Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

He looked up, his gaze filled with an inexplicable dissatisfaction. ”If you keep calling me ’honey,’ I’ll tell you where the path is.”

”Herman, I dare to say it. Do you dare to answer?”

”What’s there to be afraid of? I even dared to marry you. Is there anything I wouldn’t do?”

Zoe Ellsworth stopped in her tracks. Watching his back, she snorted heavily. ’You were damn lucky to marry me. Instead of being proud of me, you’re ashamed. Have you lost all sense of decency?’

He turned around and saw her stumbling behind him, her body looking like it was about to topple over.

He suddenly crouched down. Zoe Ellsworth, who was looking at the ground, was caught completely off guard. She tripped right over him, and Herman Hawthorne had to catch her with his bare hands to keep them both from tumbling down the slope.

His gaze was too intense. She was the first to surrender, scrambling out of his arms and brushing the snow off her legs. ”This is all your fault.”

He stood up too. ”I saw you were having a hard time walking and wanted to give you a piggyback ride. But if you don’t want one, then forget it.”

”Oh, so that’s what it was. Fine, let’s do it.” ’The path is so slippery, why wouldn’t I want someone to carry me? I’m not an idiot.’

A smile touched Herman Hawthorne’s lips as he crouched down. She climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

Carrying her, his steps didn’t feel heavy at all. In fact, they felt remarkably light.

At 4:30, they finally reached the summit.

Only then did he realize she had fallen asleep on his back. He gently laid her down in the tent he had already set up.

He shone a light on her face. Her youthful features had faded, replaced by a mature and captivating charm.

He lay down beside her, holding her tightly. Through the pitch-black night until the pale light of dawn, the heavy snow stopped, and the sky began to brighten, bit by bit.

When Zoe Ellsworth woke up, she found him standing at the tent’s entrance, gazing at the blush-colored horizon, lost in thought.

”Looks like the weather’s nice today.”

He was full of energy, not looking at all like someone who had been up all night.

”Wait a little longer. The sunrise should be beautiful when it comes.”

She opened a can of beer and was about to bring it to her lips when he grabbed her wrist. ”Look at the weather. And you’re about to drink beer?”

Zoe Ellsworth shook his hand off. ”I want to. Is that any of your business?”

Herman Hawthorne snatched the beer can from her and poured it onto the ground.

”If I want to make it my business, who would dare to stop me?”

”Herman, you weren’t like this before. If I drank beer in the winter, you’d try to talk me out of it, but in the end, you’d just stand there and watch me finish it.” She sat on a mat, the chilly air brushing against her face.

He opened his mouth to speak. ”That was before.”

She laughed. ”What, did you finally realize none of the other women you found were as good as me?”

”I once said that if I couldn’t find a woman whose love I returned, I wouldn’t be a man who loved too deeply. But I failed to live up to that.” His ink-black eyes reflected only her face. ”It’s not that I discovered other women weren’t as good as you. It’s just... when I loved you, you were a treasured cup. When I didn’t love you, you were shards of glass. I overlooked the process. Falling out of love is a process that cuts your hands. But falling back in love... that’s a process that scalds your heart.”

”What are you trying to say? That you’ve fallen in love with me?” She scoffed. ”Love isn’t some damn thing that appears just because you say it does. Even if you say it, I won’t believe you. I’ll just think you’re empty and lonely and just need a wife, a woman. That thing beating in your chest stopped beating a long time ago. Haven’t you noticed that yourself?”

The brilliant morning light gradually rose above the horizon, its magnificent rays scattering across the freshly fallen snow.

They could see each other’s faces clearly. They were sitting so close they could even feel each other’s breath.

Zoe Ellsworth continued, ”It’s just like this weather. The snow fell all night long, filling the air with cold. Just because the sun is out this morning doesn’t mean the ice will melt away instantly.”

He suddenly smiled. ”I understand.”

Zoe Ellsworth shot him a look. ”Understand what?”

”I hurt you, Zoe. I have to give you twice as much love to melt your frozen heart.”

”Who the hell wants your ’extra love’? Save it! Haven’t you heard that I don’t go back to my exes? Especially not for some old, stale grass that’s dry, bitter, and tasteless. There’s a whole field of fresh grass waiting for me. I’d have to be going blind to want to chew on you.”

Herman Hawthorne’s face darkened. ’Is she describing me?’

He shot out a long arm, forcibly pulling her into his embrace. He kissed her until she was breathless, then said smugly, ”So? Am I ’fresh’ enough for you?”

”Smells like sheep crap... Mmph...”

Another tempestuous storm of a kiss descended.

”How about this time?”

”Disgusting... Mmph...”

”This time?”

”I feel sick... Mmph...”

Zoe Ellsworth was furious. ’Is this ever going to end? My lips are all swollen!’

She raised her hand and landed a punch right on Herman Hawthorne’s left eye.

”OW!”

He let out a miserable howl like a wolf, and she immediately followed up, launching a furious attack on that same left eye.

In the end, Herman Hawthorne’s vision really did blur, and his left eye stung as if it were full of sand.

He was more than capable of handling her amateur moves, but he let her hit him.

Zoe Ellsworth stood up, dusted off her hands, and hummed a little tune, ”Oh, big sun, come on out, little sister me is sittin’ on the mountain to watch you, yo, yo-yo-yo~”

On a mountaintop, a man and a woman—one sitting, one standing—met under the pretense of watching the sunrise. Could there be anything more ridiculous in the world?

「Dorothy Ellsworth had left, and Dylan Grant was clearly unhappy.」

The two boys had just entered the kindergarten when Melody White came running over. ”Fatty is badmouthing you in class.”

Elmer Grant frowned. ”What did he say?”

Melody White hesitated, but still said, ”He said... you don’t have a dad... that you’re kids with no fathers...”

Elmer Grant snorted. ”Let’s go. I’m going to smash his face in.”

Dylan Grant didn’t say a word. As they reached the classroom door, they heard a roar of laughter from inside. Fatty, his back to the door, was enthusiastically telling a story. ”Let me tell you, I heard Dylan and Elmer’s mommy is an actress. My mom told me that a lot of those actresses get slept with by directors, producers, or whoever. Think about it, we’ve been in school for so long and we’ve never seen their dad drop them off. It’s always their mommy. If they’re not kids with no dad, what are they?”

After he finished, he laughed heartily, applauding himself. But the other children who had been listening all lowered their heads and quietly returned to their seats.

When Fatty saw that everyone had left, he turned around. ”Hey, you guys...”

Seeing the two brothers at the door, Fatty not only showed no remorse but also said evasively, ”I’m just telling the truth. It’s something everyone knows.”