Chapter 477 He Has Been Taken Away
The phone was showing Melrose City’s trending news. The more Courtney swiped upward on the screen, the gloomier her expression became. She began to meticulously look for any important messages in the similar-looking news.
‘The City’s Search for Miss Grant’
‘A Romantic Man Looking for Love in Melrose City: Where in the World Is the Mysterious Miss Grant?’
‘Valentine’s Day Is Coming; We Need a Blondie Like This!’
Amongst the numerous headlines, there was one that was on top of the trending list.
‘Blond haired, blue-eyed Alex of mixed descent has been waiting at the airport for 2 whole days. Now that Valentine’s Day is closing in, the whole city has been in a fervent search for a ‘Miss Grant’, the heroine of the story who, to date, still has not shown herself. Does anyone know an 18-year-old Angie Grant? Please share this news to light up a bulb. We will be holding a mystery lottery event on Valentine’s Day. If you managed to light up all 7 colored bulbs, we have prepa—’
Courtney continued to scroll down, only to realize that it was a promotional event done by a jewelry store.
Massaging the midpoint of her eyebrows, she raised her eyes to look at Tina with a disgruntled face.
“You can’t possibly tell me that this ‘Miss Angie Grant’ in the article is talking about is the one killing at chess with your Great-Grandpa. Do you know how many Angie Grants there are in Melrose City? It could also be a promotional stunt done in order to create hype for Valentine’s Day.” From her skeptical tone, it was obvious that Courtney didn’t believe Tina.
Tina was unhappy that her mother was suspicious of her words, and so she snatched the phone out of Courtney’s hand.
“I saw Angie looking through the trending topics the other day, and boy, was her face as dark as coal! You should at least trust Mr. Oliver if you don’t trust me. Even Mr. Oliver has been suspecting that—”
Courtney couldn’t help but freeze when she heard her daughter’s words. Her temples seemed to throb, and she suddenly recalled the pale face of a young man with blond hair and blue eyes. The stubble on his chin only added age to his face, but there was no way for him to hide the clear, brilliant gaze he had.
Courtney was sure she had seen this person at the airport before.
The reporters who took his photos professionally captured images of him that easily touched the hearts of everyone who had seen them. He was a strong and good-looking young man who looked lonely as he waited for his ‘Angie Grant’. The captions and articles detailing his situation only made him more pitiful. Courtney could only imagine how many young and older women’s hearts he had melted with just the articles alone.
It was finally time for lunch after the chaotic morning had passed. However, the atmosphere at the dining table seemed to be a lot more gloomy than it was just hours ago.
Courtney perked her ears up to catch wind of how the war game had gone. Apparently, Cameron and Alexander were neck-to-neck with each other during the game. Gale, who was watching from the sidelines, had to replace Ethan as the young boy’s face was already covered in stickers. Cameron lost the battle after that, and soon, an internal dispute arose amongst the Langley army. The ‘war’ finally ended with Gale, who had a face full of stickers, and Cameron complaining about each other being spies.
Cameron was more concerned about the situation on the other side of the dining table. Old Master Duncan wasn’t in his best mood, as he had lost 3 rounds in chess to Angie, which subsequently made him lose his title as the Duncans’ King of Chess.
The butler gingerly placed some dishes Old Master Duncan could eat into his bowl, which he quietly ate. He finally stubbornly said, “Invite that Mr. Elijah over some day. I would like to have 1 or 2 chess matches with him.”
“Got it.”
“I was letting you off easy. I will still be the Duncans’ King of Chess after I beat your teacher,” he boasted.”
“Alright.” Angie paused momentarily. “But Elijah already won first place in the National Chess Championship 20 years ago.”
Hearing that, Old Master Duncan was rendered speechless.
Sensing the drop in temperature in the room, the butler quickly brought a mouthful of food to Old Master Duncan’s mouth and urged, “Try this, Old Master Duncan. This is your favorite.” The clinking sounds of cutleries could be heard throughout the dining room then as everyone else dropped their heads and gobbled up their food like they hadn’t heard a thing. Even Alexander was taking bigger mouthfuls of soup because of the change in the atmosphere.
