My One-month Marriage With Mr. Hawkins

Chapter 36: Lifting a Stone and Smashing My Own Feet

Florence didn’t go anywhere during the weekend and she was able to complete the first draft of her design.

She handed the design to Ernest first thing on Monday morning.

Ernest studied the design and couldn’t help but feeling impressed. She was indeed the soul designer.

He asked with his lips pursed, “You are suddenly struck by inspiration?”

“Yes, I have to thank you for what happened the day before yesterday…”

Florence began cheerfully, but suddenly, she stopped saying anything while looking frustrated.

Ernest raised his eyebrows and wanted to dig further, “What are you thanking me for?”

Florence inexplicably blushed as she couldn’t just say that she had been secretly admiring him in a photo and had her attention stolen away by his handsomeness. She couldn’t just credit her inspiration to such a fact.

After hesitating slightly, she came up with an excuse, “You have brought me to the flower market a few days ago, and I was moved deeply by the colourful and attractive flowers there. Therefore, I was able to come up with this idea.”

Ernest simply stared at him with an undecipherable expression. He didn’t say anything after that as he was thinking about the validity of her words.

Florence felt a little guilty and she immediately changed the topic, “Mr. Hawkins, is this design okay for you?”

Although she was asking for his opinion, her tone was still seeping with confidence.

Ernest nodded faintly, “It’s good enough.”

It’s an answer Florence had been expecting, but she was still happy to hear that nonetheless.

This particular design was put into production very soon, and there would only be one piece being produced in the entire world. This was an attire designed only for Ernest.

This experience enabled her to finally become a designer with some experience from a rookie with no work under her belt. Her work this time was a high-class attire tailor-made for a president of a company, which made her resume look more outstanding than the others.

“Mr. Hawkins, I won’t disturb you further. Excuse me now.”

Florence was in a good mood as she started to pack her things on the desk.

Ernest watched her movements and had a bad feeling, “What are you doing?”

“Your design is finally completed, so I have no reason to continue working here any longer. Sorry for all the troubles in the past few days.”

Although Florence’s words were full of manners, in reality she was beyond ecstatic.

When she was working in Ernest’s office, she always felt restrained. She wouldn’t know what kind of altercation she would encounter with Ernest here, and now she could finally return to her seat in the design department.

Ernest’s expression immediately darkened.

Timothy who was standing on one side suddenly felt some hostility from his boss, and he couldn’t help tensing up and taking a step back. At the same time, he caught a glimpse of his boss’ complicated expression.

His boss had brought Florence out for a short getaway out of good will and he even assisted her in acquiring some inspiration, yet he didn’t expect that Florence would be ungrateful in her decision to move out of the office.

Ernest was like lifting some stones and smashing it on his own feet, and he probably never had this feeling in his entire life.

Florence didn’t stay very long in Ernest’s office, so she didn’t bring with herself a lot of things. As she shoved everything into her arms, she was able to leave this office in just one go.

Ernest watched Florence carrying all the stuff in her arms with difficulty and couldn’t help sinking into a bad mood.

It seemed that this woman didn’t even want to come here anymore.

Timothy shrunk back his neck out of nervousness. The temperature in the room suddenly cooled down considerably…

After getting back to a familiar setting in the design department, Florence had a feeling that she had just returned to her classroom after a prolonged stay in the homeroom teacher’s office. Her mind and body was in a relaxed state.

She followed company protocol and handed the draft of her design to the creative director and wrote up some report.

Just like that, the morning came to an end.

Florence got up and went to the canteen to have lunch, and just as she was about to order her meal, Cooper appeared and blocked her way.

“Florence, congratulations for the approval of your design. I will treat you to a meal today.”

After pausing slightly, he jokingly added, “Although this is just the canteen, you can’t criticize me for being petty.”

“Then, I’ll order the most expensive meal here. You better don’t regret your decision.”

Florence smiled at him as she replied him. The food being served here were all sponsored by the company, so although she was going to order the most expensive meal, the subsidy made it cheaper compared to dining in any restaurant out there.

Cooper and Florence ordered a few dishes. These were all Florence’s favourites.

The two of them sat opposite each other and were both in a good mood as they dug into their meal.

From time to time, there were envious glances being cast in Florence’s direction. Some of the female employees were engaged in some small talk.

“I am really jealous of Florence. I would feel extremely lucky if I have such a handsome assistant.”

“You’re right, if he is my assistant, I would eat lunch with him every day. I would be full just by looking at his handsome face.”

As she listened to these gossips, Florence took a good look at the man in front of her.

She bit her chopsticks and laughed, “Indeed, you’re delicious.”

Cooper raised his head and met a sparkling pair of eyes. That pair of eyes seemed to be focused on him out of admiration, but in fact she was looking at him teasingly.

However, he didn’t feel angered in the slightest, but instead there was a refreshing sense of touching feeling in his heart.

He bit his lips and smiled back as he picked up a dish and waved it in front of Florence before sending it to her bowl.

“Come, see this as my treat.”

Although he was referring to the dish, the ambiguous and playful tone of his voice would cause someone to imagine otherwise.

Florence glared at him sternly as part of her cheeks blushed slightly.

Not only she wasn’t able to tease him, she even got teased in return. This was what Florence get.

Florence decided to ignore him and she lowered her head and dug into her meal.

At the same time, through the semi-transparent glass on the wall of the canteen, Ernest huge and tall frame could be seen standing outside the canteen and he was giving off a sense of hostility.

He was staring at both Florence and Cooper in the canteen, and his eyes were very scary.

Florence didn’t even accept his stalk of rose, yet she could accept Cooper sending food her way.

Was this woman only maintaining some distance when she was interacting with him? Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

After remaining silent for a while, Ernest turned around and left while dishing out an order, “Ask Florence to come to the 33th floor.”

“Roger, sir.”

Timothy answered while taking a look at the interior of the canteen. As he looked at the table of dishes which were barely touched, he secretly prayed for Florence.

This was her outcome of choosing the wrong partner for having a meal. She wouldn’t even have a chance to finish her meal this time.

Florence was still eating when he saw Timothy approaching her with an expressionless face. He was solemnly asking her to report to the 33th floor immediately.

She thought that something serious needed her attention, so she immediately put down her chopsticks and followed him.

When she reached the 33th floor, she was shocked when she scanned the surroundings.

“Timothy, shouldn’t there be other departments on the 33th floor? Why has it suddenly transformed into a restaurant?”

Furthermore, this was an extremely luxurious one and it seemed to be a private restaurant only reserved for a certain someone. Its majestic outlook gave people an impression of a king dining alone here.

Timothy explained, “My boss has high standards when it comes to food, so even though he sometimes has to dine in at the company, a private chef would cook his food according to a custom-made menu. Therefore, when my boss started working here, he had ordered to have this place renovated.”

Florence was in a daze as she found what she had heard unbelievable.

The day before yesterday, she had gone to the ML Flower Market with Ernest, and Ernest even enjoyed street food with her. He looked very approachable back then.

Timothy led Florence to a seat by the window and he stopped moving.

He implored politely, “Ms. Fraser, please enjoy.”

Florence walked forward and saw Ernest seated elegantly by a window.

His cutleries looked untouched and in front of him, there was a table full of delicious delicacies. It was extremely attractive.

Florence froze as she contemplated the motive behind Ernest’s invitation at noon…

Was he going to treat her to a meal?