Only Ashton and I were left in the base; our eyes aligned. He frowned and queried, “Was that necessary?”
I was rather perplexed. “What do you mean?”
He pursed his lips. “Do you think that you can simply just get someone to push me away?”
I pondered for a while before asking, “Then I’ll be more cautious in selecting a suitable candidate for you.”
“Scarlett!” He was infuriated. “What do you take me for?”
Peeved, I tore his hand apart from mine. “Ashton, it’s been so long. I’ve said all that is needed to be said. What’s missing now is just the divorce certificate. Honestly, I really don’t care who you end up with; it’s none of my business. Thus, there’s no reason for me to set you up with any woman!”
Glaring at his angry face, I finished what I wanted to say all in one breath. “Whatever happens between you and Rachel or any woman is none of my business. We could get the divorce certificate now if you so wish. You told me yourself that you’re willing to let me go if I really couldn’t accept it. Since that’s the case, then there’s really nothing between you and me anymore. With that said, I hope you will know your boundaries.”
After that, I immediately left the base. Leedon, who was getting ready to head to the scenic spot, saw me coming out of the base. “Ms. Stovall, do you want to go to the scenic spot? Let’s go together,” he suggested.
I walked up to him and replied, “Okay, thank you.”
And so, I got up with him on his truck and headed toward the scenic spot.
Sometimes, it actually feels good to live freely, without any worries. In the truck, Leedon and I were talking about the intricacies involving the Murphy Corporation project. He uttered, “We’ll be rather busy these few days. You might take a while to get used to it. I’m just giving you a head up so that you can be mentally prepared. Sometimes, we won’t be able to finish our work even if we worked until midnight. We’ll have to wake up early the next day and pick it up from there.”
I was stunned for a while. “It takes at least an hour to get back to the urban areas from here. Going back and forth would be time-consuming.”
He nodded and smiled. “Yeah, that’s why some of us decided to live here for the time being. However, we won’t be so busy tonight. After we are done eating and socializing with Mr. Fuller’s customers, we can go straight back home.”
The truck stopped at the scenic spot. Leedon then directly took me to the hotels and restaurants there. On the way, he gave me a terse explanation about the place.
As I didn’t get much sleep yesterday, I fell into slumber while waiting in the hotel lobby.
Fortunately, Leedon was there to wake me up just in time. “That’s enough snoozing. We need to go and escort Mr. Fuller’s customers once they arrived.”
I nodded and followed him outside the hotel. While we were waiting at the entrance, Ashton and Rachel were slowly striding toward us.
It seemed like what I’ve said just now had offended Ashton. He didn’t even bother to look my way as he approached us.
A while later, a black Bentley stopped in front of the hotel. An old man in his seventies alighted from the car, looking amiable.
“Ashton, how long has it been? I can barely recognize you now!” The old man’s voice was pleasing to the ear.
Ashton smiled and made a hand gesture to invite him inside the hotel. “A lot of things have happened in the past few years. I apologize for not being able to come and visit you during that time.”
Clueless about who that old man was, I asked Leedon, “Do you know him?”
Leedon nodded and answered, “His name is Channing Oberick. He’s a powerful man here in A City. That being said, he’s very humble. He bought a piece of land in Lavelian Village and he often comes here to take in the greeneries. Every other famous person in A City holds him in high regard.”
Oberick?
Curious, I queried, “Are there other people in A City who shares the same family name, Oberick?”
He shook his head. “No, there’s only one family with the name Oberick here. What’s the matter?”
I shook my head. The incident between Nora and Derek at the bar came to my mind.
Come to think of it, the Grandpa mentioned by Nora must be referring to Channing Oberick.
After we entered the hotel lobby, Ashton and Channing walked into a private room in the restaurant. After they sat down, the waiter served them a bowl of soup.
Channing was delighted to see a table full of people. He gazed at Rachel, who was sitting beside Ashton. “Ashton, you should introduce her to me!”
Ashton smiled and responded, “Yes, I do intend to do so. But since we’ve just sat down, we should take it easy first.”
After that, Ashton kept on rambling. Upon hearing the name Rachel Zimmer being mentioned, Channing uttered, “I heard from your Grandpa on the phone before that your wife’s family name was Stovall. Why has her family name changed to Zimmer?”
Rachel stood up and smiled. “Mr. Oberick, my family name is Zimmer. You can call me Rachel!”
That still didn’t answer Channing’s question. Ashton didn’t bother explaining to Channing either. He only glanced at me before moving on to introduce the others.
Since Channing was quite old, he didn’t notice that I was skipped over during the introductions. After the dishes were served, Ashton and Channing continued with their chit-chat.
