Chapter 46: You brought daisies for me
"Is it?" Ryle circled the pen between his fingers.
’’Yes.’’
’’Then why is it that Lu Xian got himself involved in your matters and even went as far as lying to me about the whole thing?"
Daisy fell silent when she heard his words. She had no idea why Lu Xian bothered to came to her rescue and even went as far as helping her keep her disguise at that time. And as an emergency resort, his tricks had worked as he succeeded in creating a diversion for Ryle. While Ryle left to interrogate the woman, she could keep her cover.
However, Daisy had thought about it. She knew that even though her truth and her identity as a woman was not revealed, Ryle would still know that Lu Xian had lied to him after the interrogation.
’’I am unaware of this, Sir. But perhaps, you should ask yourself the same question that you directed at me....’’
Ryle raised an eyebrow.
’’What I mean is you should try to reflect on what kind of relationship you share with Mr. Lu. If you are friends, this whole thing should be a prank according to my analysis. However, Mr. Lu does not seem like a childish person and you don’t seem very amused by the turn of the events. The both of you being strangers is not closely possible because we would not have received a VIP invitation to their event if that was the case.’’
’’What are you suggesting then?" Ryle asked in interest.
’’That it would make much more sense if the both of you don’t get along with each other. You received his VIP invitation but you sent your secretary to the event to keep an eye around there instead of going there, then you barged in and stole the limelight, or Mr. Lu might also think that you caused chaos at their event on purpose. Even when he tried to lighten the situation down, you were not showing any signs of backing off. So, Mr. Lu must have decided to trouble you a bit by misleading you.’’
While Daisy spoke, her tone was eerily calm as if she was sincerely considering every possibility of why Lu Xian lied to Ryle and told him that the woman had intended to harm Dexter. In act, she had seen this coming hence she had prepared the most suitable explanations in her mind.
Ryle was distracted momentarily that night or else he would have realized that it was impossible for an ordinary socialite to harm her. Even though she was sick but she would still be careful to not drink or eat anything that anyone offered her.
Ryle seemed to be in contemplation for a few moments before he responded, ’’Oh.’’
That ’oh’ was a very vague response. Whether to take it as a positive response or a negative one, Daisy had no idea. From his unperturbed face, she could not even figure out whether he was aligning with her words or not.
But seeing that he was not delving further into it or questioning her, Daisy inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
"However, there is something else that I would want you to investigate,’’ Ryle pushed himself to his feet as he pushed his hand inside his suit jacket.
Daisy watched as he placed a small plastic pouch on the desk. Relieved that the disaster was averted, she approached the desk with curiosity.
When she gazed at him with a look of ’may I?’ on her face, the man nodded once.
Daisy picked up the small packet from the desk. As she brought it closer to her face, she noticed a long strand of black hair inside it, ’’This...?" she looked at him in confusion, ’’What do I need to do with this hair strand?"
’’I found it on me that night. But I don’t remember encountering any woman that night,’’ Ryle said thoughtfully.
Daisy was about to nod when a scene flashed in her mind. She suddenly remembered how she had stumbled towards Ryle and supported herself on his shoulder. Later, the man supported her by her shoulder and guided her out of that place. He said he had not encountered any woman that night then this hair strand undoubtedly belonged to her.
Daisy’s face paled a little as she clutched the plastic tighter in her fist.
’’There were no female bodyguards around me that night as well. The moment I finished my meeting outside, I went to the venue and I saw you in trouble. There were no other encounters throughout the process. I have been thinking about this since the past few days. It’s rather mysterious, don’t you think so?"
Daisy shook her head with a straight face, ’’I believe you came across the daughter of Belvile’s governor. And if I don’t remember it wrong, the lady has dark hair so this should be hers.’’
Ryle walked around the desk and came to stand in front of Daisy. Daisy instinctively took a step back when the man approached her.
’’Should be hers, Dex,’’ Ryle lowered his head to Daisy’s height, for the first time noticing how short the man was. Up so close, he could see that flawless skin and those emerald eyes that did not seem as light as they should be naturally, ’’But is it hers?"
