Chapter 116 Sweet Morning
Luckily, Steven's phone rang.
It broke the awkwardness.
"Hello." He let go of Nora and sat up.
Someone said something on the other end, and Steven responded a few times, "Okay, got it."
After hanging up, he placed his phone on the nightstand, put on a bathrobe, walked to the window, and gazed calmly out through the floor-to-ceiling glass.
Below was a plaza where many elderly people exercised every evening.
But in the morning, it was empty, with only a few scattered people walking around.
Steven stood quietly for a while.
Nora had actually been awake the whole time, but not knowing how to face Steven, she kept pretending to be asleep.
After a bit, Steven turned and went to the bathroom, then left.
He just left?
Nora thought he would come kiss her, especially after what happened last night, but he just... left?
Hearing the front door close, Nora was completely certain—he was gone!
Nora sat up, feeling a bit annoyed. There were several crumpled tissues on the floor, all the ones she'd used last night.
Nora's face flushed slightly as she quickly picked them up and tossed them in the trash.
Just thinking about it made her face burn and her heart race.
She wrapped herself in the blanket and went to shower. Her underwear and dress from last night were still lying on the bathroom counter...
That's where it all started last night...
Nora covered her face, feeling like she'd never be able to look at that counter the same way again!
She quickly tidied up and took a shower.
There was a full-length mirror behind the bathroom door. Just as Nora was about to put on clean clothes, she noticed two hickeys on her neck.
She leaned in closer—the two marks were deep purple, the kind that would take days to fade!
Her face turned red.
That guy!
Why did he leave them in such an obvious spot!
Nora had no choice but to wrap the pink and white couple's scarf around her neck. She checked herself in the mirror, making sure everything was covered, before feeling relieved.
But she didn't have to work starting today, so she had plenty of free time.
She planned to handle some work stuff, then make some food for Olivia and bring it to the hospital.
She first logged onto her computer.
To sell the shop to Willie, she needed to handle Mr. Wood's order first.
She logged onto Facebook and sent Olivia a message, telling her she'd come by at noon and bring her food.
Olivia replied: [Focus on your stuff first. Willie hired a caregiver to look after me here, and I have food too. Don't worry about me.]
Seeing Olivia's message, Nora felt relieved. She clicked on Andrew and sent him a message.
Nora: [Mr. Hayes, are you at work yet?]
She tested the waters first—if he didn't reply, she wouldn't bother him.
Andrew was on his way to work, stuck in traffic everywhere, which was putting him in a foul mood. Even though he was driving a multi-million dollar Pagani, he was still stuck.
Andrew checked the time—just after 8 AM. What did this woman want with him?
Andrew: [Ms. Adams, what's up?]
He actually replied!
Andrew was mainly just bored, stuck in traffic with nowhere to go anyway.
Nora: [I wanted to discuss something with you. About our order—I've got most of the goods ready. I was wondering if you'd be interested in moving this offline?]
Andrew: [What's in it for us?]
Nora: [If your company is willing to go offline, I can give you a 5% discount.]
Actually, even with a 5% discount, she'd still make more than through the website, because the platform's commission on orders was higher. Going offline would benefit both parties.
Andrew held his phone against his chin, thinking: [What's in it for me if I make this happen?]
Was he hinting that she should give him a gift?
Nora thought for a moment and sent him a $188 electronic gift card.
Seeing the gift card, Andrew couldn't help but laugh. This woman was really naive—trying to buy him off with a $188 gift card?
At that moment, Nora was looking through Andrew's Feed.
He seemed to really like motorcycles—his Feed photos were all about racing.
Nora opened one photo of a helmet. Andrew's caption read: Love it.
Nora ran the photo through an online image search. The helmet was $500.
Nora thought she could manage that. She sent the image to Andrew.
Nora: [Mr. Hayes, do you really like this helmet?]
Obviously, planning to give him this helmet.
But what Nora didn't know was that what she'd found was just a knockoff—the real one cost over $100,000.
Andrew rubbed his chin with interest: [You're going to give it to me?]
This helmet was worth more than that order!
Nora readily agreed: [Sure!]
Andrew was completely baffled. A $470,000 order, and she's giving him a $100,000+ helmet? Was she not making any money?
Nora: [Mr. Hayes, let's meet up sometime?]
She planned to place the order, and once the helmet arrived, she'd meet with Andrew. On a $470,000 order, she could make over $70,000. Giving Mr. Hayes a gift card and a helmet for less than $1,000 to secure long-term cooperation—totally worth it!
Was she really going to give it to him?
Andrew had been pretty annoyed by the traffic, but after seeing Nora's message, he wasn't annoyed anymore. He even felt a little moved.
His lips curved up: [Alright then, since Ms. Adams is so sincere, I'd be rude to refuse.]
He wanted to see if Nora would actually give him this helmet.
Nora: [So about the order?]
Andrew: [Done deal. We can do 5% for offline orders. Our Mr. Wood is quite happy about it.]
Seeing this message, Nora smiled. Mr. Hayes was pretty straightforward. She ordered the helmet online—once she got it, she'd give it to Mr. Hayes. He should be really happy!
Nora: [Then I'll draw up the contract today and send it to you by same-day courier?]
Andrew: [Sounds good.]
Nora finally felt at ease. Once the contract was signed, this matter would be settled.
She started making a spreadsheet on her computer. Just then, the front door opened.
Nora's bedroom door wasn't closed, so she could see right to the front door.
Steven stood there in a dark suit, carrying several food containers, his features sharp and defined.
Handsome!
But she hadn't expected that he hadn't left—he'd gone to buy breakfast!
And he was wearing the same scarf as her.
What a connection!
Nora felt both shy and sweet.
Seeing that she was also wearing that scarf, they looked at each other and both smiled.
"Come eat." Steven set the breakfast on the table and started taking out the food.
He'd deliberately driven across half the city to buy from a well-known breakfast place.
He could have had James do it, but he didn't. His mood was unusually good, so he went for a drive.
"I thought you'd gone to work." The spreadsheet on her computer was half-done. She minimized it and went out to eat breakfast with Steven.
"Did you brush your teeth?" Steven laid out the breakfast.
"I did." She responded, then was stunned to see him lay out over a dozen breakfast items. "You bought all this?"
"Got a little of everything. Try them and see."
"Okay." She picked up a bowl and took a mini muffin, taking small bites.
"You don't have to work today, right?" Steven asked her.