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 tonight," she

"Okay."

at the screen, completely puzzled. Ethan was impossible to read. Was it really him who changed

back and forth. Another 30 minutes passed, and she still couldn't bring herself to ask directly. But if she didn't ask, how was she supposed

in his study, resting his head

tell that Grace was anxious,

touched the documents in front of him for a while. When his phone buzzed again, he glanced at it but didn't

The next morning, she was immediately led to her new workstation

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

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

to work for the next two days

been holding

...

a dimly lit bar, drunkenly

He had a feeling that Grace wasn't bluffing this time and that she really wasn't coming

The realization irritated him.

as he reached for another drink, a hand pressed

been drinking a lot tonight. Is something

incident in Southbrook, he had been paying far more attention to Grace than before. She wasn't as weak and useless as he

a beautiful woman, and she used to treat him well

not drinking because of my sister, are you?" Alice asked, her tone light but probing. "She messaged me earlier. She said she's sure you'd

had always been the one in control. There was no way

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

enough, Yancey immediately straightened up. "She really

under Yancey's skin. That wouldn't do. She needed to get

probably just trying to get under my skin

there was a flicker of smugness in his eyes. As he had expected,

him out of the bar and into her

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

She wanted every

eyes locked onto Alice. Men often didn't need