Chapter 312: Chapter 312
Due to the rain, there were far fewer pedestrians on the streets. Only occasionally, she saw people passing by with umbrellas.
After finishing her meal, Susan sat in the restaurant for more than half an hour, but the rain did not seem to lessen. Watching a new customer enter the restaurant to dine, she felt awkward staying in the same spot, so she paid the bill and went outside. She stood under the eaves, wondering whether to hail a taxi.
However, she thought about how she couldn’t speak French, and feared she wouldn’t be able to even say the hotel’s address if she took a taxi.
Susan stood with her back to the restaurant, facing the street.
So she did not see a couple coming down the stairs leading to the second floor of the restaurant.
"Shaw, it’s raining so hard we can’t do anything. Let’s go back to the hotel," Laura said.
Upon hearing a woman’s familiar voice behind her and the rare sound of Chinese in a foreign land, Susan instinctively turned around and saw Shawn Rhodes with Rowan Alder, walking out from the restaurant.
They also noticed her standing at the entrance. Rowan frowned at her and then pulled Shawn to turn in another direction, as if afraid he would speak to Susan.
Shawn did not look at Susan again, opened the large black umbrella he held, pulled Rowan tighter into his embrace, walked to the vehicle parked by the road, opened the passenger door for Rowan, and only after closing it did he glance at Susan standing under the eaves, avoiding the rain.
Susan glanced in their direction too, but then subtly turned her gaze elsewhere.
The car started, gradually driving away in the direction she was looking.
"Why is she here too?" On the car, Rowan asked discontentedly.
Shawn paused before answering, "How would I know?"
"She didn’t come with you, right?"
"Impossible. Why would I bring her? She must be here for a business trip. Ignore her."
Still skeptical, Rowan scrutinized Shawn and then looked thoughtfully at the road ahead, saying nothing more.
Susan stood at the door for about half an hour, and her feet, clad in high heels, began to suffer, but the rain only grew heavier.
The sound of a horn rang in the heavy rain. Susan turned her head to look at the car stopped in front of her, and the rear window slowly rolled down, she realized it was Simon Rhodes.
"Are you waiting to eat or just avoiding the rain?" For more chapters visit novᴇlfire.net
Susan simply shook her head, not knowing what exactly she was responding to.
"Get in the car. Where are you headed? I’ll take you. It’s going to rain all night. You won’t get back if you wait until it gets dark."
Susan shook her head again, refusing, "Don’t bother with me, I’ll find my way."
Simon looked at her and smiled wryly.
Susan thought he was about to tell the driver to drive away when a long-handled umbrella was handed out from the car window: "Take it."
She hesitated for a moment, looking at the darkening sky and thinking about the potential danger of the night. She walked over and reached for the umbrella: "Thank you."
Despite the heavy rain, just the short moment Simon extended his hand to give her the umbrella, the sleeve of his suit jacket was soaked.
Raindrops also splashed inside from the open window, yet he showed no sign of displeasure. After she took the umbrella, he simply smiled lightly, closed the car window, and the vehicle slowly started.
Watching his car drive away, Susan opened the umbrella she held, stepped out, and headed towards the hotel.
The umbrella handle seemed to still carry his warmth, cold hands, yet her palm felt very warm.
Such small gestures easily moved women, especially after Shawn left indifferently with Rowan. The umbrella Simon handed her seemed a little different.
If it weren’t for the constraints of marriage, she felt she might have already swayed in her inner thoughts.
Back at the hotel, she hung the still-dripping umbrella by the entryway.
She took a hot bath and wrapped herself in bed, holding her phone and sorting through photos she had taken in the past two days before posting them on her social media.
As soon as she posted, someone liked it. This was a person she had added a few days ago, the profile indicated it was a girl, with an avatar of a very common white background with a pink heart. She thought it might be a work-related client, but after adding, the person never chatted with her and remained active on her social circle. Whenever she updated her status, this person almost always liked it.
She didn’t pay much attention to this person, given there were quite a few unfamiliar ’like parties’ in her space.
She chatted for a while in her girlfriends’ group where Erin Bishop and Shannon Quinn asked her to bring back jewelry, cosmetics, and snacks from there.
Susan hadn’t had a good shopping trip yet, as there was a language barrier preventing her from going to any stores to shop.
Additionally, the money Shawn had given her wasn’t particularly ample, enough for food, drink, and leisure, but shopping would be tight.
She hesitated at the hotel all morning, not knowing how to solve the immediate problem when she suddenly saw the umbrella hung by the entryway. Her mind turned quickly, and she hurriedly got up from bed, changed clothes, packed her bag, grabbed the umbrella, and headed out the door.
She flipped through the phone number while waiting for the elevator, but even after walking out of the hotel she hadn’t dialed it.
Standing at the hotel entrance, hesitating for a long time, she finally summoned her courage and pressed the dial button.
The beeping sound waiting for the call to connect slowly wore away the courage she had painstakingly gathered.
On the other end, Simon was in the meeting room, his phone set to vibrate in his pocket. Feeling it vibrate, he pulled it out to look at it, surprised to see the caller ID.
Unbelievable that she would call him voluntarily, yet the flashing contact name was hers.
He stood up, disregarded the others around the conference table, and went outside to answer the call: "What’s wrong? Dialed the wrong number?"
"Is... it Simon Rhodes?" Her voice, cautious and probing, came through the phone.
"Um... do you have time? I want to return your umbrella."
Simon glanced at the meeting room, paused, and replied, "I do. Please wait at the hotel entrance, I’ll come to get it."
Simon handed the remaining matters to his assistant, grabbed his car keys, and left.
Susan waited at the hotel entrance. A few minutes later, a car pulled up at the hotel door, and she immediately took a couple of steps towards it, recognizing it as the same car she saw yesterday.
Simon got out of the car, extending his hand to take the umbrella she handed over.
He looked at it, seeing how neatly it had been folded.
After returning the umbrella, neither of them left. Standing there, Simon was the first to speak: "The weather is nice today. Not going out?"
Susan glanced at the slightly gloomy sky, thinking that the weather wasn’t actually that good.
But considering she had something she wanted to ask for his help with, she didn’t argue. She pursed her lips and said, "Um, could I trouble you to help with something?"