Chapter 405: Win Wendy Back
After they got into the car, Todd couldn’t help asking, "What’s going on, Corrine?
Weren’t you supposed to visit Michael’s grandmother? How did you end up in the hospital with him? How did his injury come about?"
"Shortly after I reached the mansion, Michael showed up. Grandma has always been hoping that we will patch up. So she planned for this meeting."
Wendy knew that Todd was going to ask about what happened. She continued, "What we didn’t expect was Winnie Quinn’s appearance. I was about to leave and she showed up. She has never liked me. She refused to let me go until I swear to stay away from Michael.
"Things turned ugly. She took up the fruit knife and wanted to stab me. But Michael came to my rescue and ended up with the stab wound."
Todd heard her simple explanation. But when he saw her lowering her head, he couldn’t help but feel worried.
This was the reason why he didn’t want Wendy to visit Michael’s grandmother. He was afraid that she would meet Michael there. Not only did they meet, Michael even got hurt saving her.
From her expression, Todd could tell that Wendy had softened her stance towards Michael.
Todd tried to probe further, "So what did the two of you talk about?"
"Nothing much," Wendy answered absent-mindedly. She was looking out the window, lost in her own thoughts.
"Are you planning to forgive him?" Todd knew that was a lie. Surely they must have discussed something significant. Even if they really did not talk much, the fact that he was hurt because of her must have touched Wendy.
Todd subconsciously clenched his fist.
"First, we have to deal with Christian. This is not the time to talk about such things," Wendy sighed. She was still unsure if she should forgive Michael. "Let’s focus on the big picture first."
Wendy was obviously trying to avoid Todd’s question. But the more she avoided the question, the more obvious that she had been swayed by Michael. She was contemplating if she should forgive Michael.
Maybe she had already forgiven him. This was certainly not what Todd was expecting.
"Corrine, have you ever wondered that this was all planned out by Michael?" Todd suggested. "Maybe it was him who made his grandmother invite you to the mansion.
Maybe his injury was just an act to gain your sympathy."
Wendy pondered Todd’s words. Michael did pretend to gain her sympathy.
The injury on his finger was one such instance.
She shook her head and replied, "It’s true that Grandma has always wanted us to get back together. This was certainly not planned by Michael.
"Besides, I have been away from Lake City for so ages. Grandma certainly wants to see me after knowing I am back. As for his injury, Winnie’s mental state has always been unstable. Even if he were acting to gain my sympathy, he couldn’t possible get his mother to conspire with him."
"But Corrine, if Michael can go all the way to Rheinsville City to look for you, what else could he be capable of, now that you are back?" Todd persisted, refusing to give up.
Wendy turned to look at Todd and frowned. She wasn’t oblivious to what Todd was trying to say.
Todd felt a little guilty as their eyes met. He lowered his gaze, not daring to look Wendy in the eye and whispered, "I ... I was just concerned that you’d be fooled by Michael."
"Thank you for your concern. I appreciate it," Wendy replied politely. "But I can discern the truth."
"I ....." Wendy’s reply had rendered Todd speechless. Besides, if he continued trying to persuade Wendy, it might cause her to feel more offended.
...
It was silent in the car. Todd stole a few glances at Wendy, wondering what she was thinking. She seemed to be in serious thought, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to comment further.
The ride was quiet all the way to the hotel. This hotel was under the watchful eyes of Christian. Since the press conference was over, Wendy had no intention of staying here anymore.
The moment they entered the hotel, she turned to Todd, "Let’s look for another hotel tonight. There’s no reason for Christian to keep us here anymore."
Todd nodded in agreement. They went into their separate rooms and started packing their bags. They were done packing within a short time.
As soon as they took out their luggage, Christian’s men approached them. They asked respectfully, "Ms. Swift, Mr. Todd, are you leaving now?"
"Yes," Wendy confirmed. "Please thank Mr. Lucas on my behalf. We will surely play a good host to him when he comes over to Rheinsville City."
