Chapter 14 Long Time No See

Yvonne quickly got out of bed without putting on her shoes.

He threw away the flowing needle with his left hand, and the back of his right hand was already dripping with blood.

"Take me back to the old residence." Elijah's face turned terrifyingly gloomy.

Yvonne had a mouthful of persuasions at the tip of her tongue but ultimately swallowed them.

She grabbed a stack of tissue paper to stop the bleeding on the back of Elijah's right hand, but he frowned and said, "It's unnecessary."

Angry, Yvonne balled up the tissue and threw it into the trash can, forcefully opening the door to the ward.

The two of them walked in silence all the way to the Harper family's old residence.

Several luxury cars were parked at the entrance, and the entire house was brightly lit. The servants were all in a hurry, and the courtyard only echoed with hurried footsteps, not a single voice could be heard.

Elijah went straight to the main building.

Yvonne grabbed a servant and asked her what was going on. "Grandma Harper's time is running out. She has just been moved back from the hospital."

Yvonne disliked the oppressive atmosphere and stayed inside the house for less than three minutes before returning to the car.

In this situation, Elijah couldn't come out for a while, so she took Elijah's car back to her rental house.

She didn't sleep well at all. Every time she closed her eyes, she felt like Elijah was looking for her, but when she checked her phone, she realized she was just overthinking.

At six in the morning, she was wide awake and started scrolling through her phone.

Several major media outlets reported the news of Grandma Harper's death at three in the morning, but there wasn't a single on-site photo.

With the mourning period following Elijah's loss, the renovation of the East Wing was temporarily put on hold. Fortunately, Ryan had already paid the deposit.

After freshening up and having a simple breakfast, Yvonne arrived at the office early.

The rest of the team from Group C hadn't arrived yet, and the floors and workstations were messy. Yvonne guessed they might have worked overnight.

Yvonne found the cleaning tools and tidied up the office, then opened the windows.

Thomas was the first to arrive, looking exhausted. When he saw Yvonne, he shook his head repeatedly and said, "Just as I clocked in, the design we worked on last night got scrapped."

Yvonne hadn't been involved in the design of Swan House and didn't know the situation inside, so she could only comfort Thomas, saying, "Let's try harder next time."

"Yvonne, how is your progress going? Have you made any breakthroughs? The team is counting on you now," Thomas said as he twisted open a cup and added some wolfberries.

"It's going quite well. The other party transferred the deposit to our company's account last night." Yvonne shared the good news with Thomas.

Thomas smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. "It takes courage for a young person to get things done."

Yvonne sat down at her workstation and tried contacting Ryan through WhatsApp. After waiting for a while with no response, she had no choice but to call Ryan.

Unexpectedly, a few seconds later, Ryan's voice, still drowsy with sleep, came through the phone. "Why can't I have some peace and quiet at this hour? If it's urgent, let's talk about it in the afternoon..."

"Mr. Winston, it's me, Yvonne." Afraid that he might hang up, Yvonne stood up in excitement. "You promised me yesterday that I could go to your villa and have a look while also making a budget."

"Yvonne, come to 'Cloud Villa' Block A, Unit 12 in an hour. I'll send someone over right away." Ryan yawned and ended the call.

Yvonne quickly jotted down the address on a piece of paper.

"It's better to handle the contract signing sooner rather than later. You go right away, and I'll cover for you when Susan arrives." Thomas, who had been eavesdropping, looked serious, giving Yvonne the highest instructions.

"OK!" Yvonne grabbed her laptop and car keys and left the office.

As the elevator doors opened, she bumped into George.

George, with a worried expression, glared at Yvonne. "Come to my office!"

"I have to go see a house. I don't have time right now." Yvonne guessed that it wasn't something good and tried to slip away.

Seeing that there was no one around, George pulled Yvonne aside and whispered, "What did you do to manipulate Grace and Elijah's feelings?"

"It's clearly a business relationship, what feelings were there anyway?!" Yvonne retorted, "If they are truly in love, how could I possibly stir them up?"

George frowned, his brow creased. "The old lady of the Harper family passed away early this morning. Grace wanted to pay her respects as Elijah's fiancée, but Elijah won't allow it."

"Elijah and Grace got engaged to please Grandma Harper. Now that the old lady has passed, there's no need for this charade anymore, right?" Yvonne sneered.

"The company is facing financial difficulties lately. Elijah had promised to invest in the Brooks Group, but now he's not mentioning it anymore." George's mouth twisted in anger. "Elijah has been avoiding Grace these days. Grace said she saw you and Elijah being very close!"

"You believe Grace's slanderous words about me too! Fine, I have nothing to say," Yvonne feigned innocence. "Grace couldn't hold on to Elijah. If anyone's to blame, let it be me. What a good calculation."

"Are you really not involved with Elijah?" George couldn't figure out whom to believe anymore.

"Grace is your own daughter, believe her if you want, just never believe me!" Yvonne said as the elevator doors opened, and she swiftly walked inside.

George sighed deeply.

Cloud Villa was located in the eastern district of Winslow, a whole community of garden villas, a truly wealthy area.

When Yvonne arrived at Area A, the people arranged by Ryan were already waiting at the door.

The other party was a trendy young man who knew how to talk.

He opened the door and sat on the steps, engrossed in his phone.

