Chapter 19
Some leaves fell to the river under the corridors sometimes and drifted as the river ran.
There were some lanterns hung on the columns and the lights gleamed on people.
It was quiet at night, and a group of people walked on the street chatting with each other, slightly drunk. They got on well together.
Except for Vanessa.
Different from the happy look she came, she was now following behind Shawn silently and expressionlessly.
Several girls tried to have a chat with her, but they didn't after seeing Vanessa's cold look. "Your friend seems to be very introverted!" they said to Shawn.
Shawn glanced at her and nodded.
"Yeah, she is a lonely, introverted child."
...
Everyone said goodbye to each other in the parking lot.
The driver was waiting for them in the parking lot all the time. Seeing that they came to the parking lot, he brought the car to them. The parking attendant walked forward and opened the door of the car for Vanessa.
Vanessa got into the car at once and closed the door, sitting in the backseat quietly.
After a while, Shawn also got into the car from the other side.
Vanessa watched him through the window as he stooped into the car. His smell immediately filled the car.
Hearing Shawn's breath, embarrassment clutched at her heart that she could only keep silent.
Due to her own personality, Vanessa wasn't really the kind of girl who could make dirty jokes with her friends, and she usually didn't feel like making blue humor when talking with her friends.
If it wasn't that she tried to irritate Jackson today, she would absolutely not say such things.
At least in front of the men, she had always maintained an intellectual and quiet persona for her professional image.
Especially in front of Shawn, she thought it was very important to maintain her persona, although sometimes, she failed.
But, it seemed like the mistakes she made in front of him before didn't matter very much.
However, she really felt ashamed of herself today when thinking of what happened just now.
It was true that she made a lie that she was "making love" just now, but the moment when she heard Shawn's deliberately connotative words, she knew that her carefully maintained image broke.
Vanessa now really hoped that Shawn wasn't with her when she sent the message.
What happened just now really made Vanessa feel very awkward when facing Shawn now.
"Shall I drive Ms. Green home first?"
The driver suddenly asked.
"Yeah."
Shawn answered.
Vanessa still kept silent and twiddled the side of the window while secretly looking at Shawn through the reflection of the window.
Shawn looked nothing different after he got into the car. Actually, he just looked at his phone absorbedly, as if there wasn't anyone else in the car.
The car ran quickly to Vanessa's house.
Soon, Vanessa saw the gate of the residence where she lived.
Vanessa finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Luckily, Shawn didn't say anything all the way, otherwise, she would be totally embarrassed to death.
As soon as the car stopped, Vanessa immediately opened the door and got out of the car.
"Thank you for sending me home."
At this time, Vanessa felt so glad that she wore flat shoes and could leave fast.
But when she just closed the door, Shawn's voice suddenly sounded.
"Vanessa!"
Vanessa's heart missed a beat. She pretended that she didn't hear that and immediately walked away.
However, she soon was vaguely aware of footsteps behind her.
Vanessa realized that Shawn got out of the car to catch up.
Vanessa immediately quickened her steps and walked faster at once.
However, she was still caught up by Shawn. Shawn soon grabbed her wrist while Vanessa subconsciously struggled.
The next second, Shawn pinned her onto a tree with his hands on her shoulders.
Shawn was much taller than Vanessa. Now, he was looking down at Vanessa. The light fell on his glasses and shone slightly. Vanessa immediately held her breath out of nervousness.
"Did you hear that I called your name?"
Shawn said coldly, and Vanessa could tell that Shawn was a bit unhappy now.
"I heard you..."
"Why are you so hurry?"
Vanessa was so nervous by the pressure of his gaze that she didn't know what to say. At this moment, she just wanted to go home.
Shawn raised his eyebrows and looked at her condescendingly.
"Are you in a hurry to get home and make cupcakes?"
Vanessa was speechless.
She looked up, and only then did she see clearly the smiling look in his eyes behind the glasses.
"It's not funny at all, Shawn!"
Seeing her annoyed look, Shawn loosened his grip at once and then stopped smiling. He turned towards the car while saying.
"Don't forget your stuff !"
Vanessa made no answer.
...
Vanessa returned home with a few shopping bags in her arms. She lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling while thinking about her life.
The phone in her bag kept vibrating. After a while, Vanessa got up and took it out of the bag.
After receiving her replies, Jackson sent her several more messages.
His first few replied messages were all question marks.
Then, he kept messaging Vanessa.
"Vanessa? What are you talking about?"
"Are you drunk?"
"How are you doing now?"
Vanessa irritatingly scratched her head. She angrily typed on her phone. "What the hell is wrong with you! I told you that I'm having sex! Do not interrupt me again! You son of bitch!"
After sending the message out, Vanessa deleted Jackson's messages and blacklisted him. Then Vanessa lay back in bed.
Shortly after, Vanessa's phone rang again.
She opened her eyes at once and subconsciously thought that Shawn messaged her.
She slowly reached to get her phone while thinking about how to reply to Shawn if Shawn kept making fun of her with this.
"You're right! I am actually making cupcakes! Are you going to help me or not! If you can't help me, then just leave me alone!
But after she checked her phone, she found that the new message was not from Shawn.
Vanessa was relieved at once. "Thank goodness!" she said to herself.
It was the message from Sophia.
"How is it going?"
Vanessa paused for a while.
Then, she messaged back. "You will never think about what happened today! I really make a fool of myself!"
Sophia quickly replied with a message. "What? I've seen a lot of things! So nothing will surprise me in this world."
"Come on! Tell me!"
