Chapter 59
In most cases, watching lovers being jealous was actually fun.
In plain life, this seemed to be the best proof that one's lovers cared about themselves. People could taste special sweetness in jealousy, so someone always enjoyed it.
But Shawn didn't think so.
Even though it was a small matter that could not even be regarded as a misunderstanding, he did not want Vanessa to experience the grievance at that moment and the bitterness spreading in the process.
Probably because he knew that feeling too well.
Vanessa naturally didn't think so much.
When she heard Shawn say this, her anger vanished and turned into a sweet stream flowing in her heart.
"Who is jealous?" Vanessa could not stop smiling, but she still stubbornly said, "I like that coat. It's expensive and beautiful but was ruined by her."
Shawn glanced at her and was about to say something when his mobile phone on the desk suddenly rang.
He glanced at the caller ID and picked it up.
It was Rachel.
"What are you doing?"
Shawn, "Dinner."
Rachel, "Are you home?"
Shawn, "Outside."
"With Sophia?"
"Not with her."
Rachel, "Do you know where she has gone? She's not at home and doesn't reply to my messages."
Shawn, "I don't know."
Accustomed to Shawn's short speaking style, Rachel said to herself, "She always runs around all day and doesn't do anything serious. I don't know where she went today."
As Rachel spoke, the food was served.
Vanessa stirred the noodles with chopsticks and looked at Shawn from time to time.
He seemed to be talking to his family and ignored the noodles in front.
So Vanessa pushed his bowl to her side and helped him stir it well.
On the phone, Rachel noticed that Shawn seemed to be in a noisy place, so she asked, "Who are you with?"
Shawn's expression finally changed. He glanced at Vanessa, who helped him mix noodles, and softened his voice.
"My girlfriend."
Hearing his words, Vanessa's hand paused. She looked up and whispered, "Who is that?"
Shawn suddenly thought of something. He stared into her eyes and smiled, "My sister."
Vanessa nodded. "I see. You can go on. Don't mind me."
However, as soon as she finished speaking, Shawn handed his cell phone to her. "Do you want to say hello to my sister?"
Vanessa shook her head in horror. She put down her chopsticks and waved her hands but said nothing.
"No?" Shawn still smiled. "Don't you want to say hello to my sister?"
"Shh!"
Vanessa frowned and put her index finger in front of her mouth to signal him to shut up.
Say hello to his sister? She was unprepared.
And he asked her directly. What if his sister heard that she was unwilling to say hello and misunderstood that she was arrogant?
She was just nervous and shy.
When Shawn spoke to Rachel again, Vanessa ate noodles silently without saying a word.
Not until he hung up did she ask, "By the way, I haven't heard of or seen your sister. Isn't she working in your company?"
"Yes." Shawn couldn't help chuckling when he looked down.
Vanessa, "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing." Shawn said calmly, "She keeps a low profile."
"Oh."
Vanessa thought he was right.
Although she was not curious about other people's family affairs, she knew almost all members of rich families like the Yeats family had a lot of interests involved.
Occasionally, if there were a change in the relationship between husband and wife of a rich family, it would involve the underlying asset disputes. So it was hard for these relationships to escape media attention.
The Yeats family was different, however.
Their family relationship was straightforward. Only William Yeats, Edward Yost, and Shawn were exposed to the public.
Shawn's mother died early, as everyone knew.
Edward, as the family's son-in-law, attended various activities every day. However, his wife never appeared in the sight of the media, even at the formal banquets.
Some people tried to find out the news about the eldest daughter of William Yeats, but she had never appeared in public view, so the media could not find any clues.
Some people even joked that Juana Yeats was a virtual character.
Over time, everyone thought that Juana Yeats was a normal rich lady who usually drank tea and planted flowers, having no value to pay attention to.
"If you hadn't just answered the phone, I would have forgotten that you still have a sister."
Vanessa said, "She's too low-key."
"Yeah." Shawn admitted her statement, "Do you want to meet her?"
Vanessa almost couldn't swallow the noodle she had just eaten. She looked forward to it, but she was more nervous. "That's OK. But take it slow. Let me prepare for it."
"OK." Shawn nodded. "Don't worry. Take your time."
Although she said to take it slow, she kept talking about his sister on her way home.
"Then what does your sister usually do since she doesn't work in your company?"
The window opened, letting the cool night wind blow in, blowing Shawn's hair in front of her forehead.
He was in a very good mood at the moment and was always smiling. Even his tone was much more relaxed than usual.
"She sings and dances every day, nothing else."
"That's really comfortable."
Vanessa was envious. "Does she look like you?"
