“Yes, sir,” Chad responded.
Soon after, a cup of coffee was placed in front of Elliot.
As Chad exited the room, he bumped into Chelsea who was on her way over.
She was not wearing any makeup, and her face looked unusually haggard.
Chat approached her, intending to speak to her, but in the end, he said nothing.
Chelsea entered Elliot’s office and shut the door behind her.
“I’m sorry, Elliot,” she said in a hoarse voice as she stood in front of Elliot. “This was all due to my
brother’s scheme. He knew that you were still recovering, so he made you go up that hill. It’s an
especially steep hill. We don’t usually go up there ourselves. He wanted you dead.”
Elliot stared silently at her pale face, then said, “I know.”
“I’m sorry. He won’t apologize to you. He already left the country,” Chelsea said through the lump in her
throat. “Please forgive my family, Elliot. My father’s getting old, and I’m afraid he won’t be able to
handle the backlash. If you have to punish someone, then punish me. I’ll take it all without question.”
Elliot continued to stare at her in silence.
It was as if he was seeing her for the first time.
She always had on the most immaculate makeup and only presented her best self to him.
“I appreciate how you’ve stayed by my side all these years, Chelsea,” he finally said in a soft voice that
was void of emotion. “Leave the company and never appear in front of me again. If you can do that,
then I’ll leave your family alone.”
Tears streamed down Chelsea’s face as she digested Elliot’s words.
It was over!
Things were completely over between them!
She took a deep breath and tried to hold back her tears, but they were uncontrollable, and they
continued to escape her eyes.
She took one final, deep look at Elliot, then turned and ran out of the room.
Once Chelsea was out of the building, it was Ben’s turn to walk into Elliot’s office.
He knew that Elliot would not want to hear a word about Chelsea, so he did not mention her.
“Your birthday is coming up next week, Elliot. If you don’t want to have a party at a hotel,
then let’s organize something small at home,” Ben suggested.
Elliot took a sip of his coffee, then said coldly, “Forget it.”
He hated crowds and never celebrated his birthday.
“Avery already prepared your birthday present, though. How is she supposed to give it to you if you
don’t have a party? You should know that what she’s giving you isn’t something you can get with
money,” Ben said, throwing out the bait.
Elliot wanted to pretend like he did not care, but the look in his eyes gave him away
“She knitted a sweater for you! She’s been working on it all day and all night just so she could get it
ready in time for your birthday,” Ben continued. “Don’t you want to see it for yourself? I don’t think any
girl has ever knitted you a sweater with their own hands before!”
Elliot did not like wearing sweaters because he found them troublesome.
The long process of knitting a whole sweater was even more troublesome!
In his eyes, it was foolish of anyone to do something like that.
However, he would never call Avery foolish.
If she gave him a sweater, he would accept it.
“I know you don’t like crowds,” Ben said. “It’ll just be lunch with a few of the guys.”
Elliot’s brows furrowed, and Ben realized that he had forgotten to mention the most important guest.
“Oh, of course, Avery would be there, too,” he added quickly. “Since she’s already prepared a gift for
you, she’ll definitely join us. Should we do it at your place or at a restaurant?”
“Restaurant,” Elliot replied curtly.
“Got it! I’ll go make the reservation right away! Should I let Avery know or will you?”
“You do it.”
Ben stroked his chin and said, “Haven’t you two been in touch at all? Why not? Jun told me that she
kept wanting to go see you…”
“She never did,” Elliot said in a muffled voice.
One could tell just from his breathing that he was upset.
Ben never expected that Elliot was always waiting for Avery to make the first move.
“I bet she’s been busy knitting your sweater! It’s not exactly an easy task, plus it’s her first time making
one… Now that I think about it, didn’t you hate wearing sweaters?” At that thought, Ben let his thoughts
run wild and added, “Why don’t you give it to me once
she’s done knitting it? I’ve never worn a hand-knitted sweater before!”
Elliot’s expression remained still as he said, “You remembered wrong. I love wearing sweaters.
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