CHAPTER 91: CHAPTER 90: IF YOU DON’T WANT TO WORK, THEN DON’T

Before Sienna Thornton could respond, Simon Forrester stood up to leave, but before closing the door, he added, "There’s an outdoor BBQ tonight, let’s attend together."

"What time?"

"Six o’clock."

After Simon Forrester left, Sienna Thornton set her alarm for five o’clock. As it turned out, she couldn’t sleep all afternoon because the room was too stuffy, so she lay tossing and turning on the bed.

During this time, she sent a WeChat message to Zion Quincy, which was a photo.

Zion Quincy replied instantly: "Why did you buy men’s skincare products?"

She answered with feigned seriousness: "For personal use!"

Zion Quincy didn’t believe it, but he didn’t say anything and promised to have his friends in Britione buy and send them over.

After dealing with this, she felt bored again, and to her surprise, she was eagerly anticipating the evening’s BBQ.

So when the alarm rang, she enthusiastically got up to shower and changed into a sleeveless cotton sports dress that fit the theme, tying her hair into a ponytail. Since her skin would be exposed to smoke and grease, she applied a thin layer of primer, leaving her flawless skin with a pinkish glow.

Before six, there was already activity in the garden below. Sienna Thornton ran to the window to look, and most of the people had already gone down.

Nina Sinclair wore a short, tight-fitting dress in fuchsia. She wasn’t tall, at most around five-foot-three.

However, her face was not large at all, with delicate bone structure. This was probably what’s called a "movie face," the kind that doesn’t look large even on the big screen.

Sienna Thornton summed it up: This is a prime candidate for marrying into a wealthy family.

"Knock, knock, knock," a sudden knock on the door pulled Sienna Thornton back to reality, and she went to open it.

Simon Forrester stood outside, looking down at his phone, casually walking in while still looking at it. Once the door was closed, he looked up at her and was slightly taken aback, then smiled softly: "Are you ready to go down?"

Sienna Thornton glanced at the swoosh on his white T-shirt, then pointed to the same swoosh on her chest, smiling, "Mr. Forrester, you’re wearing Nike too?"

"What else?" Simon Forrester smiled, "Do you expect me to go shirtless?"

"Shouldn’t it be something like LV or Dior?"

"Then should I go change?" Simon Forrester pretended to head for the door.

"Hey! Come back!" Sienna Thornton laughed out loud, grabbed her phone and elbow, and left the room with him.

Once they appeared downstairs, a group of male designers grilling meat started to jeer, "Matching couple outfits!"

Sienna Thornton felt shy, her face burned intensely.

Simon Forrester suppressed a gentle smile, extended his arm in a pretend embrace around Sienna Thornton, gestured towards the main seat at the long table, and whispered, "Let’s go sit over there."

Sienna Thornton tightened her elbow to follow him over.

As soon as they sat down, Simon Forrester went to talk with Harrison Rowe about something, while Nina Sinclair approached holding two cups of coconut juice, standing on the other side of Sienna Thornton, asking, "Lawyer Thornton, is anyone sitting next to you?"

"No."

Nina Sinclair sat down, handed a cup of coconut juice to her, and smiled warmly, "Hi, I’m Nina Sinclair, a junior designer at SY, from Brimfield. What about you, Lawyer Thornton?"

"My name is Sienna Thornton, I’m from Z City."

"Where in Z City?"

Nina Sinclair’s question made Sienna Thornton feel a bit rude. She leisurely took a sip of her coconut juice, raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Z City is so big, if I say a place, will Jane Sinclair know it?"

"Not really," Nina’s smile faded slightly, "I’m just curious because I heard Z City is quite underdeveloped. But Lawyer Thornton doesn’t look like someone from Z City."

"So, what should someone from Z City look like?"

Nina looked embarrassed, forced a smile, and changed the topic, "Lawyer Thornton, your name sounds nice."

"Thank you," Sienna Thornton replied with a smile, "Jane Sinclair, your name is quite elegant too."