"We..." Shawn narrowed his eyes and smiled more. "Yes. We look like each other."
"Really?"
He smiled when he mentioned his sister. Vanessa thought he must have a very, very good relationship with her sister, so she became even more curious. "Then show me her photos. I'm curious."
He smiled, but he didn't answer Vanessa's words.
Vanessa reached directly to the center console for his mobile phone and said, "Show me."
"Don't move." Shawn suddenly grabbed her. "I don't have her photo."
Vanessa didn't believe it. "Liar."
"It's true." Shawn easily took his cell phone back from her hand, unlocked it, and handed it to her again, "If you don't believe it, you can check it yourself."
Vanessa couldn't really check his phone, so she snorted and looked out the window. "It's ok if you don't show me. I'll see her sooner or later."
"Uh-hmm."
Vanessa thought Shawn was so abnormal tonight. He kept smiling.
"What's the matter with you?"
Vanessa looked at him curiously. "Who makes you so happy?"
Shawn didn't look at her. He just looked at the traffic lights in front of him and said without changing his face, "Of course it's you. Who else can there be?"
His sudden love talk made Vanessa a little shy. She fiddled with her hair and cleared her throat shyly. "I'm just chatting with you. If I..."
She stopped suddenly.
"If you what?" Shawn stopped at the traffic light and looked straight at her side face. "Hmm?"
"Nothing."
Vanessa smiled with her eyes down and put on an innocent expression. "Pay attention to the road. Don't look at me."
But Shawn stuck his eyes to her face. His eyes seemed to have heat, making her cheeks burn.
The evening wind stagnated, and the temperature in the car rose silently.
Vanessa knew Shawn was looking at her, but she didn't look up. She tapped her fingers restlessly on her legs.
She thought Shawn was strange. They had no physical contact, but his eyes made her feel as if they were doing something very close.
Shawn finally looked back to the road when a car whistled behind him.
At that moment, the heat around Vanessa dissipated.
Meanwhile, Vanessa's cell phone rang.
Vanessa looked at the caller ID and was stunned.
Shawn also saw Lonn's name on the screen.
Knowing that he saw it, Vanessa was afraid that he would get angry for no reason, so she directly turned on the hands-free mode.
"Hello?"
Lonn didn't say anything else but came straight to the point, "Are you free now?"
Vanessa stole a glance at Shawn. Seeing that he looked normal, she then answered, "What's the matter?"
"It's about your friend Sophia." Lonn went on. "Did she just contact you?"
Vanessa, "Sophia? No."
Lonn paused for a moment and smiled. "She just contacted me and said she was lost in Mt. Yodelnn. She couldn't get a taxi in the wilderness and let me go to save her."
Yes, Sophia used the word "save."
Vanessa was speechless.
Lonn then said, "Although I don't believe it very much, and I'm not in Lantrie, I still have to tell you just in case."
He smiled. "What I guess is right."
Vanessa was silent for seconds before finally saying, "I see."
After hanging up, she looked at Shawn.
He did have a gloomy face.
"Call her."
Vanessa called Sophia obediently.
Seeing that it was Vanessa's call, Sophia happily picked it up.
"Vanna, what's up?"
"Where are you?"
Hearing Shawn's voice, Sophia shook. Even her voice changed.
"I, I am at Mt. Yodelnn."
Shawn, "Are you too idle?"
Sophia was speechless.
Vanessa didn't have a chance to talk the whole time. After saying these two sentences, Shawn hung up.
The direction of the car was still Vanessa's home.
"Are you really not going to find her?" Vanessa asked, "Mt. Yodelnn is really out of the way. What if she is really in danger? It's late now."
Shawn looked cold when he hung up the phone, but his voice was calm. "Do you think she went on an expedition to Mt. Yodelnn? There's an orchard of the Sanchez family. She went to pick fruit."
Vanessa was speechless again.
Shawn, "A lot of people are serving her. Even if she gets lost, she gets lost in the villa."
Although Sophia was Shawn's niece, at the moment, Vanessa really felt ashamed of herself in Lonn because of Sophia.
After a long silence in the car, Vanessa said, "Your niece is really resourceful."
Shawn said casually, "Thanks to her little aunt's education."
Vanessa didn't know what to say.
Perhaps it was because the title "aunt" made her heart tremble, or perhaps it was because his teasing tone made her speechless.
In short, she was silent for a long time.
For a long time, Shawn thought this topic was over, but then he heard her unconvinced voice.
"I didn't teach her. And whether it's a good or a bad idea, it's a good way as long as it can make me successfully hook up with the person I like."
