Chapter 161 Boundless Love, the Future is Long
Another way of expressing missing someone was hoping for that person to come back. But Caroline couldn't throw tantrums unreasonably, nor would she force Leopold to return home immediately.
After all, they were both adults, and adults had too much on their shoulders, work they couldn't drop, performance goals they couldn't finish, forms they couldn't complete, reports they couldn't stop writing.
As kids, we looked forward to growing up. Only after growing up did we realize how silly our childhood thoughts were.
Leopold's eyes softened, his expression casual as he asked, "Miss me?"
Caroline didn't speak, just nodded.
She rarely showed excessive dependence, but being depended on by her made Leopold incredibly happy.
"Honey," Leopold called her gently.
"What?"
"Just hang in there a bit longer."
"Okay."
With work sitting there, he couldn't comfort Caroline with unrealistic lies. When lies turned into disappointment time after time, even the most stable relationship would crack.
"With my current workload, I can't come back anytime soon." Leopold was honest. "But I'll try my best to speed things up."
He was working hard out there too. Caroline felt she was being immature, letting her momentary emotions create pressure for Leopold, possibly even disrupting his work schedule.
"Don't mess up your plans for me, just go at your own pace." Caroline said apologetically. "Just now, I got a bit emotional. Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing to me? You're my wife, not my employee. Don't make it so formal. Actually, I was secretly happy just now."
"Happy about what?"
His smile deepened.
"My wife acting cute with me - isn't that worth being happy about?"
She rarely acted cute with anyone. Maybe it was related to Caroline's upbringing and family. The Tudor family had a peaceful atmosphere, Elysia was level-headed, and Elijah was calm. Growing up, she'd never seen her parents argue heatedly over anything, and there were never fierce fights at home. So what she considered normal life, a normal marriage, was emotional stability and mutual clarity - that's how life stayed peaceful and smooth.
But after dating Atticus, he mentioned several times, intentionally or not, that she was too rational.
Later, after discovering his cheating, Caroline finally understood that too rational in his mouth actually meant she was boring.
So, was she like that in Leopold's mind too?
Caroline asked, "Do you think I'm boring?"
"Boring?" Leopold raised an eyebrow. "Why ask that suddenly?"
This question had been bothering Caroline.
She asked, "Do you?"
"How could you be boring?" Leopold stared at the person on screen. "Look at me, don't overthink. I really need to come back soon. This habit of yours, quietly sulking, isn't easy to fix. You're not getting ideas about that handsome guy on the treadmill, are you?"
Caroline's eyes widened. "No way! Why bring him up again out of nowhere? What does he have to do with anything?"
Leopold had a call coming in and quickly hung up with Caroline.
More than ten minutes later, Caroline received a WhatsApp from Leopold.
Leopold: [I need to get busy.]
Leopold: [Honey, endless love, long days ahead.]
Seeing his warm words, the crumpled place in her heart was instantly smoothed out.
For the next month, Leopold continued traveling between overseas hotels, and Caroline had no more emotional outbursts. They returned to their stable state, calm emotions.
However, the original plan was disrupted again by a certain overseas hotel.
Celestial Waters Hotel had five chain hotels in Novaria, which were part of the first batch of business expansion Preston had insisted on developing. But after actual inspection, Leopold reached a conclusion - of the two hotels, one needed to be selected for closure.
He sent the trip report to Preston. The moment Preston saw the report, his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Actually, there were already rumors within the company that this old boss's vision was getting worse compared to young Leopold's. On several important strategic decisions, it was Leopold's proposed solutions that helped the group successfully escape difficulties in practice.
Most infuriating was that after the last board meeting, directors Victor and Idris actually teased Preston in front of everyone, praising him on the surface but actually elevating Leopold's position in the company in front of everyone.
These two people's ambitions were obvious, they wanted to scheme to push Leopold into a board seat, and in exchange, they would gain more actual benefits.
Over the years, without him keeping them in check, Victor and Idris would probably have swallowed half of Celestial Waters Hotel's assets long ago.
It was precisely this wariness of them that made Preston guard against Leopold.
In the face of profit, who could guarantee that family ties would be reliable?
But at this moment, Preston looked at Leopold's proposal to close the hotel like a delayed slap following the directors' mockery after the last board meeting.
The hotel was Preston's original proposal to build. No matter who proposed closing it, Leopold had no right.
Preston called Erik in.
Erik walked to the desk. "Mr. Preston Wipere, you wanted to see me?"
"Post a notice on OA, assign Indigo Talbot to go overseas to take over the hotel reorganization work."
Erik raised his eyebrows slightly. Preston only mentioned assigning personnel, but didn't say anything about Leopold's arrangement.
"Why are you standing there like an idiot? Go post the notice." Preston urged.
Erik risked being scolded and asked, "Mr. Preston Wipere, what about Mr. Leopold Wipere's arrangement?"
Preston said, "He just got married not long ago and has been posted overseas for too long. Our company values humanistic care, we need to look after newlyweds."
He still avoided the question, but Erik couldn't ask anymore.
"Okay." Erik nodded and left the office.
Seeing the notice posted on the company OA, Gemma, in her office, had a gloating smile on her face. Xiomara's call came within minutes.
"Mom, did you see the notice on the company OA?"
Gemma gave a cold laugh. "I saw it. I told you, Leopold, a bastard child, won't amount to anything."
Xiomara said sarcastically, "Why is Dad suddenly targeting him?"
"What kind of way is that to talk? What do you mean by targeting him?" Gemma lowered her voice. "Are you hoping for his success? The more power and status he has in the company, the less chance you have. Now is the time for you and Bodhi to turn things around. You need to seize the opportunity."
"I know, Mom. Bodhi and I will discuss what to do next."
Gemma said, "Have Bodhi win over other middle and senior management. Just having Xavier and me isn't enough. You need to get more supporters. Without those middle and senior managers speaking up for you at critical moments, how will you succeed in the future?"
"I understand all this, Mom."
The more Gemma thought about it, the more satisfied she felt. "Leopold worked hard outside for three months, and in the end, he's just paving the way for someone else."
Xiomara said, "After all that work with nothing to show for it, can he accept it? What if he doesn't come back?"
Gemma wished Leopold wouldn't come back. "It would be great if he really dared not to come back."
The consequence of openly defying company notices would be challenging Preston's authority!
It would also confirm the fact that Leopold was colluding with board members.