Chapter 184: Chapter 185: I Hope You Can Be Even More Demanding
Ian Preston didn’t expect this matter to be related to him.
The culprit turned out to be himself.
He asked Thea Lynch, but she remained silent, her shoulders trembling. He could feel her coat was soaked at the front.
Ian Preston stopped asking questions, holding her and gently stroking her back, letting her vent her emotions.
After an unknown amount of time, Thea Lynch finally calmed down a little.
Seeing this, Ian Preston silently breathed a sigh of relief.
In other situations, he could find a way to resolve them.
But when Thea cried, he didn’t know what to do.
Comforting wasn’t right, not comforting wasn’t right either.
Because Thea was never the kind of girl who liked to cry.
Partly because she had little to cry about, and partly because Aaron Lynch had always set strict rules for her. Whenever Aaron said not to cry, she could usually control herself immediately.
Occasionally, she would continue to cry, but it was always Julian Zimmerman and the others comforting her.
When he was young, he thought Julian was like Thea’s emotional switch. Others couldn’t handle her, but only Julian could.
He didn’t have much "practical experience," just knew that when she cried, she liked to cling to Julian. Now facing this situation, he was at a loss and could only do the same.
Ten minutes later, Ian brought her to the upstairs lounge.
When he returned, the meeting had already ended.
The assistant was about to say something to him, but upon seeing Thea’s unusual state, chose to remain silent and brought a cup of warm water over.
On the sofa, Thea held the cup, delaying her speech.
Not because she hadn’t recovered from the sadness, but because she had, and was now clear-headed, unsure of how to face the current situation!
Her mind automatically replayed the previous scene, and she could only think of two words — embarrassing.
When had she ever exposed herself in public like this?
Luckily, not many saw it; if there had been more people, she wouldn’t have been able to face anyone afterward.
Earlier, she thought her emotions were stable, but now it seems that’s not entirely the case.
"Feeling better?" Ian Preston sat beside her, his gaze moving away from the redness in her eyes.
Thea quietly nodded, pretending calm and took a sip of water.
Just a small incident, no need to panic.
It’s only crying; who hasn’t cried once in their life?
What’s the big deal.
Thea desperately gave herself mental cues.
"Why didn’t you answer his call?"
Hearing this, Ian looked at the assistant across from him. The assistant hurriedly checked his phone, "Sorry, Miss Lynch. Mr. Preston’s phone was with me, and it was on silent mode because of the meeting."
"Yours is silent too?" asked Thea.
Upon hearing her question, the assistant looked at his phone again, finding a string of missed calls.
The assistant’s temples throbbed, facing two intense gazes, and helplessly nodded.
"... Sorry."
"It’s okay." Thea casually said, not accusingly. "It’s normal to have phones on silent during meetings."
The main thing is she didn’t know they were in a meeting.
Ian seemed to have found the source of the problem and asked softly, "Did you cry because of this?"
Thea’s lips tugged slightly, "Not entirely."
The word "also" there is quite significant.
Considering today’s weather, he somewhat understood.
The hand resting on his knee was suddenly held, and Thea paused, lowering her head to look.
Ian’s fingers forcibly interlocked with hers, "So all flights are grounded, I’m alright."
"I know..." Thea had asked her uncle, "It’s just that none of you answered the phone."
She witnessed the unpredictability of accidents, thus couldn’t help overthinking.
Her hands were still cold; Ian gripped her hands tightly, "Next time it won’t happen."
Now he understood why she cried so fiercely.
When she learned Aaron Lynch had left back then, she was like that.
Silent tears until she lost her voice and fainted.
Ian instantly grasped her feelings.
If it were someone else, he might have comforted them, saying accidents aren’t easy to happen.
But here with Thea, he couldn’t say those words.
Thea opened her mouth, unsure what to say.
The grip on her hand suddenly loosened, confused, she looked up to see the figure beside her slowly standing.
Thea stared at him, her teary eyes slightly shaking with his movement.
He came to her front.
"What are you doing?" Thea instinctively leaned back.
Ian knelt on one knee before her, opened his arms under her shocked gaze, "Can I hold you again?"
Thea: "..."
Her expression remained unchanged, but upon closer inspection, she held the water cup tightly, some water spilled onto the back of her hand, silently sliding into her sleeve and leaving a water stain.
Her gaze caught the dark spot on his coat’s front; Thea looked away, "I’m fine now, no need to hug."
She just felt a little embarrassed now; the sadness she had felt vanished upon seeing him.
Ian chuckled softly, "You’re fine, but you should comfort me."
Thea instinctively turned her head, glaring at him.
"I’m the one who got scared, right?"
"Yes." Ian nodded in agreement, "But you’ve calmed down, I haven’t."
"What’s there to scare you?"
"Who was calling me over the intercom? Who said they’d never see me again after ten minutes; whose heartless words were those?"
"..."
Thea was speechless; aware of her fault, she didn’t argue.
"How can you say something like that." The man sighed softly, seeming disappointed.
Originally, she didn’t want to explain, but given his reaction, Thea had to open her mouth: "I didn’t mean anything by it, I couldn’t find you, so I wanted you to come to me."
"As for the ten-minute phrase..."
Ian maintained eye contact: "Hmm?"
He was waiting for her to continue. Thea pursed her lips slightly, finally saying aloud: "I just wanted to see you quickly."
"This is what you wanted to hear."
Annoying.
As the words fell, the man warmly embraced her, "This is the one."
"Next time, I won’t let you look for me again, Thea darling."
Suppressing the sourness swelling in her heart, Thea coldly said, "Third brother talks sweetly."
"From now on, wherever I go, whatever I do, I’ll tell you immediately. I’ll send my location too, so you won’t lose me again."
Thea found it odd, not responding: "... Just keep your phone on, no need to report to me in such detail."
"It’s not reporting, it’s sharing."
"According to your words, we’ll end up together. So that being the case, you can fully exercise the rights of a girlfriend in advance."
"Including knowing all my itineraries, and making any requests, just like you did over the intercom."
"That’s too much." Thea wasn’t ready for that.
Ian smiled, "I even hope you’d be a bit more ’excessive’."
