Chapter 16 Really Want to Crush It

Ellie just kept staring at the business card, not saying a word. Isaac, feeling the awkward silence, quickly blurted out, "I've seen you get off at Golden Apartment a bunch of times, so I figured you might live there."

Ellie pursed her lips, slowly lifting her gaze to meet his. "And then?"

Isaac noticed her guard was down a bit and tried to play it cool, realizing his approach was kinda abrupt and maybe a bit too eager. He felt a bit embarrassed. "I was just worried you might get the wrong idea..."

"You've explained it now, and I get it. Anything else?"

"Uh... no, that's it." Isaac hesitated for a sec, then mumbled softly, squeezing the business card before turning away.

Ellie could totally see his embarrassment and disappointment, but she didn't want to make it worse for him. She took a deep breath, looked away from him, and stared out the window again.

This wasn't her first rodeo with someone trying to chat her up. She knew the best way to handle it was to stay cold. The guy didn't say anything too forward, and she couldn't just blurt out that she was married.

Yeah... she was married. Six years now, but the time she actually spent with George felt like less than a year... No, maybe even less than six months.

If you did the math, for every six days he was on a business trip, he should at least be home for one day. But he was often gone for two to three months, only to come back for less than a week.

She clearly remembered a time when he was gone for more than six months...

Ellie was lost in her thoughts and suddenly realized she had reached her stop. She stood up, glanced at the guy sitting in front of her, then turned and got off the bus.

As soon as she stepped off, Isaac, who had been sitting all stiff, finally relaxed.
It wasn't relief he felt, but a weird sense of satisfaction. The gentle vibe he had been putting out vanished, replaced by a cold, lazy demeanor. He leaned to the side, pulled out his phone, and started typing a message: [Didn't manage to chat her up, but I got her to drop her guard. Your move now.]

After hitting send, he waited for a couple of minutes before a reply came in. Isaac glanced at it.
Unknown: [Didn't think you'd lose your touch with women.]

The guy was clearly mocking him, but Isaac didn't care. He bit his lip lightly, deleted the message, and savored the memory of Ellie's face when she let her guard down. She was cute, especially when she dropped that icy front. Man, he really wanted to crush that.

Meanwhile, George, who had just landed at the airport, pulled out his phone and called Patrick to let him know there was a job to do, but the other side just exploded with curses.
"What the hell! I just got hitched a few days ago, and now you're sending me on a mission? Are you trying to kill me?"

George couldn't help but feel a bit better seeing Patricks passionate rant. He was even kind of enjoying it.
"Complaining to me is pointless. Orders from the top, man."
Patrick felt like he was about to choke on his own frustration. He paused for a couple of seconds, then asked, almost hopefully, "Uh... can't you find someone else to cover for me?"

He'd been asking that for years, but if it ever worked, he wouldn't have to pick him up now.
A slight smirk tugged at George's lips as he replied, calm and unusually formal, "Everyone on the team, including the director, knows you just got married. We wouldn't call you in unless it was absolutely necessary..."

"..."