CHAPTER 103: CHAPTER 103: ARE YOU COMING UP, OR SHOULD I GO DOWN?

When Serena Sinclair entered the door, Una Hutton had already prepared dinner.

At that moment, Serena remembered that she forgot to tell Wyatt Hawthorne that Una was coming over, so she picked up her phone intending to send Wyatt a WeChat message.

The chat window hadn’t even been opened.

Buzz!

The door lock clicked, and Wyatt pushed the door open and entered.

Serena was momentarily startled.

She looked at Wyatt.

Then looked at Una.

Serena hadn’t even started to explain, trying to cover up her tracks, when Wyatt asked her, "Did Adrian Lockwood come to you again?"

"No, he didn’t."

Serena shook her head.

Wyatt seemed to already know the answer.

He turned around and left.

???

Serena was taken aback.

Behind her, Una gasped, "You two... have progressed to this extent?"

"What extent?"

"As in... being able to enter each other’s homes freely."

"??? Don’t we also do the same?"

"Don’t change the subject! You know exactly what I mean!"

"..."

With Wyatt not there, Serena felt much more at ease speaking.

While eating dinner, she told Una about how Mrs. Cole had pressured her to leave Aethelgard.

Una slammed the table, "Why? Is Aethelgard her family’s property? Such arrogance!"

After getting angry, Una worriedly asked, "If she really goes all out, what do you plan to do?"

Serena fell silent.

She still wasn’t sure if Mrs. Cole was someone who would actually follow through with what she said.

However, the idea of Mrs. Cole storming into the Hawthorne Corporation was absolutely impossible.

The reception and security are in the lobby on the first floor; without a valid reason, she couldn’t even get to the elevator entrance on the first floor.

Once those gossip-filled booklets were taken out, before they could even begin to spread, they would be escorted out by security.

Unless she could shamelessly position herself at the lobby doors, handing them out to anyone entering or exiting, just hoping someone would take one.

Just as long as someone took one.

Just as long as someone believed it.

Then, from one to ten, and ten to hundreds, it would only be a matter of time before the entire company knew.

Although most of the dirt Mrs. Cole had collected was fabricated, the thing about gossip is that when truth and lies mix, the false becomes true.

Thinking about facing all those looks and comments at work starting tomorrow, Serena felt a headache coming on.

But it’s not like she hadn’t dealt with this sort of thing before.

The year Selene Summers was in trouble, wherever she went at Aethelgard University, people would point fingers and whisper.

There were even student rallies on the Aethelgard forum demanding the school expel her.

Their reasons were laughable.

The daughter of a murderer might have violent genes in her, and what if one day she impulsively attacked her teachers or classmates?

The commotion was huge, and she felt like a rat crossing the street, with everyone avoiding her.

Only Adrian Lockwood and Una Hutton remained the same as before.

"It’s okay..."

Facing Una’s worried expression, Serena smiled and picked some food for her, "We’ll face whatever comes our way, and no matter what they say, it’s not like I’ll lose a piece of my skin. Let’s eat, eat..."

Una nodded, seeming to recall the past, "Back then, it was such a big fuss, but in the end, it just fizzled out, didn’t it? You’ll get through this time too."

Serena paused in her thoughts.

Back then, it was such a big fuss.

She was called by the counselor, talked to by the teaching and student offices.

The teachers’ comforting or tactful words all meant the same thing, at the height of the storm, she should stay away from school, take some time off, and wait until things had calmed down.

But at that time, all her money was spent on hiring a lawyer to defend her mother, and she was relying on Una for cafeteria meals.

If she couldn’t even return to her dorm room, she’d really have to sleep on the streets.

Moreover, convinced that her mother was innocent, she had been holding onto a belief, waiting for the trial results to prove her point that "my mother didn’t kill, and I’m not a murderer’s daughter."

But before the first trial even happened, the discussions targeting her at school just died down.

Raised high, dropped gently.

It just disappeared.

As if... someone had done something behind the scenes.

"To say the least, thinking back now, it’s a bit surprising," Una sighed, "That damn Adrian Lockwood, back then... never mind, we must look forward. Without him, would you have your current romantic encounters, right?"

"Ahem..."

Serena choked, eager to deny it, yet having no arguments.

The heavy night started to turn around.

In the living room on the 20th floor, Wyatt was on the phone.

His cold expression grew increasingly dark and intimidating, "Make a copy of the surveillance footage."

Hanging up the call, Wyatt went straight downstairs.

The Maybach roared off.

The next morning, Una didn’t have class either, so they talked until 11 before heading to their bedrooms.

Recalling that Wyatt hadn’t eaten dinner before leaving.

And remembering his abrupt mention of Adrian Lockwood.

Serena held her phone, contemplating for a long time, yet a message still wasn’t sent.

Falling into a drowsy sleep, nightmares soon followed.

Serena dreamed of paper flying everywhere.

In her dream, Mrs. Cole resembled a crazed villain from a TV show, with a sinister smile, spreading those defamatory booklets everywhere.

Office areas.

Elevator halls.

The lobby.

Outside the company.

A white expanse as far as the eye could see.

More and more people surrounded her, everyone staring, pointing, gossiping.

Murderer.

Gambler.

Infidelity.

Shameless.

...

Various harsh words floated like a barrage before her eyes.

The white paper.

The dense black barrage.

And her shouted explanations were powerless, soon drowned out.

"Serena Sinclair, I didn’t expect you to be this kind of person!"

Wyatt stepped out from the crowd, and his cold words seemed to drain all strength from her.

She plummeted into an abyss.

Serena woke with a start.

Just in time to see the phone light up at her bedside.

She had only been asleep for over half an hour; it wasn’t even midnight yet.

Wyatt sent her a WeChat message.

[Sis, I’m so hungry!]

[Are you coming up, or should I come down?]

Serena really wanted to pretend she was asleep and hadn’t seen it.

But she feared that, like before dinner, he might just come in without care.

If Una was asleep and didn’t hear anything, that’d be fine.

But if she heard, even if Wyatt only came for a bowl of noodles and left, she’d be laughed at tomorrow, wouldn’t she?

Serena sighed and turned on her phone to reply.

[Do you have ingredients at home?]

Wyatt didn’t reply.

Serena sat up abruptly, put on her shoes, and headed out.

Afraid that if she were any later, she’d hear the buzz of the door lock opening as Wyatt entered.

Stealthily,

Serena opened the door, then quietly locked it again.

Walking to the elevator, she saw the already opened doors with Wyatt waiting inside.

"..."

Serena looked resigned, "You can’t even wait a few minutes?"

"Not even a second!"

Reaching out to take Serena’s wrist, pulling her into the elevator.

As the elevator doors closed, Wyatt’s kiss descended.

Realizing again that she misunderstood.

This hunger was different from that hunger.

The blush on Serena’s cheeks deepened to her neck.

When the elevator doors opened, Serena pushed at Wyatt, stomping angrily, "This is an elevator! An elevator!!!"

If the property management was slacking off, that’d be fine.

But if they were diligently on duty, wouldn’t that be...

"Sis..."

Wyatt smiled, "From the moment I pressed 20, the surveillance automatically cut off. Now, are you at ease?"

Serena was taken aback, and Wyatt picked her up horizontally.

The door opened and closed again.

The familiar lemon scent wafted from a distance, landing coldly upon Wyatt’s body.

The standing lamp dimmed to darkness.

The air became instantly heated.