the poster wasn’t saying anything, they thought Elspeth had won.
‘Go on. You were making very good points. Or were you just lying? Or perhaps you’re actually a stalker. That’s why you know what she did.’
Still, the poster said nothing. No matter what the answer was, it wouldn’t do well for them. If they confessed to being a stalker, they would be labeled a pervert, and nobody would believe their thread. People would think they were up to something no good. And if they confessed that everything was a lie, then the whole thread would have meant nothing.
Elspeth knew she had won this argument, but she couldn’t be happy about it. I’ve never told anyone about this. Jethro might be a flippant guy, but he wouldn’t start any trouble. This isn’t his style. So, that leaves… She narrowed her eyes. She had a plan to deal with this.
Two minutes later, ElspethHater deleted the thread all of a sudden, and the crowd was starting to take Elspeth’s side. Now, they believed that Skylar was the woman in the photo, and thanks to this thread, Skylar and Jethro gained even more fans. A blessing in disguise, so to speak.
Once everything was done, Elspeth called Skylar, and Skylar sounded nervous. “What’s wrong, Skylar? You sound nervous.” Elspeth smiled.
“I’m fine, Miss Lynwood. So, what is it?”
“It’s nothing. Just wondering why you haven’t posted the video. Jethro did, but you haven’t.”
Beads of sweat formed on Skylar’s forehead. “I-I was busy, so I forgot.”
Beads of sweat formed on Skylar’s forehead. “I-I was busy, so I forgot.”