In Love, Never Say Never

Ashton grazed me gently on my nose. “Remember the last time he came to find you?”

I was reminded of the dinner I had with John at La Morera some time back. Not only did he get drunk, but he got Ashton drunk as well. I had assumed his moodiness was due to a couple’s fight with Hannah, so I did not probe any further.

Now that I thought about it, it was probably more than that. “Wait. Are you saying, John is not coming home not because he’s looking for help but he’s avoiding Hannah?”

“You’re heading in the right direction. Continue.”

“And since John and Hannah are not on the best of terms now, he probably wouldn’t have mentioned Uncle Louis’ news to her. This means that someone must have told Hannah about it. That person must have known she would call me for help. Naturally, I would…”

Ashton looked at me with admiration. “Looks like your brain does have some merit.”

I pursed my lips in annoyance. “That doesn’t sound like a compliment. Anyway, who exactly is going in such a roundabout manner to get us?”

He looked at me with his obsidian eyes.

“It’s the Murphys, isn’t it?”

“Smart girl!”

Knowing all this, I decided to give John a call. After that conversation with Hannah, I did not expect my call to go through. To my surprise, he answered.

“How rare is this? I thought you were having so much fun, you’ve forgotten about me.”

I chuckled at his childish remark. “I was busy with a few things. Hannah called. She told me about Uncle Louis. Are you all right?”

“Why’d she call you? There’s no need to meddle in Uncle Louis’ affair.” His voice was evidently annoyed.

“I understand. But did something happen between you and Hannah?” I could tell it was beyond a regular lovers’ quarrel.

“What else? It’s just the usual problem. Are you free tonight? Let’s go grab dinner together. I’ve been so bored by myself recently, I need someone to talk to.”

Beneath his playfulness, I could detect some weariness in his voice. “All right. Let’s have dinner together.”

“Great! I’ll text you the address.” With that, he hung up the call.

I turned to Ashton, smiling. “Shall we eat out tonight?”

“You promised him?”

I nodded.

He remained silent, which I presumed was a yes.

Right then, someone knocked on the office door. Ashton responded, “Come in!” Meanwhile, I went to his private restroom to pick a jacket for later.

“Mr. Fuller, we’ve just received some documents from Mr. Campbell. There are a few that require your endorsement. I’ll mail it back to him first thing tomorrow.”

“All right.”

After some moments of silence, I thought the secretary had left the room. To my surprise, she spoke again, “Mr. Fuller, here is an employee promotion name list compiled by the HR department. They need your approval for this. If there are any issues, you can leave a note on it.”

“Ok.” Like before, Ashton was curt with his reply.

I waited for her to leave before exiting the private restroom. While holding on to my jacket, I looked at Ashton working fast on his documents. “Do you have to finish all these by today?”

He nodded. “It’s not a lot. We’ll meet John for dinner once I’m done.”

Noticing how thick the folders were, I almost suggested going by myself, but I swallowed my words back. Then I went over to his side and picked up the name list on his desk. Seeing the few thousand over names left me speechless.

“So much for being the chairperson. How are you going to look through so many names?”

He took a glance at the list before saying, “Help me look through and circle those who have worked with us for less than three years. As for the rest, check and see whether they’ve met the promotion criteria.”

“Isn’t this a bit too careless? Although some of them haven’t worked long in Fuller Corporation, they’ve displayed exemplary performance. Shouldn’t we give those people special consideration?”

“I’ll leave it to you!”

“I…”

“After settling these, do you think I’ll still have energy left to go through every single name on the list?” It was obvious he was counting on me for this.

I pursed my lips, unable to deny his words. In the first place, I did agree to help him out. Now that he needed my assistance, there was no reason for me to reject.

In love, never say never chapter 917

A request for promotion lay among the stack of promotion documents. I opened it and read Stella’s name written boldly on it. Stella wrote in a sincere, flowing manner, carefully detailing her experience at the Fuller Corporation as well as the expectations that had been placed on her. I noticed that Stella had occupied her position for barely more than a year. However, in all her time at Fuller Corporation, she had not produced any particularly outstanding work. After careful consideration, I set Stella’s request aside.

After a while, Ashton turned to me once he’d completed all his tasks on hand. He glanced at the pile of promotion letters with interest, then picked up Stella’s cast aside one and gave it a casual once-over. Ashton then commented, “There’s no need to take this so seriously. We’ve had no lack of remarkable employees. It’s not even in the criteria for promotion anymore.’

