Chapter 37
Actually the "like" from Shawn Yeats had not only caused ripples quivering across Vanessa Green's heart, but brought a state of confusion to Sophia Yost.
As she got the notification of Whatsapp, she clicked on it to read the message.
Oh? It was uncle, wasn't it?
She almost believed that her eyes deceived her.
Actually from her point of view, it was not surprising that Shawn and Vanessa added each other's Whatsapp. After all they had worked with each other before. And it was not uncommon for them to begin a connection.
But in a strange way, Shawn's giving a "like" late at night was not his characteristic behavior at all.
In fact, Sophia and Shawn had many mutual friends in Whatsapp, but she had never seen a tweet from him.
And even she thought once that he registered a Whatsapp account merely for work.
But did he? Actually some men she met did share information relevant to work in that platform. What about her uncle? Well, she had never seen his appearance in her moments.
Not to mention his "like" to a woman's tweet.
His "like" to a picture of a woman's living conditions, with no important information at all.
And his "like" late at night……
The more Sophia thought about it, the more it didn't sit right with him. Her great curiosity to know the truth of that gossip drove her to click on the chat box several times. She just itched to have a go.
But her reason got over it eventually.
Well, wasn't it better to be "alive"? Never mind.
-
As the film had been on for half an hour, half of the audiences in the cinema were gone instead.
In a split's second, there were plenty of seats left in the front row.
After a while, Vanessa found that people sitting around her were ready to do something, some of whom kept their heads down and whispered, and some of whom just toyed with their phones. There was snort even coming from the back row.
However, both the leading actor and the actress sitting by the sea were chatting freely on the big screen in the cinema.
Probably the audiences wanted to call the director and have a free chat with him.
At the very beginning it was not so quiet in the closed cinema with different feelings the audiences got in the darkness.
Vanessa cast a glance at Shawn without being noticed, wondering whether he also felt bored or not.
But he just looked at the screen quietly.
His brow was soothed and his look softened.
He didn't seem to be impatient, neither was he so absorbed in the storyline.
And he just sat there.
Her eyes came back to her. And then she leaned back in her chair.
Unwittingly she also stared at the screen as he did.
But it seemed that neither did she submerge herself in the storyline of the movie.
Actually the movie was fully two hours in length.
As the movie was over, it was Vanessa and Shawn only left in the cinema.
Well, was it? There was someone else apparently.
Suddenly, a noise came from their back row.
"Wake up, you fool, wake up. The movie is over!"
Actually the man shouting just awoke. Seeing that his companion slept like a log, he just struck his friend across the face.
And the latter who woke up because of the slap rubbed his face. As he found the movie was over eventually, he couldn't resist shooting a curse, "Well, how should the bloody movie cost some money? Damn it, who tells you that the movie is nice? Isn't it a better idea to spend two hours sleeping in the dormitory?"
Actually his companion just awoke, and couldn't be bothered to reply to him.
And then both of them stood up. As the heavy one found that Vanessa and Shawn were sitting in the front row, he marveled, "Well well."
"Well, dear me, there is someone watching the movie throughout. Awesome. Respect then."
Hearing that, his companion gave another smack and then lowered his voice, "You idiot, it is not the movie that they enjoy, all right?"
But the heavy man was confused, "What? Then what do they enjoy?"
"You are born to be single, aren't you? Well, it serves you right……" said his companion.
Gradually their voices drifted away.
But their conversations still rang in her ears.
Actually Shawn sitting next to her remained silent and still. She had no idea whether he heard what those two men were talking about, and she became hardly aware what to do.
As the ending song was over, Shawn stood up at last.
"Let's go then."
Finding that he got flat eyes, she nodded in a hurry.
"All right, let's go. It is rather late at the moment."
On their way back, both of them sat at the back of the car without saying anything.
Actually it was just so quiet in the car. But the silence made her uneasy instead.
Or to be specific- it brought a faint heat to her palm. Even the temperature in the car seemed to change significantly.
And she would start to fill her head with nonsense unless she made some conversations.
