Chapter 136: Chapter 136

“I'll tell the finance department to take their funds back, and I'll return the trophy to the organizer. | don’t need your generosity.”

Anastasia turned to leave after finishing her words, but the man behind her stood up immediately. “Wait,” he barked.

Her body froze before she turned to look at him. “Is anything else the matter, President Presgrave?”

“lll not meddle with your work-related stuff, but | would still like to care for you and Jared personally,” he uttered in a clear manner.

“There’s no need for that. Thank you.” She rejected him firmly.

“What about Nigel? Would you take his help if he offered it to you?” Elliot shot her an angry glare.

“He and | are friends, while I’m just your subordinate at work. We're practically strangers if we don’t work together,” Anastasia replied flatly. She turned to leave once more. Strangers? Elliot took a while to digest her words. | don’t want us just to be strangers. | finally have a clear understanding of my feelings toward her after last night, and I’m not about to let her go. | know that she didn’t truly say yes to Nigel’s proposal; Nigel doesn’t even know about her past.

Anastasia’s past made it hard for her to be with any guy as her heart was protected by an invincible shield. Although his grandmother had told him to give up on her, he had just realized that it was too late at this point. He had fallen in too deep, and he couldn’t tear himself away from this woman anymore.

After that, Anastasia headed downstairs to meet Felicia. She told Felicia everything about the reward, but Felicia didn’t seem too impressed. Is she an idiot? Felicia thought. Why would she want to let all of this go? Even if Elliot was the one who had gotten her this trophy and money, she should just appreciate her luck.

“No. | don’t want this money, and | don’t want the trophy either,” Anastasia insisted.

“If you do this, your reputation will be ruined as well. Everyone will know about how you relied on connections to get your prize.

Are you sure you want to sacrifice your reputation for this?” Felicia asked.

“Do | have a choice? The whole judge panel knows about this, and | feel like a joke to all of them. I’d rather they laugh at me for one month than for the rest of my life,” she explained. Felicia didn’t know what else to do, so she let out a sigh. “You’re the most stubborn person | know. Sure, I’ll gladly hand the trophy to someone else. I'll get this done for you!”

“Thank you, Felicia,” Anastasia uttered happily. After Anastasia returned to the office, she felt like she had just come back from war. Her entire body was sore. She sipped on some water and zoned out for a while. Right then, she noticed someone sending flowers to the front entrance of the office. Soon enough, Grace pushed the office door open with a smile on her face. “The flowers are for you, Anastasia.”

Anastasia didn’t need to think to know who had sent her the flowers. She eyed the relatively pricey blue roses as she felt a headache forming. She had no choice but to take them in. After bringing the flowers to her desk, she gave Nigel a call. “Hey! Did you get the flowers? Do you like them?” Nigel asked with a smile.

“Stop sending me flowers, Nigel. I’m serious. It affects my work.” Anastasia didn’t want to attract too much attention to herself.

“Can't | give you flowers?” He sounded rather hurt.

“We can keep in contact, and we can have meals together, but | just don’t want you to send flowers, okay? It’s a request,” she replied.

“Deal. I'll buy you lunch today, then. I’m at the building opposite your company. | just started renovating my office,” Nigel explained with a smile.

“Fine! Let me buy this meal.” Anastasia was speechless. “Okay. I'll see you later,” he replied.

By 11.30AM, Nigel was already waiting by her company’s front door. When he was there, a black car came to a halt in front of him, and Rey walked past him with a stack of folders in his arms. Rey walked over to greet Nigel when he saw Nigel’s car.

“Good afternoon, Young Master Nigel,” Rey greeted.

Nigel smiled. “Are you here to drop off some documents?” he asked.

“Yeah! President Presgrave is working here,” Rey replied.

“My cousin has a huge office, yet he insists on working in your company. | wonder why..?” Nigel asked in a thoughtful tone.

i Rey pushed his glasses up while smiling. “I don’t know the actual reason for this.”