Cyrus Hawthorne couldn’t help but curl his thin lips, his eyes brimming with a smile.
Ann Vaughn almost pricked his chest with the Golden Needle hidden in her sleeve but saw him suddenly raise his arm to remove sothing from her hair before returning to his seat.
"There was sothing in your hair," he said leisurely, rubbing his fingers together, then started the engine to leave the research institute.
"..." Ann Vaughn couldn’t help but twitch the corners of her mouth, decisively turning her head away to ignore what she saw.
Who knew she would see Jane Sheridan, wearing a white coat and holding so docunts, standing at the entrance of the research institute, staring intently in their direction.
As soon as her gaze t Ann Vaughn’s, Jane Sheridan suddenly gave an inexplicable smile.
A peculiar emotion flashed across Ann Vaughn’s heart, and it wasn’t until this mont that she belatedly rembered.
Jane Sheridan seed to be the future daughter-in-law that Laura Quinn had her eye on.
No wonder, although Jane Sheridan’s attitude towards her seed friendly and kind, Ann Vaughn always felt as if she was being rejected.
There probably could only be one reason.
"Trouble-maker," Ann Vaughn muttered, fastening her seatbelt.
Cyrus Hawthorne glanced at her sideways but acted as if he hadn’t heard, nonchalantly shifting his gaze, and asked, "How do you feel about the research institute?"
"Colleagues are friendly, and the work is relaxed," Ann Vaughn replied honestly without looking up from her phone, hearing his question.
Scrolling up the ssage logs, Ann Vaughn saw the ssages Yasmine Warren had sent her earlier.
[Shane Sharp ca last night too, and he embarrassed Doris Dunn big ti. It was awkward just watching it. But, he was standing up for you, did you contact each other afterward?]
Yasmine Warren must have sent this ssage to the wrong person.
Ann Vaughn smirked slightly, exited the chat, and just then saw the voice ssage sent by Susie Somrs and clicked on it.
It had been about half a month since seeing Susie Somrs, and she wondered what had kept her so busy.
"Annie, co and pick up, I’m at number 28." Susie Somrs’s voice was laced with indescribable fatigue, making Ann Vaughn’s heart tighten.
She imdiately turned to Cyrus Hawthorne and said, "Drop off at the intersection, I have sothing to do."
"Address," Cyrus Hawthorne said succinctly, ignoring her request, and drove past the intersection without stopping.
"You can just drop on the roadside, I can go by myself, there’s no need..."
Cyrus Hawthorne’s voice suddenly turned cold, his eyes slightly chilling while looking straight ahead at the road, "Do you think I’m negotiating with you? Or do you want to go there yourself?"
Ann Vaughn glanced out the window; they were still in the suburbs, nowhere near the city, not a building in sight.
"...Silver Beach, Villa No. 28, please." She reluctantly replied.
Cyrus Hawthorne chuckled lowly, leaving Ann Vaughn sowhat puzzled for a mont, "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing," Cyrus Hawthorne said calmly, "I just rembered how you insisted I hold you to sleep last night, and the mont I left, you insisted that the mushrooms need to care for each other. The contrast is just too stark now."
It’s just like a clumsy little kangaroo trying to hide its head in its pouch to cover up sothing silly it did.
But her reddened earlobes betrayed her.
Boom!
It was like a switch had been flipped in her mind, causing all the embarrassing mories from last night that Ann Vaughn had deliberately ignored to flood back.
What on earth had she been doing last night!!!
Ann Vaughn’s face radiated calmness, yet inside her mind was screaming, drowning out all the outside noise.
It’s bad enough she cursed at Cyrus Hawthorne, but she even cried, losing all her dignity, making her seem utterly ridiculous.
—She truly wished she could turn into a silent mushroom.
"Bla it on drunken nonsense, don’t take it seriously, and you might as well forget about it," Ann Vaughn took a deep breath, struggling to suppress her frustration, and said dismissively.
"Depends on my mood."
"..."
An hour later, in front of Villa No. 28 at Silver Beach.
Ann Vaughn practically supported the unsteady Susie Somrs out of the villa, her bright eyes still slightly red, her teeth biting her lower lip, barely suppressing her anger.
Damn, Silas Master Moore, that bastard!
Just thinking about what happened inside made Ann Vaughn want to go back in and beat up that bastard!
The black Spyker was parked not far away, with a tall figure leaning against the side, smoke rising elegantly from his fingertips, too distant to make out his features, only the coldness in his eyes visible.
That coldness quickly lted when he saw Ann Vaughn coming out of the door, wrapped in deep tenderness, almost overwhelming.
But when Ann Vaughn glanced up in his direction, her teary eyes made Cyrus Hawthorne’s heart clench.
He stubbed out his cigarette and walked over to Ann Vaughn in a few strides, examining her from head to toe, relieved only when he saw that she was unhurt, "What happened?"
"Ask your dear brother," Ann Vaughn snorted, unwilling to engage with him due to his friendship with Silas Master Moore, and bypassed him, leading Susie Somrs into the car.
Cyrus Hawthorne frowned slightly, pulling out his phone to send Silas a ssage.
The reply soon ca but didn’t directly address the question.
[Nothing much. It’s good that she’s gone. She should have left long ago.]
It took Cyrus Hawthorne another two minutes before he returned to the car, quietly watching Susie Somrs, her eyes as red as if she wanted soone to fiercely spoil her, in the rearview mirror.
Then without a word, he drove away.
In the back seat, Ann Vaughn didn’t really know how to comfort the dazed Susie Somrs, staring out the window, lifeless, and could only place her only peppermint candy into her hand.
She always habitually gave a few peppermint candies to comfort soone, ever since childhood, it had beco a habit.
Susie Somrs listlessly held onto the candies, leaning against the car window, her face frightfully pale.
This was the first ti Ann Vaughn had ever seen her show such a heartbroken expression in all the years she’d known her.
Even when she found out that Silas Master Moore was going to beco her stepbrother, Susie Somrs shouted tearfully across the dorms, "Silas Master Moore, you son of a turtle!"
While crying, she laughed, saying this must be the only case of lovers turning into siblings in the world.
Ann Vaughn still rembered it to this day.
After dropping Susie Somrs back at her apartnt, Ann Vaughn initially wanted to stay with her overnight but was tactfully refused.
"I’m not a kid; night’s sleep solves everything. If it doesn’t, two nights will. Don’t worry about , your dark circles are already as heavy as sothing unreal; go ho, okay?"
Pasting on a smile, Susie Somrs pushed her out of the room after saying this.
Ann Vaughn, understanding Susie wanted so alone ti, begrudgingly went into the kitchen to make a pot of chicken porridge, charged her phone, and finally left.
By the ti she got downstairs, over two hours had passed.
Yet, Cyrus Hawthorne was still waiting for her.
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