The villa had two floors and was over 400 square meters. Only the water, electricity, heating, and basic structure had been done. With Ryan's extravagant personality, this was bound to be a sizable project.

Yvonne was excited. She went up and down the stairs, and it took an hour before she finished measuring all the rooms using a laser ruler.

Then she marked the layout of the rooms on the computer.

By the time she left Cloud Villa, it was already half past eleven in the morning.

Yvonne called Ryan several times, but all she heard was, "The number you've dialed is powered off."

She had no choice but to leave him a message on WhatsApp, asking about the preferred style and requirements for the decoration, as well as the budget he could afford.

Ryan didn't respond at all.

When Yvonne returned to the company, it was lunchtime, and she ran into Susan at the cafeteria.

Before Yvonne could slip away, Susan called out to her, "I heard from Thomas that you've signed a villa."

"The client hasn't signed yet, I just received a down payment," Yvonne didn't dare to be careless and spoke cautiously.

"Even if the contract is signed, will the client accept your design?" Susan's face in the cafeteria was as stern as ever, without a trace of a smile. "If none of C Group's design drawings are adopted by the end of the month, you will still be out!"

Many colleagues were present for lunch, and upon hearing Susan scolding Yvonne, they started to gather around.

Both Yvonne and Susan were aware that someone was making fun of them.

Yvonne thought of Susan as her superior and didn't want to damage their relationship, so she chose to remain silent.

To her surprise, Susan became more audacious. "If you wait until you can't achieve results and get kicked out of Group C, you might as well leave now--"

"Susan, it was George who transferred me from the marketing department to the design department. Who do you think you are?" Yvonne shouted, slamming her tray onto the ground.

Rice and soup splashed all over Susan's leg.

Susan's face turned pale and then green. She had been with the Brooks Group for fifteen years, and no one had ever spoken harshly to her before.

Yvonne, a newcomer who had only been with the company for three months, dared to curse at her in front of all their colleagues!

Susan's anger flared up, and she raised her hand to throw her tray at Yvonne but was stopped by two coworkers.

Lily also hurried over and pulled Yvonne back to the office, praising her for speaking up for her colleagues in Group C and warning her to be careful of Susan in the future.

Feeling victorious, Yvonne was in a good mood and ordered some takeout on her phone.

Just as she finished paying, her phone rang.

It was Elijah.

Yvonne answered the call.

"Can you do me a favor?" Elijah's voice was low and hoarse. "Go to Rhode Hills and deliver my laptop to my old house. I'll send you the password for the security door."

"Okay," Yvonne replied without hesitation.

Elijah had assistants and many friends, so why did he ask her to go to Rhode Hills?

"Lily, I need to go out for a while. Please help me receive the takeout when it arrives," Yvonne instructed, then grabbed her handbag and car keys and rushed out of the office.

An hour later, Yvonne saw Elijah at the gate of Harper Mansion.

Elijah was dressed in black, with a sorrowful and weary look. There was a faint stubble of blue-green hue on his face, and he still had a coin-sized mourning pendant on his left arm.

"Thank you," Elijah said as he took the laptop and turned away.

Yvonne called out to him, "Please accept my condolences."

Elijah paused for a moment, then walked into the mansion without looking back.

In Yvonne's eyes, Elijah's figure at that moment seemed lonely and desolate.

"Yvonne, what a coincidence!" Ryan's voice suddenly interrupted Yvonne's thoughts.

She turned around and saw Ryan getting out of a sports car.

Ryan was wearing sunglasses and a well-fitted black suit. The sunlight reflected off his ear stud, sparkling brilliantly.

A word came to Yvonne's mind: stylishly evocative.

"Can't you be more reliable and answer a phone call?" Yvonne knew he had come to the Harper family to offer condolences and deliberately blocked his way. "You have to tell me how you want your villa to be decorated, what style, what materials, and how much budget you have!"

"I'm not avoiding you. There are too many women contacting me on that number. From now on, just call me on this one." Ryan smiled and licked his lip, placing his phone screen under Yvonne's eyelids. "Remember, don't tell anyone."

Yvonne opened the camera and took a picture. "Got it."

"After I pay my respects to the old lady, we'll chat." Ryan patted Yvonne's shoulder and walked into the Harper Residence.

Hastily, Yvonne entered Ryan's number into her contacts and added the WhatsApp for that number.

Ryan's WhatsApp came through instantly, with a greeting emoji in response.

Yvonne breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door of the white Volkswagen. Before she could get in, a black Cayenne came driving toward her from a distance and parked in the empty space on her right.

By the time Yvonne could clearly see the license plate and thought of quickly leaving, it was already too late.

Anthony White emerged from the back seat of the Cayenne, his gaze fixed on Yvonne.

In his eyes, there was not only joy from a long-awaited reunion but also the persistence of a thousand years.

"Yvonne, long time no see."

Nearly three years had passed, and Anthony had gone from being a university professor to a successful businessman. He was refined, composed, and even carried the joy of a new marriage.

Yvonne moved back, her back hitting the side of the Volkswagen.

Their eyes locked.

The long-dormant heart of Anthony once again boiled with emotion.

Yvonne's gaze gradually turned cold. She pulled open the car door, started the engine, and stomped on the gas pedal.

The car shot forward like an arrow, leaving Anthony behind.