Chapter 104 Showing Goodwill
Arthur could clearly tell that Lance was deliberately picking a fight. After Aria went upstairs, he turned his gaze to Lance and said through gritted teeth, "Lance, you come here to see Aria every day like this - do you really think I'm dead? We're not divorced yet!"
This Lance really had no sense of boundaries. Coming over to see Aria every day like this - what would people say? Did he really think Arthur didn't matter at all?
Thinking about how Aria just let Lance talk about him like that, Arthur felt a surge of anger in his chest.
Lance looked at Arthur's annoyed expression, then glanced around - there was no one else around. The corner of his mouth curved up as he stepped forward and said, "So Mr. Grant knows he's not divorced yet. I thought with the way Mr. Grant was openly holding a wedding with another woman, he was already divorced. Bigamy - such an immoral thing, and Mr. Grant actually went through with it. Impressive!"
Lance's words dripped with sarcasm. At the end, he even gave Arthur a thumbs up, but what that thumbs up meant - they both knew perfectly well!
Arthur's eyes narrowed dangerously at his words. Seeing Lance's provocative manner, he stepped forward and grabbed Lance by the collar. "Lance, you really don't know what's good for you."
Since the two men were similar in height, their faces were now very close. Lance could clearly see the anger in Arthur's eyes. He glanced down at his grabbed collar and smiled without concern.
"What? Is Mr. Grant so angry he's ready to get physical? Go ahead and do it, but I wonder - if word of this gets out, how will Mr. Grant handle it?"
Lance admitted he was doing this on purpose. Provoking Arthur in this setting - once he made a move, Aria would be even more disappointed in him!
Arthur knew full well that Lance was deliberately provoking him. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes, but he finally let go of Lance and said angrily, "Lance, you'll pay for your actions!"
Lance casually straightened his collar and glanced at him calmly. "I look forward to it."
Arthur tried to go past Lance to go upstairs and find Aria, but Lance blocked him.
Arthur was impatient. "What's your problem now?"
Lance shook his head calmly. "Nothing. Are you going to see Aria? Me too. Let's go together!"
Arthur's anger flared up. He stared at Lance with narrowed eyes. "Lance, people need to know their limits."
Lance glanced at Arthur with a half-smile and said in a low voice, "Limits? I do have them. I'm here to talk business with Aria. What? Talking business doesn't have limits? Then what counts as having limits? Being like you?"
"I have something to discuss with my wife. You'd better not butt in!"
"Oh, go ahead and talk. I never said you couldn't. But there's a first-come-first-served rule, right? I came first, and it's for business. You can talk about your personal matters at home!"
Lance spoke with complete confidence, then suddenly seemed to remember something. He looked at Arthur thoughtfully. "Or is it that Mr. Grant doesn't even go home anymore? That's why you have to come here to discuss personal matters?"
Lance really had a way of getting under people's skin. Arthur's face turned various shades of red and white again. He stared at Lance with a sinister look. "Lance, are you deliberately causing trouble?"
"How can Mr. Grant say that? I'm just curious!"
Just as Arthur was about to say something, his phone suddenly rang.
It was Sophie.
Lance also saw the caller ID and said sarcastically, "Oh, that should be the new Mrs. Grant calling. Mr. Grant should answer quickly, don't delay important matters!"
Arthur gave him a cold look but still walked aside to answer the call.
Sophie on the other end seemed to say something that made Arthur's expression show a trace of worry. He continued the call while walking outside.
Lance watched Arthur leave without hesitation and sneered inwardly. With Arthur acting like this, how could he compete with him?
After Arthur left, Lance didn't go upstairs to disturb Aria either. He had been doing it on purpose just now. He had simply come to check on her today, but unexpectedly ran into Arthur, which led to this scene.
After wandering around downstairs for a bit, Lance left directly. On his way out, he took the bouquet of flowers that Lucy had brought out earlier and sent Aria a photo.
"I'll take care of these flowers for you. Your soon-to-be-ex-husband left, and so am I."
Aria received Lance's message while she was trimming the flowers in her office. She felt a bit helpless reading the message, but calmly put away her phone and continued with her work.
Since Mr. Monroe's first visit to the studio, he would come by every day or two - either arriving just when the restaurant delivered food, or during afternoon tea time with coffee. This blatant pursuit quickly spread throughout the studio, and everyone knew that this Mr. Monroe was pursuing their boss.
After Lance found out about this, he also rushed over to make his presence known. When Mr. Monroe sent food, he would send coffee. When Mr. Monroe sent coffee, he would send food. In short, their competitive behavior became increasingly ridiculous.
Aria felt helpless and had privately talked to Lance, telling him not to be so childish.
But Lance had his reasons - if he didn't do it, why should that guy named Monroe get to?
Aria felt helpless, mainly because Mr. Monroe had introduced a big project two days ago - doing the overall floral design for a five-star hotel. This contract was worth two months of the studio's revenue.
She naturally couldn't keep criticizing Mr. Monroe. She had privately told him that she really wasn't considering romantic relationships, but Mr. Monroe's response each time was that he was just being friendly, and she shouldn't refuse a friend's goodwill.
After several attempts, Aria stopped saying anything and just let the two of them do as they pleased.
Arthur soon found out about them taking turns sending things. When he learned about it, he felt very uncomfortable and went to the studio to find Aria. She happened to be out, and Lance happened to come by and used some clever words to squeeze Arthur out again.
Later, Arthur returned to his company and called Aria.
"Aria, what are those two men trying to do? Where does this leave me?"
Aria was busy when she received Arthur's call. Hearing his interrogation right away, she felt very annoyed and shot back directly, "How would I know what they're trying to do? If you want to know, why don't you ask them yourself? I'm very busy and don't have time to argue with you about this."
With that, Aria hung up the phone, not giving Arthur any chance to continue!
Arthur heard the dial tone and felt extremely angry. He threw his phone out directly.
Sophie had just pushed open the office door when the phone shattered right in front of her, startling her. She couldn't help but cry out, "Ah!"