I took a seat next to her and teased, “Well, I understand. When the two of you are madly in love, it’s hard to suppress the impulse.”
With her face flushed, she gauchely changed the topic, “Where were you and Ashton just now?”
“Next door.”
Nora nodded. As the conversation went along, the awkwardness slowly dispersed. “I heard you calling me just now. Is there anything else?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No.”
Nora muttered a response. Once again, an awkward silence ensued.
I supposed the shy Nora needed some time alone, so I stood up and excused myself, “Um… I’ll go upstairs and go through the documents.”
In the room, I read the documents for a while, absent-minded. I couldn’t seem to focus with my mind constantly wandering off.
Frustrated, I tossed the documents aside and walked to the balcony to take a break.
The balcony next door was only a wall’s distance away. Ashton was reading on the balcony while enjoying his leisure time.
Upon seeing him, in an instinct, I wanted to get back into my room. Yet, before I could do anything, the man suddenly looked up at me. He then put his book aside while casually gazing at me.
Having no choice, I forced a smile and greeted, “Hi, Mr. Fuller. What a coincidence!”
The man’s gaze darkened. “We live next door. It’s not a coincidence.”
Ugh! This man is really a conversation killer!
With a perfunctory smile, I said, “Well, I’ll leave you then. I’m going back to my room.”
“Do you think you can hide from me forever?” he asked in a deep voice.
I pursed my lips, feeling a little awkward. I then turned around to face him and denied, “You’re thinking too much. I’m not hiding from you, and I really have something to do.”
“We need someone to be in charge of most of the projects of Lavelian Village. Also, the Fuller Corporation’s project will kick off tomorrow. I’m afraid it will be a mess since Linda doesn’t know much about the details of the project.”
I was confused at his words. “But Linda has always been in charge of the projects. I think she does better than me when it comes to paying attention to the details. Mr. Fuller, there is no need to worry.”
With a faint smile, Ashton cast his eyes over at the pots of plants on the balcony. “Well, she might know a lot of the flaws of the Murphy Corporation. Yet, she’s too familiar with the company, and that’s the very reason that she might unconsciously overlook them.”
I mulled over his words. After a while, I reassured him, “I’ll go to the Lavelian Village tomorrow. Mr. Fuller, don’t you worry. Since we have taken over this project, we’ll do our best to make sure everything is perfect.”
The man’s gaze was deep with unfathomable emotion.
I once again reminded myself to stay away from him, or I would lose myself to him again.
The next day, I received a call from Linda. She was gabbling in a panic over the phone, “Scarlett, are you feeling better today? Could you please come to the Lavelian Village?”
I was slightly bewildered, and I had a bad feeling about it. “Sure. But what’s wrong?”
“As you know, we are going to build an AI technology museum in the base. Since the museum is still under construction, we temporarily stored those AI devices and instruments that we got from Fuller Corporation in the Science and Technology Research Base. Mr. Murphy has even instructed the security guards to guard them. Unfortunately, we found out that someone sneaked into the base last night. Some of the AI instruments were stolen. The policemen are still investigating it. Anyway, I’ve contacted Mr. Fuller, and he will send someone to help verify the stolen instruments.”
Linda was on the verge of crying. “I have checked on those AI instruments before I left yesterday, and I even reminded the security guards to keep an eye on them. I never thought something like this could happen.”
There was no use crying over spilled milk. Thus, I instructed, “Don’t panic, Linda. The base is equipped with surveillance cameras. I need you to get the policemen to check the surveillance cameras. Everything will be fine. We will find those instruments back.”
After a short pause, I added, “I’ll be there soon. Stay calm and assist the policemen with their investigation. We need to minimize the loss of the company.”
As soon as I hung up the phone, I grabbed my purse and rushed out of the villa.
Meanwhile, Joseph came out of the villa next door, carrying some documents, with panic written all over his face. When the young man saw me, he was slightly relieved. “Mrs. Fuller, are you going to the Lavelian Village? Why don’t we give you a ride? It’s hard to hail a cab here.”
Just then, Ashton walked out of the villa in his black suit. He cast me an indifferent glance before getting into the car.
Joseph was right; It would be difficult to hail a cab around the villa neighborhood, let alone a cab that could take me to Lavelian Village. Thus, I’d better go with them. “Alright then. Thank you.”
I opened the door of the passenger seat to find that it was occupied with boxes of documents. Joseph said awkwardly, “Mrs. Fuller, you’ll need to sit in the back seat. There are too many documents coming in over the past few days, and the boot is packed.”
I nodded. Although it would be awkward, I had no choice but to sit in the back seat with Ashton.
Soon the car drove off. Joseph struck up a conversation with me, “Mrs. Fuller, have you heard about what happened in Lavelian Village?”
I nodded and replied, “Yes. Linda called just now. It’s Murphy Corporation’s mistake and negligence. We’re very sorry for what happened.”
Since the stolen instruments concerned the Fuller Corporation’s artificial intelligence high-tech research, I asked, “Is Ms. Zimmer going to Lavelian Village as well?”
