Chapter 39 Throw Away the Food
Aria woke up pretty late.
She couldn't help it—the bed was just too soft, too comfortable. She'd slept straight through till morning.
When she got up, she felt a bit lazy and just wanted to lie back down for a little longer.
But out in the courtyard, her employees were already at work. As the boss, it was already a bit much that she wasn't working alongside them. If she stayed in bed any longer, that would be really inexcusable.
When she came out, the sofa by the door had been put back in place. Arthur was up early—by the time Aria finished getting ready and came downstairs, he was at the island counter making coffee.
"You're up? Sleep well?" he asked.
"Yeah, pretty good."
Aria responded, yawned, and sat on the sofa for a bit to wake herself up.
When the coffee was ready, Arthur brought her a cup too. "Milk or sugar?"
"No thanks, I'm not drinking any."
The doctor had said coffee wasn't good for the baby—drink less if you can, and if you can avoid it, don't drink it at all.
Thinking about this, Aria glanced at Arthur with some surprise.
Come to think of it, since last time, he hadn't pushed her to get an abortion anymore, and his attitude toward her...
It was as if he had no idea she was pregnant.
Aria frowned. She was about to bring this up and make her own position clear when her phone rang.
It was from the employee specifically in charge of Charles's garden project at the studio.
The voice was urgent, "Aria, there's a problem with our hydrangea supplier. The batch we ordered isn't enough. Can you come back to the studio today?"
Aria frowned.
The problem was that Charles's garden design centered on hydrangeas, so without them, the project was stuck.
If it were any other job, Aria would just have Lucy handle it, but Charles—calling him her career benefactor wouldn't be an exaggeration.
She had to handle this personally.
She replied, "Got it. Three hours—I'll definitely be there."
Arthur looked at her. "You're leaving? What about my place?"
He sat on the sofa, slowly stirring his spoon. "Don't forget, the contract says you have to be involved in everything here."
Aria took a breath. "I've already arranged the work here. I'm just going back to coordinate things. At the latest, I'll be back tomorrow. That's not okay?"
Seeing her tone getting more and more urgent, Arthur had to compromise.
"Fine, I hope you'll keep your word." He drained his coffee in one gulp. "I need to go back too anyway. I'll give you a ride."
Aria was about to say no need, but then remembered that when she came, she'd ridden in the cargo truck with the flowers and tools. If she went back, should she drive the cargo truck away too?
She didn't have a commercial driver's license.
"That works, thanks."
The car was very quiet.
Arthur drove fast, and really did get Aria back to the studio building within three hours, without any delay.
But when Arthur heard that Aria was rushing back for Charles, his expression turned as sour as could be.
On the drive back to the company, everything annoyed him.
Stupid trees, blooming pink flowers no less. Even the wind stank!
When he got back to the company, he even made a secretary cry for filing a document wrong.
This had never happened before.
In the afternoon, his assistant carefully brought in a lunch box.
"Mr. Grant, this is from Director Smith. She wants you to eat it while it's hot..."
Arthur rubbed his temples. He was in a foul mood.
The thing was, he'd floored it to get Aria back by noon specifically with the idea of having lunch with her.
He'd even picked out a restaurant.
Who knew Aria would call that damned Charles and invite him to lunch!
Arthur was in no mood to eat now. He was full of anger.
"Take it away. I don't want it." He waved his hand irritably.
The assistant stammered, "But this is from Director Smith..."
Arthur said impatiently, "You eat it. Stop bothering me."
The assistant didn't dare make a sound and left with the lunch box.
Arthur started his afternoon work.
Yesterday's visit to Aria had put him behind schedule, but less than half an hour into catching up, his assistant returned with a bag of food.
"Don't you have your own work to do? Should I just have you deliver food full-time from now on?" Arthur's sarcasm wasn't enough—he grabbed the paper bag and dumped everything inside into the trash.
"Get out!"
The assistant stuttered, "This... this was sent by delivery that Ms. Hall ordered."
Arthur paused. "Who?"
The assistant immediately changed the title. "It was sent by your wife."
Arthur snorted heavily in his mind.
Wasn't she cold to him, completely uncaring? Wasn't she taking Charles to lunch to thank him for his help?
Why was she sending him food?
Could it be leftovers from their meal, packed up for him?
Thinking this, Arthur bent down and picked the food back out of the trash one item at a time.
Fortunately, there wasn't much else in his trash can. It was just that the containers had tipped over, so the food didn't look great.
Inside was pineapple rice, braised meat with broccoli, and honey-glazed ribs.
Clearly prepared with care, and all things he usually liked to eat.
He stared at it for a few seconds, then picked up a spoon and slowly ate, completely ignoring his assistant's shocked, wide-eyed stare.
-
Arthur worked unusually late today. When he came out, Sophie called to him.
"Arthur!" Her office door was open, and she waved to him from her desk. "You're just finishing up too? Perfect, come keep me company."
He was a bit surprised. Going in, he saw she was still busy, her desk piled high with design drawings that almost buried her.
Her face was full of exhaustion.
Arthur suddenly felt a bit guilty.
"You're not done yet?"
Sophie looked up at him, her face full of delight. "Ah! I haven't finished what I'm working on, but I'm almost done!"
She stood up and took his arm. "Did you like the lunch I sent you at noon?"
Arthur was silent for a moment. "It was good."
"I knew it would be good—I made it myself!" She said coquettishly, showing him her hand. "Look, I burned my hand making the ribs!"
Arthur immediately got nervous and quickly went to find ointment to put on it for her.
But in his heart, he couldn't help but wonder.
Could what he ate at noon have been made by Aria herself and sent to him?
Seeing him staring blankly, Sophie waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"What are you thinking about? Your eyes completely stopped moving."
Arthur came back to himself. "Nothing, nothing."
"By the way, where did you go yesterday afternoon? There was a contract that needed your signature. The company looked everywhere for you and couldn't find you, so I had to sign it for you."
Sophie looked at him with a smile. "You're not mad at me, are you?"