As a global conglomerate, the Griffith Group had maintained business relationships with entities in
various countries. On that particular day, Alexander brought Elise to an upscale French restaurant and
they saw their guests the moment they stepped into the private dining hall-a group of French people.
The moment Alexander entered, the French people were joyful and they enthusiastically greeted him
whereas Elise shot him a glance and understood his hint. Then, she started to interpret for both sides
and her fluency in the language was more than conversational as she had spent some time abroad.
His gaze had intermittently swept past her throughout the course of the dinner. It was then he realized
that she had a captivating charm.
When Elise saw that the meal was almost over, she whispered to Alexander, “I’ll head to the
washroom.”
He slightly nodded, thus allowing her to excuse herself from the hall. After she left, the guests couldn’t
help but ask him in French, “Alex, what’s with you today? Why were you quiet during the meal? The
missus was the only one speaking to us.”
Alexander smiled beguilingly as he slowly replied in fluent French, “She’s my assistant. Since she’s
unfamiliar with the operations, I was giving her a training opportunity earlier.”
The French guests exchanged looks with each other and grinned. “So, she’s only your assistant, Alex?
I clearly saw how you looked at her just now, though. I thought she was your girlfriend.”
Upon hearing the term ‘girlfriend’, Alexander oddly didn’t feel repulsive because he seemed to agree
that it was a suitable nickname for Elise.
He fell silent and took a huge sip of the wine in front of him. The French were always passionate,
sensual and especially open-minded when it came to relationships. When they saw Alexander agreeing
with them in silence, they couldn’t help but joke with him. “Alex! It looks like the missus’ identity is not
as simple as you said! I think you should be more courageous to meet the true love of your life.”
The wine didn’t smoothly slide down his throat because the moment he heard their words of
encouragement, he choked on his wine.
It so happened that Elise was back from her trip to the washroom. She could sense that something had
shifted in the air the moment she entered the hall, but she quickly handed him a tissue regardlessly.
“Are you alright?”
Alexander looked up and met her clear eyes that sparkled with his reflection in them. As it reminded
him of the ‘advice’ from his guests, it caused him to hurriedly look away and reply, “I’m okay.”
She could feel that he was acting in a strange manner, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what went
wrong.
The amused guests looked like they had made a new discovery. As they were about to speak,
Alexander swiftly handed them the bottle of wine and smiled knowingly before he downed the contents
in his glass.
His abrupt action was clear-he wanted to prevent them from exposing him.
Since it wasn’t their first time collaborating with him, they exchanged grins as they were elated to
witness him losing his composure. No one was stopping him and by the end of the event, he had
already downed more than he could handle.
In the end, Elise had to support Alexander as they walked out of the restaurant, which made her pant
from the exertion. “Why did you drink so much?” she grumbled as she couldn’t hold back her
annoyance, to which he simply commented, “I haven’t had so much fun in a long time. I am only feeling
a bit dizzy.”
She replied, “How could you not be dizzy after all the drinking? Stand still for now. I’m calling a cab.”
He grunted and was about to stand straight when he lost his balance a second later, leaving him with
no choice but to lean against her.
It left her at the end of her wits. After hailing a cab with her phone, she brought him back to the
apartment.
It was with much effort that Elise finally hauled Alexander into the unit and the action of doing so had
exhausted her. She leaned against the wall for a short rest and wanted to reach out for the light switch.
Much to her surprise, his body fell toward her and she hurried over to hold him. As she failed to catch
him, she watched as he fell flat onto her and sent them crashing to the ground.
She was still reeling from the pain when she heard a loud thud somewhere. A pair of warm lips pressed
themselves against hers in the middle of the dark, causing her eyes to widen in shock as she stared at
the enlarged face in front of her. Her nose was filled with a unique masculine scent, after which she
shoved him away carelessly in a frantic manner. “Alexander, what are you doing?”
Alas, he had too much to drink and he was slumped on his side as he leaned against the wall limply.
Elise quickly wiped her lips and forced herself to rise from the floor. As she left Alexander behind, she
rushed to the bedroom and stared at her reflection in the mirror while regrets washed over her.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh! What was that?! Elise, that was your first kiss! It’s gone just like that!”.
She sounded so regretful that she badly wanted to repeatedly cleanse her lips.
Even though the corners of her mouth had turned red from the rigorous wiping, she still refused to stop.
After what seemed like an eternity, she took a deep breath to calm down. “It will be fine. Elise Sinclair,
just forget what happened before. Act like nothing has happened.”
Despite her attempts to convince herself, the earlier scene was still playing itself in Elise’s mind. She
finally lost her cool and cursed in desperation, “Dammit! What the heck was that?”
As she had lost her mood to care for Alexander, she left him asleep on the floor until late after midnight
when she felt a little sorry for him. She headed out of the bedroom to take a peek and found him still on
the floor. Now that she was feeling sorry for him, she caved in and dragged him to his bedroom.
The next morning, Elise woke up almost close to noon and rummaged for her phone. When she
realized that it was already 11:00AM in the morning, she washed up and exited the bedroom. She saw
Alexander seated on the couch and furiously typing away on his laptop.
“You’re awake?” he asked. When she heard his voice, she was instantly transported to the scene last
night, which irritated her to no end.
When he didn’t receive any answer, he looked up at her and closed his laptop. “I had too much to drink
last night, so it must have been tough for you.”
Elise then glared at him sharply before she couldn’t help but complain, “Good that you know it! Do you
know how much effort I used to get you home? I was so exhausted!”
At the sight of her animated expression, Alexander unknowingly broke into an almost unnoticeable
smile that would easily be missed. “My mind went completely blank last night. I didn’t cross a line, did
I?”
Upon hearing that, she had wanted to retort, but she resisted and coldly replied, “No,”
Alexander looked reassured after hearing Elise’s reply. When he first woke up, some vague memories
lingered in his mind and he was worried that he had crossed a line. Come to think of it, he found his
reaction after he drank the alcohol rather odd. He rarely was tipsy even after downing many glasses of
wine on normal occasions, but last night was an
exception. I totally blacked out! I think I need to cut down on drinking next time.
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