Gifford was a punctual man. He said he would be back in ten minutes, and within eight minutes, he was ringing Chantel's room doorbell.
Chantel had just had her hair dried as she walked to the door on her phone with Edward, a man from Violet Eagles. After making sure that it was Gifford standing outside, she opened the door to let him in. "I can't go tomorrow afternoon either. I'm afraid I won't be able to make it there this time. Let's talk again soon if anything happens... Okay," she said into her phone.
Closing the door behind him, Gifford took off his uniform jacket and hung it on the clothes rack nearby.
Once she ended the call, she kept holding her phone nervously while looking at the man now loosening his tie. "Well... did you have dinner?"
"No." It was getting dark and he had just come from M Country.
So she suggested, "How about we order room service?" She didn't eat anything either and was planning to eat rice noodles alone after taking a shower.
Putting his tie aside, Gifford looked at her with an unreadable expression.
"Do you think I'm here for dinner?" he asked. 'No, I think you're here to eat me, ' she thought.
"So, come here!" Gifford crooked his finger at her.
With a flip of her long hair, Chantel put her phone on the table and walked towards him.
She thought he would say something else, but he didn't. He just held her in his arms and kissed her on the lips.
After a while, he said, "Take a shower with me." He had been out the whole day and was afraid she wouldn't like to be with him if he stank.
After all, she smelled so good. Despite having just had a shower, she complied and followed him into the bathroom.
After a long bath, Gifford carried Chantel back to the bedroom in his arms. Her long hair, which she had previously dried while he was out, was completely soaked again.
Putting her on the bed, Gifford told her, "Lie down. I'll dry your hair."
He had dried her hair twice while she was in the Li family house, both after a late-night shower. At the time, she had been so sleepy that she could barely open her eyes, so he had to do it since her hair was still wet.
Now the situation didn't look much different either. With a nod, Chantel hung her long hair on the bedside and closed her eyes as she enjoyed him drying her hair.
After he was done, she had already fallen asleep but ended up woken up by him.
When she opened her eyes, she looked at him in a daze. Noticing how sleepy she really was, Gifford didn't have the heart to ask her to go out with him. Instead, he sat down beside her and offered, "Why don't you go back to sleep, and I'll buy you some food?"
She shook her head and answered in a hoarse voice, "No, thanks. I'll get up."
However, as Gifford waited for her, she fell asleep all over again.
Half an hour later, she suddenly sat on the bed and looked around the dim room. She found Gifford on the sofa, staring at her.
Looking into his eyes, Chantel apologized immediately, "I'm sorry. I'll get up now!"
"Take your time." It didn't get past Gifford how exhausted she seemed. In fact, he was curious to know what she had done outside every day that got her so tired.
After she wrapped herself tightly in her overcoat, Chantel put on a hat, sunglasses and a mask. When she was ready, she gritted her teeth and suppressed the nervousness in her heart before taking Gifford's arm.
Out of the corner of his eye, Gifford looked at the small hand on him and smiled. 'Good! I like her holding my arm.'
Once they left the hotel, she asked, "I want to eat rice noodles. Will you join me?"
"Okay!" Actually, it didn't matter what he was going to eat.
In order to please her, Gifford drove to a place where she could have rice noodles, and he was fine with that.
When they came out of the restaurant, Chantel had forgotten to put on her mask and thus was recognized by some reporters who seemingly came out of nowhere. They secretly took pictures of them. In a few moments, their photos were spread all over the Internet.
However, maybe because Gifford was wearing his uniform, the reporters decided to spare him with a blur. Chantel's face and body, on the other hand, had been completely exposed to the public.
Later, more photos of them returning to the hotel were posted online as well.
The morning after, Chantel was still asleep when Gifford got up. Since he had a business to take care of early that day, he left the room first.
Therefore, the moment she left the hotel room on her own, the hidden reporters outside couldn't get any more valuable information they were hoping to get.
Once Gifford became aware of the photos of him and Chantel, they had already been spread like wildfire on the Internet. Even though Chantel had spent a lot of money on covering the news up, it didn't subside.
Over the years, he had downloaded many entertainment applications on his phone to keep up with the news released about his wife.
So he quickly clicked on one of the most active social media apps he had and found that Chantel's account had been filled with hate comments.
One of them said, "Chantel, don't you have a powerful background that allows you not to shoot any kissing scenes? How could a holy maiden like you get in a hotel room with a man?"
Another hater replied to the comment, "Shh! Mrs. Huo has allowed her to be Mr. Huo's mistress. Don't offend her."
Then someone else commented, "The man must be important since his figure has been blurred. Chantel is really good at seducing men."
Unexpectedly, a fan defended her. "Shut up, you haters! Since she started her career, Chantel has never been involved in any scandal. She's best friends with Mrs. Huo. How dare you discredit her like this! Also, how much have you got paid from a certain person? Tell me. Let's make money together!"
Another hater commented, "Hey, bitch! Come out and explain it!"
Gifford didn't continue further. He stopped after reading the few comments he came across at the top, and already wanted to find out who those haters were so he could beat them black and blue. Frankly, he had no idea how many cyber-attacks Chantel had suffered over the years.
He also didn't contact her about it. Instead, he called Matthew. "There are rumors about you online. Don't you want to take care of them?"
Matthew was stunned for a moment, but then he said indifferently, "I don't care, to be honest. Whatever they're saying, it has nothing to do with me."
"No way. You and my wife are involved in this. You have to deal with it!" Gifford demanded. Matthew not only had an awesome PR team, but he also had excellent lawyers. So he was the best person to deal with this kind of problem.
'Chantel and me?' Matthew frowned and hung up the phone in silence.
The next day, the ZL Group lawyers released a formal announcement online, informing that they would be suing the haters who slandered Chantel.
As soon as Matthew took action, the haters were forced to take criminal responsibilities for their statements. At the same time, the main person behind them was exposed.
It was all an open strife held inside the entertainment industry. The whole thing was planned by a random female star who was jealous of Chantel.
The actress was immediately banned from all walks of life for daring to lead the gossip to Matthew Huo.
As for Chantel, since she had chosen to become an actress, she had mentally got herself ready for the many ways she could be exposed to the media. Therefore, three months later, the news that she had gone to the hospital for an examination was also released to the press.
"Wow! Chantel was spotted in the gynecology department of a hospital. Is she pregnant?"
"Her belly seems slightly swollen. I'm sure she's pregnant."
Meanwhile, at the Li family's house, Gifford had Chantel locked in their room and didn't let her go anywhere.
Then he took out their marriage licenses from his coat's pocket and threw them on the table in front of her. "Take a photo! And post it online!"
Gifford couldn't help but feel depressed. He wondered why she refused to make their relationship public.
Last time they were photographed getting in the hotel together, she refused to make any statement about their marriage. Now that she was pregnant again, she still had no plans of making it public either. If she didn't finally make things clear, he wouldn't let her out that door today!
Blair knocked on their door and said anxiously, "Gifford, don't do anything stupid. Talk things out with Chantel."