Chapter 131
For several days, I had no news from Levi.
I didn't ask around at the company about his business trip. Since I no longer worked at the Morgan Group, snooping around would cause unnecessary misunderstandings.
Levi hadn't contacted home either. Indigo said he hadn't made a single phone call.
Celestia and I had agreed that I'd pick her up at the Morgan mansion today. We hadn't seen each other in a few days, and I missed her.
It was probably the pregnancy hormones - my emotions had been out of control lately. When I was alone, my mind tended to wander.
I got dressed and prepared to leave.
When Indigo saw me coming downstairs, she frowned slightly.
"Mrs. Morgan, someone sent you another gift?"
Another one?
Was it Elliot again?
I'd already made things very clear before, and I hadn't even sent him a return gift yet. Could he have sent me something again? I thought it was unlikely - I believed I'd been very clear about boundaries with him.
"Someone just dropped it off, didn't leave a name."
I saw the handwriting on the card was the same as last time. I wondered what on earth Elliot was trying to do.
Levi wasn't even coming home because of this, and now he just kept going...
"I'm going to pick up Celestia. Why don't you open it?"
With Indigo as a witness, she could prove I was innocent and hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. Levi couldn't very well suspect me then.
"Mrs. Morgan, is this from an admirer?"
Indigo wasn't a gossip. I knew what she meant by asking - she didn't want Levi and me to have discord over this.
"No."
Elliot and I had only a business relationship; he was WR's representative. If you really got down to it, it was a business relationship between me and his boss.
"I'm just worried that some people have no boundaries and cause misunderstandings between you and Mr. Morgan. If these gifts keep coming, Mr. Morgan will definitely think something's up."
"He's not that petty, is he?"
Indigo frowned. "This isn't about being petty. If he doesn't care, wouldn't that just take things back to how they were before? You two should talk it out clearly instead of giving each other the cold shoulder."
"We're not giving each other the cold shoulder."
I felt wronged, too. Levi hadn't even given me a chance for a cold war - he'd disappeared, and there was nothing I could do about it.
"Seems like this is his first time being jealous."
Indigo smiled. "I really don't understand you two - sunny one moment, rainy the next."
Just as I was about to respond, my phone vibrated.
It was Elliot calling...
"Hello?"
I felt panicked. I really didn't understand him - sending me gifts out of nowhere and saying strange things.
"Did you receive it?"
There was excitement in his voice. I could hear it.
"Yes."
"Did you open it? You should like this one, right?"
I looked at the still-unopened package, feeling uneasy. He was so strange. I really didn't understand.
"Mr. Sullivan, have I somehow given you the wrong impression?"
I couldn't figure it out - from what angle and for what reason did he keep sending me gifts?
"That New Year's gift might have been a bit much. I heard you like tea, so I sent you some fresh tea."
"Where did you hear that?"
I couldn't help but ask.
Elliot went silent. After about a minute, he spoke again.
"I mentioned it to Ms. Skye before. She said you enjoy tea."
My directness seemed to make him uncomfortable. His tone became evasive.
"Ms. Ember, are you free today? Can we meet?"
"Okay."
I agreed to meet him without hesitation. I wanted to clear things up once and for all. I didn't want this kind of confusing situation to happen again.
I hung up and looked at Indigo. She kept her head down.
"I need to go meet a client. Go to the storage room and pick out some gifts for me, and put them in my car. I'll go upstairs to get something."
"Okay, Mrs. Morgan."
The sunshine was especially nice today, and my mood brightened considerably.
I drove, listening to music I liked, thinking back over all my interactions with Elliot. I couldn't think of a single reason why he would send me gifts.
He'd known about my relationship with Levi from the start. When we were keeping it private, Levi had declared to him that I was Mrs. Morgan.
The twenty-plus New Year's gifts were really crossing a line. If I put myself in his shoes - if someone else sent Levi all that, I'd be upset too.
I was going to end this mess.
We arrived almost at the same time. It was a very quiet restaurant.
Elliot took off his scarf and smiled at me.
"Blair, have you had breakfast?"
"Yes."
I sat down slowly. His change in how he addressed me was probably to make us seem less distant.
"The tea is from a friend - his family has a tea garden. It's fresh tea. You can try it when you have time."
"Thank you."
I watched Elliot order. He ordered drinks and added some pastries.
"It's been so long since you came back, and we haven't had a chance to really sit down together. Michael was a bit out of line last time - let me apologize on his behalf."
"Mr. Sullivan, you don't need to do that. It's not your place to apologize, and it's not your concern."
As far as I was concerned, their relationship wasn't close enough for him to do this.
Elliot looked slightly embarrassed. He took a small sip of water.
"Michael was in the same program as us. Professor Elise thought highly of him, too. Maybe because he switched to developing other things, you don't know much about him."
I smiled. "Let's not talk about him. I know what kind of person he is better than you do. We in the Morgan family don't like hearing about him."
"Sorry, I forgot."
"It's fine."
I placed the gift box on the table. "I've accepted the gifts Mr. Sullivan sent. I've also prepared a small token - nothing fancy."
Elliot stared at the gift box, the smile gradually fading from his face.
"I didn't expect you to give me anything in return. Have I caused you trouble?"
"No."
I wouldn't admit in front of him that Levi and I had a conflict over this.
"That's good then."
Having given a return gift, I felt much better. Now we were even. I thought he would understand what I meant.
"By the way, I got two theater tickets. Want to go see it together?"
Theater?
When I was in school, I went through a phase of being obsessed with theater. I remember one time, tickets were really hard to get, and I had to have Aiden help me score one.
Did he somehow know I liked theater?
"Interested?"
Elliot took out two tickets from his bag.
I shook my head. "Sorry, I promised my daughter I'd pick her up."
"Oh, okay then."
I checked the time. "Mr. Sullivan, I need to go. Thanks again for the gifts, but please don't send any more. It's kind of hard to explain."
I was being very direct. I thought he'd understand.
Elliot stood up to see me out. "Have my gifts caused some misunderstanding?"
I smiled slightly and shook my head.
"If Mr. Morgan has misunderstood, I can explain."
Elliot seemed to want Levi to misunderstand. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like he was more bothered by the idea that Levi wasn't jealous.