Chapter 163 How Magnanimous
“Is this why you’re upset? What did Mikayla tell you?” Alexander looked at Courtney with a complicated expression. When he couldn’t find her anywhere last night, his first reaction was that she might have learned something. After all, he only discovered that Mikayla was the president of SG Eastern Branch after she spent several days in the hotel.
“She didn’t say anything to me.” Courtney laughed self-deprecatingly. “She doesn’t like me very much. After all, she is your childhood friend and legitimate fiancée. A person you love; what does she need to tell me? All she needs to do is stand by your side. You’re a good match for each other.”
“Courtney.” He cut her off, then unhappily continued, “Do you know what you’re saying?”
“I don’t know.” She turned away and refused to look at him.
“Let’s go to your office if you want to know about my past with Mikayla. I will tell you everything. But, I don’t like women being unreasonable. You are not this kind of person either.”
Upon hearing those words, she clenched her fists tightly. She spent the whole night constructing all sorts of ideas, but it all fell apart the moment she saw him. The loss of reasoning immediately turned her into an unreasonable and bitter woman. Even if she agreed that she was acting just as he described, she couldn’t help feeling as if a knife was stabbing into her heart when she heard him saying those words. Thus, she quickly entered the elevator. “Forget it; I’m not in the mood for this. Let’s talk next time.” Avoiding him is good too. I need some time to digest what I heard last night.
Oliver’s luggage was packed and ready to go—it was an 18-inch suitcase that was easy to carry around. Courtney absent-mindedly listened to Oliver telling her about his overall itinerary; she barely heard anything he said.
“You don’t look too good today. Are you feeling unwell?” Oliver frowned as he looked at her. His eyes were filled with concern.
“I’m fine.” She pulled her thoughts back to the present and changed the topic. “By the way, what time did you say your flight was this afternoon? I’ll send you to the airport.”
“It’s okay. It’s at 3 PM; you won’t be able to make it.”
“No problem.” She smiled faintly. “I only need to apply for leave.”
After leaving Oliver’s place, Courtney returned to her office directly to work. As she was passing by the office area, the usual morning-shift employees had more or less arrived. However, she couldn’t help feeling as if they were giving her strange looks while greeting her. When she opened the door to her office, she immediately understood the reason behind those strange looks—not only did Alexander not leave, but he also came to her office to wait for her.
“Why are you here?” She held the door open with a dazed expression.
“I wanted to talk to you about what happened last night. If you want everybody outside to listen to our conversation, I don’t mind talking to you with the door open.”
Taken aback for a moment, she subconsciously glanced behind her. The entire office area was so quiet that one could hear the son of a pin dropping. Everybody was surreptitiously trying to listen in on their conversation. Frowning, she closed the door behind her. “What do you want to talk about?”
“I didn’t know that Vivian was Mikayla until yesterday,” he said bluntly. First and foremost, he had to explain that he was unaware of the connection between Mikayla and SG.
When she heard those words, her expression eased slightly. Still, she remained silent.
Then he continued explaining. “As for why I didn’t tell you about my past… If you want to know about it, I have nothing to hide from you. Mikayla and I are just friends. Or rather, we are like siblings to each other. My father liked her a lot when he was still alive, and I used to be engaged to her. However, my father passed away and she wanted to marry somebody else. Hence, the engagement was broken.”
The situation was more or less similar to the way Gale had described it, but it made her uncomfortable listening to it.
“I don’t like being misunderstood. So, I need to clear the air between us before I leave.”
“Leave?” Courtney lifted her head and asked, “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to Kyoto to discuss a real estate development project. I won’t be coming back for a while.” Alexander’s deep and low voice echoed in the office.
The moment he told her that he was leaving on a business trip, the jealousy and the uncomfortable feeling that had been weighing down on her heart disappeared without a trace. The sudden weight that disappeared left her feeling a little lost.
“Do you have anything else to ask me?” he asked.
She looked at him. Hesitating for a long while, she shook her head in the end. She already knew everything she needed to know. All that was left was the unease in her heart. Whether Alexander would get back together with Mikayla was not something she could control. Similarly, whether or not she could work through her emotions was not up to her.
“My flight is at 2 PM this afternoon.” Alexander walked toward her with a complicated expression. “I hope that you can tell me about your past when I return. You can ask me all about myself, and I would like to know all about you too.”
He had investigated her before their relationship became intimate. However, the information on her was unclear, especially during her time abroad. It felt like somebody had erased or changed it. Even though Josh put a lot of effort into investigating her, he could not obtain the truth. Compared to the past Alexander had no intention to hide, she seemed to hold more secrets during the few years she spent overseas.
After Alexander left, Courtney sat alone in her office and sorted out her thoughts.
The past few months felt like a dream. Everything had happened so quickly, and her original plans had been completely disrupted. As time passed, she became more and more uncertain as to whether she should tell Alexander that she was the surrogate mother back then. After all, the time they spent together was too short. Just when she thought he had feelings for her, Mikayla appeared suddenly. Mikayla’s presence served to remind her that she was not the only woman in this world that he was affectionate toward. Thus, it easily broke the confidence she had been building.
The urgent ringing of her phone interrupted her thoughts.
“Courtney, I heard something from Gale.” Cameron’s voice came through the phone. It was rare for her voice to sound so serious. “Mentally prepare yourself.”
“Tell me.”
“Mikayla’s family seems to have approached Old Master Duncan in the past two days. They plan to bring up the marriage talks from back then.”
“Is that so? That’s not really unexpected.” Courtney sighed in relief; she did not take this matter seriously. When it came to marriage, Scott could not decide for Alexander. Whomever Alexander wanted to marry, or whether he intended to marry or not… was his own decision to make.
“How magnanimous of you,” Cameron yelled from the other side of the phone. If you are really thinking about yourself, you should go back home and ask your father for some dowry as soon as possible. In any case, not asking for a dowry is such a waste. I heard from Gale that Mikayla’s family has put in a lot of investment this time. Shares, shops, real estate… They’ve prepared it all. They plan to do their best to marry their daughter into the Duncan Family.”
“Aren’t they simply planning to sell their daughter to get back some money?” Courtney laughed. “Do you take me for a fool?”
“How can you laugh about this?!” Cameron sounded shocked. Then, she corrected Courtney, “Don’t get it wrong; that’s called making an investment.”
“Didn’t you ask me to break up with him last night? You were saying that such a man isn’t worth sacrificing myself for.”
“But, he didn’t really do anything wrong during this incident. It’s just that he didn’t tell you anything in advance. Besides, telling you in advance would have been useless too. That would simply make you panic in advance.”
