Chapter 167 This Isn’t Just Any Place
A barely noticeable frown creased Charles’s brow.
How could this guy cause so much trouble?
He squatted down and removed the gag from Gavin’s mouth, the chill around him almost tangible: "What are you trying to do?"
"I got to use the bathroom!" Gavin said, urgently speeding up his words.
Charles eyed the rope he had just found after a long search, feeling hesitant inside.
He repeated to himself several times that this was for Daphne's sake before he finally undid the knots and freed Gavin from the blankets.
Gavin rushed to the bathroom with incredible speed.
Complex emotions solidified in Charles's gaze. He struggled to reconcile the image of this man with the CEO of the Murphy Group, a tactical genius who never made a misstep in business strategy.
‘Was his spirit like an adolescent?’
While these thoughts crossed his mind, the doorbell rang.
Charles's tightly wound nerves finally relaxed a little as he went to open the door for Daphne.
The moment the door swung open, a rush of irritable words infused with displeasure began, "What's the deal here, in the middle of the night..."
The visitor choked back their words upon seeing Charles's appearance and the commanding presence about him.
It wasn't just for any reason. This aura was not ordinary.
"Can I help you?" Charles asked as the two visitors paused mid-sentence, his thin lips parting slightly, his face still holding its usual cool detachment.
His suit added to his exceptional demeanor as a real-life boss.
The man and woman exchanged a glance, clearly taken aback by his aura.
The man cleared his throat, glanced at the messy room inside, and spoke with a touch of complexity, "It's quite late; maybe keep the arguing down, it's quite loud."
"Sorry." Charles was the epitome of a gentleman, admitting their fault, "We'll keep it down from now on."
"All right, all right." After saying this, the pair left.
Yet, they carried with them the sensation of a narrow escape, feeling like they had just survived a close call. Even though they were the ones with a legitimate complaint, somehow the sight of Charles's face made them back down automatically.
Just then, the elevator dinged.
Daphne stepped out; her pace quick with urgency.
Seeing her arrival, the onlookers thought she too was disturbed by the noise and had come down to confront someone.
They stood still, ready to watch the drama unfold, only to see Daphne pause at the door. Charles didn't even exchange words before leading her into the room and closing the door behind them.
The two stood there for a moment, their minds racing with potential scenarios.
But none of the melodramatic plots they could imagine seemed to fit the composed scene they had just witnessed.
If it were a case of catching a cheater, the two's auras wouldn't be so harmonious, yet anything else seemed far-fetched.
Daphne and Charles eventually took the elevator down from the apartment.
As Daphne entered, she couldn't help but rub her forehead at the sight of Charles's messy home, "Quite a mess we've got here," she thought. "A raid wouldn't have even bothered checking the place."
"Where is he?" Daphne asked, trying to keep her emotions in check.
Charles glanced towards his bedroom, his lips parting slightly as he said, "Inside."
Daphne was about to walk in when Charles caught her arm. His eyes were deep and serious, "Don't rush; he's in the bathroom."
Daphne paused. Bathroom? Was this time around not only her wild imagination picturing him as a swashbuckler but also tossing her language back to ancient times?
"I'm very sorry about today." Standing amidst the chaos, Daphne truly felt guilty. "Tomorrow, I'll arrange for a cleaning service to help sort this out, and I'll compensate you for the damaged items."
"It's fine," Charles replied, his voice low and steady.
Daphne took a moment to process his response. She knew Charles well, a bit of a clean freak with a strong sense of personal space. Normally, if she'd turned his place upside down like this, she expected he would be cold and displeased, meticulously pointing out her every mistake.
But now, he was just lightly saying it was okay.
"Did I scare you that much?" That was the only reason Daphne could think of.
"Not really," Charles's demeanor had softened immensely, making a complete 180 in his attitude towards her. "He's out now. I'll go check on him."
Whether Gavin tended to expose himself after a few drinks or not, Charles wasn't sure. To be safe, he decided it was best for him to check first before letting Daphne in.
"I just heard Daffy's voice," Gavin staggered out, neatly dressed but still quite drunk. "What did you do to her?"
Charles glanced back at Daphne, signaling it was okay for her to come in.
Upon entering, Gavin lunged at her in an embrace. "Daffy! It's so great you're okay! You have no idea how worried I was that Charles might have... you know."
Daphne and Charles both had conflicting emotions.
"I've already made peace with him," Daphne continued, her tone still quite flat. "Go sit over there; I’m going to make you a detoxifying soup."
"Okay," Gavin agreed compliantly.
He made his way to the sofa in the living room, and not long after sitting down, he collapsed into a deep sleep on the couch.
Daphne frowned slightly. Just as she was about to prepare some honey water for Gavin, she noticed a smashed cellphone on the floor. A buzz went through her mind as she asked Charles, "Is that your cell phone?"
"Yep," Charles replied, his demeanor still nonchalant.
Daphne decided that once Gavin sobered up this time, she would make him give up drinking for good.
He surely knew how to create a mess.
"I might need your help with something later," Charles said, his gaze landing on her. He maintained a particularly friendly demeanor towards Daphne throughout their interaction.
Feeling guilty about Gavin's situation, Daphne replied, "What is it?"
"There are some things on my phone that I didn't back up, and now I can't retrieve them since it's broken. I might need you to help me transfer them to a new phone," Charles explained, his hands pausing by his sides, addressing the issue with utter seriousness.
"That's what I should do," Daphne responded agreeably.
Charles didn't say much more.
After borrowing a cup from Daphne’s hands, Charles went to get some hot water and added the honey he had bought.
During this time, Daphne also took a general look at Charles's room.
The living room, master bedroom, and guest bedroom were all in disarray. The only areas untouched by Gavin's rampage were the kitchen and the locked study.
Ten minutes later, Daphne had Gavin drink the honey water.
Charles stood by to help, saying nothing the whole time and showing incredible patience.
His demeanor gave Daphne an illusion as if they were back in the early days of their marriage, when they got along so warmly and harmoniously, without fights, only simple happiness.
Daphne put down the cup and let Gavin sleep on the couch.
"I'll start cleaning up here," she said, unable to bear the sight of the chaos.
It was her mess, after all, so it was her job to clean it up.
Just as she was about to get up, Charles reached out and gently grasped her wrist with his large, warm hand. The light pressure made her heart skip a beat.
Daphne was about to pull her hand away when Charles spoke, "There's no rush to clean up. I want to talk to you."
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