She just said to him drily at last as they approached the hotel, "Well, what do you think? Is the movie nice?"
"What?" asked Shawn.
"I mean, the movie we watched today." said she.
But he seemed to think about it, "Oh, it's fine."
"All right……"
She just nodded.
But he asked her, "What do you think then?"
"Me? Well, so it is."
As she stopped talking, she found that he still kept his eyes fixed on her. It felt like that the heat in her palm was pulled by something, and then slowly spread to other parts of her body.
Subconsciously she wanted to make more conversations at the moment in order to ease the unutterable and ambiguous atmosphere in the car.
"It is quite nice." She nodded, "It is rather beautiful in the last part that the woman snuggled into the man's arms. Well, they make such a perfect pair that I believe in love again. It is so sweet."
But he cast a glance at her, "Well, it is the leading actor's vision. The leading actress is dead."
"What?" said she.
"And then the hero killed himself." said he.
Vanessa was stumped for a moment. She blinked and smoothly changed another expression on her face, "Well, so he did. Look, it is a kind of happiness, isn't it? They loved each other till death parted them. Isn't it a kind of love?"
Hearing that, he raised the corner of his mouth, smiling slightly, "Did you really watch the movie?"
From Vanessa, "……"
She was still thinking about it, as they left the car to come to the hotel and got into the lift. What the hell were both the leading actor and the actress dead?
Wasn't it supposed to be a romantic and sweet love story?
Wasn't it a stunt of mutual redemption?
How could they be dead?
No wonder most of the audiences left the cinema. Well, it was a fraud, wasn't it?
The lift bell pinged at their floor.
As Shawn bowed his head and found that she submerged herself in the world of her thoughts, he just held her hand and stepped out of the lift with her.
She didn't come back to earth from her thinking of the storyline until he touched her fingers. Her neck just tensed up, and she dropped her eyes to look at her hand, and his hand as well.
Actually they reached the door of the room as they just took a few steps.
He let go his hand and raised it instead. And then he glanced at his watch.
It was so natural that she believed he let her hand go for checking the time.
It was three o'clock.
He just frowned, and was rather surprised that he would stay so late because of the bloody movie.
"Good night then."
"Well." Vanessa nodded, "I wish you good night."
However, as she went through the door, she took out her phone immediately and found an introduction website of the movie she just saw.
And she read the synopsis of the storyline and a few long reviews of the film. Slowly a question mark swam into her mind.
It was exactly the happy ending she was talking about, wasn't it?
What was wrong with him?
Did he watch the movie attentively, anyway?
From her, "How could you lie to me?"
Actually Shawn just arrived at his room as she did, and was still up.
"What kind of lie then?" He replied to her.
From her, "Well, the ending of the movie is just not like that!"
"No." answered he.
"Then why didn't you watch the movie with your attention?"
She stopped typing as she saw that.
Formerly she would do a lot of typing without any emotion on her face, like "because I was watching you" or "Well I couldn't focus my mind on the movie since you were by me side, could I".
However, she just couldn't press those buttons of her phone at the moment.
From Vanessa, "It's none of your business."
"Well, I'll turn in."
"Good night then." He replied to her.
-
It was in such confusion that they spent the first day of Karencher Summit.
And the following days of the summit would be rather busy. Both Shawn and Vanessa spent their time flitting between different meetings and were invited to come to some business dinners.
Actually they both worked in the same industry. As Vanessa had Shawn's company with his respect and influence, she somehow was in her elements at the summit.
All in all, except for the cutting-edge macroscopic developing trend of the industry at the moment, she also got to know quite a lot of people working in the same industry through the summit. So somehow she topped off her performance of this year with fruitful results.
Actually the magazine where she worked didn't have the customary holiday on the Eve of the New Year. By convention they would clock off duty two days before New Year's Eve, and just got their salaries at the same day.
As Vanessa published two articles with a high profile this quarter, she had a snug bonus.
Therefore, she went to the mall with delight on the first afternoon of her vacation.
