Chapter 517 Do I Have a Reason to Reject It?
“I’m not interested,” Elise muttered and was about to hang up the call.
“Don’t reject me so fast, Miss Anderson. Perhaps I can give you a surprise tomorrow night, just like how I did during yesterday’s banquet,” Kenneth profoundly answered.
Elise had to admit that he had caught hold of her weak spot.
Or rather, Kenneth’s aim from the very beginning had been tomorrow’s gathering. The USB flash drive that he gave her at the Anderson Residence was only to initiate a better return, so that she would believe that he had the ability to easily resolve her dire situation.
She could feel an invisible net enveloping her, whereby the other end of the net was within Kenneth’s hand. He was slowly pulling the net in an attempt to capture her.
Nonetheless, she had never been one to be afraid of challenges. Even if her efforts would be in vain, she would risk everything to seek for what she wanted.
After a brief silence, Elise caved in. “It’s a deal. Send me the address and time.” She then ended the call without waiting for Kenneth to reply.
Ironically, the moment she hung up the call, Tom’s message popped up.
‘Miss Sinclair, why did you end the call so soon?’
‘Don’t worry, I won’t get it wrong this time.’
‘The Saunders Family sent us an invitation to Celina’s birthday banquet tomorrow. Should I go?’
‘Miss Sinclair, do you find me annoying?’
Yes, you are indeed quite annoying, Elise thought. The Saunders Family is clearly up to something. It seems like Celina dislikes me a lot. However, a mere Celina is unworthy for me to waste time on her.
She tapped open her WhatsApp in an attempt to ask Tom to give her some time to think it through before making a decision, but she saw an unread message in her correspondence with Austin.
When she tapped it open, the message was about the Saunders Family’s birthday banquet.
He texted, ‘Accompany us to the Saunders Family’s birthday banquet tomorrow night.’
It was a notice, without any intention to ask for her opinion, but he naturally included Faye under the term ‘us’.
As Elise stared at the brief message, she snickered and wasn’t bothered to reply.
At this moment, she happened to see Kenneth’s message, so she replied, ‘I have an appointment tomorrow. Get someone else as your female date.’
Kenneth texted, ‘What appointment? Who has the guts to snatch my date?’
Her gaze was cold when she saw that. He sure thinks highly of himself.
‘What time? Where? Maybe the time doesn’t clash. Doing only a single thing a day is a waste of time.’
‘2:00PM tomorrow at the International Center. It will end by 6:00PM. How about your side, Miss Anderson? Considering how sincere I am now, would you give me a chance?’
As she didn’t reply to him, an unrelenting Kenneth sent another three messages, which instantly flooded the tiny chat box.
Hence, when Kenneth’s message that stated ‘Are you sure that we should continue to chat like this?’ popped up, Elise immediately agreed that they shouldn’t. There wasn’t any special reason; it was just that she disliked him spamming the chat box with messages.
Almost instantaneously, he gave her a WhatsApp call and she answered it on loudspeaker. “I don’t buy what you said—if it’s just a gathering, you don’t necessarily need me to be your female date.”
“You may not believe it, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a lie. Miss Anderson, I don’t mind using Smith Co.’s network to search for your lost doctor friend; treat this as an extra gift. How does that sound?” Kenneth asked in a serious tone.
Elise sank into a deep thought. He mentioned my doctor friend, which could only refer to Claude. The fact that Smith Co. was able to locate Clemence shows that the company shouldn’t be underestimated. Since this deal won’t bring any losses to me, why don’t I agree to his request?
“How could I possibly reject your generous offer?” she responded, to which he chuckled.
“I’m curious about one thing—aren’t you afraid that you won’t be able to recover your capital after investing so much resources on me?” Elise asked in a menacing tone. The way she phrased it was rather clever. She deliberately revealed that she might go back on her words; she might even enjoy Kenneth’s one-sided commitment without the intention of repaying his help.
“There’s a saying in Cittadel that goes ‘every dollar that I spent comes back to me multiplied’. I’m confident that I’ll earn my spent resources again, but it’s impossible to find another exceptional date like you, Miss Anderson. I don’t like leaving things half-done and even hate giving up without trying. Therefore, I’ll do my very best to change your mind. All I hope is that you won’t be bothered by me and push me away from your heart,” Kenneth confessed in a rare sincere manner.
“You sure are a smooth talker.” Then, she killed the call.
The Saunders Family visited Elise that night. As she greeted the guests at the door, she looked down at the middle-aged man in a tuxedo from the top of the stairs. “How should I address you?”
“I’m Gabriel Saunders, the butler of the Saunders Family.” The man bowed at her politely.
“Mr. Saunders, how can I help you?” She wore an innocent expression.
He handed her a delicate-looking gift box that he had been holding earlier. “Miss Celina understands that the Anderson Family is busy with something else, so she’s afraid that you guys won’t be able to find the time to prepare a gown. Hence, she has specially prepared these for you and Miss Faye; she has even instructed us to personally hand this to you.”
She raised her eyebrow. Celina was kicked out of the mall because of me two days ago and she has forgotten about the incident and is now showing kindness to me? I smell a rat.
However, Elise hid her true feelings well and behaved as though she was delighted to hear that. She deliberately and hastily snatched the gift box to impatiently open it.
“Oh, God, this looks gorgeous!” Elise seemed to have been enticed by the gown.
Gabriel sneered upon seeing that. Celina made a big deal out of it. She’s merely an innocently stupid girl who hasn’t gone out to see the outside world. How formidable could she be?
He lowered his eyes and stated in a seemingly sincere manner, “It’s great that you are willing to accept the gift. Being able to see you showing up in the gown that Miss Celina gave will be the best gift for her.”
Elise wore a smile. “For real? That’s nice to hear. I was worried that she may dislike the gift that I picked for her. How about I give this clothing a wash so that it will be cleaner tomorrow? What do you think?”
“Cough.” He placed his fist by his lips and impatiently muttered, “There’s no need for that, Miss Anderson. Didn’t the Anderson Family ever tell you that a banquet gown is only meant to be worn once? There’s no need to wash it.”
“Oh, I see. I’m just not accustomed to this.” She smiled to conceal the awkwardness.
“No worries. Just remember to show up in the gown. You’ll be fine by then.” Gabriel paused for a moment. As he was unable to stifle the urge to comfort her, he added, “You are still young, so nobody will blame you even if you embarrass yourself.” She had a face that was pleasing to the eyes, so even he couldn’t help but take a liking to her.
“I understand. Thank you, Mr. Saunders!”
“It’s nothing.” Gabriel nodded and said nothing else.
Elise watched as his car disappeared into the alley while the innocent expression on her face also disappeared.
She indifferently carried the box and returned inside, unable to resist the urge to applaud herself for the perfect act of feigning stupidity earlier. At this rate, I can consider joining the entertainment circle.