Daisy held her breath. She could not help but wonder if he was possessed. ’’Why not?" she lied with a straight face.
’’Her hair is not this long, it didn’t even fit in my fist,’’ he clicked his tongue in disappointment.
’’Did you torture her that night? You even took her hair in your fist?" Daisy’s face scrunched up in utter disgust until she saw the playful smirk on his face. And it suddenly dawned on her that they had once been to Belvile where Ryle and that woman had some good time. So, apparently, the hair fisting he was talking about should be the consensual kind of hair fisting.
"Since it seems like you understood the work in detail, I want you to find the face for it.’’
’’A face?" Daisy was bewildered when she heard his words. A face for what?"
"A face for the hair strand. I want to find the woman to whom this belongs to,’’ Ryle casually dropped the bomb on Daisy and walked back to his swivel chair before he took a seat.
Daisy stood there, thunderstruck. A face for the hairstrand...?
In the disney movies that Angel watched, the prince apparently was looking for a foot for the glass slipper.
And here, it was not even a glass slipper. Ryle Harper wanted her to find a woman for ’HER’ hair strand.
A few months ago after she came to Los Angeles, Maxim had no idea that ’Dexter’ was in fact Daisy. The fox was jealous that a man was staying with Diana and to keep ’Dexter’ away from his woman, he asked Ryle to conduct an investigation on Daisy Chen and find her whereabouts, not knowing that ’Dexter’ was none other than Daisy. And Ryle ended up assigning the task of finding Daisy to her, calling her incompetent and other things when she could not track ’herself’ down.
After Maxim got to know that Dexter was none other than Daisy in disguise, he asked Ryle to stop looking for her, hence relieving Daisy of this hectic duty of finding herself.
But now she was assigned with another similar task.
How in the world was she supposed to find herself?
Ryle’s face did not seem to allow for any space for negotiation as well.
’’Boss...’’ There were consecutive knocks on the door.
’’Enter,’’ Ryle leaned back on the swivel chair in a relaxed manner, his gaze lingered for a moment on the youth who was looking at the hair strand in a conflicted manner for a moment.
When Daisy glanced at him, he averted his gaze and looked towards the door.
Benjamin stepped inside the office with a huge bouquet of Daisy’s that were nearly half his height.
"Boss....’’ He peeked from behind the flowers but his face stiffened a little when he noticed the tense air in the office room along with the presence of another person.
’’I know you are very loyal to me. You don’t have to buy flowers for me to show your loyalty,’’ Ryle waved a hand offhandedly.
Benjamin: "_" Boss, aren’t you too quick to assume things? Does this old man give you the impression that he will buy a grown-ass man flowers?
Daisy’s lips twitched. If narcissism had a face, it would resemble Ryle Harper’s.
"Even if you brought me flowers, you should bring things that would suit my taste,’’ Ryle looked at the crowd of tightly and beautifully packed daisies, ’’I don’t like daisies. Too plain. Too ordinary. Throw them away and get something of my preference.’’
Daisy rolled her eyes discreetly as she turned to leave.
But she had taken a few steps towards the door when Benjamin spoke up.
"Boss, these are from the Lus.’’
Daisy’s footsteps halted in her tracks. The seemingly ordinary daisies did not seem ordinary anymore. Since their last encounter in the hospital, she had not seen Lu Xian again and she thought this should remain their last meet, at least for the time being. She had been idling around at her home with her daughter but in the meantime, she was also keeping an eye on things that were transpiring in her absence.
After encountering Ryle without her disguise, she became more careful and did not step out of her place. Staying at home, she had tried to look into the current circumstances outside. She knew how Ryle dealt with that woman. Lu Xian went back to Beijing a few hours ago.
Yet somehow, she ended up missing the loopholes in the whole matter. Like the strand of hair she could never have known about and these daisies that she never saw coming.
...
A/N: There have been some inconveniences in the past few days while uploading Chapters. I think I have messed up my draft Chapters but thank you for remaining patient with me. If you like this book so far, please support it with your golden tickets, power stones, and ratings and help us rise up the ranks.