Actually she would come back home by railway tonight. Certainly the first thing she wanted to do was to pick up presents for her parents.
The gift for her mother was much easier to choose. A cashmere scarf and a pair of gold earrings would be enough as she had no interest in something else.
But her father……
Vanessa had lounged around in the mall for a long time, having no idea what to choose.
Actually the clothes, or the shoes could be unfit for him. And it would cause her more problems if she took them back.
As she reached the first floor, she found a watch shop which enlightened her on the presents.
As soon as she went through the door, a shopping guide greeted her.
"Would you like a watch, Miss?"
Vanessa nodded as she was looking about.
"Well, will you wear it or just see it a gift?" asked the guide.
"A gift."
The guide led the way to the display table with watches of new fashion designs and talked to her, "Then will you present it to a man, or a woman? Of roughly what age?"
"A man." Vanessa lowered her head to look at the table, "In his early fifties."
Soon the guide recommended a kind of watch which hit the spot with Vanessa. However, it was just that the watch was a bit expensive, costing about 3000 dollars.
But she could accept its price.
So she decided to take it. With her causal glance, she found a quartz watch for female.
And the shopping guide picked up and showed her the watch immediately although her glance just stayed for a while.
Actually she didn't feel it impressive. As the shopping guide personally helped her to put on the watch, she found that her fair skin suited the style of the crystal dial. Suddenly she felt that her skin and the watch became one.
After a brief hesitation, immediately the guide started to persuade her to buy the watch in various ways.
Actually the watch cost about 3000 dollars. However, the only reason for her wavering was that she would lose nearly half of her bonus if she did buy those two watches.
It made her heart ache a bit.
As she was in hesitation, she heard a voice behind her getting closer.
"I'd like the watch…… Well, I won't buy one for myself since wearing it is not my type…… I'd like to buy a watch for Jackson Scott…… I find that he like the style much here……"
Suddenly she took a deep breath. The only thing she thought at the moment was that, she would never come here, the bloody mall again.
Again should she meet Bianca Yost.
Bianca just looked after Vanessa and recognized her surprisingly before Vanessa could turn around.
Actually she came in with a friend. As she passed Vanessa, she cast a glance at the latter, without saying anything.
The shopping guide knowing nothing about it still worked hard to introduce the goods.
"It really suits you. Although the watch is a bit expensive, well, you know, you get what you pay for……"
But she didn't listen to the shopping guide carefully who kept introducing the watch. She only found Bianca's glance at her.
And a glance only brought an intangible ill-tempered atmosphere to them at the moment.
"All right." Vanessa took off the watch, "Well, I'd like these two watches."
Hearing that, the shopping guide became rather delighted. As she fetched the box, she said, "Well, totally you have spent about 6000 dollars here. You can register a VIP account and then we will give you some points in it."
Bianca didn't respond to it as she heard. Instead, it was her friend who replied with a "tut" and mumbled to herself, "Well, how on earth could there be so many wealthy people in the world? But I'm not one of them, am I?"
Vanessa happened to pass them as she followed the shopping guide. Finding that, Bianca turned to look at Vanessa and then chuckled, "Well, you can be one of them as you have a rich boyfriend."
But she didn't move on "But he is much older, and he has a family. It all depends on whether you will accept it."
"All right all right. Well, I know myself, and I don't think someone rich will love me." said her friend.
Bianca didn't drop her voice studiously. Actually Vanessa heard what Bianca had said, and she didn't want to make a fuss over it as she got a new message in her phone.
--It was Shawn.
"When are you leaving today?"
As Vanessa headed for the check-out counter, she was typing.
"I've got a ticket of seven o'clock."
He replied to her, "Right.".
"Shall I see you to the station?"
As Vanessa got his message, Bianca standing by was surly at the moment.
"Well, what a different life you have since you have a boyfriend above your status. You are much more confident when you swipe your card."
As Vanessa heard that, she gritted her teeth and texted him back, "All right. I will wait for you then."
As she sent the message, the shopping guide just swiped the card and gave it back to her.
