Clarissa did not falter at her exclamation. Instead, she lifted her head and said, “That’s none of your business.”
She did not deny nor pretend that the car key was not hers as there was no need to explain her personal life to Amanda.
Amanda was clearly not satisfied with Clarissa’s response.
The more Clarissa avoided her questions, the more she wanted to probe further.
“But I would love to take a look at your Mercedes-Benz S-Class! I can’t believe that you have been hiding such things from us! Is that your family car? Or is it a gift from a guy?”
In defense, Clarissa questioned back. “What makes you think that I can’t buy it myself?”
“You’re kidding me, right? Based on your meager salary? What more, you haven’t even gotten your paycheck yet.”
“I could have saved up for it from the salary of my previous job. Anyway, I still don’t think I need to explain any of that to you. Please excuse me as I need to head to the toilet.”
Clarissa brushed past Amanda and left the office.
By then, everyone else had already lost interest in their conversation.
Amanda was still unsatisfied; she wanted to flip through Clarissa’s bag to prove her point. However, it would be rude of her to do that, so she held it in.
Just as Clarissa wanted to return the key to Matthew, she received a text from him.
“Come up here!”
Clarissa quickly grabbed the car key and hid it in a file. After scanning through the whole office to make sure no one was there, she sprinted to the lift and headed to the top floor.
The lift door opened to reveal a figure standing there. It was Donnie. Her eyes widened in embarrassment.
She then smiled and followed him into the office. He left shortly after.
The first thing Clarissa did was to place the car key on Matthew’s desk.
“Alright, here is your car key. I’ll head back now.”
Clarissa was too shy to look straight at Matthew. Her heart was pounding furiously, and her face flushed pink with heat.
As she turned her body to leave, Matthew let out in his charming tone. “You’re leaving already?” He pouted.
He reached out his long legs and hooked Clarissa’s ankle to stop her. She puffed her cheeks and replied in a soft voice, “Yeah…”
“Clare,” Matthew called in an adoring tone.
Upon hearing her name being called in such a loving way, she felt a tingling sensation throughout her body. It was a pleasant feeling.
Clarissa caved in and turned back to face Matthew, who had his head resting on his hands, smiled coyly at her.
As she saw that, Clarissa’s face blushed red.
The corner of Matthew’s lips turned upwards.
“Come here!” Matthew prompted.
“Do you need something from me?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“I want to kiss you.”
Clarissa bit her lower lip while blushing. She was like a pink rose – beautiful and sweet.
Matthew could not wait any longer. He stood up, walked towards her, lifted her head, and inched his lips toward hers.
“No…”
Her hands flew up to cover his lips just before their lips touched.
Clarissa rejected while she was still blushing. “Mr. Tyson, it’s still office hours. As the president, you should not carry out such inappropriate acts.”
Matthew’s face fell. He saw a glimpse of a sly smile flash through her innocent facade.
“Mr. Tyson, please continue to work hard for us. We all look up highly to you.”
Clarissa wanted to leave but was blocked by Matthew. As expected, he wanted to get something out of her before letting her leave.
Matthew could no longer hold in his desire and went in for a kiss.
After the kiss, Clarissa was panting hard.
Matthew smirked and bit her lower lip.
With his low and rasped voice, he warned in a teasing manner, “Stop staring at me, or you’ll be getting more than a kiss.”
Clarissa swiftly pushed Matthew away and stuck out her tongue at him.
“Bye!”
This time around, Matthew did not stop her. The thought of having such daily interactions with Clarissa at work got him energized.
Clarissa finally let out a sigh of relief after she managed to sneak back to her desk.
She felt like a thief – in fear of getting caught.
Due to Matthew’s status in the company, she had no choice but to keep their relationship a secret.
However, it’s hard to hide the happiness that comes with falling in love.
Clarissa could not keep her excitement in, so she logged onto Twitter and posted a picture of a boy and a girl kissing.
Her post quickly garnered interest.