"Let us send you to the airport then," one of them said.
"There is no need for that. We have already made arrangements." Wendy rejected firmly.
Wendy was invited to attend the press conference. Christian had insisted the day before that Todd and her stay in this hotel. To avoid trouble, Wendy had to agree to it. If she continued to comply to Christian’s requests, he might grow suspicious. After all, no one likes to be watched all the time.
Sure enough, the man didn’t insist. He politely gestured for Wendy to be on her way and said, "Ms. Swift, Mr. Todd, take care. If you need anything in Lake City, please feel free to contact us."
He passed a name card to Wendy, but she didn’t bother to take it and walked past them.
Wendy and Todd left the hotel and got into a cab.
"Where do you want to go?" The driver asked.
For a moment, Wendy had no idea where they were going. She hadn’t even booked another hotel. Christian didn’t own all the hotels in Lake City.
She certainly wasn’t about to check into another of his hotel. But she couldn’t go to the hotels that belonged to Michael either.
Christian would surely find out and become suspicious. Her relationship with Michael was supposed to be so bad that she should be trying to avoid anything to do with him, including putting up at one of his hotels.
Wendy had left MC Enterprise for years. That meant she couldn’t be sure which of Michael’s hotels was safe from Christian’s watchful eyes. She weighed her options and decided to give Michael a call.
"Just drive, I’ll tell you later," Wendy told the driver.
Then, called Michael on his private line. Since it was private, surely Christian wouldn’t be able to trace it. As the call connected, Michael was just settling into his office chair when his cellphone rang.
He saw that it was Wendy and got so excited that he jumped up, saying, "Wendy’s calling me!"
Mr. York, his personal assistant, and Yonina, were in the room. They were both speechless upon witnessing his behavior. Was there a need to get so excited over a phone call?
But for Michael, this was certainly reason to be excited. This was the first time in many months that Wendy had taken the initiative to call him. This was a big step towards Wendy forgiving him.
Michael took the call happily, "Wendy, whatever you need, just tell me."
He knew that Wendy must need something urgently for her to call this late. But then, he was just happy to receive her call.
...
Wendy was quiet on the end. Michael’s smile disappeared when he didn’t hear any response from Wendy. He had a sense of foreboding. He called out cautiously, "Wendy?
"Yes, it’s me," Wendy answered. She coughed to hide her awkwardness.
Michael heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Wendy’s voice. He was worried for a moment that something bad had happened to her.
"What do you need? Tell me," he repeated.
Wendy was direct. She said, "We’ve just moved out of Christian’s hotel. I wanted to ask if you could make arrangements for us to stay in one of your hotels. But if it is too inconvenient, it’s fine."
"Of course I can do that!" Michael quickly responded. "Give me a moment."
He covered the cellphone with his hand and signaled to Mr. York, "Go find out which of our hotels is more secluded and offers maximum privacy."
Wendy needed his help, that meant he couldn’t offer those that were well-known. He needed to find those that were less conspicuous, those that weren’t immediately obvious that he owned them.
Mr. York nodded in response and quickly left the room.
Michael was concerned that Wendy might get impatient. He went back to the call and said, "Please wait, Wendy. Just for a moment."
"Sure," answered Wendy.
Mr. York was certainly efficient. Soon, he was back with the information that Michael needed. Michael took over the folder. There were quite a number of hotels that he secretly owned in Lake City, and Mr. York had already picked the best out of them all. He suggested three five-star hotels.
Michael took a glance and said to Wendy, "I’m sending the list of hotels to you.
Where are you now? Let me send someone to pick you up."
"We are already in a cab. Just send me the list," Wendy said. "If you send someone over, Christian might notice."
"Alright then."
"Ok. Bye."
"Wait a minute!" Michael said hurriedly when he heard that Wendy wanted to hang up.
"Anything else?" Wendy asked.