After they were done with lunch, Courtney pulled Angie aside to talk to her about winning Old Master Duncan. Instead, she pulled out the phone in her pocket and shoved the news page in Angie’s face.
Angie’s eyes immediately darted away from Courtney’s probing eyes, and she sniffled, “There are so many Angie Grants in Melrose City! You can’t possibly be doubting me, can you?”
“I can help you if you spill now. If you don’t, I will have to call Elijah and tell him to check,” Courtney said.
“No! I will tell you—”
Courtney was the best at capturing others by their weaknesses. She had only just mentioned Elijah, and Angie’s eyes had widened in shock as she motioned for Courtney to stop. She then dragged Courtney to take a seat on the sofa.
Angie had undone her colorful dreadlocks at some point, and she now had a smooth high ponytail at the back of her head. The new hairstyle gave her a gentle and sweet look. She then started telling Courtney about the whole story as she twirled her hair around her fingers.
“So what you are telling me is… Alex, is not in a relationship with you, and he is the one pursuing you?”
Courtney turned to look at Angie and her calm gaze seemed to be testing the waters. Courtney couldn’t help but recall what had happened before after seeing Angie nod. Her eyes seemed to darken when thoughts started to enter her head.
“Angie.” Courtney continued, “You are already an adult. Neither Elijah nor I will intervene if you fancy the boy. Why don’t you go see him?”
Angie raised her head once again, only this time, her eyes had turned slightly red. Courtney’s heart seemed to quiver at the sight of Angie being vulnerable. Courtney then held her by the hands, where she was jolted back to reality by the coldness of the fingertips in her hands.
Even though Angie had grown up, she was still new to matters about relationships. However, the persistent thought that she couldn’t convince herself was as difficult to overcome as getting through a mental blockage.
Angie had tried to overcome it before, but just as she thought that she had succeeded, Elijah appeared to tell her about the divorce. In that split second, Angie felt as though all her hard work had come to naught.
An understanding look appeared on Courtney’s face then. She gripped Angie’s hands tighter before pulling her into a hug, and she promised, “I got it. I will handle it for you.”
Courtney began to feel warmth on her shoulder—it seemed that Angie had been trying her best to suppress her emotions to the point of suffering from it. Courtney suddenly softly spoke again, “Can you please hold back a little if your Great-Grandpa requests for another chess match with you? I will make you a gold belt if you want, okay?”
As Courtney had expected, Old Master Duncan sent out his butler to search for Angie. On the other hand, the Langley couple didn’t seem like they would be letting Alexander off anytime soon. So, Courtney took the chance when the family was happily mingling to leave the Duncans’ ancestral home, but not before she bid farewell to Tina.
She drove all the way to the airport, but despite circling around the airport once and getting out of her car to look around, she saw no traces of the blond man named Alex.
She went to a fast-food restaurant beside the airport to ask an employee about Alex. However, the beautiful restaurant worker’s face began to flush as she fell into a trance.
“You’re too late! I heard that he has already found his ‘Angie Grant’. Alex has also already been taken away. This ‘Angie Grant’ really is a mysterious person. There were 7 or 8 black sedans that stopped by earlier, and Mr. Housekeeper picked Alex up. Everyone is fangirling over that suit-clad Mr. Housekeeper now.”
“Mr. Housekeeper?” Courtney repeated questionably.
Completely lost in her imagination, the woman dreamily blinked her eyes and sighed, “He was such a gentleman! We don’t really know if he is a housekeeper, but that is what everyone says he is!”
After hearing her words, Courtney had to plop her forehead in her palm. She could feel her goosebumps crawling after she had organized her thoughts. She then took her phone out and gave Elijah a call.
It didn’t take long before the call connected, and his low voice came through, “What is the matter, Courtney?”
In response, she went in straight to the point. “Is that Alex boy in your car now?”
“I will handle this. You don’t have to bother with it anymore.”
Elijah’s voice sounded tired when he spoke. Without giving any further explanation, he hurriedly hung up the call.
