Chapter 48
"Hmm?"
Vanessa stared at Shawn motionlessly, trying to recall. "Was that... a long, long time ago?"
She rolled her eyes and said to herself, "It could have been when I was in college, right? It couldn't have been earlier. I hadn't been to Lantrie before I went to college."
Shawn put up his hand with its back up toward her.
Vanessa came back to her senses. "What?"
"Go back."
Shawn rolled up the car window as if he was driving her away.
Vanessa leaned on the car window and asked, "Tell me. I can't remember it."
Hearing her words, Shawn felt he was like a joke for mentioning this matter at this time.
He got rid of Vanessa's fingers from the window one by one.
"If you can't remember it, don't think about it."
-
Although Shawn didn't seem to want to continue this topic, Vanessa bothered with this question all the way back home and thought about it sitting on the edge of her bed for a long time.
If she had ever met Shawn, she thought she would have remembered it clearly.
But if Shawn was not willing to tell her, she did not have the ability to make him to do it.
Vanessa lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The three-petal crystal lamp was shining brightly with tiny dust dancing inside.
She suddenly curled up her lips as she watched it. Then she turned over, got up, and walked briskly into the kitchen.
Although Vanessa's kitchen was equipped with enough kitchenware, she seldom cooked for herself. There was only instant food in the refrigerator, and the bag of flour in the locker was still not opened.
Vanessa didn't know why she felt as if her illness had suddenly healed after returning from the hospital.
She had no idea when her temperature came down, either. She felt physically relieved, and even plain spaghetti tasted good.
After the meal, Vanessa walked around in the living room and felt that she could already go to work.
However...
When she sat on the sofa and stretched her legs, she didn't want to work for the first time.
She only wanted to lie down at home and zoned out as if only by doing so would she live up to the fresh air after the rain today.
-
At about five o'clock, Sophia sent her a message: Do you feel better?
Vanessa turned over, crossed her legs, and replied Sophia.
Vanessa: I feel better.
Vanessa: Thank you for today.
Sophia: Huh?
Sophia: For what?
Vanessa: Nothing. Thank you for your concern.
Sophia: You are welcome. What are you doing now?
Vanessa: Nothing. I'm just resting.
Sophia: So when will you help me?
Vanessa suddenly recalled what she had said and started to look for Lonn in her friend list.
When she was turning over with her finger, something suddenly flashed through her mind, and she froze.
A few days ago, she thought she would never have anything to do with Shawn again in this life, so she had unfriended him.
So that was what he reminded her of in the car today, right?
No, definitely not.
He would find out he was unfriended only if he took the initiative to send a message to her.
And if he really found it out, how could he mention it to her so calmly?
Vanessa reassured herself while biting her fingertips sheepishly.
Vanessa: Give me your uncle's WhatsApp account.
Sophia: ?
Sophia: Don't you have it?
Vanessa: Oh, I unfriended him by mistake.
Sophia: Sister, I am not a three-year-old child. I will not believe such words [smile].
Sophia: How much have you drunk before you unfriend such a person by mistake?
Vanessa: Don't ask.
Sophia obediently did not ask more questions and shared Shawn's account.
Vanessa clicked "Add to address book", and Shawn was on her friend list again.
Except for the absence of chat records, everything looked the same as before.
Looking at the blank screen, Vanessa felt terrible as if thousands of ants were biting her.
After thinking about it for a long time, Vanessa carefully sent a meme to Shawn.
Vanessa: daze.gif
She had not expected that Shawn would reply soon.
But he sounded cold as usual.
Shawn: Do you have nothing to do?
Vanessa: ...
Vanessa: Of course not. I'm thinking about one thing carefully and want to ask you about it.
Shawn: Say it.
She held the phone, smiled, and typed word by word like a junior high school girl in love.
Vanessa: What is your ideal girlfriend like?
She wasn't serious about this question.
Vanessa knew that he had feelings for her.
But while she was waiting for his reply, she had some expectations.
It took several minutes before he replied.
Shawn: Quiet.
Vanessa: ...
Shawn: Decent.
Vanessa: ...
Shawn: Serious.
Vanessa: ...
A few seconds later, Vanessa typed with no expression on her face.
Vanessa: Vanessa, a senior reporter for Financeweek, has a quiet personality, a decent career, and a serious writing style.