I nodded, then looked at him curiously. “Have you been very busy lately?”

arched an eyebrow and

on you now, so it’ll be a miracle if you weren’t busy. You should be supervising the work and contributions of a few directors at most, not the

been vetted. You can take a look,” Ashton advised. I flipped through the stack accordingly and located the document.

of each individual completely unnecessary then? I felt slightly ridiculous and laughed sheepishly. “If

a hand, then pulled me up. “Sure. Leave it. I’ll come back

sneaking suspicion that Ashton

In a low, hoarse whisper,

“What kind of reward

bewildered expression, Ashton frowned. His handsome face looked almost petulant at the moment.

planted a kiss on

easily won over. The man warmed to my

couldn’t resist smiling back at him. Just then, I recalled the matter with Sally and inquired curiously, “Ashton, Mom said that she ran into Aunt Sally at the hospital. She sounds like she’s seeing someone now. Have you been in touch with her

on in years, and it must be lonely for her, living on her own. It would be good for her to have

greatly troubled by Marcus. All these years, Sally had never had the chance to do anything for herself. If Sally had indeed managed to find someone to enjoy the rest of her days with, that

hauled me out of it. Streams of employees getting off work flowed ceaselessly through the lobby. Many lingered leisurely around

a bouquet to his chest. With one knee on the ground,

closer look. The man was in the middle of a proposal, and further examination revealed the object of his affections to be Stella.

reply. She gazed helplessly

his proposal through. He gazed at her adoringly and declared, “Stella, I really do love you! Say yes, and I promise I’ll take care of you for the rest

was hollering and cheering. In just a split second, a chant picked up,

back to Justin, stating, “Justin, I don’t understand why you would propose to me. You know that I don’t love you and naturally won’t agree. Why are you fooling yourself? I’ve told you this more than once already. Please leave,

that heartfelt and moving proposal would end so tragically. A hush fell over the crowd, and

face had turned crimson with

never say never chapter

managed uncertainly. He looked immensely vulnerable, his heart having been

want me to say, then? I thought I’d refused you obviously enough. Couldn’t you

Justin hung his head, deflated. Even the vibrant bouquet he’d brandished confidently before now hung crumpled before him. Justin had bitterly wrung it in his

It has nothing to do with your money or your abilities at all. I don’t love you, pure and simple. You can go now. I’m begging you, please don’t embarrass me like that

sighed longingly. “After so many years at university, no one has ever confessed their love to me so grandly before. It only works if the person you’re proposing to love you back, of course. But I rather like this heady rush of emotions

tightened slightly. “What do you

impulsive, romantic ways of these youths. Since we’ve gotten older, I

he asked, “Are you tired of me because I’m

approaching menopause?

were old. I meant that I admired youths for their wholehearted and energetic approach to life. I’ve been motivated to live my days in the same way, rather

at me. “What wholehearted and energetic things do

speechless at his words. I should have known better than to talk about things like

brightly. “Let’s not dwell on such things! It’s getting late, and John should

away from Ashton’s

Stella’s blushing, rosy face resurfaced in my mind, and I couldn’t help

midway through his meal. Looking at the half-eaten dishes spread out over the table, as well as the nearly empty bottle of wine, I

called for a waiter to bring another round of dishes. “I had to fill my

head wordlessly at John, then sidled into the seat

answered, “There’s no concrete evidence. His superiors are biased against him. Uncle Louis has always lived an open, honest life. All the ammunition that those green-eyed monsters have against him are their own baseless rumors. There’s nothing

out another round of dishes, and we tucked in eagerly. Ashton and John fervently discussed the state of the market between glasses of wine. I had planned on asking John about his relationship with Hannah but refrained as

rose to go to the bathroom. When I emerged from the stall, I heard a woman’s voice saying, “Don’t you pity Rebecca? Her

Mr. Crest. Clearly, Mr. Quinn isn’t too picky. After all,

rich people have no morals at all. They treat women and clothing alike, to be used and

Judging by their elaborate outfits and appearance, they were probably socialites. I wasn’t part of that

what those two women had

Mr. Crest? Jared?

he ever taken a woman for

came to mind. However, Joe was practically groveling at Rebecca’s feet, so deep was his affection for her. Having gotten this opportunity to prove himself to her, why had Joe ended up offending her

reverie was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a door being flung open. A woman dressed entirely in black

automatically looked up, then

Isn’t she in W City? Why

hesitation appeared in Kristina’s gaze before she looked away. Sauntering towards the sink,

never say

momentarily taken aback by Kristina’s sudden confrontation and grasped for a reply. Finally, I said, “I’m not a fan of getting involved in

her arms akimbo. Gazing intently at me, she scoffed, “Don’t act so high and mighty. You were clearly eavesdropping. If you

my jaw and turned away. I had nothing to

such a hurry to leave? Since we’ve bumped into each other, let’s spend some time catching up. How can you

outlook on life is like. I know, however, that we’re not the same. Since you’ve already found someone, please live out the rest of your life peacefully. Stop interfering in others’ business! Besides, Summer is my daughter. Jared isn’t good enough for her, and neither are you. If you do

Jared would confess everything to you at least, but it seems now that he fully intended on keeping you in the dark. If that’s

the edge in Kristina’s voice. Bemused,

I’ll be

I had to admit that what Kristina had said threw me off slightly. I was still taking our conversation apart and puzzling it over in my head as I slowly exited

was so utterly occupied with my thoughts that I didn’t notice Ashton waiting out in the hallway. Walking straight into his arms, I gave a loud yelp, but it was already muffled by

“I was worried that something had happened to you, so I came over. What’s wrong?

in my brain. “It’s nothing. I ran into someone I know.

room, there suddenly came the sound of glass violently shattering. Ashton and

gaped at Ashton, then

pressed his lips into a thin