And then she stuck it in her bag and said leisurely, "Well, my boyfriend is rich. Then what?"
Hearing that, Bianca just bowed her head to look at her watch. And she smiled with no reply.
And Vanessa didn't say to Bianca, until she walked past the latter, "And it's much more than that. You will be respectful to my boyfriend as you see him, won't you?"
Hearing that, Bianca's face collapsed, having no idea whether she should keep sneering for the moment.
-
A little after, as Jackson picked Bianca up for dining together, she couldn't resist roasting what had happened just now.
"Well, your previous girlfriend is rather impressive."
Her sudden mention of Vanessa made him frown.
"What now?"
She pretended to pick up the food in her bowl causally, "Well, nothing. It is just that she has a rich boyfriend, and feels rather confident as she goes out and spends money."
"And she……"
Suddenly he put down his chopsticks, "Well, you must misunderstand her. She has nothing to do with the CEO of your company."
"Oh really. You trust her a lot, don't you?" After her cynicism, she seemed to think about something with another look came into his eyes, "Or did you get ahold of her, again?"
Actually it was their red lines.
As she found that he sent a message to Vanessa last time, she was so angry, and she had kicked up a commotion for two days.
So this time, he didn't want her to know that he had visited Vanessa before, otherwise it would make a great disturbance.
"I'm not." said, "Well, it's my guess."
As Bianca believed that he won't be as bold as brass and find her again, she jeered at him, "Well I have remained her actually. If Mr. Wright's wife gets to know it, she will eat Vanessa alive, won't she?"
Actually Jackson was rather tired of it as he heard that. But it was improper for him to put it straight, so he just let it drop, "Then why don't you tell your uncle since you can't bear it?"
As he stopped speaking, suddenly Bianca had a faraway look in her eyes with a tight grip on the chopsticks instead.
And immediately she lowered her head and picked up some food in order to mask her faint panic.
"Well, how can I impose myself on him? We'd better eat then. I'm starving."
--
Every time the appearance of either Bianca or Jackson could make Vanessa's sunny mood dark instantly.
She just held her suitcase and stood at the door of her community. She had her head down, unable to rouse herself.
As Shawn arrived there, he was a few minutes later than the appointed time.
And he didn't get out of the car. Instead, the driver came and placed the luggage for her.
Actually Vanessa was rather familiar to the driver. So she didn't make many polite conversations with him and got straight in the car after saying "thank you".
Shawn was sitting on the left side with a financial statement in his hand. Seeing that she got in the car, he pulled on his eyelids.
Obviously she was not in a good mood. She just sat in the corner, without saying anything. And she just trimmed her fingernails and fidgeted with her cloth.
As he stared at her and found that she had no intention to talk to him, he put down the statements and rubbed his inner brows.
"There was a traffic jam on the way."
Hearing that, she looked up to him. She was so slow to know that he was explaining why he was a few minutes late to her.
"Oh." She just said glumly, "It's all right."
Probably because of what had happened in the mall today, it was rather lousy for her to see him at the moment.
And the feeling she had defied description. It felt like that she had soaked in the hot water for a few hours, and she got a tremendous pressure on her sore chest.
They both remained silent as they arrived at the railway station.
The driver got off first to take the luggage for them as he parked the car.
As Vanessa unbuckled her seat belt lazily and opened the car door, she became slow to do it, and then she looked at Shawn.
And the latter just caught her eye.
"You are in a bad mood, aren't you?"
But she remained quiet. She just cast her eyes down and said, "Well, I am. I can't see you in the following few days. And I feel a little upset as I think about it."
Actually she said in a rather calm manner, almost without any feeling in her heart.
Shawn just looked at her heavily with a confused state of mind.
And he sighed silently, at last.
"Will you see each of your relatives in the New Year?"
"Oh?" She thought for a second, "Well, I will. But it's all right. Actually I don't have many relatives in my family, and I will just visit them from the first day to the third day of the New Year."
Hearing that, he nodded, "I see. Well, you'd better get in."