Chapter 88: Chapter 87: Playing the Rogue
So, having spent the last six years abroad cooking for himself, he’d naturally become quite skilled.
Then again, Simon Lockwood had never been picky about food; as long as it filled his stomach, it was fine.
’He must be lying,’ Joanna Kennedy thought.
But Simon Lockwood clearly didn’t want to elaborate, so Joanna Kennedy pushed her questions back down. She could ask Assistant Warren next time she saw him.
After the meal, Simon Lockwood naturally moved to clear the dishes. Joanna Kennedy briefly glanced at the back of his hand, which had already turned black and blue.
Simon Lockwood’s movements faltered for a moment, but he still said, "It doesn’t hurt. It just looks scary."
Without a word, Joanna Kennedy snatched the dishes from his hands and walked into the kitchen.
Simon Lockwood stared at her back, emotions churning in his dark eyes. His thoughts were unreadable. After a long while, once she was out of sight, he finally looked away.
Regardless of the ordeal, the high fever had finally broken.
Joanna Kennedy thought the script Walter Young had picked for her was excellent, and she needed to hurry over to audition for a scene. Simon Lockwood, meanwhile, had to return to the Group.
At seven in the morning, the two sat in silence at the dining table, eating breakfast. Joanna Kennedy was lost in thought, distractedly nibbling on a purple sweet potato bun.
Across from her, Simon Lockwood, dressed in loungewear, wore a placid expression. After finishing the last bite of his breakfast, he stood up.
Joanna Kennedy’s gloomy gaze followed him into the bedroom. Frustrated, she planted her head on the dining table like a dejected little chick.
Two seconds later, she shot back up.
’No, I have to get a clear answer!’
The atmosphere these past two days had been too good. For a dizzying moment, she felt as if they were back to how they used to be. But when she came to her senses, she realized something was wrong.
Ever since Simon Lockwood had that breakdown in his office, hugging her and crying his eyes out, the man had acted as if he had amnesia, refusing to mention it at all!
She had tried to ask him multiple times, but the moment she opened her mouth, Simon Lockwood would change the subject.
They’d kissed, they’d hugged, and they’d even slept in the same room at night. And while nothing actually happened, if you rounded up, you could pretty much say they’d slept together!
’What’s the deal with not defining our relationship?’
’Isn’t this classic scumbag behavior?!’
So, as Simon Lockwood, now dressed in a suit, was about to reach the entryway, she finally couldn’t hold back. She ran over with a TAP TAP TAP. "You’re just going to the Group like this?!"
Simon Lockwood’s gaze paused for a moment on the corners of her eyes, which were red with anger. "What else?"
"Don’t, don’t you think you’ve forgotten to say something?" Joanna Kennedy’s eyes widened in disbelief.
"Oh, have a good day at work," Simon Lockwood added unhurriedly. "To us both."
Joanna Kennedy: "..."
She could see it now. Simon Lockwood was deliberately playing dumb. She cut straight to the chase and asked pointedly, "What is our relationship right now?"
The girl stared at him expectantly. After admiring the sight long enough, Simon Lockwood spoke unhurriedly, "Whatever you want it to be."
Joanna Kennedy: "?!"
Joanna Kennedy: "..."
Joanna Kennedy was furious. "Simon Lockwood, are you deliberately being a scoundrel?!"
"Weren’t you the one who said it?"
’What did I say?’ Confusion filled Joanna Kennedy’s eyes.
Simon Lockwood’s words were clear, his delivery flat, as if reciting a line. "I’m just playing around with him. His face is just too much my type."
Joanna Kennedy froze.
Simon Lockwood raised an eyebrow, his eyes devoid of emotion, his tone light. "I thought you were just playing around now, too."
He was playing along with her.
In a two-day brainstorming session, President Lockwood had managed to both placate a certain someone and finally find a reasonable explanation for his own behavior.
He had to learn from his mistakes. A nation with no voice is doomed to be conquered. He couldn’t let Joanna Kennedy lead him by the nose anymore.
Joanna Kennedy was completely paralyzed.
A stampede of ten thousand alpacas galloped through her mind. After six years, the boomerang had returned, swiftly and accurately piercing her heart.
People have to pay the price for their words and actions. Joanna Kennedy finally understood that now.
’So, he’s settling old scores, is he?!’
"I-I was young and foolish back then! And why were you eavesdropping on people’s conversations anyway...?" she retorted guiltily, trying to turn the tables.
"You’re still pretty foolish now."
Joanna Kennedy was speechless.
Simon Lockwood said, "When you’re ready to tell me why you left back then without a word, we can discuss other things."
’He’s really pulling this crap?!’
Joanna Kennedy choked.
Simon Lockwood opened the door, then seemed to remember something. He looked down at her condescendingly. "By the way, the property deed for the apartment you’re living in is in my name. Southland is having some financial difficulties lately, so I need to sell it. Pack your things and move in here by tomorrow."
"..."
"..."
’The deed is in his name... financial difficulties... selling the apartment...’
’Isn’t this pure bullshit?!’
It was as if several bolts of lightning had struck, each one hitting her square on the head. Joanna Kennedy’s vision went black. For a moment, she didn’t know which part to argue with first. In the end, her expression was complicated as she managed to say, "So, you really are just being a scoundrel?"
Simon Lockwood lifted his cool, indifferent eyelids in a regal manner, his tone light. "Yes."
Joanna Kennedy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Staring with her beautiful almond-shaped eyes, she raged impotently, "Then why did you cry while holding me!"
Simon Lockwood’s expression froze for a second before he reverted to his noble, aloof look. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."
Joanna Kennedy choked on her anger.
She felt that if she kept talking to Simon Lockwood, she would actually die from rage.
"I’m not living with you!" With that, a fuming Joanna Kennedy stormed out the door.
On the roadside, she furiously tapped on her phone with a CLACK CLACK CLACK, telling Julie to come pick her up for the audition.
Sitting in the car, her mind was still foggy with anger. For a moment there, she even suspected that Simon Lockwood had been possessed by something evil!
What had turned a lofty, unworldly flower on a high mountain into a paranoid, petty old scoundrel!
The feng shui abroad really was bad for people; it had mutated him. Joanna Kennedy sighed, her eyes full of resentment.
Julie glanced in the rearview mirror and was startled by her dejected expression. "Jojo, what’s wrong with you!"
She looked like a ghost.
"It’s just an audition, no need to be so nervous..." Julie thought she was worried about the audition.
As Julie looked on in confusion, Joanna Kennedy said gloomily, "I got played."
"...Huh?"
"He also wants to be my sugar daddy," Joanna Kennedy spouted nonsense.
"Huh?!"
"And do you know who this person is?"
"Huh?!!"
"The big boss who bought you out."
"Huh?!!!"
"..." Joanna Kennedy was speechless. "Are you a prairie dog? Is there anything else you can say?"
Julie was already dumbfounded. One bombshell after another left her head spinning, and she almost slammed her foot on the gas pedal.
Hearing the last sentence, she swallowed nervously and shrank back. "When... when did you find out...?"
She was indeed working for Southland now. There was no helping it; the big boss paid too much!
Besides, he wasn’t asking her to do anything malicious, just to report on Joanna Kennedy’s situation at all times. That big boss seemed very concerned about Joanna Kennedy.
But no matter how she tried to frame it, it was still equivalent to being a spy.
Julie said guiltily, "I’m so sorry, but I swear, I never meant you any harm! Really, believe me!"