Some people commented that she finally updated her status after a long hiatus.
Some commented that the photo was adorable, like the lead characters of the story that she wrote.
Some were trying to decipher if Clarissa was hinting that she wanted to be in a relationship. Or maybe she was already in a relationship.
Clarissa chuckled at the number of people who were trying to guess.
She had been envious of others who posted such pictures when they were in a relationship. Finally, it was her turn.
Clarissa hence decided to upload such pictures daily.
As Clarissa was getting off work, Amanda followed closely behind. She wanted to find out if Clarissa actually drove here. However, Clarissa headed to the subway station instead. Amanda was disappointed, so she got another colleague to send her back. There was no way she would take the subway home.
Clarissa did not want to squeeze in the subway, but she took it anyway because it was the fastest mode of transportation during peak hours in D City.
She wondered why so many people traveled within D City as she missed her hometown was small and peaceful.
To reach her destination, she still had to take a bus after she got off the subway.
Upon reaching Zen Highlands, the first thing Clarissa did was to return to her room to give Catherine a video call. She wanted to let Catherine know that she was doing well.
She also explained to Catherine that she was there to look for inspiration and that she had not decided on the date of her return.
“Clary, have you gotten a boyfriend yet?”
That was Catherine’s all-time favorite question.
Clarissa could not help but smile. She was shy but did not deny it. As she tucked the loose hair behind her flushed ears, she said in a soft voice, “Grandma, I do have one, but we just started not long ago, so it’s still too early to say if we’re a good match.”
“Oh, you have one? That’s great! When are you going to bring him back to show me?”
“Grandma, please don’t rush me. We’re still in the early stages. I’ll bring him back when our relationship is more stable.”
“You’re right. How’s he like? Does he treat you well? Is he a citizen of D City? Where does he work at? Does he plan to start a family in D City?”
“He’s a pretty decent guy. He is older than me by ten years, a citizen of D City, working in a big corporation.”
“Ten years older than you?”
Catherine pondered for a moment and commented, “He’s a little too old.”
Though she mentioned before that a wide age gap did not matter, ten years was too big a gap.
Clarissa was a rare gem; she was as pretty as a movie star, talented and capable. Thus, Catherine felt that she could do better.
Clarissa chuckled. “Yes, he may be a little too old, but he looks much younger than his age.”
“Oh, that’s good. How’s his health?”
“Er… He seems pretty healthy. He goes for jogs daily.”
“That’s good. Most importantly, he must be healthy, or you’ll have a hard time taking care of him when both of you are old.”
“Grandma, that’s too far into the future. We just got together today! Those questions can wait till we start thinking about marriage.”
“This is called being well prepared. Don’t youngsters nowadays date with marriage in mind? It’s best to clarify all these now than later! Do you have a photo of him? Send some over and let Grandma be a judge for you.”
“Okay, I’ll send some to you in a bit.”
The call ended, and Clarissa realized that she had no photos of Matthew.
Matthew was back just as she was about to ask Mrs. Lawson for his photos.
She exclaimed loudly, “Stand still, don’t move!”
He was dressed in a white dress shirt and grey pants. With his jacket neatly placed on his left arm and his right hand in his pocket, he looked tall, slim, and charming.
He reacted to Clarissa by glaring at her intently with his dark eyes. She quickly took a shot of him.
“Perfect!”
Despite being unskilled at taking photos, Clarissa managed to capture a charming photo of Matthew. She then concluded that the quality of a photo was mostly dependent on the model.
Matthew threw his jacket to the side and hugged Clarissa. He lowered his head and asked, “What are you doing?”
Clarissa lifted her head and replied, “I promised to send my Grandma a photo of you. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Sure! But this photo is so ugly.”
Matthew was especially particular because it was going to be sent to Catherine.
“Please take a new one!”
“There’s no need to take a new one. You already look very handsome in this. Don’t worry!” Clarissa chuckled.
Before Matthew got the chance to stop her, she had sent the photo to Catherine.
