Chapter 140 The Misunderstanding is Finally Resolved!
"What do you mean, I'm asking for it?" Nora wasn't going to let him accuse her like that. She looked up and shot back at him.
Steven's face darkened. "You spent the whole day out with a man, got lost in the forest, and fell into a trap. I was kind enough to call the rescue team to save you, and you still wanted to wait for that man at the rest station? Do you think I'm dead or something?"
Nora's face was expressionless. "You called people to rescue me, and I'm grateful for that, but you can't accuse me of things I didn't do."
"You're grateful?" He let out a cold laugh, staring at her dirty little face. "Is this how you show your gratitude?"
Nora suddenly went quiet.
But at first, she had run over to find him, wanting to explain, but he was the one who walked away with a cold face.
She even fell down, and he didn't come to help her up. He just said nasty things and accused her.
Nora pouted, saying with grievance, "If you didn't scold me, of course I'd be grateful."
"You don't want me to scold you, then why did you go out on a date with another man?" Steven glared at her angrily.
"I told you it wasn't a date!" Nora said huffily. "It wasn't just the two of us originally. There was also someone from The Iron Country. That person is my client. His name is Duke Wood, and he's a big client of mine."
"Duke?" When Steven heard this name, he looked down at her. "How did he become your big client?"
He had learned a bit about this before - Andrew pretending to be an assistant to get close to Nora.
At first, he thought there was some ulterior motive, but after several times, Andrew hadn't made any move against Nora, so it didn't seem like he was trying to frame her.
Later, he figured Andrew probably just really wanted to hit on Nora.
And this stupid woman, Nora, had no guard up against Andrew at all.
When he asked her out, she just went, without any hesitation.
That's what made Steven angry.
If his woman could be seduced by just any man, what did he want with this woman?
He didn't want to be cheated on!
"Remember I mentioned before that my shop received a big order? It was from Mr. Wood. And since it was Mr. Wood's first time in South City, he wanted to look around the area. Mr. Hayes asked me to be a guide, so I took them out to look around."
"Who knew that when we were bungee jumping, Mr. Wood left from the lake below, leaving just me and Mr. Hayes. We weren't familiar with Cloud Mountain, and somehow we ended up in the forest, and then we fell into that trap."
In the cable car's surveillance footage from that evening, Duke's figure was indeed there, proving that the three of them came together.
Steven looked at her face. She looked completely sincere.
The anger in his heart inexplicably dissipated a bit, but it hadn't completely gone away. "Then how do you explain what happened at The Fisherman's Catch last time? You went on a date with him alone, made him lemonade, and gave him a gift."
"That was to move the order offline. That's why I bought a helmet to give to Mr. Hayes. He said he wanted to eat at The Fisherman's Catch, so that's why I went." Nora lowered her lashes to explain.
"Then why were you hugging?" He remembered that at The Fisherman's Catch, they were hugging quite tightly. He was pretty angry about that.
"We weren't hugging!" Nora couldn't remember this. "That definitely didn't happen."
"No?" He reached out to pinch her face, a bit unhappy.
Everything else was explained, so why hide this?
Nora frowned, as if trying to recall.
Steven said coolly, "I saw it with my own eyes. You two were wrapped around each other."
He even had photos.
He pulled them up on his phone and shoved them in front of her face.
The evidence was clear!
Nora froze for a second, then finally remembered. "That wasn't hugging! Mr. Hayes saw a snake and got scared, so he jumped on me."
It was an accident, not hugging at all!
Steven didn't speak, just looked at her, as if trying to figure out how much of what she said was true.
After a long while, he looked up at her. "Do you like him?"
"How could I like him?" Nora found it ridiculous. "I barely know him, and besides..."
"Besides what?" He stared at her.
"I feel like he's been messing with me, always picking weird places, like he wants to embarrass me."
"You're only realizing this now?" Steven scoffed.
She really was a stupid woman!
Nora said hesitantly, "I only figured it out today. He said we were going bungee jumping, but before I was ready, he pushed me off. I felt like my whole heart stopped. It was terrifying."
"Are you okay?" Hearing that Andrew pushed her off, Steven's brow twitched.
Nora shook her head. "Luckily, I was wearing the safety equipment; otherwise, something really bad would have happened."
Steven's face turned cold. He ordered, "You're not allowed to see him anymore."
He knew that Andrew resented him for taking the position of successor, and would definitely try other ways to get back at him.
"But this order was so hard to get. I've been doing e-commerce for two years, and this is the first time I've gotten such a big order."
"But I probably won't need to see him after this. Mr. Hayes said Mr. Wood is going back to The Iron Country the day after tomorrow. After that, we won't meet. Even if there are future orders, it'll just be online."
