Chapter 52 You Can Go With Her
On Friday afternoon, Courtney went to the headquarters of Sunhill Enterprise for a meeting.
“After our last meeting, here is the improved plan after taking everyone’s feedback into account. If there is anything else that needs to be amended, there is still time to do so.”
Courtney stood before the projector, dressed in a crisp business outfit with a skirt. Her bouncy waves were tied up, leaving only her side bangs as it swept across her forehead. While she looked mature, there was an air of loveliness peeking through her maturity.
The attendees discussed among themselves for a while, but they seemed to have no opposing opinions.
“Well, that’s that. We’ll begin decorating the venue next Monday.” Alexander’s voice reverberated through the meeting room. “This matter is now completely under Miss Hunter’s jurisdiction, and that is all for this meeting.”
The sound of chairs scratching the floor could be heard the moment he said that. Everyone scattered like the wind, leaving Courtney alone at her seat as she gathered her laptop and the documents she brought along.
“I’ll pick you up at 9.00AM tomorrow.” Alexander’s voice came from behind her. He was talking about their promise to have a picnic at the forestry center.
Last week, Sapphire Kindergarten gave the children their final homework before the start of the summer holidays. The kids were supposed to go to the woods to find different types of leaves and draw a picture of them.
However, Courtney stiffened for a moment before returning to her senses. She hastily turned around, an apologetic look on her face.
“I’m sorry—I might not be able to make it since something cropped up at the last moment. Cameron’s on holiday, so she’ll be taking Tina to help her out with her homework. If you don’t mind, you can go with her.”
Alexander tipped his head slightly. He didn’t seem to have much of a reaction to that; a barely discernible frown simply appeared on his face.
After Courtney left, Josh followed Alexander back to his office. As they walked, Josh flipped through Alexander’s schedule.
“Mr. Duncan, tomorrow is the night of the young Graham scion’s engagement party. If you are sure that you won’t be going, I will arrange for the secretary to go as your representative.”
“Alright.”
“Also, there will be a fitting session with the designer at 7.00PM tomorrow night for your wedding clothes. Are you sure you can make it in time?”
Alexander’s expression slipped for a moment, seeming as though he had just remembered about the wedding ceremony. Hesitation made its way into his eyes, but he nodded in the end.
“Yeah.”
He just needed to do everything by the book; the safest way to live was for everything to be under his control.
The next day, Cameron drove Tina over to the forestry center.
Alexander and Jordan had seemingly arrived there a lot earlier, for they had already gathered a whole basketful of leaves. They sat on their picnic mat as Jordan made his art masterpiece.
At the sight of Tina, Jordan got up from his pile of leaves, his bright eyes flitting about. However, he still couldn’t see the lady that he had been looking forward to meeting even after looking for a while. Jordan immediately frowned and tugged at Alexander’s sleeve.
“She has an urgent matter, so she’s not coming today. I told you earlier this morning before we came.” Alexander patted his son’s head as he explained patiently.
When Alexander told Jordan that Courtney wouldn’t be coming, the kid looked like he didn’t believe him. He even thought that Alexander was lying to him.
Jordan pouted, a dark fog immediately descending on his expression.
Meanwhile, Cameron led Tina over by the hand and greeted Alexander.
“The weather’s so nice today. It’s a pity that Courtney can’t come today,” she exclaimed.
“What’s the urgent appointment that she had?” Alexander asked in an offhand manner as he picked up the leaves that Jordan had scattered.
“Mommy went to a wedding party.” Tina poked her head over and blinked at Alexander. “Not only that, it’s her ex-boyfriend’s wedding!”
Alexander stopped what he was doing. He lifted his head to look at Cameron, as though he was seeking her confirmation.
“Don’t say such nonsense, kiddo.” Cameron pretended to pinch her. Tina screeched and leaped into Alexander’s arms.
“Save me, Mr. Alexander!”
Alexander was somewhat distracted as he held Tina. “She went alone?”
“Of course.” Cameron sighed. “She’s always been a good-tempered girl. She didn’t want to go, but that woman kept pestering her with phone calls every day; even I couldn’t stand to see this. She ended up going because she had no other choice. She’s such a sweet girl, and I figured that it won’t do her any good to go. She’s going to cry her eyes out later when she gets back.”
“Cry? It won’t get to that point, right?”
Alexander found it hard to imagine Courtney crying. Based on his impression of her, Courtney was a strong and smart woman. Even in her day-to-day life, she never gave in. It was difficult to believe that she would be so easily cowed.
“Why do you think that she wouldn’t?” Cameron’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve never seen how Courtney was before. She was molded into the woman she is now after her ex cheated on her back then and she went abroad alone. She used to be a soft girl.”
Alexander didn’t know when Courtney became friends with Cameron. Based solely on Cameron’s words, there were a lot of holes in her testimony. However, he couldn’t pick out anything actually problematic about what she said. Besides, he was a little worried now.
“I heard that you need to go with someone else when you get invited to a party. Mommy’s definitely going to be bullied since she went there by herself.” Tina sighed as well from where she was curled up in Alexander’s arms.
Jordan quickly lifted his drawing board and tugged on Alexander’s sleeve to get his attention.
“If you don’t help Aunt Courtney, then you’re not my daddy.”
Alexander wasn’t sure whether he should laugh at this. “What are you doing? She didn’t ask me for my help. I won’t necessarily be able to help her even if I go.”
“That’s because Courtney doesn’t like to bother others,” Cameron explained. “Besides, the man has to be a bit more willing to take the initiative when it comes to these kinds of things. I guess you don’t know that Courtney’s ex actually two-timed her with her best friend. That friend is still parading the guy around and rubbing it in Courtney’s face. Courtney wasn’t willing to go to their wedding at first, but Vanessa pulled a dirty move—she blamed Courtney for not valuing their sisterhood. No one else knows what happened back then, so they’d be wondering what’s wrong with Courtney.”
Cameron’s words made Alexander’s expression shift. After a moment’s thought, he looked at Cameron. “Please help me take Jordan home. I’ll head over there.”
Seeing Alexander come to this snap decision, an admiring look came over Cameron’s face. “Relax, I promise you that I’ll look after the kids properly. Hurry on now,” she said.
Alexander nagged at Jordan for a bit before driving off the hill.
The forestry center was a distance away from the center of Melrose City. As he drove down the hill, Alexander suddenly received a call from Britney.
“Alex, the designer for the wedding gown will be here at 7.00PM. Don’t forget that.”
Alexander glanced at the clock in his car before pressing a hand to his wireless buds. He said in a low voice, “Something urgent came up. Let’s move it to another day.”
“An urgent matter? What is it?”
“I’m driving right now. Talk to you later.”
Britney seemed like she was about to continue speaking, but Alexander had already ended the call.
With her call forcefully cut off, Britney stared at the darkened screen of her phone. The joy she initially had on her face was gone, and it was replaced by a dark fog instead.
Her manager knocked on the door before entering.
“The filming is about to start, Britney. Please get ready.”
Britney frowned. All of a sudden, she stood up. “Tell the director that I have an urgent matter and won’t be filming today.”
“Huh? Britney, that won’t do—hey, where are you going?”
