Elise’s cheeks turned beet red. She wanted to explain herself, but she ended up going along with
Alexander’s words since she didn’t know what else to say. “Yeah. Since I’m here, let’s confirm some of
the details regarding our partnership, Mr. Smith.”
Tiffany Smith, who was sitting beside Alexander, didn’t seem pleased by Elise’s suggestion. “You
agreed to sing a few songs with me today, Alexander! Since we’re out for some fun, let’s not talk about
work-related matters, okay?”
“That’s right! Let’s not talk about work as it’s pretty rare for us to spend our leisure time together. Since
Miss Sinclair is here, let’s all have a few drinks together! We’ll enjoy ourselves, just for tonight!”
Theodore said with a wide grin. However, Alexander merely smirked after hearing their words.
“I’m sure you know that Miss Sinclair owns the largest portion of Griffith Group’s shares now, Mr. Smith.
Whatever Miss Sinclair says should take precedence. Since she’s here today, I don’t think it would be
right for me to use work as an excuse to enjoy myself.” Theodore quickly understood what Alexander
meant.
“All of us are really busy with work in the daytime, Miss Sinclair. It’s such a rare opportunity for us to
relax a little! Why don’t we have a few drinks before we start our discussion? We can talk about our
companies’ partnership a while later.” Theodore chuckled and glanced at Elise before he reached over
and held onto her arm.
He led her to a spot beside Alexander. Elise was about to protest, but Theodore didn’t give her the
chance to say anything. He simply called for the waiter and ordered a few more bottles of alcohol. Elise
shot Alexander a glance, only to see him gazing at her with a rather enigmatic look in his eyes.
Something seemed to click in her mind at that very moment. “Mr. Smith, don’t you think we should
settle our contract before having our drinks? We’d be able to enjoy even more that way!” Ultimately,
Theodore was too impatient to listen to Elise’s constant talk about their partnership and the contract.
He finally gave in.
“Miss Sinclair. Will we get to enjoy our drinks and music once we sign this contract?” She nodded. “Of
course! We can only say that we’ve formed a partnership once we sign the contracts, right? I’ll only feel
safer once we document our agreement in black and white.” “Fine, Miss Sinclair! Hand me the contract.
We’ve pretty much discussed all of the details with your company, so I’m sure the contract will look fine
to me. We can sign it now,” Theodore uttered impatiently. Elise hadn’t expected Theodore to be so
compliant. After sending Alexander a glance, she pulled a contract out of her office bag and handed it
over to Theodore.
“Take a look at this, Mr. Smith.” Theodore directly flipped to the last page of the contract and scribbled
his signature on it. “There! We’re done now, aren’t we, Miss Sinclair?” The smile on Elise’s face
blossomed like a flower. “Of course, Mr. Smith! Cheers.” She held a glass up and clinked it against
Theodore’s before she finished her entire drink.
A grin spread across Theodore’s face. “You’re an independent woman indeed, Miss Sinclair. I respect
you for that.” He finished his drink before he turned to glance at Alexander. “Miss Sinclair is no regular
woman, huh, Mr. Griffith? I hesitated for a long while as I was uncertain if I wanted to sign the contract,
yet it only took her a few sentences to convince me to sign the papers.
She’s a special lady indeed.” “You must be joking, Mr. Smith. Of course, Miss Sinclair is the central
figure of Griffith Group, but I’m sure it was her sincerity that made you so willing to sign the contract,”
Alexander replied politely. Theodore chuckled once more. “It’s more than that!
To be honest, one reason I agreed to this is because of my precious sister. Her feelings toward you are
so obvious that even I, as her brother, couldn’t bear to stand around and watch her! I had to do
something!” Tiffany seemed rather embarrassed by his words. “What are you talking about,
Theodore?!”
Theodore hastily stopped himself from saying anything else. “Alright! I won’t make any further
comments! You know yourself best.” When Tiffany shifted her gaze toward Alexander, her cheeks were
as red as a tomato. Her large, shining eyes were fixed upon Alexander’s side profile as she spoke.
“You don’t need to listen to my brother, Alexander. You’ve always occupied a large space in my heart.”
Alexander narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying that I’ve gained weight, Miss Smith? You make me
sound as if I’m taking up all of the space in there.” He spoke in a rather playful tone, and it managed to
resolve the awkward atmosphere that had built up in the room.
“I guess you could think of it that way,” Tiffany said with a soft giggle. I don’t think I’m needed
here, Elise thought. At that moment, she received a call from Samantha, which gave her the perfect
reason to excuse herself. “I have other matters to handle, Mr. Griffith. I should leave now.”
Theodore stopped her the moment she finished speaking. “I’d feel rather offended if you left, Miss
Sinclair. You’re asking to leave when you just sat down! Did you just come here to sign the contract?
Are you ignoring me now that the paperwork is done?” “You’ve misunderstood me, Mr. Smith.
That’s not what I meant to do at all.” Elise hastily attempted to clear her name. He interrupted her
words. “If that’s not what you meant to do, then you shouldn’t be in a rush to leave. Let’s have a couple
more drinks.” Elise had no choice at this point. She gave Alexander a pleading stare hoping that he
would intervene, but he merely smirked at her without saying anything.
In the end, Elise could only send Samantha a text explaining the situation she was caught in. Minutes
later, Samantha showed up with Riley and Mikayla beside her. The three of them rushed into the room.
“Are you okay, Elise?!” Samantha cried. The sight of three young and pretty ladies made Theodore’s
eyes widen.
“Could these girls be your friends, Miss Smith?” he asked with a broad smile on his face. Samantha
simply strode toward Elise before grabbing her arm. “Let’s leave now, Elise.” Elise felt a weight lift off
her shoulders as she took the first few steps to head out of the room. However, Theodore stopped
them before that could happen.
“Since you ladies are here, why don’t you guys just join our room? It’s more fun than just a few of you
girls being together in a room—all of us would enjoy more company!” Without any hesitation, Samantha
stepped forward to protect Elise. “We’re not interested in joining you guys!
You look like someone with bad intentions!” Elise felt the urge to give Samantha a thumbs up. It was
the first time anyone had ever criticized Theodore for having bad intentions, and for some odd reason,
he found himself attracted to Samantha’s personality. “Hey, young lady. We’re all out here for some fun.
Do you have to make me sound so bad? Since we got the chance to bump into one another, why don’t
we exchange our phone numbers?” Samantha’s face darkened as she felt she was being teased by the
man. “I’m not interested in exchanging numbers. Let’s go, Elise.”
Theodore was about to stop them again, but Alexander called him just in time. “Let’s have a drink now,
Mr. Smith.” Theodore didn’t wish to reject Alexander in front of everyone—he had no choice but to lift
his cup for a drink with Alexander. By the time Elise and the rest of them left, only the three of them
were left in the room.
Initially, Tiffany’s plan had been to spend some quality time with Alexander. However, after the incident
with Elise, Alexander only seemed colder toward Tiffany than before. Tiffany had had no choice but to
ask her brother for help. All along, Theodore understood Tiffany’s intentions—he had been delaying the
partnership with Griffith Group precisely because he wanted to create more opportunities for his sister.
However, he hadn’t expected to sign the contract after talking to Elise for just a few minutes.
Theodore couldn’t tell what was going through Alexander’s mind, so he tried his luck with an invitation
to drink. “Mr. Griffith, we managed to sign the contract tonight, but we haven’t gotten a chance to enjoy
ourselves yet. Why don’t we switch to another spot for more drinks? Tiffany can have a few more drinks
with you—how does that sound?”
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