Sheffield didn't care how often Evelyn went to the farmers' market. After all, that wasn't the purpose of his question. He continued, "You've seen the vegetable stalls, right?"
"Yeah," Evelyn answered.
"What do you see at those vegetable stalls?"
"Vegetables, and the hard work of farmers and vendors..." She listed off a few items.
"You're right, but you get an incomplete for this one. Don't underestimate these vegetable sellers. They use natural science, modern logistics, marketing, pricing, metrics, economics, consumer psychology and math, to name a few." Evelyn thought about it. What he said seemed legit.
"You'll do okay. Just keep on top of things." He was encouraging not only Evelyn but also himself.
His inspiring speech made Evelyn smile. "Right. Let's both work hard."
Sheffield's lips curved into a cunning smile as an idea crossed his mind. "Wanna make a bet?"
"On what?"
"On our companies' profits. Let's go to the end of the year. Then we'll compare net profits. ZL Group vs. Theo Group. Sound interesting?"
"Well, aren't you worried that you'll lose? If you're not, count me in." Competing against ZL Group? Evelyn didn't want to scare him to tears.
But Sheffield wore a sly smile on his face. "Of course I'm not worried. You haven't heard my terms yet. If Theo Group posts a higher profit, you marry me and let me support you. If ZL Group shows a higher profit margin..."
"Then what?" she asked expectantly.
"Well, then I'll still marry you. You can support me and I'll live off you. What do you think?"
Evelyn almost laughed out loud. "What's the difference? Besides who supports who?" Her heart was bursting with happiness. This all was very sweet.
"The difference is, if you marry me, you'll take my surname, Tang. If I marry you, I'll take yours. I'll be Sheffield Huo. Do you like my new name?" He sounded serious.
Evelyn tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said, "I like Evelyn Tang better."
"Me too. I'll work harder to make Theo Group's net profit exceed ZL Group's. Then you marry me. Okay?"
She said in a soft voice, "You got it, Mr. Tang!"
The call motivated him a lot. With the goal of marrying Evelyn on his mind, he focused on his work.
After ending the call, they both were grinning from ear to ear.
Evelyn poked at her lunch, and then finally made her way to the fashion show. It was an event with over a hundred models and a thousand people in the audience.
Everyone was bustling around. Evelyn didn't need to take the stage to make a speech. Instead, she worked as a temporary supervisor backstage.
Shortly after the show started, Nadia trotted over to Evelyn and told her anxiously, "Miss Huo, one of our male models had acute appendicitis and was rushed to the hospital."
Evelyn replied decisively, "Find a substitute."
"We have two. One of them is already subbing for someone else, and the other one hasn't arrived yet." It was a tricky situation. "This is pretty urgent since things are underway.
Should I just grab a random model and turn him loose up here?" Nadia suggested.
"Do we have enough time left to find anyone else?"
Glancing at her watch, Nadia said, "I'll try. On it now."
Just then, a familiar voice reached her ears. "Hi, Eve!"
Evelyn turned around and saw a man in a black suit. It was none other than Sheffield. She was surprised. "Sheffield! Why are you here?"
Striding towards her, he waved at Nadia who was still on the phone. Then he said, "You couldn't come see me. So I came to you!" They had decided to meet, but their plans were torpedoed. So Sheffield decided to see if he could hang out with her here.
"I may be too busy to talk or anything," Evelyn said.
"Don't worry about it." Sheffield leaned in and whispered to her, "I'm not kidding. As long as I can be around you, I'm happy. So I'm gucci, for right now, anyway."
Evelyn was moved by his honeyed words. But she still acted like she didn't believe him. "Really, Mr. Tang? That's why you're here?"
Sheffield replied with a grin and admitted, "It's a fashion show about men's wear. Makes sense that there'd be a zillion guys here. I figured I'd keep an eye on you. What if you ran off with a male model? I'd be crushed."
Evelyn rolled her eyes at him. She knew it couldn't have been that simple. "Go away!" she demanded.
"Miss Huo, I found someone, but he can't do it. He's doing another fashion show," Nadia told Evelyn anxiously.
With knitted eyebrows, Evelyn pondered the situation and then fixed her eyes on Sheffield, who was looking around. Suddenly, an idea struck her. She grabbed hold of his hand. "Sheffield, you can be my model!"
"What? Okay, sure, no problem!" he agreed after a short pause.
"Nadia, find someone to show him the ropes," Evelyn ordered.
"Yes, Miss Huo." Nadia looked Sheffield up and down and found that he was in good shape and hot enough. Then she left in a hurry to look for someone to help him.
Evelyn explained, "I'm in charge of clothing."
"No problem. So am I naked or dressed? Anything for you, my dear." 'She's really important to me. I want to make her happy.'
Evelyn glared at him and said, "You want me to punish you?"
"You're no fun. Clothes on, then," he said with a grin.
Soon a well-known male model came over. He looked at Sheffield who had taken off his suit jacket and said to Evelyn, "He looks familiar. Nice pick, Miss Huo. Want me to show him what to do?"
"All right. We're running out of time. Teach him as fast as possible, and then get him onstage."
"No problem."
Just like that, Sheffield's first modeling job was now. The stylist made him up and applied gel to his hair, and combed it back. He wore a long green patterned windbreaker, a pair of dark-colored plaid pants and pointed, black leather shoes.
As soon as he came onstage, the whole venue was silent for a few seconds. Then there were screams and murmurs from the audience.
They screamed because he was so handsome. And they were talking about it because they recognized him. No one imagined the CEO of Theo Group would walk the stage as a male model.
Worried, Evelyn ran to a corner close by to watch his performance.
Despite being his first fashion show, to her surprise he was like a natural.
He moved like the model had taught him.
He could also follow the rhythm of the music, with every step on the note.
A professional would find fault, nitpicking every minute. But that didn't change the fact that Sheffield's first show was a success.
The strobes under the stage flashed like crazy, as if Sheffield was the most shining star on the stage today.