Next One Is a Babe

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As such, Ian sounded even frostier as he bit out, “Oh, really? I couldn’t tell.”

Yulia would have to be an ignoramus to miss the hostility in his tone. She had been in the entertainment industry long enough to sense that a conversation was about to take a sour turn, so she began to explain with implication, “Wel, I only called to tell you that the director and I were talking about you for a bit, but otherwise, it was a pleasant coincidence seeing you.”

He went along with her friendly front as he muttered flatly, “Yes, a coincidence indeed. Didn’t think I’d run into you there.”

Without wasting any more time on small talk, she decided to put a halt to what she was about to tell him, given his defensive attitude at the moment. As such, she made a breezy remark about wanting to check on him and see how he was doing, then hung up the phone after claiming that she meant nothing more by this phone call.

When the call had ended, Cindy let out a displeased scoff. “And here I thought she was being annoying when she acted all high and mighty with us, but now that she isn’t, I find her even more irritating than before.”

This cheered Ian up in record time. Grinning, he placated, “Okay, let’s forget about this, shall we? No point dwelling on it.”

She pursed her lips and did not retort, after which the both of them resumed their meal.

While eating, Cindy could no longer resist making a sharp remark or two and her voice was like ice this time. “You know, I saw her driving over to the set today and I didn’t think it was her at first. The sports car she was driving was flashy and she looked pretty good in her attire. In fact, don’t you think she looked different today than she usually does?”

Ian hadn’t noticed what Yulia was wearing today and he paused when he heard Cindy’s rant. “Did she dress differently? I didn’t notice. What was she wearing?”

Upon hearing this, Cindy felt the knot in her stomach loosen.

She believed him when he said he hadn’t noticed the way Yulia dressed today because he normally wouldn’t lie about things like this. As such, her tight expression softened as she mumbled, “Forget it, then. There’s no point telling you what she was wearing; you weren’t paying enough attention to understand.”

With that, she went on with her meal, seemingly appeased. Ian, on the other hand, looked up and kept his gaze on her for a moment, then smiled indulgently.

He didn’t think soothing a girl’s riled-up feelings was particularly difficult. It wasn’t a circus trick and one only needed to know the right things to say and do.

He thought this side of Cindy to be endearing. She used to be above all this, but now that he had seen her jealousy and her overprotectiveness, he found it heartwarming.

They ate their meal in comfortable silence before they sat together on the couch to watch television. At this moment, Ian’s phone rang again and it really was Simon this time.

Ian begrudgingly wondered what was so important that Simon felt compelled to repeatedly call him. Not wanting to dodge any more phone calls, Ian answered, “Hello?”

Simon considerably relaxed on the other line when he heard Ian’s voice. When he spoke, he sounded far more courteous than he had ever been with Ian. “Ian,” he greeted. “Are you busy right now?”