Chapter 828 Misunderstanding: Hannah and Charles Have an Ambiguous Relationship
After Charles dropped Hannah off at her place, he didn't just bounce right away.
He laid her down on the bed, wiped her face and hands with a hot towel, tucked her in with a blanket, and then headed to the kitchen to whip up some hangover soup.
Austin wasn't going anywhere either; he was chilling in the underground parking lot.
Time was dragging.
Every so often, he'd pull out his phone to check the time.
An hour had already ticked by.
Charles still hadn't come down.
What could a guy and a girl be doing alone for that long?
Yeah, they were probably getting it on.
Thinking about how he hadn't even kissed Hannah all this time, and now she was hooking up with Charles, he slammed the steering wheel in frustration.
Why? Why would she still fall for Charles after everything?
Just then, his phone buzzed.
The professor: [What the hell is going on? Why aren't you answering your phone? Do you not want your degree anymore? Running off without a word, do you have any sense of responsibility? Do you know how much this will affect our academic research? Call me back as soon as you see this message, or come back immediately. There's still time to fix this. All our hopes are on you. You can't be this irresponsible. Your classmates' futures rely on you. You're ruining them by doing this.]
Austin glanced at the message and just closed it.
Probably because he hadn't replied, the professor called shortly after.
Seeing the name on the screen, Austin was fuming. He turned off his phone and tossed it onto the passenger seat.
A long time passed.
It was almost dawn when Charles finally came out of the elevator.
His clothes and hair were a mess, his eyes bloodshot, and he looked totally wiped out.
After getting in the car, Charles leaned back in the seat, rested for a bit, and then started the car to leave.
It wasn't until Charles's Maybach left the underground garage that Austin got out of his car and headed straight for the elevator to Hannah's floor.
He didn't know Hannah's exact apartment number.
To find her, he had to ask a buddy to dig it up.
Hannah was pretty straightforward, so she hadn't bothered to hide her rental address.
When he got to the apartment, he hesitated, his hand reaching out several times but he just couldn't bring himself to go in.
He was scared of seeing something he didn't want to see.
He was scared that everything would be beyond fixing.
After pacing outside for what felt like forever, he finally closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and punched in the code on the keypad lock.
The code was the date of their engagement.
Hannah once lost her bank card because she had too many passwords.
To prevent that from happening again, he had set their engagement date as the password.
A birthday password was too easy to crack.
And this password would always remind her of that special day.
Since then, all her passwords had been this one.
Sure enough.
After he entered the code, the lock clicked open.
Austin gathered his courage and walked in.
The room had a strong fragrance.
As he walked further in, he saw Hannah lying on the bed, covered with a thin air-conditioning blanket, her bare shoulder exposed, not wearing any clothes.
Austin was completely floored.
The strange fragrance, Hannah not wearing clothes, and Charles leaving looking exhausted.
Everything pointed to the fact that they had hooked up in this room.
Austin clenched his fists, seething with anger.
He gritted his teeth, consumed with jealousy, staring at the sleeping Hannah, almost unable to resist the urge to pounce on her and take her by force.
He had cherished and carefully loved Hannah, but she had hooked up with Charles so easily.
Austin stood there, his mind racing, fists clenched.
He knew very well that if he forced himself on Hannah now or woke her up to confront her, how would he handle the aftermath?
What if Hannah got so upset that she broke off the engagement?
Wouldn't all his efforts over the past few years be for nothing?
No. No way!
He couldn't let things go to hell.
He couldn't lose Hannah.
Since it had come to this, he had to rethink his game plan and make Hannah fall for him all over again.
After a moment of inner turmoil, Austin took a deep breath, closed his eyes, got his emotions in check, and left like nothing had happened.
Like he was never even there, he left without a trace.
The next day, Hannah was jolted awake by her phone ringing.
She groggily fumbled for her phone, answered it without looking, and pressed it between her ear and the pillow.
Stella's voice came through, "Hannah! Are you still in bed? Do you know what time it is?"
The call was from Stella.
Hannah struggled to open her eyes and glanced at the time on her phone.
The moment she saw the time, she shot up in bed.
Hannah exclaimed, "It's already nine o'clock!"
Stella replied, "Yeah! I just woke up too. I figured you'd be late! I remember you start work at nine, right? It's already five past nine."
Hannah groaned, "Damn, I'm late..."
She put her phone on speaker, rushed to the bathroom without even putting on shoes, and started brushing her teeth and washing her face.
She had only been at work for a few days and was already late.
Damn it! Charles would definitely be pissed this time.
Stella said, "Don't worry, Charles likes you so much. He won't blame you!"
Hannah, with toothpaste foam in her mouth, mumbled, "Do you have anything else? If not, I'm hanging up! I don't have time; I need to get to the office."
Stella said, "I'm just calling to wake you up! Take your time. Don't rush and be careful."
Hannah replied, "Okay! I'm hanging up now."
She hung up the phone, rinsed the foam out of her mouth, and quickly changed into a clean outfit before rushing out the door.
Even though she was fast, she was still late.
By the time she got to the office, it was almost ten o'clock.
When she entered the building, the security guard and receptionist on the first floor looked at her in surprise.
She got on the elevator under everyone's gaze.
What she didn't know was that as soon as she left, the employee group chat started buzzing again.
Knowing they couldn't post her photo or name, they just referred to her as "she."
[Late, late, she's only been working for three days and she's already late!]
[She's got some nerve.]
[Do you think Mr. Watson will scold her?]
[Mr. Watson hates tardiness and early departures the most. Even if she's his girlfriend, he'll definitely scold her!]
[I bet he won't! Mr. Watson treats her so well, there's no way he'd scold her.]
[I think he will! No matter how much he likes her, company rules can't be broken! She's only been working for three days and she's already late. Mr. Watson will definitely think she's ignoring company rules because of his help and will punish her.]
[I agree with the above. Even if she's his girlfriend, she can't go unpunished.]
[I just saw the head of the planning department in Mr. Watson's office. We'll know soon enough if she'll be punished.]
[She really is bold, daring to be late. Last time, an employee was late and ran into Mr. Watson at the elevator. Mr. Watson didn't scold her, but his look was so cold that the employee quit the next day.]
[I'll let you know the result later. I bet Mr. Watson will be angry.]
[I think Mr. Watson will be angry too.]
Hannah didn't know everyone was talking behind her back again. When she reached the top floor, she saw Charles and the head of the planning department coming out of the CEO's office.
Wyatt was following them.
Caught being late, Hannah was so scared she didn't dare move.
Hannah apologized, "Mr. Watson, I'm sorry, I'm late. I didn't mean to. Please give me another chance."
The head of the planning department was a middle-aged man in his forties, looking at Hannah.
Although it was his first time meeting her, she was already famous in the company.
He didn't expect her to be late today.
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