There was nothing else actually. Michael just wanted to chat with Wendy. But he remembered what Wendy told him, to consider the big picture first.
He could only sigh and said, "Nothing. Call me if you anytime if you need something."
"Sure."
With that, the call ended.
Yonina noticed that the call had ended, but Michael was still holding onto his cellphone after a long while. She smiled as she walked over to him. She patted her shoulder and consoled him, "Looks like you and Wendy can patch things up very soon."
Michael finally reacted. He put down the cellphone and looked at Yonina.
"You see, Wendy could have just given Mr. York a call to find out which hotel she could go to. But she chose to call you instead..."
Michael’s eyes lit up even before Yonina could finish her sentence. That’s right!
Wendy could have chosen not to call him but she did anyway. She knew how to get to Mr. York. It would have been faster to go through Mr. York than to go through him.
Yonina’s smile widened as she saw how happy Michael was. She said, "Michael, may you beat Christian soon and win Wendy back!"
"Yes I will," Michael replied confidently, "I will certainly do that."
...
Michael turned to look at Mr. York and immediately instructed, "You personally arrange the hotel there and host Wendy well."
"Yes, Mr. Michael." Mr. York saw that the relationship between Michael and Wendy was progressing and was happy for him. "I’ll get right on it."
With that, Mr. York turned around and left.
Yonina waved at Michael. "I’ll go first too. I still have to report to Christian."
....
Soon after Wendy hung up, she received a text message from Michael.
She glanced at the address and said to the driver, "Hill Moon Hotel."
The driver nodded.
Todd couldn’t help but look at Wendy.
He knew that Wendy made this call for Michael.
He also knew that he shouldn’t ask Wendy why she did so.
However, he couldn’t help it.
After hesitating for a while, Todd finally asked, "Corrine, we can find our own hotel to stay in, right? Isn’t it riskier to ask Michael to arrange it?"
"I’m calling Michael’s private number. Christian won’t be able to trace it."
Wendy went on to explain, "As for other hotels, I’m afraid we might end up in one owned by Christian.
"Even if it is not Christian’s and not under Michael’s control, the chances of being monitored by Christian are quite high.
"But don’t worry, I asked Michael to find a privately owned hotel that Christian can’t track... or at least will be difficult for him to do so."
"Then you can also contact Yonina or someone else who can..."
As Todd was about to say something else, he noticed a change in Wendy’s expression.
He laughed and explained, "I mean, whether it’s a private call or whatever, there’s always a risk."
Wendy’s mind, however, was not on it.
She was thinking about what Todd had said.
She can indeed contact other people, such as Mr. York.
A moment ago, however, the first thing that came into her mind was to contact Michael immediately.
Wendy sighed and bowed her head slightly. She was silent for a while.
When Todd saw this, he didn’t say anything more.
Soon, the car drove to the Hill Moon Hotel.
As soon as they entered, they were greeted by the hotel manager, "Ms. Swift, Mr.
Lewis..." Wendy nodded.
"Hello to you both. I am Hill Moon Hotel’s manager. Your room is ready. Please followme."
Wendy smiled. "Thank you."
As soon as they walked to the lonby, someone greeted them and knew who they were.
Apparently, Michael took care of it as a presidential suite with the utmost security was booked for them.
The hotel manager handed over two room cards and said with a smile, "Ms. Swift, your room is this one on the left. Mr. Lewis, your room is this one on the right. Here are your key cards. If you have any problems, feel free to reach out to me at any time."
The hotel manager also gave them his business card.
Looking at the two key cards, a faint smile formed on Wendy’s face.
Michael had arranged a suite for them, though they could stay in separate rooms.
Christian, on the other hand, would make sure that they stay in the same room.
Wendy then unlocked her room.
As for Todd, he could only let out a bitter laugh.
At least he wouldn’t sleep on the couch.
Clenching his fist in disappointment, Todd sulked and walked into his room as well.
