Chapter 143 You Underestimate Men Too Much
Evening.
Steven came over just after seven.
Olivia was eating fruit, and Nora was sitting on the couch taking an online Photoshop class on her computer.
When he pushed the door open, Olivia noticed him. Steven made a shushing gesture, and Olivia smiled without saying anything.
Steven walked up behind Nora and gently tapped her shoulder. "Nora."
"Ah!" Nora got startled. She glanced at Steven, her eyes full of resentment. "Steven! You almost scared me to death."
Didn't he know that scaring people could actually scare them to death?
Steven's lips curved slightly. "You were just too focused."
Steven casually handed her some coupons.
"Coupons?" Nora took them - they were all restaurant coupons.
And they were all free!
"These all look like really nice restaurants. Why are they so discounted? Could this be a scam? Or maybe they're in some really remote locations." Nora looked at Steven.
He touched his nose and said seriously, "Probably not a scam. They're all from restaurants that partner with our company."
"If they're partners, it should be fine." Nora looked at them. "They all look so delicious."
Of course they did.
They were coupons that had just been printed that afternoon.
All from very good restaurants.
Steven said with a smile, "When Olivia gets out of the hospital, we can go eat together."
"Great!" Nora happily agreed and put the coupons in her bag.
The two sat in front of the computer talking.
"How's the learning going?" He sat next to Nora and reached out to put his arm around her small waist.
She was almost pulled into his embrace. The man's firm, burning chest reminded her of the morning's intimacy.
Steven had pressed down on her, his handsome face awash with waves of passion.
Nora thought of that heat, her eyelashes trembling slightly, her body hot, her face red.
She instinctively glanced at Olivia.
Olivia held up a book to cover her face, trying to minimize her presence as much as possible.
Nora didn't push Steven away. Sitting in his embrace, she said quietly, "The teacher's lectures are pretty boring. After an hour, I get sleepy. I also have to find images to practice Photoshop on. Looks like being a graphic designer isn't easy either."
"Every profession has its specialists." Steven sat lazily, his large hand wandering on her lower back, occasionally pinching the flesh at her waist.
Nora thought he was being too bold!
Olivia was right there!
She felt a bit shy and removed his restless hand. "Steven, have you had dinner?"
"Not yet." Steven glanced at her. Her face was full of panic, as if afraid of being discovered by Olivia.
Steven found it amusing.
Nora was really too shy.
He hadn't even done anything to her, just pinched her waist, and she was already blushing like this - completely unable to handle teasing.
"I'll go downstairs and see if there's still food available." Nora didn't want to stay with him anymore, afraid he'd do something even more outrageous. She got up to leave.
Steven certainly wasn't going to stay with Olivia either.
He got up and went out with her.
As the two walked out of the hospital room, Steven grabbed her hand. "Wait for me."
"Why did you come out?" Nora looked at him.
"You want to leave me alone with Olivia? Wouldn't that be even more awkward? I think Olivia felt uncomfortable, too. Let's go out and find a place to eat, okay?"
"Alright." Nora followed him out.
Steven put his arm around her waist again.
Nora jumped. "Steven! What are you doing? This is a hospital!"
"Is it illegal for a husband to put his arm around his wife?" Steven looked at her.
Nora didn't dare meet his eyes. "It's not illegal, it just doesn't look good."
"How does it not look good? We're not doing anything in public."
At the mention of "anything," Nora's body heated up again. The feeling from that morning seemed to surge through her limbs again. She felt her whole body burning up.
She quickly walked faster, trying to distance herself from this dangerous man.
"Why are you running?" Downstairs at the hospital, Steven pulled her back and held her in his arms.
There weren't many people in this area.
Nora kept her head down, avoiding eye contact to prevent being seduced by him again. "I'm not running, just looking to see where there are restaurants nearby."
"Isn't there one right across the street?" Across the street was a large hotel.
Large hotels always have restaurants.
Steven wanted to tease her, deliberately speaking close to her ear. "Let's go eat at that hotel across the street. After we eat, we can..."
Nora shrank her neck to avoid his hot breath. "No, right?"
The suffering she'd endured that morning hadn't completely faded yet!
"No, what?" Steven asked. Seeing that Nora wouldn't lift her head, he pinched her chin up.
He just loved seeing her little red face.
So shy, so tempting.
Nora's face was red as she met his eyes. "Didn't we already do it this morning?"
"That was for yesterday. We haven't done today's yet." Steven said deliberately.
Nora was stunned, truly scared now. She lowered her voice and said, "Steven, you need to show some restraint. Too much isn't good for you."
"Once a day is too much? You really underestimate men." Steven looked at her with a smile.
Nora's face burned red. "Well, for me it's too much."
"That just means your body isn't strong enough." Steven glanced at her. "Too weak - you can't handle it after just once."