Someone nearby called for Nina Sinclair to help, and after giving Sienna Thornton a glance, she left.

Only then did the smile on Sienna Thornton’s face completely fade.

Another woman trying to show superiority based on birthplace!

What nonsense!

"What are you thinking about?" Simon Forrester came over with a bottle of red wine and a corkscrew, sitting down on Sienna Thornton’s left side.

Sienna Thornton snapped out of it, turned her face to smile at him, "Nothing, just daydreaming."

Simon Forrester teased, "If you want to daydream, do it before the cast comes off, or you’ll be back to work when we return."

Sienna Thornton propped her chin and looked at him, whining, "Back to work so soon? I don’t want to work!"

Simon Forrester chuckled, poured red wine into the goblets in front of them, "Then don’t go to work."

"Then I’d be living off the wind!"

Simon Forrester turned the wine bottle half a circle in his hand, giving her a sidelong glance, "This whole month you haven’t worked, have I let you live off the wind?"

Sienna Thornton pursed her lips, pretending to be shy, "No, I’ve been living high on the hog!"

...

The night gradually unfolded, with starlight slowly falling onto a distant dark blue sea, the sound of waves rising and falling, accompanied by a musician playing famous tunes on a cello in a corner of the garden.

The sea breeze gently caressed the skin, removing the day’s heat, bringing a refreshing coolness that felt just right.

The table was very long, several meters in length, able to accommodate more than twenty people. Sienna Thornton sat obediently next to Simon Forrester, listening to him talk about this project with other designers.

"I’ve never heard of a ski resort in the subtropical zone, and the snow is converted from wastewater. Looks like Director Forrester will be nominated for the OAP (a world-class architecture award) again this time..."

"The boss initially didn’t want to take on this project," Harrison Rowe said, "But Mr. Harding insisted on having the boss take the job, so the boss said, sure, but he gets to decide how it’s done!"

Designer A clicked his tongue, "And Mr. Harding agreed to that?"

Designer B laughed, "What’s there to disagree with? Just with the boss’s reputation alone, even if he built a simple square framework house, he could sell it as an art piece for dozens of times the price."

The designers drank a few more glasses, making exaggerated but true compliments to Simon Forrester. But Simon Forrester wasn’t buying it; he was used to being low-key, and after hearing a few sentences, he raised his hand to stop them.

The crowd went quiet, but Sienna Thornton was secretly pleased because Simon Forrester had just promised last night to help her design a guest house.

She had read several articles published in international architecture magazines about Simon Forrester, mentioning how he co-designed a building that won the OAP award with his professor while studying for his master’s degree in architecture at the University of London.

Even though Simon Forrester was influenced by strong European architectural styles, his work didn’t follow any particular school but rather embraced concepts. Thus, he excelled in designing from the perspectives of technology and experience, combining the natural environment characteristics of the project site to create works that shook the entire architecture world.

The architecture community’s evaluation of him was: "Regarding architecture, even if you’ve exhausted your imagination, Simon Forrester can still surprise you. His work is a gift from God."

Thinking of these things, Sienna Thornton couldn’t help but look at Simon Forrester with an expression close to admiration.

A waiter brought over fruit, placing a plate in front of everyone, filled with various exquisite and petite fruits, including Sienna Thornton’s favorite strawberries and cherries.

As she was enjoying them, she suddenly noticed someone continuously adding strawberries to her plate.

Looking up, she realized it was Simon Forrester. While talking to Harrison Rowe, he was placing strawberries from his plate into hers with one hand.

After he finished with the strawberries, he started removing cherry stems, placing each plump, stemless cherry onto her plate.

Finally, he took the mango from her plate and ate it himself.

The actions were natural, like a well-practiced habit.

Sienna Thornton felt a warmth in her heart, smiled with pursed lips, and silently mouthed, "Thank——You."

Simon Forrester also smiled, winked at her, and continued talking with Harrison Rowe.