Vivian’s heart skipped a beat at his response.
What do I think? I don’t even need to think about it!
Despite her inner thoughts, she still managed to quirk her lips up in a small grin. “Let me guess… A man with such outstanding achievements as yourself, I’m certain that you’re already married. Am I right, Mr. Norton?”
Thereafter, she avoided his gaze, as guilt crept up on her. In the next instant, she berated herself for feeling so.
Why should I feel guilty? He’s the one who had concealed his real identity from me! He kept pretending that he didn’t know me! I’m not in the wrong here!
Across from her, Finnick took note of the minor changes in her expressions, as her conflicting emotions played out, all over her face.
Almost imperceptibly, his lips twitched upwards.
Even before this interview, he already knew that she would be the one who would be interviewing him. In all actuality, it was probably more accurate to say that he had only agreed to it because he found out that she worked at Glamour Magazine.
She thought that today was the first time that they had met. In truth, he had seen her three days ago when she was on a blind date.
At that time, he was quite certain that he had never seen her before. Yet, somehow, she seemed incredibly familiar to him. Thus, he instructed his men to investigate her.
It was pure coincidence that he had met her again, this morning, at the Civil Affairs Bureau. The man whom she was supposed to marry had not shown up. He had even called to humiliate her.
Recalling the information that his men had found out, he had approached her and suggested that they marry each other instead.
He had tossed the earlier question to her to answer because he wanted to tease her. He had not expected that she would be so nervous and shy about it. It did not match what he had known of her past at all.
The serene look on his face was unchanging as he uttered, “Yes, I’m already married. It only happened in the past few days actually.”
As he said that, his eyes flicked over to Vivian, causing her heart to pound faster.
Before she could respond, Sarah let out an exaggerated cry of dismay.
“Mr. Norton, you’re already married? Aww, all our female readers are going to be heartbroken!” Sarah sighed mournfully before she perked up and prodded, “I wonder what sort of woman Mr. Norton’s wife is? Is she a daughter from one of the influential families?”
“Sarah!” Vivian tugged at the nosy woman’s arm. That’s certainly not on the list of questions that we had prepared. It’s way too personal and it’s rather rude too!
Thankfully, Finnick did not get upset. He smiled blandly as he chose to remain silent.
“Alright, that’s enough of asking Mr. Norton about his private life. Let’s move on to the questions related to the company.” Not wanting to linger on the topic of marriage for too long, Vivian hurriedly brought the interview back on track.
The next few questions were straight to the point, as they were entirely focused on his job. At long last, the interview ended on a safe note.
“I’m very happy to have received this interview from Glamour Magazine.” Finnick shook each of their hands after the session had ended. When it was Vivian’s turn, he paused for a second, his gaze fixed on the ring that she was wearing. His lips curled up into a smirk. “What a beautiful ring.”
Vivian’s cheeks felt warm, as a blush bloomed upon her face. She snatched her hand back and followed the others out of the office.
The tension running through her only diminished, once they had exited.
Beside her, Sarah shrieked in joy, “Oh my god! I actually shook hands with the president of Finnor Group! I’m not going to wash my hand for a week!”
Exasperated, Vivian was about to chastise the other woman, when she saw Finnick’s secretary walking towards them. There were several small but intricate boxes in her hands.
“Hello, this is a small token of appreciation from our president to each of you. Please accept it.”
Accepting one of the boxes, Sarah was increasingly ecstatic. “Oh wow, we’d even received a gift too! How thoughtful of Mr. Norton!”
She eagerly opened the box, revealing a Chanel silk scarf inside.
“Damn, it’s not surprising that he’s the president! His generosity is really something!” she gushed. “Look, we each have a different color too! Vivian, hurry up and open yours. I want to see what color yours is.”
Vivian did not wish to open the box, but Sarah continued to wheedle her relentlessly. Unable to bear it any longer, she lifted the lid.
Upon catching a glimpse of what was inside, her face fell. She quickly slammed the lid shut, before the others could see what it was.
