Chapter 105
Elliot was going through some of Presgrave Corporation’s documents when his phone rang. “Hello, Grandma,” he uttered after reaching to pick it up.
“Elliot, I told Mark to pass you one of the invitation cards for the party, and I want you to pass it to Anastasia on behalf of me.” Harriet’s voice came from the other end of the line.
“Are you inviting her?” Elliot’s eyebrow went up a little as he spoke. “Yeah. She agreed to come. I’m trying to create opportunities for you here, Elliot; you need to make good use of them. I’m not asking Hayley to join us,” Harriet said.
Naturally, Elliot didn’t wish to disappoint his grandmother after seeing how much the old woman was trying to put Anastasia and him together. “Okay. I got it,” he replied. Mark came over with the invitation card about an hour later, but he didn’t send it directly to Anastasia-he sent it to Elliot’s office instead.
After getting the invitation, Elliot used the landline to make an internal call to Anastasia. “Hello, Anastasia speaking,” the woman said through the phone.
“I want you to come to my office,” Elliot ordered in a deep voice.
“Is anything the matter?” she asked.
“Collect your invitation card!” He ended the call right after that. Anastasia had no choice but to let out a sigh before walking out of her office and toward the direction of the elevator. She knocked on the door once she arrived. “Come in,” the man said.
She entered the room to see the lanky man crossing one leg over the other where he sat on the couch. “Give it to me!” she muttered after glancing at him.
“Don’t forget about dinner tonight,” the man said while he took the invitation card out from his stack of documents. Anastasia froze for a moment. Last night, she had been the one who promised to buy him both lunch and dinner. “I’m not free tonight, so I won’t buy you dinner.” She refused to pay for him.
“What happened to keeping your promise? Are you changing your mind now?” Elliot stood up and edged closer to her all of a sudden as if he had been seriously offended by what she just said. She instinctively took a step back before speaking in a sheepish tone. “It’s just dinner, isn’t it?”
“I don’t like people who go against their words.” Elliot looked her in the eye. “You have to buy me dinner tonight.”
“Fine! I’ll see you at the restaurant downstairs.” Anastasia decided to buy him dinner, but she also made a mental note not to owe him anything in the future. It was too hard to repay a person like him.
“Did Nigel ask to see you?” Elliot asked out of nowhere.
“What’s this? How is our relationship any of your business?” Anastasia uttered in a rather displeased tone.
“I’ve told you this before. You shouldn’t give him hope if you don’t like him. I don’t want you to play with his feelings,” Elliot warned. She frowned as she thought, Isn’t he just sticking his nose into other people’s businesses? Nigel and I are just friends.
“Nigel and I are just friends. I’m not playing around with anyone’s feelings,” she retorted.
“But Nigel’s feelings for you are real, and you’re going to hurt him someday.” Elliot’s expression was calm, but there was a deep, mysterious look in his eyes.
“Okay. I’ll keep our relationship the way it is, and I won’t hurt him.” Anastasia turned and left the room after making this promise. Elliot narrowed his eyes upon hearing her words. He had a much clearer view of the situation as a third party, and he could tell that Anastasia would never fall for someone like Nigel. So, Elliot figured that the only way to protect his cousin was to get him to give up on Anastasia. The more involved Nigel got in this relationship, the more he would get hurt, anyway. After what happened to Anastasia, it was hard for her to fall for any man too easily.
Anastasia felt a little overwhelmed when she thought about how she had to buy Elliot dinner. It was time for her to get off work, but she had to pick her son up in a while. She was even more troubled when she recalled how much her son loved Elliot. She took a look at the time. I don’t want Elliot to send me home, so I have to go down earlier to hail a cab before leaving
After packing up a little, Anastasia headed out of the office a little earlier than everyone else. As she stood by the lobby entrance and waited for a cab, she saw from the corner of her eye the nuisance of a car that seemed to follow her everywhere. When she saw the Rolls-Royce Phantom, she jogged out of the building and away from it as if she were running away from something. She could hear the engine starting behind her.
Right then, a gray sports car zoomed in from the entrance, and it directly sped past the Rolls Royce before going after Anastasia. She was shocked, so she jumped aside to hide away from it. The sports car screeched, and it came to a firm halt before the man in the driver’s seat stepped out. The man was none other than Nigel, of course.
