CHAPTER 73: CHAPTER 73- REALLY BE TRUE

Catherine lifted her eyes toward him, only to meet his deep, razor-sharp black gaze locked intensely on her. His thin lips were pressed together, as if he were trying to see through every thought in her heart.

There was no way Catherine could withstand that kind of look. She quickly averted her eyes and muttered softly,

"I didn’t..."

Why would she be acting strange? She simply didn’t want to continue this kind of ambiguous closeness with him when he already had someone he loved.

But he refused to let it go. His tone was firm and authoritative.

"If not, then what exactly were all those actions of yours just now supposed to mean?"

Catherine was caught off guard. She hadn’t expected him to notice her emotional shift, and for a moment she didn’t know how to respond. In the end, she simply fell silent.

Catherine’s personality had always been like this—she wasn’t good at arguing, nor at defending herself. Whenever she had an unpleasant conflict with someone, she usually chose silence as a way to end it.

During her silence, Bert suddenly gave a cold order to the assistant in front:

"Stop the car."

The assistant froze for a second, and Catherine also jumped in fright.

Bert repeated the command,

"Find somewhere ahead and stop the car."

His tone left absolutely no room for refusal.

"Yes, sir!"

After receiving the order, the assistant drove straight toward a place to pull over, then stopped the car at the roadside not far ahead.

The assistant was very perceptive. The moment Bert said to find a place to park, he already understood that Bert had something to say to Catherine. So after parking, he automatically got out of the car, leaving the space inside to the two of them.

Bert turned his head toward the clearly flustered Catherine and pressed forward directly,

"Go on. From just now until now—why have you been so repulsed by me?"

Catherine had thought she could avoid his interrogation by staying silent earlier. She never imagined he would be so persistent—stopping the car, sending the assistant away, making a big deal out of questioning her.

So she stopped dodging, lifted her eyes, gathered her courage, and said,

"Amy said that Lord Washington already has someone he loves and is planning to discuss marriage with her. So I feel it’s not appropriate for us to keep meeting privately for meals or things like that anymore. Especially what happened last night—I think it definitely shouldn’t have happened!"

Catherine finished everything she wanted to say in one breath, and then she immediately opened the door, got out of the car, and ran off.

Leaving Bert alone in the car, not knowing whether he should be angry or laugh.

So that was the reason...

He had originally said those words during the interview just to make Amy give up the thoughts she shouldn’t have had. Now it seemed Amy had passed those words on to the others, and that was why Catherine reacted with such rejection.

This time, Bert deeply experienced what it meant to "lift a stone only to drop it on your own foot." But now that he understood the reason, his mood shifted from gloomy to bright. If she rejected him because of this, then he had nothing to worry about—because that so-called beloved person... he would soon let her know that it was her.

After calling the assistant back into the car, the two of them drove off directly. As for the little woman who had bolted out of the vehicle—well, the café they were heading to was just a short distance ahead. She could walk the rest of the way herself.

Once the assistant got back in, he nervously glanced through the rearview mirror at Bert in the back seat. He had originally thought he was giving his boss and the young lady some alone time, but who could’ve guessed the scene he would walk into just now—especially seeing Catherine run out of the car. It made his heart pound anxiously.

Everyone knew the boss’s temper wasn’t something ordinary people could handle. If he misunderstood the situation, the consequences could be serious.

Yet now, he realized Bert’s expression was actually calmer than before—even though Catherine had run off.

The assistant no longer had any idea what was going on between them. Especially not what his boss was thinking. Then again, he thought to himself, he had never understood his boss’s mind to begin with. He honestly didn’t know how he had managed to stay employed as his assistant for so long.

For the entire afternoon, Catherine followed Silvia as they shadowed Amy—observing how she talked with clients, how she got them to like her designs, how she eased their initial coldness and resistance into comfort and acceptance.

Catherine had to admit, being a designer required far more than talent. The most important thing was the ability to successfully sell oneself.

After finishing with the client and heading back to the company, Catherine and Silvia took a taxi together. On the way, Silvia went right back into fangirling over Bert, completely forgetting Amy’s earlier statement that Bert already had someone he liked.

"The boss looked so good in that white shirt and suit today—his body is just insanely perfect—"

Silvia chattered on, replaying the image of Bert in her mind. Catherine hadn’t paid attention to his outfit before, but once Silvia brought it up, she subconsciously recalled it too—then her ears suddenly flushed red.

Because only now did she realize—Bert was wearing the very suit she bought last night, along with the white shirt they had picked out together earlier...

A man wearing clothes she bought for him—and being praised for looking handsome in them... the feeling it stirred in Catherine was complicated. Complicated in a way she couldn’t quite put into words.

Especially considering he supposedly already had someone he liked. That made everything even harder to sort out.

Silvia continued dreamily beside her,

"What do you think it feels like to be loved by a man like the boss? It must be amazing, right?"

Silvia was so immersed in her romantic fantasies that it unconsciously pulled Catherine into imagining it as well. She had personally experienced the gentleness and attentiveness of a mature man like him—so being with a man like that would surely be... truly, deeply happy.

Right before the end of the workday, Catherine received a message from Bert:

You don’t need to attend dinner tonight. I’ll tell you the client’s requirements during overtime tomorrow.

Seeing the message, Catherine let out a long breath of relief. Not having to meet him privately felt like a psychological release. She was conservative by nature; when it came to men who already had girlfriends or wives, she always maintained a mindset of never getting too close.

She believed this was the most basic form of respect—respect for the other person, respect for their partner, and also respect for herself. As a woman, no matter when or where, one should always know how to avoid putting oneself into an awkward position in any relationship.

As for tomorrow’s overtime, Catherine thought it would just be professional contact. Working extra hours at the office wouldn’t give anyone a reason to criticize.

After work, Catherine went straight home. As she expected, Renata had already prepared dinner. Riley arrived soon after, bringing Catherine’s clothes and some steaming hot dumplings made by Mama Du. The three of them had dinner together.

After dinner, Riley chatted with Catherine in her room. When Riley heard that she would be working overtime with Bert tomorrow, she immediately burst into a mischievous grin.

Catherine repeated what she had heard from Amy earlier:

"He already has someone he likes, and he’s planning to discuss marriage with her. So stop trying to match me with him from now on."

Catherine figured someone like Bert would naturally be matched with a girl from a good family—outstanding in every way.

"What?"

Riley stared at her in shock for a long moment before frowning and saying,

"You don’t think... that the person he likes might actually be you?"

Riley refused to give up. She always felt Bert treated Catherine differently.

Catherine thought Riley’s imagination was truly wild.

" Riley, have you watched too many K-dramas and romance series?"

Riley flopped onto Catherine’s bed with a groan.

"Hey, it might really be true."

Even though she still wanted to pair Catherine and Bert together, Riley had to admit... the possibility was probably very small.

sigh

Why did Bert have to already have someone he liked?