Chapter 281

Chapter 281

"Chloe, I'm sorry. I had no idea you went through all that." Remy's face was filled with remorse.

"It's okay, it's all in the past." Chloe tried to comfort Remy.

"I'll never forgive Avery, and I'll never forgive Karen either." Chloe's hands clenched into tight fists.

Remy was about to say something more when her phone rang.

Looking at the unknown number on the display, Remy hesitated before pressing the answer button.

"Ms. Jenkins, hello, this is Karen."

"Karen?" Remy frowned slightly, glancing at Chloe.

Then she switched the call to speaker mode.

"Ms. Jenkins, I wanted to ask..." Karen's voice on the other end carried a careful, almost pleading tone.

Chloe let out a cold laugh.

Karen, who was usually so arrogant, was actually groveling like this for Avery's sake.

Remy said directly, "Chloe is sitting right across from me."

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

"Karen, don't you already know my answer? Why bother asking again?" After Chloe finished speaking, she hung up directly.

"Ms. Jenkins, I'm sorry. I didn't expect Karen to bother you."

Although Karen and the Scott family deserved what they got, this whole mess had nothing to do with Remy.

"Chloe, I hope you can think of me as a friend. If anything's bothering you, you can talk to me about it." Remy gently took Chloe's hand.

"Also, would you be willing to become my protégé?" Remy suddenly extended the invitation.

Chloe was momentarily stunned.

Previously, Remy had taken on one protégé before.

But that girl lacked sufficient talent and had questionable ethics, eventually going down the path of plagiarism.

This incident left Remy deeply disappointed.

Since then, Remy had never taken another protégé.

Even when countless influential people had privately approached Remy, it was all in vain.

Chloe never expected that today, Remy would actively make this offer to her.

"Are you unwilling?" Remy looked at Chloe.

"It's okay if you haven't thought it through yet. I can give you time to consider." Remy even gave Chloe time to think it over.

"No, Ms. Jenkins..."

Thinking Chloe was about to refuse, a flash of disappointment crossed Remy's eyes. "It's alright. You're so talented in design, you'll surpass me someday and be as excellent as your father."

Hearing Remy say this, Chloe quickly waved her hands: "Ms. Jenkins, that's not what I meant. I'm willing to be your protégé. I'm just so happy—I never imagined I could have such an honor."

Hearing Chloe's explanation, a smile finally tugged at the corners of Remy's mouth.

"You're Edward's only daughter. I want you to become an excellent designer and carry on his legacy. That would be Edward's greatest wish too." As she spoke, Remy's eyes lowered.

It's just that she and Edward's daughter was lost.

Besides her, probably no one else in this world would know that they once had a daughter together.

Coming out of the coffee shop, Chloe was in an excellent mood.

Even when getting in the car, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curve upward.

"Something good happened?" Seeing Chloe's upturned lips, Howard couldn't help but ask.

Chloe handed Howard a beautifully packaged small cake: "I got this to-go for you, kind of a celebration."

Howard looked confused: "What are we celebrating?"

"Ms. Jenkins said she wants to take me on as her protégé!" Chloe's eyes sparkled as she stared at Howard.

"Really?"

Although Howard didn't know why Remy would suddenly take Chloe on as her protégé, he knew this would be huge for Chloe's career.

"And Ms. Jenkins knew my dad too!" Chloe excitedly told Howard.

"That's quite a coincidence."

"Ms. Jenkins said she and my father were really close friends."

Listening to Chloe's chatter, Howard felt something was off.

Not wanting to dampen her spirits, he said: "Since Ms. Brown is now Ms. Jenkins's protégé, we should celebrate tonight, right?"

This time, Chloe didn't refuse.

Remembering how Howard had accompanied her for barbecue last time and ended up with stomach problems for several days, Chloe smiled: "How about we go for pasta this time?"

"Sounds good. Whatever you want."

At a restaurant in the city center with excellent ambiance and food, while Chloe was in the restroom, Howard called Teddy. "I need you to dig into the relationship between Remy and Edward."

"Edward?" Teddy on the other end was slightly taken aback.

"That's right, Chloe's father." Howard was direct.

Although Remy hadn't done anything to hurt Chloe.

Even in the conflict between Chloe and Sloane, Remy had sided with Chloe.

But Howard couldn't let Chloe face any more heartbreak.

So he had to investigate thoroughly.

"Got it, I'm on it."

"Okay, I'm hanging up." Seeing Chloe coming out of the restroom, Howard ended the call.

Chloe asked, "Was that Teddy?"

Since very few strangers had Howard's contact information.

Howard nodded: "Yeah, Teddy was asking me about some company stuff."

Howard didn't plan to tell Chloe about investigating Remy and Edward.

"Do you need to head to the office now?" Chloe offered.

Actually, these past few days, because Howard had been constantly by her side, Chloe had been feeling somewhat guilty.

"Nah, it's already handled." Howard said casually.

"Really?" Chloe raised an eyebrow at Howard.

"Really!" Howard shoved the menu into Chloe's hands: "I'm starving, hurry up and see what we should order."

Looking at Howard's expression, Chloe figured he had probably finished dealing with things, so she began seriously looking through the menu.

Violin music suddenly filled the quiet restaurant.

Not far away, a man in a suit was slowly getting down on one knee with a ring, facing the girl across from him.

"Howard, look, a proposal!" Chloe excitedly pointed toward the couple.

However, Howard didn't look at the proposing couple. His gaze fell on Chloe instead.

In his eyes was an indescribable longing.

Back then, she and Arthur had been together when they had nothing.

She must have dreamed of moments like this so many times.

But Arthur had crushed those dreams.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Finally noticing Howard was staring at her, Chloe felt heat creep up her cheeks.

"Nothing." Howard shook his head and refilled Chloe's glass.

Chloe sipped slowly, feeling an inexplicable wave of melancholy wash over her.

Howard watched her, his chest tight with the urge to protect her from any more pain.

After dinner, on the way back, Chloe remained silent.

"What's wrong?" Howard took Chloe's hand.

Chloe shook her head: "I just suddenly feel like... no one will stay with me forever."

Chloe slowly lowered her eyes.

Before, she had foolishly thought Arthur would always be there for her.