Chapter 549 William and Hayden
He had never seen Hayden so melancholic before.
"You've never truly pursued Hayden, Jasper. Your father is eagerly hoping for you to marry Hayden soon." Nico gave him a stern look.
Jasper raised an eyebrow and said, "Hayden may have amnesia now, forgetting about William, but it doesn't mean she will never remember him! If the day comes when she remembers everything, with Hayden's character, she surely wouldn't want to continue living with me."
"Why wouldn't she?" Nico glared at him, firmly stating, "Rest assured, even if Hayden remembers William, William would never come back to compete for her. He wouldn't have any connection with Hayden anymore."
"Why are you so certain?" Jasper asked curiously, looking at Nico's demeanor.
"Just trust me. I won't harm you." Nico lightly patted Jasper's back, smiled, and didn't explain further. "Since you like Hayden, being able to form an alliance with the Bush Smith family through marriage is very advantageous for our Hart family. Mason also likes Hayden. Look, with so many benefits, if you don't strive to marry Hayden, you would be disappointing all of us."
Jasper looked at Nico, feeling quite speechless.
It wasn't that he didn't want to pursue Hayden; it was simply that he couldn't bring himself to pursue his good friend's girlfriend. He couldn't allow himself to do so.
Two days later, William arrived in Imperial Capital for a discussion about a collaborative project with the Hart Group. Since William and Jasper were friends, Jasper was assigned to lead the project.
Although Jasper appeared somewhat unreliable on the surface, having received a solid education from his outstanding father, he was talented as well. Moreover, influenced by his two elder brothers who were equally outstanding, he couldn't be lacking.
After a year of experiences, Jasper had also managed the shopping mall well and the company's performance was commendable.
After finishing their work and signing the contract, Jasper and William, along with a few friends, went to a club to relax and have a meal.
After dinner, while everyone was enjoying themselves, William's phone rang. He excused himself and went outside to the balcony to take the call.
After finishing the call, instead of going back inside, he remained on the balcony smoking alone.
Laughter and cheers filled the private room, yet none of the merriment seemed to affect him in the slightest. He frowned deeply, looking rather desolate.
"Pass me one." Suddenly, Jasper's voice sounded beside him.
William turned to give him a faint glance and moved the cigarettes and lighter laid on the railing nearer to him.
Taking out a cigarette, Jasper lit it and took a deep drag. Leaning against the railing, he exhaled smoke and said softly, "Hayden has returned from Viva City."
William seemed as if he had not heard him, continuing to smoke. He gazed intently at the night sky without any reaction.
"She has amnesia, they say it resulted from a severe brain injury, forgetting everything that happened at Southern and after returning to the country for the past few months." Jasper glanced at him, and upon receiving no response, he took another drag of his cigarette and continued sharing.
William still seemed unresponsive, as if he hadn't heard the words.
"I say, why were you so ruthless back then? You faked your death, even purposely leaked the news to Hayden." Seeing the lack of response, Jasper turned to him and continued.
William took a deep drag of his cigarette, and soon it burned to its end.
What Jasper didn't know was that if William hadn't faked his death, had not let the news of his death leak out, perhaps, he would have truly been dead.
Because at that time, Hall had sent people to kill him for good.
Of course, he did not deny that one of the reasons for faking his death was to break up completely with Hayden.
Snuffing out the almost extinguished cigarette with his fingertip, William finally turned to Jasper. His voice was gentle yet resolute, "Hayden's life and death are no longer a concern of mine. Do not mention her in front of me from now on."
Jasper looked at him, feeling quite speechless.
The following afternoon, Hayden made a dinner appointment with Isabella.
As they left the restaurant after dinner, they unexpectedly ran into William and Jeffrey walking towards them.
Isabella knew that Hayden had completely forgotten about William due to her amnesia, so she naturally pretended not to recognize him.
William, on the other hand, seemed to completely ignore them as if they didn't exist. Watching William's attitude, Jeffrey, who was following behind, kept his head down, pretending not to recognize Hayden.
While everyone pretended not to know each other, Hayden, who had truly forgotten about William, paused in her steps upon seeing him. She gazed at him, furrowing her brow, lost in thought.
"What's wrong, Hayden?" Isabella asked.
Seeing Hayden staring at William, even after he had passed by them, she continued to fixate on him. Isabella bit her lip, pondered for a moment, and decided to pull Hayden away directly.
Since they had forgotten completely and William was now so indifferent, not even willing to acknowledge them, there was no need to pay attention to him.
"Isabella, isn't he the CEO of Aurora Global Networks, William?" Before Isabella could pull Hayden away, Hayden herself asked, wanting to confirm she was correct.
After seeing William once at Viva City half a year ago, she had done a lot of research related to Aurora Global Networks and William.
Having recognized William with a single glance, she asked Isabella again to confirm she hadn't mistaken.
Isabella, unsure of what had come over her, surprisingly nodded and said, "Yes, that's him, William."