Shawn smiled. "You're right."
Although Shawn did not continue to mention Sophia in front of Vanessa, this did not mean that he really let Sophia go.
Sophia had done such a disgraceful thing. He had no reason to let her go.
And his solution was simple and crude.
At noon on Monday, just after dinner, Vanessa received Sophia's complaint messages.
Sophia, "I can't believe it!"
"My uncle said I was too idle all day and disturbed him. He asked me to go back to work!"
"When did I bother him? We only go back to our grandfather's house for dinner every week. I can't even see him at ordinary times!"
Vanessa stood leisurely on the balcony, drinking hot tea and typing.
Vanessa, "Are you going back to the magazine?"
Sophia, "Yeah. He told me to learn more from you."
"He knows I'm not good at it! I guess he thinks financial journalists are the best profession in the world now!"
Vanessa smiled. It was surprisingly good to get recognition from Shawn.
However, Sophia's words next stopped her smile, "But he specially emphasized that I should learn good things from you, not bad."
Vanessa's smile stopped abruptly.
Vanessa, "What did he mean? Learn what bad things from me? Let him make it clear."
After a while, Sophia replied.
"He said you knew it."
"I'm sorry, I don't know. Go and make it clear and let him must give me a good explanation today."
Sophia, "Have you blocked each other? Ask him yourself!"
Vanessa exited the chat box with Sophia and was about to harass Shawn when Tracy sent her a message, "Where are you?"
Vanessa, "Balcony."
Tracy, "Let me show you something.
I was spying these days. Guess what? I really found something."
Then she sent a picture.
This was a screenshot of a group chat. The group's name was truncated, and the content was a few sentences said by Lily Scott.
"Guess what I heard today?".
"Do you remember that intern, Sophia? Vanessa is with her uncle."
Several other people in the group issued question marks.
Lily continued, "If I hadn't heard Sophia say that, I wouldn't believe it."
"No wonder her resources have been so good lately."
"However, the uncle of a girl in her twenties is probably about the same age as my father."
"Sure enough, you must sacrifice something to get what you want. Only ordinary people can't make such a sacrifice."
This screenshot showed the exact time.
Vanessa, "Where did you see this?"
Tracy, "It's easy. Isn't the situation obvious enough recently? I just inquired casually, and Sarah quietly told me."
Vanessa was not surprised.
Previously, colleagues thought she was bound to win the position of deputy editor-in-chief, and the recent behaviors of the leaders had also confirmed this sign.
In addition, she did an exclusive interview with a top American financier this year and an exclusive follow-up report on Mondred Company's IPO project. Anyone with a normal mind knew she had won the contest with Lily.
Tracy didn't even need to inquire about it. Someone was ready to give her and Vanessa a hint, but they just hadn't found the right opportunity.
To Vanessa's surprise, the rumor actually came this way.
She originally thought it was because Shawn had arranged a car to pick her up and had been seen by many colleagues.
However, if she could not find the source of the rumor, she could not accurately refute it, so she did not deal with it for the time being.
But now, she knew that the source was Lily's malicious speculation and guidance. If Vanessa still turned a blind eye to it, Lily would make it worse.
Without replying to Tracy, Vanessa put down her cup and went to Lily's seat.
She was not in her seat.
Vanessa asked the woman next to her, "Where's Lily?"
The colleague was busy with her work and said casually, "It seems she has gone to the tea room."
Vanessa went to the tea room but didn't see Lily.
She went to the bathroom again but still didn't see her.
But when she came out, she faintly heard voices from the fire safety passage.
The normally closed fire door installed in the passage was not only very heavy but also had a powerful automatic reset function. Vanessa tried hard to open the door. She didn't bother to push more but just squeezed in sideways.
The sound startled Lily.
After looking back and finding it was Vanessa, she hung up immediately.
Then she smiled kindly as usual. "Are you looking for me? What's up?"
Vanessa tidied up her clothes before saying, "It's no big deal. I just want to talk to you about my boyfriend."
Lily's expression changed a little. She stepped back to the wall and smiled, "What's the matter with your boyfriend?"
Vanessa, "Don't you know about my boyfriend?"
Lily pretended to be confused. "I don't know."
Vanessa said coldly, "Since you don't know my boyfriend, why are you still spreading rumors to others?"
Lily's breathing stopped suddenly. She felt her brain buzzing but still subconsciously denied, "Don't talk nonsense. I haven't seen your boyfriend. What rumor did I spread?"
"Yes. Just because you haven't seen my boyfriend, you fantasize that I have found an old man?"
