CHAPTER 99: CHAPTER 98: NIGHT OUT

During dinner, Maeve finally noticed the faint scar on Sienna Thornton’s cheek.

Sienna gestured to Simon Forrester while making excuses, "Once, I was cutting vegetables in the kitchen, and the knife was facing outward. Just as I bent down to pick something up and stood up quickly, I accidentally got scratched..."

Maeve glanced skeptically at Simon, seeing his indifferent expression, as if the matter was just as Sienna said, she had no choice but to believe for now.

Sienna, cold sweat dripping, tugged at the neckline of her shirt dress to prevent Maeve from discovering the knife mark on her neck as well.

The dinner ended with everyone preoccupied with their own thoughts. Sienna went to take a shower, and Maeve helped. After the shower, Sienna sat on a recliner by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the night view while Maeve dried her hair.

"I’m hungry again," she said, rubbing her stomach, "Maeve, can you heat up the leftover lamb spine for my midnight snack?"

"Sure." Maeve put the hairdryer back into the velvet bag and went to the kitchen for a round, not finding it, she stood in the dining room and asked, "There’s none in the fridge; is there anywhere else with leftovers?"

"No, all leftovers are in the fridge." At this, Sienna suddenly recalled that in the month she’d been living there, she hadn’t seen any leftover food at all.

She got up, intending to check the kitchen herself, and happened to meet Simon coming out of the room.

Seeing Simon in his going-out clothes and holding a laptop, Sienna was slightly stunned, "Are you going out?"

"Yes." Simon headed to the entrance to put on his shoes.

Sienna followed, "Where did you put the leftover lamb spine?"

"Threw it away."

"..." Sienna was speechless, "Such a waste! It could still be eaten after being heated, I’m hungry..." she muttered as she walked towards the kitchen to look for other food in the fridge.

"I’ll bring you something to eat," Simon said softly, but Sienna was already in the kitchen, and it was unclear if she heard.

He went to the Starbucks in the mall downstairs. As soon as he entered, Nina Sinclair, sitting in a hidden booth, waved to him, "Over here, Cyrus."

Suppressing the impatience in his eyes, he walked over to Nina with the laptop.

"Cyrus, I’m sorry, my laptop suddenly broke down, and I can’t access the company’s backend. I can only borrow yours to log in." Nina said.

"Why are you accessing the company’s backend so late?" Simon placed the laptop on the table.

Nina took it, smiling gently, "I had some ideas on the plane this afternoon and planned to work overnight so I can discuss them tomorrow."

"I see." Simon’s attitude was cold, as if he wasn’t very concerned.

Nina opened the laptop, "Actually, you didn’t have to come all the way out, Cyrus. I was already near your house, borrowing the computer wouldn’t have disturbed your rest."

She said it simply, but her real motive was to confirm whether Sienna actually lived in Simon’s house. Who would have thought that upon getting downstairs, Simon’s "inconvenient" brought the computer directly down?

Though her plan failed, being able to use Simon’s computer wasn’t a wasted trip.

The computer was locked with a password, Nina asked, "Cyrus, what’s the password?"

Simon snapped back, moved the computer over, and typed quickly on the keyboard. He typed so fast that Nina couldn’t see clearly, only vaguely noticing the last three keys seemed to be "Y-C-R."

Nina was lost in thought, instinctively feeling that those three letters were the initials of someone’s name. As soon as she got back the laptop, she immediately opened Word and typed "Y-C-R," trying to piece together any female names Simon knew.

Unfortunately, after trying for a long time, she couldn’t come up with a fitting name. She realized her behavior was foolish, but what could she do; she knew nothing about Simon’s private life and could only resort to such a foolish method.

She turned to check Simon’s hard drive and documents, finding nothing. This computer was for work only, with not a trace of personal information.

An hour later.

Nina was still typing away on the keyboard while Simon, who had been staring at his phone, rubbed his tired eyes and asked, "Are you almost done?"

"Huh?" Not really working, Nina was startled back to reality, "Almost done!"

Simon gave her a brief glance and then looked back at his phone. He was thinking of getting Sienna some midnight snacks, but didn’t know what she liked.

"If you want to know what food someone likes, besides asking directly, what other methods are there?" he asked.

Nina: "There are many ways, like checking the person’s Moments, Weibo, or other social media."

"I see." Simon smiled slightly, moving his thumb to the WeChat app, but after scrolling through the few Moments Sienna had, he saw she hadn’t shared anything about food. Most of her posts were shares related to law.

Simon thought about looking for Sienna’s Weibo, but he hadn’t found it when searching for her name last time; she might be using a nickname unrelated to her name.

He was about to give up and just bring back some Starbucks desserts for Sienna and Maeve when a sudden idea struck him.

Maeve is halfway in the entertainment industry, she must have a real-name Weibo. By checking her Weibo, he would surely be able to trace it back to Sienna’s Weibo.

As expected, Maeve’s latest Weibo post was of a Ragdoll cat on a pet scale, with the caption: "Your daughter has gained a kilo in a month with me! You’d say I’m a good godmother, right? @HappySugar"

HappySugar?

Simon chuckled, realizing "HappySugar" was Sienna. He clicked into the album and indeed saw a few solo photos of her.

The photos were set against the backdrop of Harvard University, Sienna wearing a red-collared black robe, holding a bouquet of white roses and a diploma. The black diploma cover embossed with golden "HARVARD LAW SCHOOL."

She wore ordinary black metal-framed glasses, her shoulder-length hair gently falling at her neck as she smiled brightly in the sun. Her long, slender, fair fingers appeared in the frame, with neat, round nails free of any strange colors.

Simon was transfixed by this photo, his brows and eyes filled with smiles.

"Cyrus?" Nina called out softly.

Simon snapped back, instinctively closing the phone screen, his expression quickly reverting to its usual coldness, "Are you done yet?"

Nina showed a troubled look: "Actually no, but it’s getting late, and waiting here isn’t a good idea, I might as well go up to your place to use the computer, you can go rest first, this trip to Norport was exhausting."

Simon frowned, the joy he felt moments ago replaced by current irritation.

His long fingers tapped rhythmically on the table as he issued an ultimatum, "It’s almost ten; if you’re not done, people have to close up. Having inspiration is good, but you need to consider the setting. Since the computer is broken, don’t force it."

His tone was peculiar, not only serious as usual but even laced with impatience and a hint of reproach. Nina heard this, and an overwhelming sense of grievance welled up inside her.

Simon, however, didn’t notice her emotional shift, or rather, he hadn’t really looked at her since he came in.

Nina, her eyes moist, watched Simon walk to the counter to order some desserts for takeout, tears trickling down her cheeks. Simon never ate midnight snacks or sweets, let alone desserts late at night.

She was one hundred percent certain, he must really be living with Sienna!

Her beautifully manicured nails dug deeply into her palm as Nina closed the laptop and walked over to Simon.