Chapter 101: My Name Is Corrine
After retracting her hand, she immediately ran off the stage. Michael instinctively chased after her. The person that he had been searching long and hard for and thinking of each moment of the past five years had finally appeared before his eyes.
He was afraid that she would once again vanish from his world. He had no choice but to follow her.
Wendy immediately hid behind Jill. She said in a terrified manner, "Mr. Lucas, can you please. tell me what exactly you want from me? I came here as a representative of HG Enterprise, don’t you think that your behavior toward me has been inappropriate in front of so many people? Or are you doing this because you’re crazy?"
She was simply insulting his mental state in front of everyone at this point.
"Mr. Lucas, your actions are scaring Corrine," said Jill as she stretched out her hand to stop Michael from getting any closer.
When Mr. York saw what was happening, he immediately came to restrain his boss. He whispered into Michael’s ear, "Mr. Lucas, please calm down first."
"She’s Wendy Stewart, she really is." Michael was still extremely emotional. It was impossible for him to calm down immediately.
He did not care how many people they were surrounded by or how he appeared to others right now. He just wanted to embrace Wendy and bask in her scent and her warmth.
He was terrified that this was just a dream. After all, he had dreamed about her more times than he remembered.
"I know, I agree that she does look very much like Mrs. Lucas..."
Before Mr. York could finish speaking, Michael interrupted him, "They don’t just look alike. They’re literally the same person."
"Even if she really is Mrs. Lucas, you should pay attention to your surroundings right now," said Mr. York as he continued to hold Michael back.
He was afraid that his boss would really get himself into trouble. He continued, "Since Mrs. Lucas is refusing to admit to her identity, there must be some reason behind it. Why don’t you wait until the party is over before talking to her about it?"
Mr. York’s advice was effective enough. The truth was that Michael knew very well that he was at a formal event and that it was inappropriate to say those things on stage, in front of everyone.
However, he found himself unable to control his emotions the moment he saw Wendy approach him. He had thought that the past five years had made him a much more patient man than he used to be, but one glance at Wendy and nothing else mattered anymore.
After some time, Michael finally calmed down.
He bowed deeply before Wendy and said apologetically, "I’m sorry for scaring you earlier."
Wendy was not surprised by Michael’s actions.
This was a very reasonable response. However, his crazed behavior from earlier had already been captured by the reporters surrounding them. Even though Michael could make sure that what happened never reached the headlines, everyone at the party had personally witnessed what happened.
She thought, didn’t everyone laugh at me because of him five years ago? Let’s turn things right around!
Looking rattled still, she sighed softly and said, "Pardon me for asking, Mr. Lucas, but are you mentally ill? If you are, you should see a psychologist. I know a very good psychologist that I can recommend to you. If required, I can even introduce the both of you to each other."
This was obviously an attempt to smear Michael’s reputation.
Just as she had expected, the people surrounding them started whispering among themselves.
"Do you think that Mr. Lucas has really gone mad?"
"Did you see how he behaved just now? I was terrified myself, much less Miss Corrine."
"Didn’t you guys hear about the rumors of Mr. Lucas often staring into space and talking to himself? There was this once I went to his office for a meeting, but I saw him sitting there alone and muttering to himself. I was so frightened!"
"Is that true? if that’s the case, his actions today are hardly surprising."
Both Wendy and Michael heard the discussions going on around them. She blinked as a trace of delight surfaced in her eyes. This was exactly what she had wanted.
Michael, on the other hand, glared at the people around him. They instantly went silent. He then glanced at the emcee.
The experienced emcee who was responsible for hosting the party tonight naturally understood what Michael was trying to tell him.
He returned to the stage and spoke into his microphone, "I would now like to invite Mr. Lucas, Miss Corrine, and her team of designers back on stage for a group photo."
The group photo was typically the last thing to do in the flow of events. However, now that the party had gone the way it had, it was better to get to the end as soon as possible, rather than wasting more time on introducing every single designer on Corrine’s team. It would be best if they could move on from this embarrassing episode as soon as possible. In any case, this was just an event for business purposes.
Nobody really cared about who Corrine’s design team consisted of. Everyone here was only interested in looking for business partners that they could possibly work with.
The emcee’s voice rang loud and clear. Michael got back on stage. Jill and the other designers went next. When Wendy saw everyone gathered on the stage, she began making her way there.
Naturally, Michael and Wendy were expected to stand in the middle together. Since Michael was representing MC Enterprise and Wendy was representing HG Enterprise, it did not make sense for anyone else to be standing there.
When Wendy saw the empty space beside Michael, she hesitated. Instead of walking over to him, she had Jill stand in that space.
This move was deliberate. Once the photos got released to the public tomorrow, the media would start speculating about why "Miss Corrine" was not standing beside Michael. With that, everyone would start talking about Michael’s behavior at the party tonight. Of course, that would only happen if Michael did not do anything to make sure that what happened tonight stayed out of the headlines.
