Chapter 122: Chapter 122: You’re Already So Old
’This will save him from calling me heartless all the time.’
Blue was lying on her lap. Tired from playing, he had fallen into a sweet sleep.
Georgia Thorne called Elliot Sheridan. The phone rang several times before he picked up.
"What are you doing?"
"Hang on." A man’s voice—Saul Sanders’s—came through the phone, mixed with a clamor of noise.
Georgia covered the receiver, listening quietly as the background noise faded. Elliot had moved somewhere quieter.
"I’m at a get-together with a few friends."
"Are there any women?"
"No, just a few guys. If you don’t believe me, you can come check up on me." His low chuckle drifted through the phone, and Georgia blushed, catching the teasing tone in his voice.
She huffed. ’I’m not falling for that.’
It was just that whenever she heard the word "get-together," she naturally thought of women.
’Just a few guys? Without a woman to liven things up, what’s the fun in that?’
"You’re not here tonight, and I couldn’t sleep, so I came out to play mahjong and kill some time." As Elliot held the phone, a few men at the mahjong table asked if he was playing the next round.
Georgia also heard someone calling for Elliot to play mahjong. It seemed there really weren’t any women there.
"Don’t stay up too late. It’s bad for your health," she reminded him thoughtfully.
"Don’t worry. Your sexual bliss for the rest of your life is guaranteed, at the very least."
He always loved to tease her. Georgia’s face flushed at his words, but she wasn’t about to take it lying down.
Gently stroking Blue on her lap, she had a mischievous idea. "I’m serious, Mr. Sheridan. You’re getting on in years, yet you’re still acting like a youngster, smoking and drinking! If you were ten years younger, it wouldn’t matter! But at your age, smoking and drinking all the time... aren’t you afraid of... going prematurely?!"
Georgia could swear to God that her heart was pounding out of her chest as she uttered those last two words.
Having provoked Elliot, Georgia hurriedly said "Bye-bye" and spinelessly hung up.
Clutching her racing heart, she was instantly filled with regret.
’He seems to love holding a grudge. What if he remembers what I said? What will I do?’
She ran a hand through her hair in frustration and placed Blue in his bed.
’Words spoken are like water spilled; you can’t take them back.’
Georgia turned off the light, wrapped herself in her blanket, and went straight to sleep.
The next morning, Georgia was woken by her alarm. She got up, made breakfast, and went to wake Nancy Hughes.
Nancy, who was sleeping soundly, just mumbled in response.
After Georgia finished changing and came out of her room, Nancy was already enjoying breakfast.
"It’s so much better when you’re here. I get delicious breakfast, and I’m not late for work!" Nancy took a sip of milk. "You have no idea how pathetic I was these last two days you were gone. Not only did I oversleep and miss the company shuttle, but I had to catch the public bus on an empty stomach every day!"
It wasn’t hard to imagine. Nancy loved to sleep, especially in the winter. You could call her name several times and she still wouldn’t wake up.
Nancy took a bite of bread and sighed, casting a mournful look at her. "What am I going to do when you and Elliot Sheridan move in together? Where will I ever find a roommate as good as you?!"
Georgia nearly sprayed out the milk she was drinking. "That’s not going to happen."
"What do you mean, ’not going to happen’? You’re running over to Elliot’s place every other day. What’s the difference between that and living together? So cruel, leaving me and your son behind, just the two of us, all pitiful in this apartment!" Nancy couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
The "son" Nancy was referring to was Blue. Since Georgia had brought him home, Nancy had just taken to calling him her son.
"..." Georgia was speechless.
After breakfast, as Georgia was putting on her shoes, Blue padded over to her and meowed a few times, as if he didn’t want her to leave.
Georgia picked up the cat. ’Since no one will be home, I should probably leave Blue with Miss Lynch.’
「8:45 AM.」
Dressed in professional attire, Georgia sat at her desk, organizing some documents.
Nicole Kane called her into the office, saying she wanted to talk.
As Georgia got up, she felt many of her colleagues staring at her with strange expressions.
’Good thing Nicole is a woman. If she were a man, they’d probably suspect I was sleeping with her, too.’
"Manager, is there something you need?"
Georgia knocked and entered. Nicole Kane glanced at her and motioned for her to sit down.
To be honest, she always felt a little nervous whenever she was alone with Nicole.
Perhaps it was Nicole’s powerful presence and attire that made Georgia feel like she could never get close to her.
Nicole pulled a file from her drawer and handed it to her. "Take a look at this. You can tell me your decision now, or you can let me know in a few days."
Georgia was curious. ’What could this be that requires me to make a decision?’
She opened the file. Inside were documents about a collaborative training program, covered in reams of Japanese text.
"I looked at your resume. Your major in college was design, and you minored in Japanese, correct?" Nicole twirled a pen in her hand, her gaze sharp as she looked at Georgia.
Georgia nodded. "Manager, this training... you want me to participate?"
"Only if you’re willing."
Georgia honestly couldn’t come up with an answer for something like this on the spot.
Back at her desk, she stared blankly at the file.
「1:00 PM.」
Georgia had a meeting with a client to discuss a contract.
The client was quite nice and didn’t give her a hard time, signing the contract without any fuss.
The only good thing about a sales job was that if you didn’t feel like going back to the office, you could just say you were out entertaining a client.
Georgia wanted to make a trip to the hospital to see Selena.
Just as she stepped out of the coffee shop, her phone rang.
Before she could even pull it out, a clear male voice called out from the side, "Georgia Thorne, I’m over here."
The coffee shop wasn’t too crowded. Following the sound of the voice, she immediately spotted Zane Lennox standing in front of a pillar.
"How are you..."
Georgia stared at him, a dazed look on her face. She hadn’t seen him at all since the last time, when he’d said he was going on a business trip.
Zane was dressed in crisp casual wear, his neat short hair looking sharp as he strode toward her.
The only reason Georgia had ever paid any attention to Zane was because of Nancy.
When she first met Zane, she hadn’t found him particularly handsome.
Perhaps she had developed a resistance to good looks after getting used to Elliot’s cold and devilishly handsome face. When she saw Zane, she just thought he looked very... sunny.
That was all.
However, the impression he gave her had nothing to do with being sunny.
"I asked one of your colleagues. They said you had a client meeting here this afternoon," Zane said with a gentle smile.
Georgia felt that Zane had changed somehow since his business trip; he seemed different from before.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on what had changed, but maybe his personality had improved.
"Where are you heading? I’ll give you a ride."
"No, thank you. I’m going to see a friend." Georgia took a step back, putting some distance between herself and the approaching Zane.
"Georgia, we’ve known each other for years. Do you really have to avoid me like this?"
Zane let out a faint, almost imperceptible sigh, as if helpless in the face of her rejection.
Georgia was a soft-hearted person.
If Zane had used force to drag her into his car, she would have resisted to the end and would have only grown to despise him more.
But this Zane wasn’t getting angry or trying to force her. On the contrary, it made it harder for her to refuse.
"It’s not that, I..."
"If it’s not that, then get in the car. I’ll give you a ride!"
Before Georgia could finish her hesitant sentence, Zane was already flashing a sunny smile that made it impossible for her to refuse.
In the end, Georgia got into his car and gave him the address.
"Why are you going to the hospital? Are you sick?" Zane glanced over, noticing how Georgia’s fair skin had a rosy, healthy glow, looking full of life.
"No, a friend of mine was in a car accident. I want to go to the hospital to see her," Georgia explained. "You know her. It’s Selena."
