Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

A scene that should have taken only twenty minutes to film ended up taking over an hour.

She knew Director Cecelia Willow was doing it on purpose, but as long as she could get through the take, she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. She would just endure it and move on.

On the car ride back to the city, a strange emotion kept bothering Nora Ainsworth. Perhaps it was the knowledge that she was getting closer and closer to him. Even if they didn’t meet, just knowing their approximate distance from each other was enough to send ripples through her heart.

It was a text message she’d received upon waking that made her decide to return to the city.

The text wasn’t from just anyone; it was from Charlotte Young.

This was a woman who had once been Nora Ainsworth’s adversary, and Nora didn’t particularly care for her. But in the message, Charlotte had mentioned that Catherine Callahan was back after plastic surgery and was planning to set up Quentin Grant tonight.

On this point, Nora Ainsworth felt that she could smile and wish well to any other woman by Quentin Grant’s side, but not Catherine Callahan. Never her.

She didn’t know how Catherine Callahan planned to set Quentin Grant up, nor did she understand why Charlotte Young, who had been Catherine’s confidante, would send her this message. Was it some kind of danger, a conspiracy?

After thinking it over and over, she decided to go and see for herself.

She had arranged to meet Charlotte Young in a private room on the second floor of a club called Temptation. The moment she pushed open the door, she froze.

Inside were not only Charlotte Young, but also Quentin Grant, Ethan Ellsworth, Herman Hawthorne, and Zoe Ellsworth. There was also another beautiful woman, and remembering what Charlotte had said about plastic surgery, Nora Ainsworth knew instantly who it was.

Standing at the entrance, the chatter inside abruptly died down.

Several pairs of eyes turned to look at her.

No one had expected her to show up here.

The only exception was Charlotte Young.

Nora Ainsworth looked at Quentin Grant. He sat in the center of the group, dressed all in black, which lent him an effortless, commanding presence.

It was as if you could pick him out of the crowd with a single glance.

Nora watched him, but his gaze only lingered on her for an instant before shifting away.

Ethan Ellsworth spoke up. ”Nora, you’re here. Come have a seat.”

Nora Ainsworth was stuck, unsure whether to leave or stay. Finally, she stepped inside.

As she closed the door, her hand suddenly tightened into a fist, though she kept a faint smile on her face.

”Ethan, why didn’t you bring Chloe?”

”My sister Zoe is getting married to Young Master Hawthorne. It wouldn’t be appropriate to bring her to this kind of get-together.”

Nora Ainsworth turned to Catherine Callahan, feigning ignorance. ”This beauty looks unfamiliar. She’s done up like an inflatable doll. Ethan, care to make an introduction?”

Ethan Ellsworth chuckled. ”This is Miss Callahan.”

A knowing smile touched Nora Ainsworth’s lips. Eyeing the red wine on the table, she poured herself a glass. ”You two are getting married. I’ll toast to that. I wish you a long life together and happiness forever.”

Zoe Ellsworth and Herman Hawthorne raised their glasses and clinked them against hers.

”Thank you.”

Nora Ainsworth downed the glass of wine in one go, choking slightly.

Ethan Ellsworth quickly handed her a napkin, and she lowered her head to wipe her mouth.

The atmosphere was tense and extremely awkward.

Although Catherine Callahan was unhappy about Nora Ainsworth’s presence, she didn’t let it show one bit.

”It’s rare for us all to be together. Why don’t we play a game?”

Ethan Ellsworth raised an eyebrow. ”What kind of game?”

Catherine Callahan smiled slyly. ”Let’s turn off the lights and play rock-paper-scissors to see who gets blindfolded to guess who people are. The game might seem a bit childish, but doing it once in a while can be a refreshing change.”

The others didn’t say anything. Quentin Grant glanced unhurriedly at Nora Ainsworth from the corner of his eye. ”Then let’s play.”

After a round of rock-paper-scissors, Nora Ainsworth was the one who ended up blindfolded.

When the lights went out, she was plunged into total darkness.

She slowly shuffled toward the window. After just a few steps, she was obviously tripped, and her right knee slammed onto the hard floor, sending a sharp pain through her leg.

She didn’t have to think hard to know who tripped her. Only two women there would do something like that.

She struggled back to her feet and shuffled toward the window again. A familiar scent drifted past her nose.

In that moment, Nora Ainsworth wasn’t sure why, but instead of avoiding him as she should have, she reached out and grabbed him.

Her hand reached up to touch his eyes, his nose, his lips.

The subtle, trembling connection between them told her with absolute certainty: this was Quentin Grant.

He didn’t move, letting her hands roam freely over his face.

”I—I’ve got you—”

The lights flashed on. Nora Ainsworth ripped off the blindfold and saw Ethan Ellsworth standing in front of her. She was so furious she could have screamed. Then, she looked at Quentin Grant standing beside Ethan, and she laughed.

’I guessed the wrong person,’ she told herself.

Without a word, Ethan Ellsworth took the blindfold and tied it over his own eyes.

He returned to the spot where Nora Ainsworth had been standing.

The lights went out again before she could even react.

A hand grabbed hers, pulling her behind the curtains. Nora’s heart pounded. Before she could make a sound, he was kissing her with the ferocity of a sudden storm, leaving her dizzy.

This was his taste, a taste she would never forget for the rest of her life!

It lasted only a few seconds. He pulled away from her just as quickly and whispered in her ear, his voice low enough for only the two of them to hear, ”It seems I still have you under my spell.”

Nora Ainsworth’s face paled, but he couldn’t see it in the darkness.

She couldn’t deny it; that kiss had made her mind go completely blank.

When the lights came on again, all eyes were on them.

For the remainder of the game, Nora Ainsworth was completely out of it.

She sat down on the sofa, drank two glasses of red wine, and then didn’t move a muscle.

She watched Charlotte Young link arms with Quentin Grant, her beautiful face lit up with a dazzling smile.

She didn’t say another word.

At the end of it all, as everyone was leaving, she still hadn’t seen Catherine Callahan try any of her tricks.

And though she sensed that Charlotte Young had summoned her mainly as a show of force or something similar, Nora Ainsworth felt the trip hadn’t been a waste.

Because she had gotten to see him. Even if they couldn’t be together, she still wanted to know how he was doing, to lay eyes on him.

Herman Hawthorne drove Zoe Ellsworth home, Catherine Callahan got into her own car, and Charlotte Young sat in the passenger seat of Quentin Grant’s. Only Ethan Ellsworth remained, leaning against his Lamborghini and watching Nora Ainsworth, who was still standing at the entrance to Temptation.

Quentin Grant came out after settling the bill and saw her standing there. She looked like she had something to say, but she remained silent.

He walked past her, pausing for a beat. ”This is just the beginning. Are you... satisfied?”

His casual words cut a deep gash in her heart.

She watched his retreating figure as tears welled in the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision until it felt as though the whole sky had opened up in a downpour.

The sound of his all-too-familiar footsteps, his tall, lean frame—it was all deeply etched in her sight, only to be slowly obscured by her tears until she could no longer see clearly.

The car pulled away in front of her. As tears streamed down her face, she finally saw his license plate number clearly: ANS 521.

The first three capital letters were from her name, Ainsworth. And the three numbers that followed, 521, were a code for ’I love you.’

Her body slowly slid down until she was squatting on the ground, tears streaming from her eyes like rain.

’No matter how he treats me, deep in his heart, he’ll always love me.’

’I love you, even if we’re apart.’ What a devastatingly sad thing to say.