Next One Is a Babe

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Logan clicked his tongue in mock disapproval. “You know you give in to his whims too much, don’t you? He needs to make an honest woman out of you instead of letting you waste your youth on him like this!”

Cindy said nothing and pretended to be really interested in the 3D projections.

After a moment of thought, Logan added, “Do you have that much faith in Ian? I’m sure there are plenty of gorgeous women in his line of work, and you’d do well to keep an eye on him, or he’d pull a fast one and stab you in the back.”

Upon hearing this, she bridled and immediately spoke up in Ian’s defense, “No, he won’t. He’s not like that.”

Chuckling, Logan went on to tease, “You must like him a whole lot to speak up for him like that, even when it comes to these things.” He sighed wistfully at this. “Ah, to be in love. It’s a good thing, and I commend you for it.”

She avoided looking at him and turned to gaze into a far spot, though a flush was already creeping across her cheeks and the tips of her ears felt hot.

Meanwhile, Ian had been sitting downstairs, and he was beginning to space out when Aurora called him.

A little frustrated, he glanced at the flashing screen and pondered on whether he should answer the call. He was reluctant but worried that Aurora might have an ultimatum if he didn’t pick up.

After all, she knew of his long-standing strife with Bryce. She would only jump to conclusions and presume that a fight had broken out between him and Bryce if her calls weren’t getting through.

Having thought about this, Ian sighed tiredly and answered her call, but she asked urgently on the other line before he could even greet her, “Ian! Did he hurt you? You took a while to answer my call!”

Of course she would jump to the worst possible scenario. With a resigned smile, Ian said, “No, he didn’t hurt me. At his age, he should be lucky that I haven’t hurt him in any way. I’ve left the hospital, and I’m at Logan’s place.”

Aurora made a noise of surprise, then pressed further, “When did you leave? What did you talk about? How was he? Did he seem okay to you? Do you think I could go over and make him so angry that he’d drop dead out of rage?”

Ian considered this. “No, I don’t think so. Your plan might backfire, and you’d end up dropping dead out of rage instead.” Indeed, if Aurora had been there when Bryce said all those things, she would have throttled him.

Presently, Aurora was incensed. “For heaven’s sake, is that old fart so intent on keeping me under his thumb?” She scoffed angrily, then asked, “I take it that he’s met Cindy? He didn’t give her a hard time or say anything condescending to her, did he?”

“No, he was actually kind of nice to her,” Ian admitted. He had been surprised by how chivalrous and pleasant Bryce was to Cindy. Given the man’s arrogance and contemptuous demeanor, Ian had been convinced that he would only look down his nose at Cindy’s humble background.

As it turned out, Ian had been wrong; Bryce was rather courteous during his short exchange with Cindy, so much so that if they had been under ordinary circumstances, one might even think he had accepted Cindy as a prospective daughter-in-law.

That being said, there was no telling if Bryce only said such kind things to Cindy because he had truly meant them, or if he simply didn’t care who Ian ended up with.