Chapter 155 Taking a Leap
A dead silence fell in the conference room.
Anna wasn’t able to stand firmly anymore and was shaking as she held onto the edge of the table.
Filled with resentment and shame, she did not want anything more than to shred Courtney to pieces and feed her to the dogs.
I can’t believe she recorded that obscenity and played it in front of Shay! When Courtney threatened her with that video, she had taken away Anna’s only chance of being with Shay.
“Are you going to read it or not?”
After a while, Anna gritted her teeth and uttered, “I’ll read it.”
Before leaving the conference room, Courtney pulled out the USB and added, “Also, make sure Storm Media and your keyboard warriors take down those absurd articles and comments online. You already know what will happen if you don’t.”
Standing in the doorway with her back toward Courtney, Anna was already close to gnawing her teeth down to her gums. “I got it.”
Just you wait, Courtney Hunter. Just you wait.
The press conference ended successfully. Because people sympathized with Anna, they mostly believed what she said. After she explained that she and Courtney were just Shay’s sisters, those intrusive comments died off on their own.
Meanwhile, the journalists were extremely disappointed when they left. It became apparent that the media was just playing with smokes and mirrors, but there was no actual fire.
“I didn’t think she had something to do with this.” Shay handed a cup of water to Courtney. “Why did she do it?”
“Do you really not know or are you pretending not to know?” Courtney eyed him. “Why do you think she was always against me? It’s because she likes you. Except for me, you practically ignore everyone in the Hunter Family.”
“She likes me?” He looked dumbfounded. “I had no idea.”
“That’s why she picked up that pretty face who looks just like you.” Courtney smirked. “It’s just a bit freaky.”
If Anna hadn’t gone overboard in the first place, Courtney was not going to bring this matter up against her. It was better to make friends than enemies, and she did not want her relationship with Anna to go too cold.
Thinking about it now, however, that was no longer possible.
Not long after the press conference ended, Storm Media also released their own statement. They expressed their apologies to Shay and the two parties involved, and compensated them. As an expression of sincerity, they fired all the journalists and editors involved.
When Alexander came back from his business trip, the storm had mostly died down.
“Everything went quite smoothly.”
At the dining table, Courtney stuck her chin out just begging to be praised.
Alexander looked at her. “Good job.”
“It didn’t give you and the company any problems, did it?” she asked.
To her surprise, he did not answer her right away. Instead, he fished out a small square box from his bag and pushed it in front of her. “Open it.”
Flabbergasted and bewildered, she mumbled, “I’m not ready yet. You can keep it for now.”
There were still many secrets she was keeping from him and things she had yet to look into. How can I marry him now?
He looked at her with a puzzled expression. “What do you need to get ready for?” Opening the box, he commented, “I bought this when I was in Italy because I thought it would look good on you.”
Inside the box was a pair of shiny, pure white pearl earrings.
Her expression stiffened. “Oh, earrings…”
Why did he have to put them in that small square box? Does he not know how misleading it can be?
“What did you think it was?” He was rather perplexed because he could not understand her reaction.
“N-Nothing.” She laughed to hide the awkwardness. “I like it. I really like it.”
“Why does it seem like you’re a bit disappointed?” He frowned. “You don’t have to force yourself if you don’t like it.”
“What do you mean?” Her eyes widened all of a sudden as she spoke in a higher tone. “I’m not disappointed.”
The two children at the table looked up at the same time in a confused state.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing. I’m going to the bathroom,” Courtney excused herself from the dining table.
Looking at her mother from behind, Tina let out a long sigh then turned to Alexander with a disapproving look. “Oh, Mr. Alexander. Don’t you know what usually goes through a woman’s mind when she sees a box like that?”
“What?” He did not get it.
“Do you know, Jordan?” Tina looked back at him.
Jordan started drawing on his drawing board right away. He drew a circle then a diamond on top of it and even added some dots around it for a sparkling effect. Along with it, he wrote, ‘You’re a fool, Dad.’
“Mr. Alexander, you know that Mommy will be super happy if you buy her earrings. But, if you made her think that she was going to get a ring, the disappointment when she found out it was only a pair of earrings was just too great. How can you not grasp such simple reasoning? You’re really dumb.”
Alexander felt rather defeated after being looked down upon by two children at the same time. Staring at the earrings box on the table, he simply fiddled with his nose awkwardly.
Who knew giving a pair of earrings would be this complicated? However…
He looked in the direction of the bathroom, then back at the drawing of the ring on Jordan’s board. Suddenly, his eyes filled with delight.
Originally, he planned to take things slowly, but if Courtney was already expecting it, then he could just take a leap.
Inside the bathroom, Courtney had washed her face with water and was staring at her bare face in the mirror. She still looked very young, but her eyes hid many stories. This was all she saw whenever she looked into the mirror.
She was a bit anxious and a little worried.
Earlier, her first reaction was to reject the ring. She was still uncertain whether she wanted to take the next step with him, but when she realized that it was not a ring, she also felt disappointed.
Her rationality and feelings were in conflict with each other. At that moment, her feelings told her that she longed to marry him. Words and self-consolation lied, but feelings did not.
At nighttime, the two children had gone to bed, and Courtney returned to the bedroom after drying her hair. Alexander was reading a book while propped up against the bedhead. The warm light on his face made him seem rather gentle.
“Why do you keep staring at me?” He tore his eyes away from the book and looked up at her.
She did not avoid him. After applying some hand cream, she sat down at the edge of the bed. “I just think you look different from the first time I met you.”
He frowned. “I really just went on a business trip. I didn’t do anything else.”
She could not hold back a laugh. “I didn’t say that. If you still need to get work done on your face, then what would the rest of us do?”
“Is that a compliment?” He looked at her with a warm gaze.
A smile slowly crept up on her face. “I used to think your heart was made of stone. You were always cold to people.”
“You’re not wrong.” He closed the book and pulled her into his arms. Placing his chin on her forehead, he murmured, “I don’t see a need to show warmth to too many insignificant people.”
