Chapter 68
Life finally settled down, and my mood gradually recovered.
After finishing the call with Celestia, I got ready to go to work.
Halfway there, I got a call from Elliot saying he hadn't seen me in days and wanted to meet up.
I agreed.
We arranged to meet at the café downstairs from my office. If he hadn't had breakfast, I was planning to treat him.
He still had his briefcase with him as always—a habit I only just noticed.
Thinking back to every time we'd met, it really was like that.
Levi was different. When he went to meet clients or friends, he always went empty-handed, unless it was a special situation where he had his assistant follow along with documents.
I thought Elliot had his own style—the type of person who's very meticulous all the time.
"Good morning."
"Morning."
I stood up and greeted him politely.
Elliot gestured for me to sit down with him.
"Have you had breakfast?"
He seemed a bit surprised, but quickly smiled. "I've eaten, but if you haven't, I can eat again."
"Oh, no need. I ate at home."
He leaned back and looked me over.
"You look good lately. Looks like all your problems have been solved."
I let out a breath. "Same as always."
"No, no, no, much better. Before, I always felt like you looked exhausted."
I joked, "Well, you take someone's money, you do the work, right? Can't just take the funding and not do anything."
"Actually, it's fine. Reasonable rest helps you work with more energy." Elliot took a thermos out of his bag.
"You bring your own tea?"
I was just about to tell him to order whatever he wanted when he pulled it out.
He chuckled. "Yeah, I've been learning to drink tea lately. Used to always drink coffee, figured it was time for a change."
"People abroad don't drink tea much. Taste isn't something you can just change like that—some people really can't get used to it."
Like Levi, who tried to drink tea like me but had to force himself.
Elliot opened the lid and smelled it. "I'm just drinking it casually, not like you, who actually knows about tea."
"You know I like drinking tea?"
I was a bit surprised. This habit of mine—people who aren't close to me wouldn't really know about it.
He dodged the question and changed the subject.
"By the way, it seems Jessa hasn't been bothering you lately?"
"Uh, you know about that too?"
I really found it strange—why did he know so much about my business?
"The stuff about her mom has been all over the internet. I imagine she doesn't have time to bother you anymore. Honestly, I never expected their family to be so complicated."
"The world is full of surprises."
He smiled. "She's kind of a celebrity now. I'm afraid it'll affect her reputation too. I heard your husband pulled funding from her concert tour?"
"You're pretty well-informed."
He's the CEO of a company—why would he pay attention to these things? Though I guess they do make for good gossip.
"Just heard my colleagues talking about it."
I smiled. "As you said, she is a public figure. Any little thing gets noticed."
"Her family situation really has a bad reputation. The Morgan Group isn't kicking her while she's down—it's just cutting losses in time." I still sided with Levi.
"Mr. Morgan is wise. Anyone would do the same." Elliot was clearly flattering Levi, too.
I cleared my throat. "You heard about her plagiarism before, too, right? That also caused losses for the company. I've been wanting to find a chance to talk to you about it, but some things came up recently."
"It's fine, I understand."
I rubbed my hands together. "I've already had finance calculate it. Heartstrings Jewelry will definitely make up for the losses we caused you."
"I said before, it's fine. You don't need to."
"Business is business."
I took a sip of water and continued, "The fact that you reached out to help when Heartstrings Jewelry needed it is already a great honor for us. Let's keep things professional."
"Alright, I won't argue with you. We'll do it your way."
When Elliot mentioned Jessa, a look I couldn't read flashed in his eyes. But I didn't want to talk more about Jessa once I heard her name.
"There used to be rumors about her and your husband, too, but it seems no one's talking about that anymore."
He brought up Jessa again, just when I was about to cut off the topic.
"Actually, Levi and I never made our relationship public, which is why there were rumors."
If Levi hadn't randomly said that stuff about picking me up that time, Elliot probably wouldn't have known about our relationship for a while.
"You're so outstanding, Mr. Morgan doesn't need to hide it."
I stared at him. "I'm noticing you're kind of gossipy about my family affairs, huh?"
"It's mainly that you two are such a perfect match. There's nothing wrong with going public. And since I happen to know about your relationship, I just feel it's unfair to you."
I really didn't understand him. He seemed overly interested in my private matters.
"I think it's fine."
Elliot pressed his lips together. "If you think it's fine, then it's fine."
The conversation was getting more and more awkward. I originally just wanted to talk about compensation for WR, but somehow we ended up talking about my personal life.
"I wish you both happiness."
This blessing left me even more confused. I felt like something was off about him.
"Thanks."
I really felt a chill down my back. Elliot's expression made me suspicious. I was already surprised by his sudden appearance in the first place.
"My company has an event this weekend. Would you be interested in coming? You can bring family." Elliot especially emphasized bringing the family.
Did he want to meet Levi?
I suddenly wondered if he was using me as a connection, and who he really wanted to work with was Levi.
"Sorry, weekend time is all planned for the kids."
"Oh, no problem."
I checked the time—almost an hour had passed. Our conversation was getting more awkward. Better to just end it.
"Are you in a hurry to leave?"
I pointed at the clock on the wall. "I'm sure you have a pile of things waiting for you at the office, too. Let's meet up again when we're both free."
"Okay."
I stood up. "I'll head out first, then. Bye."
"Bye."
I left practically under his gaze. Was I being overly sensitive and suspicious? I just felt Elliot was too mysterious.
Every time we met, he'd bring up things about my private life.
I felt our casual acquaintance didn't need to cross boundaries and talk about these things.
He said he wished Levi and me happiness. He should know about the whole Jessa situation between Levi and me.
Sitting in my car, I went over our conversation in my head, but couldn't make sense of it.
Nola sent me a message saying she was attending a party tonight and would take me to meet some people—all old clients who used to work with Heartstrings Jewelry.
She said since we were gradually going public with me being Heartstrings Jewelry's CEO, I needed to slowly get in touch with people and matters related to Heartstrings Jewelry. Everything missed over the years needed to be made up for.
I understood her dedication to Heartstrings Jewelry, and I knew that from now on I should share the burden with her. I couldn't let her face everything alone anymore.