NovelApp
Chapter 221
Most of the employees from Constellation Tech were already downstairs by the time Leanna got to the
hotel lobby, except for Elijah.
Minutes later, there was still no sign of him.
The employees from Constellation Tech started craning their necks and peering around as though
expecting him to pop out of thin air, then whispered in a frenzy among themselves.
Just as the assistant was about to go upstairs to look for him, Elijah emerged from the hotel building.
He chuckled apologetically, "Sorry to keep you all waiting. Shall we go?"
The restaurant was only a ten-minute walk away. As the employees began to make their way down the
sidewalk, Elijah fell in step next to Leanna and said, "Come along now."
She nodded, but that was when she noticed the trace of blood crusted over the corner of his mouth.
She gaped at him with wide eyes. "What happened to you?"
When he realized she was referring to the cut on his lip, he quickly turned to wipe off the dried blood.
"Nothing. I bumped into something, I guess."
Leanna clutched his arm. "Don't move." With that, she hurriedly pulled out some alcohol wipes from her
purse and handed them to him. "You'll infect the wound if you touch it with your bare hands. Here,
sterilize the area."
Elijah didn't take the wipes. "I can't see where the wound is. Can you help me, Leanna?"
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded as she carefully cleaned his wound. Her gaze was focused,
and her touch was gentle but firm.
While this was happening, Aidan stood not too far away, observing their exchange. A grim look passed
over his face as the air around him dropped to freezing temperatures.
Even Jonathan had to take a wary step back in case the man combusted on the spot.
On the other hand, Leanna was oblivious to the hostility projected in her direction as she cleaned
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtElijah's wound. Still, when she caught Aidan's smoldering dark gaze, she paused in her ministrations.
She stiffly drew her hand back and stammered, "I-I think we're done..."
Elijah flashed her a smile. "Thank you."
She rubbed the back of her neck self-consciously and looked elsewhere.
"I think the others should be halfway to the restaurant by now. Come on. Let's catch up with them,"
Elijah suddenly said.
"Alright."
An awkwardness hung between Leanna and Elijah as they walked side by side to the restaurant.
Neither of them broke the silence, and Elijah, uncharacteristically, did not try to make any small talk.
When they finally got to the restaurant, they saw that the others had already taken their seats at their
respective tables.
Leanna was meant to sit with Elijah at the executives' table. The executives of Constellation Tech were
all young-ish men in their mid-twenties to early-thirties, and they were close to Elijah. When they took
their seats, one of the executives immediately teased, "Had I known we were allowed to bring our
girlfriends along, I'd have brought mine as well. Now I'm trapped here watching you rub your
relationship in my face, President Parker."
"Yeah, President Parker. You could've given us a heads up so that we wouldn't feel so left out. This is
borderline unethical!"
Elijah laughed. "Alright, give it a rest, boys. I told you guys beforehand that you could bring a plus-one."
At once, the executives started heckling him. One piped up, "Come on, prez, make the introductions
already. Your girlfriend's looking a little awkward."
Elijah corrected, "Stop it, guys. She isn't my girlfriend yet."
Leanna smiled politely and nodded as she introduced herself, "Hello, everyone. I'm Leanna McKinney."
The men at the table glanced at each other. From the looks of it, the great President Parker was still
courting the girl. These men were at the top of their game in the industry. Fortunately, they were
emotionally intelligent enough to stop fooling around. They returned Leanna's greeting with matching
graciousness and moved on to a different subject.
After a while, someone asked, "Miss McKinney, have we met before this? You look awfully familiar."
His friend jested, "Come off it. You're always using the same line when you meet a pretty girl."
"No, I'm serious this time. I must have seen her somewhere before..."
Elijah offered helpfully, "Maybe it was at a launch event for Lux Jewelry. Leanna was a designer there."
Then, one of the executives chimed in, "That makes sense. No wonder she looks so familiar. Haha..."
The men laughed good-naturedly before changing topics. The only one who seemed deep in thought
was the executive who claimed to have seen Leanna. He was frowning as he searched his memories. I
seem to have met her before she was a designer for Lux Jewelry.
After lunch, the employees went about their own itinerary for the day. Some of them had decided to dip
into the hot springs, while others opted for a leisurely round of golf or archery.
The resort took up sprawling acres of land, and it understandably had enough room to accommodate a
myriad of activities. It became the top choice for a young but prominent company such as Constellation
Tech.
Leanna realized, of course, that she could no longer chalk her random run-in with Aidan up to a
coincidence. She had to admit that the b*stard was well-accomplished if the many enterprises under
the Pearson Group umbrella were anything to go by.
Just like that, Leanna and Elijah strolled around the resort while having a lighthearted conversation.
When they arrived at the golf turf, however, a young lady ran up to them and accosted Elijah.
"President Parker! I'm so glad I bumped into you. I can't seem to make sense of golf, and I was
wondering if you could teach me?"
Taken aback by her forward approach, Elijah stammered, "But I..."
The girl glanced at Leanna and batted her large doe-eyes, then asked innocently, "You won't mind if I
borrow him for just a moment, will you? You can have him back after I get the hang of the basics."
Leanna gave her a small, humorless smile but did not make a reply. She could already tell the young
lady was dangling herself in front of Elijah on purpose. However, seeing as Leanna was not his
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmgirlfriend, she couldn't very well turn down the girl's advances on his behalf.
When Leanna did not respond, the girl took it as a triumph and began whining while tugging on Elijah's
arm. "Come on, President Parker. Everyone's waiting."
Elijah was not exceptionally skilled at saying no to these things, so with an exasperated sigh, he
relented, "Fine."
"Thank you, President Parker!" The girl beamed, then turned to look at Leanna with glittering eyes.
"And thank you, Miss."
The smile on Leanna's face grew frigid. Skank, she thought as she cocked a brow at the girl.
Oblivious, Elijah said, "Shall we go over to the golfing area, Leanna?"
She nodded. "Alright."
The girl dragged Elijah along as she bounded over to the turf while Leanna trudged after them. As she
watched the both of them walking ahead of her, she couldn't help thinking what Aidan might say if he
were in Elijah's shoes. He'd probably say something along the lines of, "Your ineptitude doesn't concern
me." or "How did you get through the interview if you can't even manage something as simple as this?"
All in all, Leanna supposed that the one thing she could count on the b*stard was his sharp tongue and
acerbic wit.
She sputtered at the thought of this, but she quickly regained composure a second later. Are you out of
your mind, Leanna? Why are you thinking about him all of a sudden? She patted her face to snap out
of her own reverie. She couldn't understand why he was still occupying her thoughts even though he
had stopped bothering her for a while now.
Meanwhile, the girl who had accosted Elijah just now had dragged him over to the golf turf and jerked
her chin in a gloating manner at her peers. Then, she turned to Elijah and said coquettishly, "President
Parker, they said I should hold the club like this to get an optimum swing. Does this look right to you?"
Elijah stood behind her and kept a polite distance as he helped adjust her posture. "No, it should be
like this."
"Like this?" She deliberately held the club wrong a few times.
Ultimately, Elijah let out a breath of frustration and chivalrously held her wrist to adjust her grip. "Here."
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