Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Buying Wedding Rings
###Chapter 5: Buying Wedding Rings
The unexpected word, "wife," spoken in a low and natural tone, sent a subtle electric current from the shell of her ear straight up Maxine Rhodes’s spine, making her stiffen for a moment.
Ethan Hawthorne’s voice was already pleasant, but now, in the space filled with his crisp, clean scent, it took on an almost bewitching magnetism.
She felt her cheeks heating up at an alarming rate, but her mind went completely blank, like a kite with a snapped string. For a long moment, she couldn’t string together a single coherent sentence to maintain her composed persona.
In the end, relying almost purely on instinct, she managed a mumbled, "G-Got it!"
Then, with no thought for grace or composure, she all but fled, her retreating figure radiating a sense of panic.
Ethan Hawthorne watched her practically flee, her gait uncoordinated in her panic, and a smile surfaced in his eyes.
’Scared her off already?’
「The next day.」
At Benjamin Sterling’s company, Rose Joyce was snuggled up to his side, feeding him fruit, when the office door was abruptly pushed open.
Benjamin Sterling’s assistant, Roy Miller, entered. His expression remained neutral upon seeing the pair, and he simply reported in a steady tone.
"President Sterling. President Warren over at Cosmos Capital has finally relented. He said the Caelus Project can move forward, and Miss Rhodes has already gone to start the negotiations!"
Benjamin Sterling was stunned for a moment, then a smug smile spread across his face.
"See? What did I tell you? Maxine Rhodes is just playing hard to get! She was with me for five years, slaving away like a workhorse for me. She’s used to it! She can’t live without me! And look, the second a project comes up, she comes running back to do my bidding, doesn’t she? She’s obviously just using this as an excuse to make up with me!"
Rose Joyce pouted, her tone sour with jealousy. "Benjamin~ does this mean you’re going to give her an important role again? If she uses this success to come back, isn’t she just going to lord it over me?"
"Don’t worry," Benjamin Sterling said, pulling her into his arms with an air of absolute certainty. "Once we land the project, the credit will be all yours. Maxine Rhodes is just a gun we’re used to firing."
Roy Miller listened to his boss’s grand declarations with a deadpan expression, feeling nothing at all. He glanced down at his watch. ’Great,’ he thought. ’More overtime.’
The thought of Maxine Rhodes still being part of the company irked Rose Joyce. So, while Benjamin Sterling was in a meeting, she secretly used his phone to send a message to Maxine, writing it as if it were from him.
After sending it, she immediately deleted the message. She wanted to put Maxine Rhodes in her place preemptively, crushing any notion she might have of using the project to reconcile.
Meanwhile, Maxine Rhodes was in a conference room at Cosmos Capital, presenting the project proposal on a large screen, when her phone suddenly lit up with a message preview.
After glancing at the preview, she smiled to herself. Then, with a deliberate "slip of the hand," she also clicked open the message on her computer.
But since her computer was connected to the projector, the message from Benjamin Sterling was silently projected onto the large screen.
Benjamin Sterling: [Maxine, push forward with the Caelus Project negotiations. However, I’m reminding you that the only person in charge of this project can be Rose. Your job is to assist her. Don’t get any funny ideas.]
Everyone in the conference room, including President Warren at the head of the table, saw it with perfect clarity.
Maxine Rhodes’s gaze swept over the projection screen, and her breath caught for a moment.
’Rose Joyce never learns. I was just racking my brain for a reason impactful enough to completely sever President Warren’s ties to the Sterlings, and now someone’s gone and handed me the stupidest knife for the job. Saves me the trouble of laying the groundwork myself.’
In the few seconds of awkward silence that descended upon the conference room, Maxine didn’t immediately switch off the projector. Instead, she acted as though she was too stunned by the blow to react, leaving the humiliating message on display long enough for everyone present to read it and digest its implications.
Only then did she seem to snap back to her senses. With an apologetic expression and a hint of unconcealable exhaustion, she reached out and turned off the screen mirroring.
"President Warren, you see... I’m terribly sorry. It’s not that I’m ungrateful for past connections, but it seems the Sterlings are already preparing to burn their bridges.
I’m still out here running around for this project, and they’re already plotting how to strip me of any credit and hand it to someone else. How can I possibly have any confidence working in an environment like that?"
Having seen the message, President Warren’s brows drew together in a tight frown.
He admired Maxine Rhodes’s professionalism, but he valued a partner’s integrity and vision even more. The Sterlings’ behavior utterly disgusted him.
"Max, I understand."
President Warren said, his tone grave, "A partner like that is indeed worrisome."
Maxine Rhodes seized the opportunity to hand him the Hawthorne Group’s proposal, saying earnestly, "President Warren, perhaps you might consider a more professional alternative: the Hawthorne Group."
When Maxine Rhodes walked out of the Cosmos Capital Tower, she found that the weather, which had been perfectly fine moments ago, had turned into a torrential downpour.
She stood under the eaves, watching the thick curtain of rain and the gridlocked traffic. Her ride-hailing app showed that the queue was too long; getting a car was impossible.
’Looks like my only option is the bus across the street,’ she thought. Holding her bag over her head, she had just dashed into the downpour when a large, black umbrella suddenly and steadily shielded her from above.
Stunned, she turned and found herself looking directly into a pair of deep, profound eyes.
Ethan Hawthorne stood in the rain, tall and erect in a dark, well-made trench coat. Rainwater collected on the edge of his umbrella, dripping to the ground and sending up tiny splashes.
"It’s raining. Why didn’t you call me?" His voice sounded exceptionally clear against the backdrop of the downpour.
Maxine Rhodes stared at his breathtakingly handsome face. In a daze, she recalled the most miserable rainy day of her life, when he had appeared in the very same way—descending like a god to shield her from the wind and storm.
’How does this man always manage to show up at the perfect time?’
The thought surfaced uncontrollably, sending a small ripple across the calm lake of her heart.
"I..." She opened her mouth but, for a moment, didn’t know how to respond.
"Get in the car," he said, not pressing the issue. His arm rested lightly around her shoulders, guiding her to the Maybach parked at the curb.
The inside of the car was warm and dry. As Maxine Rhodes sat down, she realized the tips of her hair and her shoulders had gotten slightly damp.
Ethan Hawthorne got in after her and, with complete naturalness, took a towel and began to gently dry her damp hair.
His fingertips occasionally brushed against the shell of her ear and the side of her neck, the unintentional contact sending a subtle, heart-fluttering sensation through her. Maxine’s body tensed slightly, but she didn’t pull away.
"I’m taking you somewhere," he said calmly.
"Where are we going?"
The corners of Ethan Hawthorne’s lips curved into a meaningful smile. "To buy wedding rings."
