Chapter 732: Chapter 703: Love in a Parallel Universe [025]
During the half hour waiting for Simon Forrester’s call, Sienna Thorne experienced for the first time what it was like for time to drag.
She had decided to clarify things with Simon Forrester; if he wasn’t serious, she would leave gracefully. But if he wanted a serious relationship, he must give her enough assurance.
She planned to clear this up tonight, no matter the result. By tomorrow morning, this worry would be gone.
Sienna calmly considered her options, but she was still scared. She feared Simon might criticize her for lacking confidence or being bothersome, or use some ridiculous argument like "assurance should come from oneself, not from a partner" to suppress her.
Even though she didn’t think Simon was that kind of person, she was still afraid this situation would end in a powerless result...
Last night, she was excited all night from video chatting with her boyfriend. Tonight, she was tangled up because he didn’t introduce her to his friends. She began to dislike dating, finding it troublesome, and men troublesome too.
Lying on her bed, she kicked the teddy bear Simon gave her off the bed in anger but then, a few seconds later, she heart-breakingly rushed to pick it up and hugged it.
She waited and waited, for a full hour, until finally, Simon’s call arrived.
Even though she was displeased inside, when she picked up the phone, her voice was still soft and sweet, "Was there a traffic jam on the way?"
Simon chuckled from the other end; his voice was quite cheerful, seemingly in a good mood, "No, I got home at normal time. I called you after taking a shower."
"In the future, when you get in the elevator, send me a voice message first, and then after you’ve showered and finished everything, call me, okay?"
Simon agreed readily, "Sure, no problem."
Sienna heard the sound of a door closing on his end and asked, "Are you working overtime tonight?"
He stretched over there, emitting a few low, lazy breaths.
"No need, I want to get some early rest tonight. Going back to work tomorrow."
The past couple of days really took a toll on him.
Basically, waking up in the morning, he spun through New District, driving an hour to pick up Sienna, then taking her to eat, watch movies, go shopping, have drinks, and dinner. Except for watching movies and driving, most of the time was spent talking nonstop and coaxing her to be happy.
It was quite tiring, which was why he hadn’t wanted to date before.
When single, weekends consisted of two main activities: working out and working; post-dating weekends seemed only to consist of one main activity—being with the girlfriend.
Although he enjoyed it mentally, his body, accustomed to freedom for thirty years, felt a bit uncomfortable after spinning for two days straight.
...
Hearing him say he wanted to rest early tonight, Sienna figured out that they had been on dates for the past two days and that he must be exhausted. Not wanting to delay his rest, she asked timidly after hesitating for a while, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead, I’m listening." His voice lowered, sounding genuinely tired.
She couldn’t care about anything else, as this unresolved matter would keep her from sleeping all night.
"Today at Skylight Gardens, when your friends asked you to introduce me, why didn’t you?"
As soon as she said that, the atmosphere became subtle.
She held her breath, waiting for his response.
On the other end, Simon was silent for a moment, then chuckled, "I was afraid Jack Hawthorne would spread it around, and then my family would find out and force us to get married. Do you want to get married so early?"
"I..." She lowered her eyes to the teddy bear in her arms, "It’s still too early now..."
Rationally, she knew Simon’s response wasn’t unreasonable, yet she still felt uneasy. This wasn’t the answer she wanted.
"Did you feel bad afterward because of this matter?" Simon asked.
She didn’t answer, which was a tacit acknowledgment.
On the other end, Simon laughed softly and said, "Silly girl, don’t overthink. When the time is right, we’ll meet each other’s friends, colleagues, and family, and eventually end up at the altar, like any other couple."
"Okay." She replied softly, still not feeling relieved, but receiving his explanation and comfort was better than her previously wild thoughts alone.
She didn’t dwell on the matter any further. The preparations and plans she had made before the call were all postponed because of his "I want to rest early tonight."
...
During the day on Monday, Simon didn’t call even once.
Sienna originally thought that if they were going to meet up at night, he would at least send her a message, but he didn’t.
She wasn’t sure if most couples were like this, only contacting each other when they were going to meet or had something going on. At the beginning, she thought she and Simon would contact each other every day...
She went home in low spirits, and after dinner, she holed up in her room, even taking her phone into the shower with her, afraid Simon might call.
She waited all night, and finally, Simon called her past eleven o’clock, asking how her day was and telling her he had to pull an all-nighter for a project and was staying at the dormitory tonight.
Hearing that he had to work overnight, she felt a pang of heartache, cared for him a bit, and wanted to end the call quickly so he could get back to work. However, he said it was alright, he had put it on speaker and was working while listening to her voice.
This made her happy, and she started telling him about all sorts of fun things until she fell asleep holding the phone from exhaustion.
This state continued for four days.
On Thursday night, hearing Simon say he had to pull another all-nighter for the project, she became anxious, planning to bring him breakfast the next morning.
She didn’t tell Simon she was going, set her alarm clock early, got up at five to make porridge, left at six-thirty, and arrived at SY just past seven, when dawn was just breaking.
The main door downstairs at SY was closed, and the iron gate outside the courtyard was shut too. Sienna stood outside, looking up; lights were still on in the third-floor office, so Simon should still be working.
Just as she was about to call him, a security guard in a military-green coat came out holding a flashlight, flashing it at her face a few times, asking, "Hey girl, what are you sneaking around here for at this hour?"
Sienna put her phone away and walked a few steps towards the guardroom, "I’m looking for Director Forrester over here."
The guard, standing from a higher vantage point, looked her over, then barked, "Go, go! Director Forrester is not someone for you random people to see."
"Hey!" Sienna became anxious, "Why are you being rude? I’m really here to see Director Forrester, I..."
Before she finished, the guard sneered, "Every day, there are wild girls like you coming around saying they want to see Director Forrester. If I let all of you in, wouldn’t that cause a big mess? What if Director Forrester’s girlfriend found out I let you cheap girls in..."