Michael frowned slightly when he saw Wendy standing at the far left. He knew that she was deliberately avoiding him. However, it was difficult for him to do anything at this moment. If he tried anything else, what had happened just a minute ago would probably repeat itself.
After the group photo was taken, Wendy was the first to leave the stage. Everyone thought that she left so abruptly purely because she wanted to get away from Michael. Afterward, everyone focused on socializing.
Wendy deliberately found a relatively deserted corner. She greeted anyone who approached her with a nod and a faint smile and nothing more.
Just as she had expected, Michael approached her soon after. When the men who had been trying to talk to Wendy saw Michael approach, they immediately scattered.
"I know that you are Wendy Stewart," said Michael, getting straight to the point. "I also know that you must hate me a lot for everything that I did to you back then. But, Wendy, I did choose to save you that day..."
Before he could finish talking, Wendy waved her hand and interrupted him, "Mr. Lucas, I don’t know who this person that you are referring to is. I think that you must be mistaking me for someone else. I heard people talking about how your wife died five years ago, and that you’re only behaving like this because you’re heartbroken. I never expected you to be such a sentimental person, Mr. Lucas. Since there is such a tragic story behind this, I’ll forgive your behavior from earlier. After all, we still have to work together."
Wendy smiled mockingly when she said those words. She thought herself ridiculous for calling Michael a sentimental person as she believed that he was not deserving of that title. However, she could not deny how clever he had been for curating such a good image of himself.
"Wendy, why won’t you admit who you are?" Michael took another step toward her.
When Wendy saw him approach, she hurriedly stepped back. She said, "My name is Corrine. Mr. Lucas, if you’re going to continue acting like that, I’ll have no choice but to contact my company and have them assign another designer to work with you."
"Don’t do that!" Michael immediately rejected that idea.
Right now, it did not matter if Wendy wanted to admit who she was. As long as she stayed in Lake City and remained in his company, he believed that he would eventually get the opportunity to get her to confess. But if she returned to Rheinsville City, it would be much more difficult for them to meet again.
The past five years were enough proof. He had invested everything into looking for her, but still failed to do so. Clearly, she had been hiding from him all this while. On top of that, she had changed her name and identity.
"Mr. Lucas, if there’s nothing else you want to talk about, I’ll get going now," said Wendy, feigning politeness.
"Oh, I do have a bit more I need to say," said Michael, who was afraid that she would disappear from his life again. Swallowing dryly, he continued, "How have you been the past five years? Was it difficult for you? And where are you staying right now? Our apartment is the exact same as it was five years ago, and I’ve been going back there to sleep every night. Since you’re back, you should move back home. If you feel that the apartment is too small, I’ll buy you a mansion, okay? Also, Grandmother was just talking about you a few days ago. She misses you very much. I’m sure she’ll be very happy to know that you’re still alive. If you have time, let’s go and visit Grandmother together, Okay? Als..."
Wendy never realized how talkative Michael could be. In the past, he was often rather uncommunicative.
"Mr. Lucas, I’m saying this for the last time. My name is Corrine, not Wendy Stewart," said Wendy impatiently.
Michael had felt the urge to grab Wendy’s hand multiple times, but he always ended up backing off because of her hostile gaze. Since Wendy had already made her rejection clear, he did not want to continue to pressure her. He was afraid that she would really go back to Rheinsville City.
"You haven’t had dinner, have you? Let me take you out to eat," said Michael.
"There’s no need for that," said Wendy, rejecting him in a straightforward manner. She raised her glass at him before turning around. "Also, Mr. Lucas, it’s clear that you’re not in the best frame of mind today. If there’s anything else, we can talk when we meet at the company."
As Michael watched her walk away from him, he desperately wanted to chase after her.
However, he only managed to take one step forward when someone grabbed him from behind. Even though it was not a forceful gesture, he still halted.
He looked back and frowned when he saw a child who was no taller than his waist.
"I can’t find my parents. Can you help me find them?"
Michael stared at the child. He looked familiar.
He suddenly recalled that it was the same child from the airport. His frown grew even deeper. Bending down, Michael said, "Who are you?What are you doing here?"
It was strange that they had run into each other at the airport yesterday, and then again today at the party. This was way too coincidental.
Jake blinked innocently. He started fiddling with the hem of his shirt, muttering weakly, " I followed my parents here, but I ran away from them because I wanted to play. Now, I can’t find them."
"Who are your parents?" Michael asked doubtfully. "Also, what were you doing at the airport yesterday?"
If this were any other child, Michael’s intimidating tone would have frightened them into tears. However, Jake was not like the others. He said, "I went to the airport with my mother yesterday to fetch my aunt."
He had cleverly avoided Michael’s first question.
He then looked past Michael and saw that Wendy had long disappeared. This meant that his goal had been achieved. Releasing Michael’s top, Jake said loudly, "I see my mother! Goodbye!" With that, he ran straight into the crowd and disappeared from sight as well.
Before Michael could come to his senses, Jake had vanished. Michael only grew increasingly suspicious as he looked in the direction that the child had taken off in.
