Chapter 144
Chapter 144
“What? It’s you?” Evadne expressed in surprise.
With her freckles and messy hair, she was oddly adorably dorky.
Avery slightly curved his lips into a smile, as charming as two crescent moons, “Can’t your blind date be me?”
Evadne’s lips were sealed, a bit lost for words.
The question was rather straightforward.
Yet, the gentle humor in his gaze dissolved the awkward atmosphere, making Evadne feel like it was just a harmless joke.
“May I sit?” Avery asked politely.
“Please do,” Evadne responded coolly. Belongs to NôvelDrama.Org - All rights reserved.
Mr. Avery who came to see her that day was just like the first time they met, dressed in a navy blue, thin–striped, high–cla** suit, wearing golden gla**es, elegant and dignified.
“Ms. Evadne, your outfit today is cute, very distinctive,” Avery squinted and said, “But, in front of me, you don’t need to pretend, just be yourself.”
Evadne coughed awkwardly. “I remember my blind date was not supposed to be you, why are you here?”
“Because I know you probably wanted to see me again. Conveniently. I felt the same way.” Avery adjusted his gla**es, smiling with ease.
His words were puzzling as if they held a deeper meaning.
“That’s right. I’ve been curious about your identity since our last encounter, so I did hope to see you again.”
Suddenly, Evadne’s sharp gaze focused on him, “Avery, Mr. Avery.”
Avery’s eyes were deep, his hands on his knees slightly trembling, he held back his excitement and said softly, “Evadne, long time no see.”
Evadne was slightly taken aback, and politely responded, “Long time no see.”
Although they did spend some childhood years together and had a pretty good time, that was more than a decade ago.
Meeting him again after such a long time, Evadne could only feel a sense of unfamiliarity.
She vaguely remembered the Avery from her childhood was short and skinny, with delicate and somewhat feminine features. Due to his introverted personality, he was often mocked and rejected by other children.
Evadne was the popular kid in elementary school. When she saw Avery being bullied, she stood up to protect him without any hesitation. To everyone’s surprise, she, a girl, defeated three boys from higher grades who were taller than her. Since then, no one dared to bully Avery who was under her protection.
Much of the past Evadne had already forgotten.
But she didn’t know, the man before her, despite living abroad for years, experiencing countless hardships, never forgot the first ray of light this girl brought into his life.
In his eyes, she was the sun, hot and bright, radiating light.
“So, the night I got drunk at the KTV and accidentally bumped into you, you recognized me.”
“Yes,” he said with a slight smile.
“So, the night I was in danger, you didn’t just happen to pa** by and save me, you were actually following me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Evadne frowned and inquired, “If you had recognized me, why didn’t you just tell me who you were?”
“Because I was waiting.” Avery took a deep breath, his voice slightly hoarse as he continued to say, “I didn’t tell you because I was waiting for you to remember me.”
Evadne felt a pang of guilt as if she hadn’t treated him well enough, that she had hurt him.
“Did you choose the place to meet?”
“Yes, I thought you would like it here because it’s similar to Silverlake Harbor.”
Avery’s deep eyes twinkled like stars, “Do you remember when we used to play hide and seek in your garden as kids? You always liked to hide behind the rockery.”
Hide and seek was a game they both enjoyed and played together.
Back then, every time he closed his eyes, he could guess where she was hiding.
But he always pretended not to find her, letting her bask in the glory of winning.
He liked losing to her, but only to her.
“Wow, you remember all that?” Evadne scratched her head, a bit embarra**ed.
Avery gave a gentle smile, elegantly took a sip of his coffee, like a gentleman straight out of an old painting.
They chatted for a while.
She learned that Avery had been taking care of his mother in Helgen for the past few years, as she was suffering from Alzheimer’s and was at that time unable to take care of herself. He had many opportunities to return to Elmsworth, but chose to stay in Helgen for his mother and built his own career there.
Evadne remembered; the Chambers family also had a complicated family situation.
There were four children in the Chambers family, Avery had two older brothers and a sister. They were all born to Mr. Jeff’s ex–wife, while Avery was born to his stepmother.
As for Mrs. Chambers, she didn’t know much about her. Even though her family and the Chambers family were close when she was young, and she had been to the Chambers estate, she had no recollection of the lady of the house.
“Why did you suddenly come back this year?” Evadne asked again.
“Because I wanted to come home, after all, I’m the son of the Chambers family, I wanted to come back and claim what’s rightfully mine.” Avery lowered his eyes, his slender fingers swirling the small cup.
Evadne nodded, understanding his meaning.
Children born into wealthy families, if they didn’t participate in the struggle for power, were likely to be exploited and ended up with nothing.
A harmonious family like the Ashbournes was quite rare among the wealthy.
“There’s still some time before dinner, what should we do?” Avery suddenly asked with a smile.
“Huh?” Evadne was taken aback by his sudden proposal.
“Let me take you to see the roses at sunset.”
Avery slowly leaned towards her, his eyes full of sincerity. “I have a private rose garden, today is the open day, let’s go see it together.”
Roses?
Evadne’s heart skipped a beat, her eyes twinkling.
That was Evadne’s favorite flower, and she even had a small rose garden in the backyard of Silverlake Harbor. In the years she was gone, it was Suri and the others who took turns to take care of it to maintain its beauty.
With that, she didn’t hesitate and gladly agreed to his proposal, “Alright! Let’s go check it out!”
On the way to the rose plantation, Evadne got into Avery’s luxury Bentley.
After all, their parents knew each other well, and Evadne and Avery were old pals. If they both drove separately to the same place, it would seem a bit pretentious on her part.
The Bentley moved smoothly ahead, with Jason trailing behind, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
Ms. Evadne just divorced her ex–husband, and just at that point here came another guy, who was clearly more charming than her ex.
The last time Avery followed Ms. Evadne to the villa area, and this time he used his connections to replace the blind date and meet the lady. It showed that he was always well–prepared and quite a schemer.
Jason took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
The young lady had been hurt by Unfaithful Thaddeus once before, he couldn’t let any man hurt her again.
He would do everything in his power to protect her from breaking her heart and spirit.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the car was quite pleasant.
Evadne had taken off her ugly disguise at that moment. As she didn’t bring any extra makeup, she simply went out bare–faced, casually tying her long hair on top of her head, held by a hairpin, without paying much attention to her appearance.
Avery maintained silence, sneaking a few glances at her.
Her face was as fresh as petals bathed in morning light, she was effortlessly beautiful, calm, and confident.
He tried to steady his heartbeat, and quietly asked, “Do you remember what you called me the first time you saw me?”
“Huh?” Evadne was confused and blinked as she was trying to remember, “I really don’t remember.”
“You called me Little Critter.”
Evadne was speechless.
This man, either left her speechless or made her feel embarra**ed.
“When I was younger, my father used to scold me with that. You overheard it once and would joke about it.”
“I was young then, don’t take my words seriously. I apologize for my childish and crude behavior back then,” Evadne said, a hint of blush spreading across her cheeks.
“It’s alright, you can still call me that if you want to,” Avery smiled, looking quite coy.
“Oh dear, that would be too bold of me,”
Evadne muttered under her breath, waving her hand in embarra**ment, “Let’s stick with Mr. Avery. We’re not kids anymore, and you’re a man of status. It’s disrespectful
otherwise.”
Avery’s eyes squinted slightly, leaning a bit closer to her, his voice filled with gentleness.
“Okay, whatever you say.”