Vanessa approached her and suddenly snapped, "Lily, we work in the same team. It's normal for us to compete for interests. But I've never used any mean means. What about you? You copied my outline, robbed me of interviews, and now you spread rumors to discredit me. Is it necessary? Do you think you can prosper without me? But when I didn't work in the team before, you didn't seem promising either. Or are you just jealous of me?"
Vanessa's words hit Lily's heart and exposed the dark places in her heart. Especially the word "jealous" completely stepped on her pain point.
Her face turned red. She could no longer pretend to be friendly. She could only use a tough attitude to support herself.
She held her chin up and raised her voice, "You are framing me. Who has made a rumor? Everyone is spreading your stories. Why do you say I spread it? Yes, we have competition, but you can't blame me for what I haven't done!"
"Yes, you haven't done it."
Vanessa took out her mobile phone and read out the content on the screenshot. "Guess what I heard today? Do you remember that intern Sophia? Vanessa is with her uncle."
Lily's eyes widened when she heard this.
Obviously, she was betrayed. Vanessa already had strong and direct evidence.
After the fear occupied the reason in her brain, Lily subconsciously went to rob Vanessa's cell phone.
Vanessa immediately raised her hand, glanced at her, and put her cell phone in front of Lily's face.
"Come on, grab it. You'd better grab it and then smash it."
Seeing Lily's chest undulating violently and staring at her mobile phone angrily, Vanessa said incredulously, "Sometimes I really doubt whether you have a brain. What's the age now? Why do you think you can destroy the evidence by smashing my mobile phone?"
Although Vanessa hadn't explained to Lily who her boyfriend was, in Lily's eyes, whether Vanessa's boyfriend was an old man or not, he must be rich and powerful.
She knew she couldn't afford to offend Vanessa now, but now she was in a state of excitement and didn't know what to do.
Vanessa didn't give her time to think about countermeasures.
"Are you wondering how to sophisticate?" Vanessa took back her cell phone and glared at her angrily. "The rumor has been going around for so long. Shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
Her words were full of aggressiveness. Even though Lily was unsure who Vanessa's boyfriend was, she thought Vanessa would let her backer retaliate against her.
At this thought, Lily was so flustered that she lost her mind.
When people were terrified, their first reaction was to escape and hide.
So Lily pushed Vanessa away. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
With that, she immediately opened the fire door to get out.
"Why did you run?" Vanessa didn't want to make it ugly in front of everyone, so she stopped Lily immediately.
When she grabbed the door and tried to catch up with her, Lily became even more frightened. She just wanted to go, regardless of anything. So she let go of her hand and ran away.
At the moment when the door rebounded, Vanessa's scream sounded in the fire passage.
Lily was still moving on. After two or three seconds, she regained consciousness, turned around, and walked back quickly.
She opened the fire door and saw Vanessa's right hand shaking with her face pale. Big drops of tears fell.
It was three hours after Vanessa came out of the hospital.
Tracy held the plaster prescribed by the doctor in one hand, and the other opened a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Vanessa.
"Have a drink."
"I don't want to drink."
Seeing her fingers wrapped like bear paws, Vanessa said sadly, "What if my fingers can't return to their original state? It's so ugly."
"Don't worry. The doctor said it was OK. You can rest assured."
Although Tracy was angry, she also thought Vanessa was lucky.
Otherwise, the fire door should break her bones.
But she just got the nails of three fingers hurt. After debridement, she just needed to pay attention to wound care, and there would be no impact.
Vanessa hung her head and said nothing.
When the door pinched her, she felt dizzy with pain and thought her fingers were broken.
At that time, she could not hold back her tears, startling everyone in the company.
After this, Zoie Lopez immediately asked Tracy to accompany her to the hospital. No matter what had happened, it should have been handled after she went to the hospital.
After returning from the hospital, Vanessa walked to Zoie's office. All the colleagues craned their necks to look at her.
After responding to the concerns of several colleagues, Vanessa pushed open the door of Zoie's office.
Lily was already inside. She glanced nervously at Vanessa's hand and dared not say anything.
"What did the doctor say?"
Zoie asked.
"It's okay." Vanessa sat down on the sofa and said coldly, "It's not a big problem. Let's get down to business first."
The business naturally referred to the dispute between Vanessa and Lily.
Knowing Zoie's attitude toward being a peacemaker, Vanessa said directly.
"Editor Lopez, you know Lily copied my outline and robbed me of my interview. I listened to you and didn't immediately argue with her. But now, she even spread rumors about my private life. I really can't stand it.
"She is an old employee, but I have made a lot of contributions to the magazine. She must hold accountable for this."