Upon receiving Isabella's confirmation, Hayden's eyes immediately lit up. Without hesitation, she turned around and approached William, then intercepted him, looking at him with a happy smile, "Hello, William. You are remarkable. May I have the honor of being friends with you?"
Observing Hayden's actions, Isabella stood there in shock.
Upon being stopped by Hayden, William furrowed his brows. Initially calm, he was immediately irritated.
However, he forcefully suppressed his immense anger, gazed coldly at the exceedingly cheerful Hayden before him, and said, "I'm not interested." He then continued walking past Hayden, ignoring her completely.
William's simple rejection left Hayden momentarily stunned.
'Is William truly this arrogant and unreasonable? This isn't how others describe him. Could it be that he already holds deep feelings for another woman, hence he instinctively avoids contact with women?' she wondered.
Jeffrey followed behind William, casting a brief frown at the bewildered and dejected Hayden, then quickly catching up.
"Hayden, what's wrong?" Once Isabella realized the situation, she hurried over to pull Hayden.
"I heard William is very friendly, why is he so...'' she said.
"Heh, I don't know. Perhaps he's just not in a good mood for some reason," before Hayden could finish her puzzled and disappointed questions, Isabella interrupted her with a smile, pulling her away while saying, "Let's leave quickly; someone is waiting for us."
Hayden nodded and followed Isabella, but couldn't help but glance back to see where William had gone.
But he was long gone.
She had distinctly seen William become very angry just now, but he suppressed it forcefully, not allowing his anger to show.
'Why? Could it be because he really dislikes me?' Hayden pondered.
In the early hours of the morning, in the Bush Smith Manor, Hayden had barely fallen asleep when she was roused by urgent knocking at her door.
Already a light sleeper, Hayden was immediately awakened. She turned on the bedside light and sat up, calling out towards the direction of the door, "What's the matter?"
"Ms. Hayden, Mr. Bush Smith wants you to come to his study; there's an urgent meeting to be had," Wesley said.
Upon hearing about the urgent meeting, Hayden furrowed her brow. Her previously bewildered mind cleared up instantly.
"Okay, I'll go right away." After a quick promise, Hayden got out of bed, grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe, swiftly changed, and headed straight to Finn's study.
By the time she reached Finn's study, the video conference had already begun. Finn sat in the executive chair, dressed in sleepwear, looking serious, with several key executives from the Bush Smith Group's branch in City P on the other end of the video call.
Without much ado, Hayden entered and sat down, joining the meeting directly.
An hour earlier, an explosion occurred 280 meters underground in a newly developed gold mine by the Bush Smith Group in City P. The blast had damaged the shaft ladder, rendering the cage unusable, the communication system was down, and 39 miners were trapped underground.
Although the accident had only occurred an hour ago, it had garnered significant attention from various quarters. Now, Finn and several branch managers were discussing strategies.
The immediate priority was to organize all forces to rescue the trapped miners. The branch had already taken prompt action, coordinating with various parties to formulate a rescue plan and begin the operation.
The video conference was succinct; Finn gave orders for the complete shutdown of the gold mine and urged for the utmost effort to rescue the trapped miners at all costs.
As the video conference concluded, Finn immediately instructed Wesley to prepare his luggage and arrange a private plane for an immediate flight to City P.
"Dad, let me go." Looking at Finn, Hayden volunteered before he had even finished speaking.
"What?!" Finn looked at Hayden, visibly surprised.
The seriousness of the situation this time was significant and mishandling it would have a profound impact on the overseas business development of the Bush Smith Group.
Seeing Hayden before him, the only person he could rely on, Finn contemplated for a moment, then nodded and affectionately patted her shoulder, "Alright, Hayden, you will be the best."
Hayden smiled happily and said, "After I arrive there, I will report to you and discuss any situation immediately."
"Good, I trust you."
"Thank you."
Hayden never expected that she would spend three years in the overseas branches.
Every year, she visited different continents where the Bush Smith Group had branches, essentially visiting all of them. Her stay in each branch varied, the longest being six months and the shortest being half a month.
During this time, only during Christmas, Mia's memorial day, and Jocelyn's birthday, would she return for two or three days before hastily flying back overseas.
Three years later, when Finn was engaged in a passionate encounter with another woman one evening, he suffered a stroke and fell into a coma. It was then that Hayden rushed back.
Although Finn had lost his fertility and would never remarry, being only in his fifties and still in his prime, he was, after all, a man with physical needs.
In nearly five years, Finn had had many girlfriends, but since his experience with Sophia, he hadn't truly fallen in love or taken any woman seriously, never bringing any of them home anymore.
So, Hayden never queried Finn about such matters, as long as he was happy. After all, the women around Hayden now no longer posed any threat to her and Jocelyn's interests.
Finn had always been in good physical condition, and it was an overdose of medication that resulted in his stroke, due to excessive excitement.
Upon returning to the hospital and finding Finn in a coma, the doctor informed her that upon regaining consciousness, he was likely to be paralyzed in his lower body, needing a wheelchair for movement.
This outcome was already considered fortunate, and Hayden heaved a sigh of relief.
As long as he could wake up and live well, that was better than anything.