Vanessa: I think your ideal type is me.
Shawn: Is that so?
Vanessa didn't understand what he meant by this sudden question.
After that, Shawn sent her a screenshot.
He had the chat records that Vanessa didn't have.
The first one is a screenshot of five emojis in a row that Vanessa had sent to him.
It was in the second screenshot.
Vanessa: Nothing was as good as chatting with you.
It was in the third screenshot.
Vanessa: Do you like to drink water?
Shawn: It's all right.
Vanessa: Then you already like 70% of me.
It was in the fourth screenshot.
Vanessa: Do you play the violin?
Shawn: No.
Vanessa: Then how did you tug at my heartstrings?
Shawn: ...
It was in the fifth picture.
Vanessa: Oh my god! There seemed to have been an earthquake just now. Did you feel it? Shawn:?
Vanessa: Oh, it wasn't an earthquake. It was my heart beating when I thought of you.
Shawn: Shut up.
It was in the sixth screenshot.
Vanessa: I've found that you are close to perfection. You only lack one thing.
Shawn:?
Vanessa: Lack of me.
Shawn: Vanessa, go to the hospital and examine your brain.
Seeing these screenshots sent over one by one, Vanessa could not breathe.
She felt thousands of ants crawling in her head, and she couldn't be more embarrassed.
They had not contacted each other for nearly a month and drifted apart. She felt extremely depressed and almost forgot how they had gotten along before.
Did she use to... talk like this?
The cheesy love words online harmed people a lot!
Vanessa: Stop it!
Vanessa: Do not send me that anymore!
However, Shawn only pretended not to see her words and sent her screenshots continuously.
He did not need to look for such contents deliberately because there were many in the chat records.
A dozen more screenshots were sent over.
Vanessa could not stand it anymore.
Vanessa: Fuck!
Shawn finally stopped.
Shawn: Uh?
Vanessa: If you keep sending me that, you will see the news that a young beauty jumped from a building and died tomorrow.
Shawn: Don't you want to see how quiet, decent, and serious you are?
Vanessa: ...
She lay on the sofa and buried her face in the pillow, not wanting to look at her phone again.
She could not bear to chat with him anymore.
After a long time, Shawn didn't receive Vanessa's reply and knew she shrunk.
He smiled. Obviously, he was very busy, but he sent her a boring question: What are you doing?
He had hardly sent it when Barron walked into his office and pointed the outside to Shawn.
Shawn put down his phone and walked toward the conference room.
Mondred Company's users had greatly increased recently, and the original data center could no longer carry the rapid growth of the business, but the independent expansion of the Internet Data Center (IDC) required high construction and operation and maintenance costs.
After discussion among the management, it was agreed that the best solution in this period was to cooperate directly with professional companies and build up the most advanced cloud service platform at present.
The project of Mondred Company was naturally valuable, and various financial solution companies competed for it fiercely.
This week, the three companies that defeated the others would give a demonstration of their solutions respectively.
By today, the representative sent by the last company was already in place.
It was in the conference room.
On the U-shaped table, the printed presentation documents were laid out in order, and the visual concept display interface appeared on the projection screen.
Jackson stood in front of the computer and was doing the final commissioning.
His hands were trembling slightly.
"Jim," Jackson glanced at a staff of Mondred Company in the conference room and said, "I, I can't do well in presenting..."
"Be confident!"
The person called Jim was Jackson's leader. He patted Jackson on the shoulder and said, "You are the mainstay of this project. You have been preparing for it for so long. How could you not do the presentation well? Don't be too nervous. Although it is Mondred Company, you just think of it as a company we cooperated with in the past. Be relaxed. "
Jackson couldn't calm down.
He took the initiative to get involved in this project, partly because of Bianca. He was eager to fight, ready to show his strength in front of her uncle.
But he hadn't expected that things would turn out like this.
He only wanted to be a deserter for the project he tried his best to get in the beginning.
Before Jackson could say anything else, the door of the conference room was suddenly opened.
He subconsciously turned his head to take a look. Shawn came leisurely, and behind him, a few men and women in suits entered the room in succession.
The meeting room was suddenly quiet.
Jackson felt that the air around him was pushing him hard.
However, Shawn did not look away, walked straight to the front of the U-shaped table, and sat down. His gaze swept over Jackson without even a moment landing on him.