Vanessa's tough attitude left Zoie helpless, so she had to ask, "What's going on?"
"As I said before. I have a boyfriend, but she speculated maliciously and spread rumors in the company. You have heard all the rumors she spread. I don't want to repeat them."
Zoie frowned at Lily and asked Vanessa, "What's the matter with you and your boyfriend?"
The rumors she heard had been filtered by many people, so she didn't know what the original words were.
"It doesn't matter what I do with my boyfriend. As I told you, we have a normal relationship. He is not an old man but an unmarried young man. I don't think it has any problems with me being with him."
Before, Vanessa could directly tell Zoie that "Shawn likes me." But now, she didn't want to borrow Shawn's power.
She was now advantageous. But if she exposed him and her leaders took care of her because of Shawn, Lily's words would be believable.
Lily didn't speak all the time.
Zoie took a deep breath and said, "Vanessa, you are injured. Go back and have a rest first. I have to talk to the chief editor about this."
Seeing that Vanessa did not move, Zoie said, "Don't worry, this time I will give out a solution anyway."
Now that Zoie had said so, Vanessa couldn't be tenacious, so she stood up and said, "Then I'll go back."
After taking two steps, she turned back again, "Is this my leave?"
Zoie was a little helpless. "No."
Zoie was right to ask Vanessa to go back to rest first.
Otherwise, Vanessa would not be able to work well in the face of the curious eyes of her colleagues.
She simply packed her things and went downstairs but didn't want to go home.
Her fingers were still aching.
Thinking that Lily caused this, Vanessa felt even more painful.
She sat on the square chair outside the office building for a while and finally stopped a taxi.
"Where are you going, Miss?"
Vanessa, "Mondred Bank's headquarters, please."
The driver, "OK."
Vanessa didn't know what to do there, but she said it subconsciously.
She hadn't been there for a long time.
She had no employee card or appointment. Thus, to see Shawn, she had to wait for the secretary to report to the superior slowly.
Shawn was a little surprised when he got an internal call.
Generally, if there were nothing special, Vanessa wouldn't come to find him suddenly during working hours.
"Bring her up."
A few minutes later, the office door opened, and Vanessa walked in with her head down.
Shawn put down his papers and walked out toward her.
"What's the matter?"
Vanessa didn't speak, but she was clearly in a bad mood.
She sniffed and opened her arms to Shawn.
"Give me a hug."
Shawn had already stretched out his hands, but he saw the bandage on her hand.
"What happened to your hand?"
He frowned and immediately grasped her wrist. Fluster showed in his eyes, "What's going on?"
"Nothing. My colleague didn't see me when she closed the door, so the door caught me."
She kept her head down and leaned against Shawn's chest.
On him, she felt him take a deep breath.
"Why are you so careless?"
Vanessa didn't speak.
Moments later, Shawn released her hand and hugged her.
"Does it still hurt?"
"It hurts." Vanessa whispered, "I think I'm disabled."
Shawn tightened his arms and gently touched the back of her head with his palm.
"No, you're not."
"Really. I can't use my right hand now."
Vanessa slowly rubbed her face against his chest. "I only have my left hand now. I'm disabled."
When Shawn heard this, he held her wrist again and looked up at the wound.
He kept frowning.
"What did the doctor say?"
Vanessa looked sad. "The doctor said I need someone to feed me food."
Shawn, "Okay."
Hearing Shawn's promise, Vanessa raised her head and put on a pitiful expression.
"I need someone to feed me water."
Shawn didn't look at her expression but kept looking at her hand.
He wanted to touch the bandage but was afraid of hurting her, so he finally just brushed it gently.
"Did you hear me?" Vanessa repeated, "The doctor said I need someone to feed me water."
Shawn nodded again.
Vanessa knew he didn't look at her face, so she couldn't help smiling.
"Someone should carry my bag, too."
Shawn, "Okay."
Vanessa, "And comb my hair."
Shawn, "Okay."
The pain in the fingers seemed to be slowly disappearing.
Vanessa couldn't stop smiling.
"When I go upstairs, I have to be held."
"Like a prince carrying a princess."
She said as if she had hurt her leg.
Shawn sighed but still agreed.
Vanessa smiled. She threw her arms around his waist and looked up at him.
"Aren't you so nice to me?"
Shawn bowed his head. Their lips were less than a centimeter apart.
Vanessa thought Shawn would kiss her, so she immediately closed her eyes.
Two seconds later, nothing happened.
She opened her eyes and stared at Shawn.
He still looked very serious.
"Come and stay at my house. I will do everything I've promised you."
Vanessa, "Pardon?"