As she said this, the cable car reached the station.
After Nora and Steven got off, they stood still.
Steven glanced back at her. "Why are you just standing there? Let's go home."
"My acupuncture needles are still with Mr. Hayes."
Nora looked at the cable car above. "When we fell into the trap earlier, his leg got stabbed by a glass bottle. There was quite a bit of blood. I used a few needles to stop the bleeding, so now he has a few of my needles."
"Serves him right." Hearing that Andrew's thigh was injured by a glass bottle, Steven thought he deserved it.
Andrew was bothering Nora - he'd make him suffer a bit later, so he'd stop eyeing other people's women, especially his own brother's.
"Don't say that. The glass bottle went in pretty deep. It looked kind of scary." She looked at Steven.
Steven said coolly, "He brought it on himself."
Just then, a cable car came from far away. It was Clarence.
When Steven saw him, he gave an order. "Clarence, wait here. When he comes down, get Nora's acupuncture needles back from him and bring them to the office tomorrow."
With that, he grabbed Nora's hand and walked toward the exit of the scenic area, getting into his Audi.
Nora stumbled a couple of steps as he pulled her, gasping, "Ow!"
Steven had touched the scrape on her palm.
Hearing this, Steven stopped to check the wound on her hand. "Why are you always so careless when you walk? Always falling and hurting yourself here or there?"
"It's because I called out to you and you ignored me! I fell because I was chasing after you." She complained.
Steven wasn't angry anymore by now.
He wasn't an unreasonable person. He just hated being lied to.
He snorted lightly. "Let's go. It's already late. It takes over an hour to drive from Cloud Mountain to home."
"Okay." Nora obediently followed behind him and got into the Audi's passenger seat.
It was already past eleven.
Nora leaned back in the passenger seat, then suddenly turned to ask Steven, "Steven, are Clarence and James brothers?"
Steven's brow twitched. "Why are you asking that?"
Had she noticed something?
Nora said lazily, "Just noticed their names are similar."
Steven said flatly, "They are brothers. Clarence is the older brother, James is the younger one."
"So they work at the same company? And they're both your subordinates?"
"...Yeah."
"What a coincidence." Nora thought it was too much of a coincidence.
Her eyelids were getting heavy. She lowered her lashes and continued asking, "Steven, which company do you work for?"
She only knew he worked at a big company, but didn't know which one yet.
Steven glanced at her. She was so sleepy that she was about to fall asleep. Steven said, "Sleep for a bit first."
She shook her head, brushing her hair back. "I'm not sleepy yet. I'll keep you company and talk. Steven, which company do you work for?"
"York Development Group," Steven answered her question.
Nora nodded.
She was surprised that Steven also worked at York Development Group. She wanted to ask more, but she was too tired. Everything went black, and she fell asleep.
Steven shook his head helplessly.
She said she'd talk with him, but fell asleep in less than five minutes.
When they arrived at Riverside Apartment, Nora was sound asleep.
Steven drove the car into the garage.
It was past one in the morning. He bent down and carried Nora out of the car.
Nora was half-asleep, afraid of falling, so she wrapped her arms around his neck, sleeping sweetly.
Steven looked at her sleeping face, thinking she must really be tired after playing all day.
He carried her upstairs, into the master bedroom, and placed her on the bed.
Then he got a towel and wiped her face and hands, and applied medicine to her palm.
After doing all this, he walked out of the room.
The food from tonight was still on the dining table, already cold.
Steven didn't have much appetite either. He just felt a bit regretful.
It was supposed to be a beautiful evening.
He sat down and quietly ate a few pieces of salmon sashimi, called Olivia to let her know he was safe, then had a glass of red wine before going to shower and sleep.
The next day.
Nora woke up early. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Steven's stunningly handsome face.
Her arms and legs were draped over him again.
But Steven seemed used to it. He was sleeping soundly, breathing evenly.
Nora looked at his face. Sunlight streamed in from outside, making his face look exceptionally handsome.
His eyelashes were so long!
Nora couldn't help reaching out to touch his eyelashes.
"Stop it!" Steven mumbled groggily, grabbing her hand.
Nora's breath caught as he pulled her over and held her in his warm embrace.
She froze.
Steven also seemed to feel something. His eyes opened slightly, and he became more awake.
Then, without saying anything, he pretended to still be half-asleep, pressing his whole body closer and locking her in his arms.
Nora's face turned red.
He was pressed too close. This feeling was very dangerous.
And his hand, as if unconsciously, slipped inside her pajamas.
Nora didn't know what to do.
She didn't know if Steven was pretending to sleep or really sleeping.
This way, it's obvious that it's a prelude to making love.
What should she do now?
Should she refuse?
Or agree?