Chapter 176 “I’m blessed to have made acquaintance with all of you too.”
“Your mother sacrificed herself to save Elliot and you saved Nigel’s life while overseas, so I’ve already regarded you as my family after these two huge acts of kindness.”
Suddenly, Nigel was caught by surprise as he lifted his head and exclaimed, “Grandma, what did you just say? Anastasia’s mom saved Elliot’s life? What happened back then?”
Meanwhile, Harriet turned in his direction and replied, “You’ve been overseas all these years, so it’s quite normal for you to be unaware of this incident. Elliot was kidnapped when he was six years old, and Anastasia’s mother sacrificed her life to save him. We’re forever indebted to Anastasia and her family.”
Nigel’s eyes widened in surprise aş he couldn’t quite believe his ears. It was beyond his wildest dreams that Anastasia and Elliot also had such a great act of kindness linking the two of them. Is that why Elliot steadfastly stays by Anastasia’s side? Is he also intent on repaying Anastasia for everything that she had done, just like me?Elliot’s actions of taking control of the QR Jewelry Group and the current situation with him being permanently stationed at the office of Bourgeois Jewelry Atelier clearly is his way of repaying Anastasia for her great act!
Suddenly, Harriet mentioned, “I need to go to the washroom.”
“Old Madam Presgrave, I’ll go with you!” Anastasia quickly placed down her cutlery and got up to escort Harriet from her seat. Meanwhile, Harriet happily walked with Anastasia to the washroom.
As soon as the door swung shut after them, Nigel turned to Elliot with a sharp look in his eyes. “Elliot, are you pursuing Anastasia?”
Upon hearing that, Elliot answered the question without flinching. “Yes.”
“Are you just trying to repay her kind act, or are you truly fond of her?” Nigel interrogated Elliot bluntly.
“Both of the reasons are valid to me.” Elliot voiced out in a low voice. In all honesty, he was indeed quite reluctant to go after the same girl as his cousin.
“I went after Anastasia first, so you shouldn’t fight me for her affections.” Nigel said
that while clenching his fist tightly.
“Precedence doesn’t mean anything in this. The deserving person of her affections should be whoever that’s more capable. Or perhaps, to be more accurate, she’s the one who gets to have a say.”
“In that case, let’s compete equally for her affections and see which one of us manages to win her heart. If you succeed, then I’ll acknowledge her as my sister-in law, and vice versa if I win. What do you say?” Nigel bluntly announced that they should compete equally with each other. As such, if he failed in his bid and the other party was Elliot, then he would admit his defeat graciously.
After all, Nigel knew that he was not as capable as his cousin, but he refused to give up without a fight and he wanted to try and make a bid at it.
“Alright. Let’s compete equally, then!” Elliot agreed to this solution as this was the best way that wouldn’t affect their kinship.
Shortly after that, Harriet and Anastasia came back from the washroom, and the two men immediately acted as if nothing had happened. They continued to enjoy their meal and sip from their teacups, and the confrontational vibe from earlier dissipated without a trace.
“Anastasia, I would like to propose a toast with this cup of tea in place of champagne.” Harriet held a teacup in her hand and walked toward Anastasia.
Extremely flattered, Anastasia quickly got up to toast Harriet. “Here’s a toast to you too!”
“Next time, bring Jared over to our house to have some fun. I would very much like to meet him,” Harriet announced.
“Sure, I’ll bring him over to pay you a visit once we’re free.” Anastasia agreed without any hesitation.
Just then, Anastasia was engrossed in enjoying her meal when she suddenly sensed someone serving something to her plate. She assumed that it was Nigel but it seemed to be coming from another direction, so she looked up and found out that it was Elliot looking at her. It turned out that he was the one who had served her some food.
Instantly, she anxiously glanced at him and shot him a warning look. She didn’t want to appear too intimate with him around Harriet.
Meanwhile, Nigel saw everything and he couldn’t contain the desolateness that arose within him. He felt as if he was one step behind in everything. He couldn’t help wishing that he had taken over the Bourgeois Jewelry Atelier so that Anastasia could work for him and subsequently, he would be able to court her every day during working hours. However, she was now Elliot’s subordinate and he had the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
At that point, Nigel was quite downcast so he found the meal quite bland and tasteless. It felt as if every bite turned to sawdust.
Finally, the meal ended and Elliot took a look at the time before mentioning to Harriet, “Grandma, I’ll head back to the office now.”
“What? Are you leaving so soon?” Harriet was quite surprised to hear that.
“Yes. I’ll send Miss Tillman back too, since we’re heading in the same direction.” As soon as Elliot finished saying that, he turned to Anastasia, who was still in her seat. “Let’s go,” he urged.
Meanwhile, Anastasia was momentarily stunned before she quickly grabbed her bag and bade Harriet farewell. “Old Madam Presgrave, I’ll see you next time.”
