Regret Came Too Late

Grace tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. Finally, she grabbed her phone and started searching online. "My boss bathed me. Are we still in a purely professional relationship?"

"I passed out from period cramps and woke up to find out that my boss changed my pants and bathed me. What do I do?"

She posted both questions in a forum, but even after hitting send, her body still felt unbearably hot.

The thought of going to work tomorrow and facing Ethan made her nervous.

It didn't take long before replies flooded in.

"Are you sure this is just your boss and not your boyfriend?"

"My boyfriend doesn't even treat me this well. Your boss definitely likes you."

"Forget boyfriends, even my husband isn't this considerate. You don't seem to mind it that much. Why not just be with him?"

"Your relationship is definitely no longer just professional."

Grace quickly replied, "He has absolutely no interest in me."

That comment was immediately met with disbelief.

"How is that possible? You're seriously slow when it comes to relationships. How does he treat others compared to how he treats you?"

"He's cold to others. He's cold to me too."

"Yeah, because bathing you during your period is totally something a cold person would do."

Grace felt speechless. She hesitated for a long time before opening Ethan's contact. She finally sent a message.

Mr. Henderson, are you still awake?"

It took ten minutes before he replied, "No."

for

"Okay."

by his reply. She stared at the screen, completely puzzled. Ethan was impossible to read.

minutes passed, and she still couldn't bring herself to ask

Ethan sat in his study, resting his head on one hand

that Grace was anxious, even through the

touched the documents in front of him for a while. When his phone buzzed again, he glanced at

stayed restless until dawn. The next morning, she was immediately led to her new workstation by Tim upon arriving on the top floor

a particularly special location, but anyone heading into Ethan's office would have

focusing on work, she couldn't stop thinking about how she would handle seeing Ethan. But

come to work for the next two days

been holding onto

...

in a dimly lit

without consulting him, and she wasn't taking his calls. He had a feeling that Grace wasn't bluffing this time and that she

The realization irritated him.

reached for another drink, a

drinking a

had been paying far more attention to Grace than before. She wasn't as weak

she used to

asked, her tone light but probing. "She messaged me earlier. She said she's sure you'd change

knew Yancey too well. In his relationship with Grace, he had always been the one

he believed this was just another one of Grace's games, any trace of hesitation he felt would

immediately straightened up.

Grace had managed to get under Yancey's skin. That wouldn't do. She

skin since

bitch," Yancey spat, but there was a flicker of smugness in his eyes.

out of the bar and

earlier. Sloan had been infatuated with her for a long time, and she had never outright rejected him.

heir to the Sidler family, he had status. She wanted every man

helping Yancey into the car, Sloan lingered, his eyes locked