CHAPTER 109: CHAPTER 109: WARMING THE HEART (5)_1

"Send her out," James Horne ordered his secretary coldly, no longer looking at Orlando Evans.

"Brother James," Orlando Evans called out softly, putting on a very aggrieved look. The secretary glanced at her, then at James Horne. Seeing his indifferent face, she knew this woman was not someone her boss was fond of. So, she stepped forward politely and said, "Miss Evans, please leave."

Orlando Evans looked pitifully at James Horne. Seeing that he was ignoring her, she followed the secretary out of the room with a look of helpless grievance.

After leaving the General Manager’s Office, she suddenly wrapped her arm around the secretary’s affectionately and said, "Miss Secretary, you’re so classy, so beautiful."

The secretary gently removed her hand, walked to the elevator doors, and pressed the button for her, saying coolly but politely, "Miss Evans, this way, please."

As James Horne’s Secretary, she had seen all sorts of women chasing after him. Often, she, the Secretary, also became an object of ingratiation for many people.

Really, if flattering her could get them close to James Horne, he would have been surrounded by beauties long ago. Her boss, with his unpredictable and icy demeanor, always gave off a severe and somber vibe. Apart from his handsome looks and the title of the Horne Family’s Fourth Young Master, the Secretary had no idea what those women saw in him.

If it were her, she wouldn’t want a man who was cold and unpredictable.

Orlando Evans’s expression darkened, rage tinging her eyes, but she still held it in and stormed into the elevator. As the elevator doors closed, she grumbled resentfully, "Like master, like servant! James Horne, you will definitely become mine!"

James Horne was a pawn she planned to use to drive a wedge between Glades Horne and Julia Bluen. She was determined to deal with him.

James Horne wasn’t like Glades Horne, who could call the shots. If soft tactics didn’t work, she’d give him some kind of love potion, create an irreversible situation, and then she’d see how he could dump her.

Orlando Evans was now sinking into madness, fueled by her jealousy of Julia Bluen and obsessed with breaking up Glades Horne and Julia Bluen.

After leaving James’s Cookware Company, Orlando Evans drove off in her Chevrolet.

But after a while, she turned around and came back.

This time, she parked her car in front of James’s Cookware Company and got out holding a bento box.

Holding the bento box, she walked towards the Office Building.

Seeing her return, the Secretary stopped her again. "Miss Evans, our General Manager is really busy," the Secretary reminded her courteously, urging her not to force her way in again and anger the General Manager, as it would be unfortunate for both of them.

"I won’t bother Brother James for long this time. It’s almost quitting time; I just wanted to bring him a lovingly-prepared bento. Miss Secretary, the truth is I’ve known Brother James for eight years; we grew up together," Orlando Evans said, deliberately portraying her relationship with James Horne as that of childhood sweethearts.

"Miss Evans, that’s your private matter with the General Manager. He doesn’t have time right now, and I know I shouldn’t casually interrupt his work. If you’re just delivering the bento, please hand it to me, and I will pass it on for you," the Secretary continued in her usual neutral tone, adamant about not letting Orlando Evans in again. Her face was full of caution, ready to prevent another forceful entry.

After some thought, Orlando Evans finally handed the bento box to the Secretary. James Horne was difficult to get along with, cold as ice, much like Marcel Horne, and always gave her a creepy feeling. If not for wanting to use him, she wouldn’t have wanted to approach him proactively at all.

"Then, I’ll trouble you. Thank you. Please remind Brother James to eat it while it’s hot," Orlando Evans instructed the Secretary before leaving once again.

Once Orlando Evans stepped into the elevator, the secretary took the bento box she had brought and headed to the General Manager’s Office.

She knocked and entered, placing the lovingly-prepared bento box on James Horne’s desk and informing him that it was from Orlando Evans.

James Horne didn’t even lift his head.

The secretary turned and silently walked out.

Suddenly, there was a sound from behind—not very loud, but enough to startle the secretary. She spun around to see James Horne picking up the bento box Orlando Evans had brought and fiercely throwing it into the trash can beside him.

Instantly, the secretary understood that Orlando Evans held no place in James Horne’s heart.

If it were truly as Orlando Evans said, that they had grown up together since childhood, how could the General Manager possibly throw the bento box into the trash?

"Notify the Security Department. From now on, Orlando Evans is banned from setting foot in the company!" James Horne coldly declared after tossing the bento box away.

The secretary shivered, quickly agreed, and then fled from James Horne’s office as if escaping.

James Horne leaned back into his black swivel chair. His expression was cold, yet it held a faint hint of indulgence as the image of Julia Bluen’s lively and beautiful oval face flashed through his mind.

Women... Only Julia Bluen had ever caught his eye.

No one else should even think about getting close to him. But every time he thought of Julia Bluen having become his sister-in-law, a pained look flashed across James Horne’s eyes. After his elder brother and Julia Bluen had their wedding, he slowly began to realize his feelings were drifting towards Julia. This was especially true the day after their wedding when he encountered his brother and sister-in-law on the stairs. The mature charm radiating from her as a young wife deeply stirred him. Yet he could do nothing, absolutely nothing, because she was his brother’s wife—his sister-in-law.

Clenching his fists tightly, James Horne truly despised himself. Why am I so shameful, so abnormal?

However, that nearly thirty-year-long brother complex refused to leave him be.

His normal love for Julia Bluen felt as heavy as a mountain, crushing him, making it hard for him to breathe, and his heart was in constant torment.

"Big brother, what should I do?" James Horne murmured softly.

Should he let go, wholeheartedly respecting them as his elder brother and sister-in-law? Or should he unscrupulously try to tear them apart? But even if he tore them apart, how would he choose? Would he choose his elder brother or Julia Bluen?

The more he thought about it, the more painful it became. Those complicated and abnormal feelings, like thousands of insects, crawled all over him, gnawing at him from the outside in and the inside out. He wanted to die but couldn’t; he wanted to be reborn but had no hope. It was truly a state of being unable to live and unable to die!