Vanessa then massaged Sophia. "Well, I had dinner with him, and my ex-boyfriend suddenly sent me a message and asked me what I was doing! Then, I messaged him back and said I was having sex! Unexpectedly, he saw that!"
"Then, he kept making fun of me with that!"
Sophia messaged back. "Well, it really surprised me!"
"It's so embarrassing! LOL!"
Looking at Sophia's message, Vanessa blushed. She pressed her face on the pillow and went to take a shower after a long while.
...
It was Sunday the next day, and Vanessa didn't go anywhere and just stayed at home reading a book.
On Monday afternoon, she packed her bags and headed to the airport.
There was an international forum in Ariana, so Vanessa went to Ariana for a one-week business trip.
Ariana was a southwest city, and the weather there was cold and wet. As soon as Vanessa got off the airplane, she felt the cold air.
Emily was waiting at the airport to pick her up. When she caught sight of Vanessa, she waved at her with a big smile.
"Vanessa! I'm here!"
Vanessa and Emily could hardly see each other after they graduated. Every time they planned to have a trip together, there would be something that upset all their arrangements.
Ariana was Emily's hometown. After Emily graduated, she came back to her hometown and worked there. When she heard that Vanessa was going to have a business trip to Ariana, Emily immediately arranged everything for Vanessa.
On the first night, Emily took Vanessa to have local specialties.
In a noisy restaurant, they sat at the table that was at the side and enjoyed the meal while chatting happily until all the customers left.
When old friends met each other again, they just had a lot to share. Besides, Vanessa had gone through many things recently, so when the conversation started, they almost had no time to enjoy the meal but kept chatting most of the time.
Especially when it came to Shawn, Emily was so surprised.
"Really? Shawn? The president of the Mondred Bank? How dare you?"
Vanessa said, "Come on! He is a man, and I'm a woman! Why are you so surprised?"
Emily couldn't help but applaud Vanessa's courage. "You're so brave!"
Vanessa made no answer.
...
It was getting dark now, and Emily took Vanessa to watch the most famous night scene by the riverside in Ariana.
The calm of the night scene came as a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of city life. Vanessa and Emily took a few photos and then came back.
After coming back to the hotel, Vanessa picked the best photo and updated her moments on Whatsapp.
"It's been a long day without you, my friend!"
For the next few days, Vanessa was busy working during the daytime and having fun with Emily after work. Soon, Vanessa was indulged in pleasure.
However, after Vanessa went to bed every night, Vanessa would think about the cupcakes that night when she wanted to send Shawn a message.
Therefore, they hadn't had a chat for many days.
...
The night before she left, Vanessa had dinner and then went back to the hotel.
Vanessa lay on the bed alone in her room, and the closed window blocked out the noise outside. Vanessa held her phone, hesitating whether she should send Shawn a message, and slowly fell asleep.
A thousand miles away from Ariana, it was raining in Lantrie.
The winter rain had always made people sleepy. Even if Shawn was now taking part in a social dinner while all the business partners were talking a lot and drinking happily, he was still a bit abstracted.
His phone on the table suddenly rang. Shawn picked it up and had a looked. His secretary sent him the schedule for the next month.
Shawn quickly glanced over the schedule, uninterested. When he looked down the friends list on Whatsapp, Shawn suddenly saw Vanessa's cartoon avatar, which was really eye-catching in a crowd of business avatars.
Shawn paused.
He suddenly realized that he didn't talk to Vanessa for many days.
Subconsciously, Shawn clicked her moments and saw the photo she updated a few days ago.
In the photo, a brushy scarf was wrapped around her neck, and Vanessa wore a woolly hat that almost covered half of her face, exposing her big eyes and red cheeks.
Looking at the photo, Shawn suddenly thought of that shy Vanessa who buried her face in her hands when they were at the social dinner.
Vanessa would still feel shy sometimes.
And when she buried her face into her hands out of shyness, she was really very cute.
Shawn smiled and then looked at the background in the photo.
He zoomed in on the photo.
Behind Vanessa was a bridge. With the neons, Shawn could vaguely see the distant mountain. Clearly, Vanessa was not in Lantrie.
Shawn looked carefully at the photo for a while and then noticed the words Vanessa updated.
"It's been a long day without you, my friend!"
The man who sat next to Shawn suddenly asked and interrupted Shawn's thoughts, "Is she the reporter last time?"
The man was Theo.
He was invited to the social dinner tonight to be the host.
After he noticed that Shawn kept looking at his phone, he took a glance at Shawn's phone and saw Vanessa's photo at once.
Then, Theo paused for a moment. He suddenly thought of the rumor about Shawn and an unknown actress and then asked with a meaningful look, "What is she doing recently?"
...
At ten o 'clock at night, Vanessa was awakened by the thunder outside.
She got up in a daze.
The street lamps gleamed at night while the wind blew. The leaves gyrated slowly to the ground.
It was winter now. When thunder came in the winter, it would be snow soon.
Therefore, when Vanessa woke up the next day morning, Ariane was probably covered by the snow and became a world of snow and ice.
Vanessa grew up in a coastal city and then worked in Lantrie, which was also a city that never snowed.
At this moment, Vanessa suddenly thought of the beautiful snow in Ariana. Every year Emily would upload the snow pictures online. Vanessa really wanted to see the beautiful scene with her own eyes.
Anyway, it was the weekend, so Vanessa could stay here for two days more.
While she was thinking about that, her phone suddenly rang.
"When are you going back to Lantrie?" It was a message from Shawn.
Vanessa looked at the message for a long while. She almost thought that she was in a dream.
After a while, she slowly sent a message with a question mark.
"Mr. Sanchez wants to see you!" Shawn replied.