Chapter 180



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Magnus had been standing guard at the door to the break room, and occasionally glanced at his watch.

The two of them had been inside for over fifteen minutes.

Addison had approached him to intrude on their meeting, but he stopped her in her tracks. Judging by the course of events, the two were likely to mend old wounds.

As he pondered this, a whisper was heard behind him and Hayden stepped out of the room.

“Miss Downey.”

“You needn’t refer to me that way. I’m no longer an employee of the hotel.” Hayden swept his gaze over Magnus. The expression on his face was very distant and unfocused.

Just as Magnus was still in a daze, Joseph also left the room, and he was in a very bad mood.

He felt his heart grow cold and bitter. This scene hinted to him that, it didn’t look like they were going to get back together. Most likely they had had another fight, and it might be too late to fix anything.

The banquet had already begun and members of the Sanchez Family were carrying champagne and greeting the guests.

When Hayden came out, he was immediately joined by Freddie and Alayna, shortly after which they were joined by Cleveland. They were all huddled together, with Cleveland introducing them to the other guests from time to time.

“Since when did my big brother become such good friends with them?” Addison pulled her mother close and asked in confusion.

Cleveland’s mother, Elizabeth, was in her late sixties, but she spared no effort to maintain her appearance. She still looked elegant and outstanding.

After casting a glance off into the distance, her eyes lit up. “Oh? You’re right, why is your brother so close to them, who is that woman, is she married?”.

Addison’s mother was Taiwanese, and there was a flirtatious accent in her voice that was impossible to change after decades of using it. She called her family members weird names, like calling her oldest son big brother, her second oldest son little brother, and Addison little sister. The three siblings couldn’t do anything about it.

“Who are you asking about?” Addison looked away with some wariness in her eyes, “There are two women there.”

“I mean that woman in a black evening dress. I seem to see her talking to my older brother all the time. Judging by the fact that big brother never talks to any women, could it be that she’s his girlfriend?”

He was referring to Hayden.

Addison felt a secret rush of joy in her heart. “That woman is single, and her name is Hayden Downey. She’s one of the maids working under Joseph. Mom, do you like her?”

“She seems to look good, but I wonder about her ability as a wife, you know your former sister-in-law is not a family person. She had no problem divorcing your older brother without a second thought.”

“Of course she would make a good wife. She has a daughter and is raising her well.”

“He has a daughter?” Elizabeth showed a surprised expression on her face, “She looks so young. I can’t imagine her having a daughter already.”

“Yes, I think she got divorced a while ago. She’s been raising that daughter alone, which is a difficult thing. However, based on our family prestige, it wouldn’t be appropriate to let someone who’s divorced and has a daughter marry my older brother, would it?”

Addison was probing her mother’s thoughts on the matter.

As expected, her mother didn’t care. With a wave of her hand, there was an innocent and pure glint in her eyes. “Why would that matter? As long as your older brother likes it, there’s nothing wrong with him already having a daughter. What’s more, your older brother has a daughter too, and it would be nice to have a companion for his daughter. Let me introduce myself, sis.”

“Hey, Mom…” Addison pretended to stop her, but that didn’t stop her mother. As she laughed slyly, she followed her mother.

If her mother was able to get her older brother and Hayden together, wouldn’t that be the perfect opportunity to solve one of her life’s difficulties?

Hayden was teasing Joseph about his earlier question in front of Alayna in a corner, which made Alayna jump in anger. Hayden had to restrain her from raising a ruckus.

“What kind of stupid question are you asking? They’re both her children, is she an idiot?”

“Let it be, anyway, he doesn’t know.” Hayden had thought things through, but she still felt a little grumpy. She swallowed a swig of beer and muttered, “Let him think what he wants.”

“He’ll regret it in the future.”

She had finished her beer and was done joining the ruckus. Hayden looked at Cleveland, who was sitting across from her, announcing that he was going to leave.

Freddie immediately got up following her, “Let me come with you.”

“Let me come with you.”

Cleveland got up as well.

Hayden and Alayna exchanged a glance, there was ambiguity in their eyes.

Before the four could reach the entrance, a sultry, melodic voice stopped them. They turned around and discovered it was Cleveland’s mother. She was chasing them as she held the edges of her blue robe, “Wait, Cleveland, are these your friends? You haven’t introduced me to them yet, and you’re leaving already?”.

Cleveland looked at his mother and replied, “They have something to do later. I’m going to see them off.”

Elizabeth’s gaze fell on Hayden. “You need to accompany them. It’s not safe for a girl to go out alone at night. Make sure you take her home, no need to run back.”

Her words sounded strange in Hayden’s ears.

As she processed his words, Elizabeth walked over to her and studied her.

“Addison tells me you are an employee working at Joseph’s company, what is your name?”

Hayden froze for a moment before answering uneasily, “Good evening, Mrs. Sanchez, my name is Hayden. I saw you busy in the hallway a moment ago, so I didn’t say hello. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, that’s all right.” Elizabeth’s smile was very warm, “It’s the first time I’ve seen big brother bring his girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Hayden hastened to explain, “Mrs. Sanchez, you have misunderstood. I am not Mr. Sanchez’s girlfriend.”

Elizabeth winked a little and said with a strange expression on her face, “It’s okay, I know. You can take your time. My dear older brother is a bit cold and emotionless, but he’s still a good man. He doesn’t even want his assistant to do anything heavy for him.”

When it came to Cleveland’s assistance, a vivid image formed in Hayden’s mind.

Today he saw no trace of his cantankerous aide.

As for his mother’s assertion that Cleveland didn’t want his male helper to do any heavy lifting, he had to admit he didn’t know. It seemed that in this world there was one kind of man who didn’t differ with women. He seemed to treat everyone well.

Elizabeth escorted them to the main entrance and even enthusiastically invited Hayden to visit her a next time. Hayden was pleasantly surprised by that, and was stunned despite being in the car. “Your mother seems to have misunderstood something.”

“It’s no misunderstanding.” Cleveland folded his arms and looked at Hayden without any emotion, “It’s obvious she’s trying to put us together.”

Freddie immediately became angry and his head hit the roof of the car. He yelled at Cleveland as he tried to endure that pain, “You better get your mother to back off on that. How can my sister lay eyes on a gay like you?”

Cleveland looked at Freddie with a smirk, “You jealous?”

“Why the hell would I be jealous?”. Freddie’s face had darkened as he cursed aloud, “Are you that shameless?”

It was the first time Hayden had ever heard Freddie, who was supposed to be a good boy, spout so much profanity. His antics now completely upended the image he had of him in his mind and he found it difficult to accept. Coupled with the shocks he had experienced at this banquet, he suddenly felt his chest hurt.

“Hayden, are you okay?” Alayna asked him worriedly.

“I’m fine.” Hayden waved his hands, “I just need to rest.”

Cleveland had stopped arguing with Freddie. He stared at Hayden for a while before asking, “If you’ve resigned from the ST Hotel, would you consider working for my company?”

Hayden was stunned. He couldn’t believe his ears.

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