It was as if he had never seen this person before.
This was the best scene Jackson could have expected.
But for some reason, he felt a sense of contempt for being stepped on into the dust.
-
After Shawn came in, the employees who were setting up in the conference room all went out, and the next was Jackson's show.
Shawn leaned back in his chair and looked intently at the person in front of the projection screen.
Even under normal circumstances, his gaze like this was very intimidating, not to mention Jackson harbored a guilty secret in his heart.
Less than twenty minutes later, the beads of sweat on his forehead were shining in the light.
He stammered and made mistakes incessantly although he had memorized all the contents well.
Even the boy in charge of managing the audio-visual equipment at the side couldn't help but frown.
As for the others, they turned their heads to see Shawn's reaction.
He didn't seem to be as angry as they had imagined.
He just calmly looked at Jackson, but his thoughts seemed to have drifted to other places.
--He was distracted.
It was the first time everyone had seen Shawn distracted on such an occasion.
For a moment, they didn't know whether Jackson was lucky or unlucky.
A few minutes later,
When Jackson made the third mistake for the data, a sound of a pen being rested on the table suddenly came from below.
It was very low, but everyone in the room changed their expressions.
Like a scared bird, Jackson suddenly couldn't say anything and looked at Shawn nervously.
Under his gaze, Shawn closed the documents in front of him and walked toward the outside straightly.
In this scene, he did not even say a word.
The others also tacitly got up and followed him out of the conference room, just like they did when they came.
The sound of the chair being pushed away was cushioned by the carpet, and the conference room was as quiet as if it was muted.
Jackson watched the people of Mondred Company walk out of the conference room one by one in an orderly manner.
They didn't say anything, nor did they show any disappointed expressions.
But this kind of invisible humiliation made him feel much more terrible than accusing him face to face.
-
When Shawn returned to his office, he showed his emotions on his face slightly.
He stood in front of the French window, not knowing whether to laugh or get angry.
Today, when Jackson made frequent mistakes up there, he thought of the scene when he first met Vanessa.
Shawn was ashamed but had to admit that he had actually once been jealous of such a man.
He did not remember the exact date of that day.
It was just an ordinary day.
The 4th Financial News Awards ceremony was being held in Lantrie Convention Center, and one of the organizers was his friend's newly established capital company.
That day, Shawn happened to be free and sat down in an inconspicuous corner on a whim.
The ceremony started with applause, and under the spotlight, the host announced the names of the winners of the best feature article of the year in a dignified and clear voice.
The article "Thomas Sharp's Observations on Currency Wars" hit the market's pain points with precision, making Vanessa famous among her peers.
When the host read her name, Shawn looked up subconsciously.
The moment Vanessa got up, the shutter sound of four cameras started one after another to capture this newly well-known figure.
And Shawn did not even notice his eyes had been following Vanessa to the stage.
She was a bit nervous, but she was also dignified and finished her acceptance speech in an orderly manner.
The people below the stage couldn't help but laugh.
Shawn loosened his bow around his neck. He saw her thick eyelashes flapping when she bowed.
His eyes flickered at the same time.
After the award ceremony, people came up to exchange pleasantries one after another, and Shawn couldn't leave. He saw Vanessa was also surrounded on the other side from the corner of his eye.
When he finally got away, he swept over the hall, only to see her silhouette at the front door.
He barely thought about it and took a step to chase her.
However, the moment he stepped out of the door, he saw Vanessa intimately holding a man's arm and walking toward the parking lot with a smile.
An indescribable feeling welled up in Shawn's heart.
He did not stop walking, but his expression had returned to normal.
When he passed by the two, he heard the woman say delicately, "Of course, I miss you. Don't you miss me? Oh, I don't miss you, either."
Shawn laughed lightly.
She seemed to be dignified, but in fact, she was pretentious and pompous.
She was just like this.
-
Shawn didn't bother about the past. When he sat down behind his desk, he picked up his phone, opened his WhatsApp, and saw that Vanessa had replied to him with a voice message more than twenty minutes before.
He asked her what she was doing.
And she replied, "Thinking of you."
After listening to this voice message, Shawn abruptly threw his phone back onto the table.
It was getting dark outside the window, and it was warm inside.
But he felt a burning pain on his face.