Nora couldn't respond.
She didn't know if she was weak or not. Steven was her first man.
Maybe he was just too strong?
Who knew?
Seeing that she absolutely refused to go to the hotel, Steven finally said with a smile, "Alright, I'm done teasing you. Let's really just eat. I'm a bit hungry."
Only then did Nora agree to go to the restaurant with him.
Steven flipped through the menu and asked her, "Did you eat dinner? Are you hungry?"
"I can eat a little." Nora was tempted by the food and ordered some shrimp.
The two ate their dinner with relish. Nora said with a smile, "Restaurant food is still better. The food in the hospital's recovery area is too bland, completely tasteless."
"If you think it doesn't taste good, I can have James bring you food every day from now on," Steven said while eating his dinner elegantly.
Nora paused, holding a shrimp and looking at Steven's extraordinarily handsome face.
"Steven, are you really just a supervisor?" She was starting to have doubts. Why could he always boss James around?
Even if James was an assistant, he was still a company employee, right? Having Steven constantly sending him here and there was really a bit strange.
It felt... very strange, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Steven paused and looked up at her. "I am a supervisor. What's wrong?"
"But isn't it not good to keep asking the assistant to help with your personal matters?" Nora quietly reminded him. "What if he reports you to his superiors?"
Steven laughed. "He wouldn't dare."
"Better not do that anyway," Nora said while biting into her shrimp. "I'm fine here. If I want to eat outside food, I can order delivery myself. No need to trouble you - phones make everything so convenient now."
She mainly ate the hospital food because she wanted to save some money. When it came time to start a business, money would definitely need to go toward the business.
Steven didn't say anything, afraid that saying more would give him away.
The two ate quietly. Nora's phone rang - it was a call from Amelia.
"Hello, Amelia," Nora answered the phone.
"Nora, Olivia is on the local trending news. Did you know?" Amelia said anxiously.
Nora was confused. "I didn't know. Olivia's been in the hospital these past few days, and I've been staying with her."
"You need to check it out right away. I'm afraid Olivia will get cyberbullied. And your face appears in the video too - they're cursing you along with her."
"Let me look first."
Amelia said, "Nora, search for 'South City elderly person kneeling to daughter-in-law.'"
"Okay." Nora hung up and opened the short video app.
As soon as she logged on, the first video was right there - she didn't even need to search.
In the video, Eleanor and Willow's grandson were kneeling at the hospital room door, crying and begging while kowtowing to Olivia and Nora.
The text on the video read:
[Excessive daughter-in-law #resist violence#]
Over 80,000 likes in the local area - the buzz was already very high.
The comment section was full of criticism!
[This woman is too much! Just for pushing her, she made her mother-in-law and child kneel to her. That old woman's temples are already gray, and the child is only four or five years old. This woman is too vicious! Requesting some punishment for her!]
[Whoever marries this kind of woman is really unlucky!]
[This is so infuriating to watch! If anyone treated my mother and my child like this, I'd definitely beat her to death!]
[Should definitely divorce this kind of arrogant woman. Marrying the wrong wife harms three generations! That's exactly this kind of woman!]
[What's the reason? What's the follow-up?]
[Requesting follow-up!]
The netizens were all outraged now, all requesting follow-up information and saying Olivia should be punished.
Reporters would probably contact Olivia soon, and then the Reed family would know which hospital Olivia was staying at.
At the same time.
Bianca received a call from her media friend. "I don't know who's helping push our video up the trending list, but it's moved up a lot now. The likes are about to break 100,000."
"That's great!" Bianca was in a great mood. She said to Eleanor in the hospital room, "Mom, the video is working. Netizens are all angry now. Everyone online is cursing Olivia. She's in trouble."
Hearing this, Eleanor's mood, which had been gloomy for days, felt a bit better. She snorted, "That kind of woman just needs to be taught a lesson or she won't know restraint."
"Now my media friend wants to interview you and talk about the follow-up to this incident. Mom, what do you think?" Bianca asked Eleanor.
Eleanor thought about it and agreed. "Okay. I'll act really pitiful then, make the netizens feel sorry for me, and expose that woman, Olivia!"
"Okay." Bianca agreed to the interview with her media friend.
The Bennett House.
Vivian sat in the living room, leisurely drinking red tea.
She saw that the app was full of people cursing Nora and Olivia, and her mood was wonderful.
Originally, the video hadn't been trending this high - she'd discovered it early and paid to boost it onto the trending list.
Nora kept clinging to Steven every day. If they didn't teach them a lesson, they wouldn't know their place!
Vivian didn't care about the money. She mainly just wanted to make the Adams family suffer!
After watching the video on the app, Nora's brow furrowed.
"What's wrong?" Steven saw her expression change and asked.