Chapter 60



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When Hayden returned home, he received a warm welcome from Stella.

“Mom, you’re finally back, did you have fun last night?”.

Even though he knew Stella was still too young to understand things in the adult world, Hayden couldn’t help but smack her upside the head. “What are you so happy about, who told you to urge Noah’s father to come find me at the engagement party?”

Stella rubbed her aching head and pursed her lips. “It wasn’t me who brought it up, it was Noah and my godmother who said so. My godmother said Joseph is a hero who is going to rescue the damsel.”

“You’re just blaming the ones who aren’t here, aren’t you?”. Hayden glanced at her and grabbed a glass of water from the table. Then he asked nonchalantly, “What else did your godmother say?”

“She also said that the hero who saved the woman will win her heart at last.”

“Pfft!” Hayden spat out the water spilling it all over the table. He coughed twice and then went furiously to pound on the door of the master bedroom. “You’re just teaching her bad things! Alayna Cole! Get out right now!”.

It was the weekend and Alayna usually slept at home all day, but after knocking for quite a while, no one answered. Hayden opened the door and saw the room as messy as a pigsty, but there was no sign of Alayna.

“My godmother left in the morning. She’s on a business trip.” Stella ran to her, “She also mentioned that Mommy can invite Joseph home when she’s away. She doesn’t mind at all.”

“No one wants to invite him!”

Hayden picked her up and looked guilty. She tried to hide her flushed face by covering it with her hands.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m exhausted and I need to go to bed, don’t make a mess Okay? Now go play.”

Stella was led back to her room, but peeked around the corner of the door and couldn’t help but giggle with her mouth covered.

It looked like her godmother’s plan was working well! Indeed, his godmother had the ability to do these things well.

In the afternoon, Hayden’s back ached, causing him to toss and turn in bed. She couldn’t sleep and kept remembering moments from the night before. She was so flushed that she pulled the covers over her face, but after a while she stuck her head out again to catch her breath because she couldn’t breathe under the covers. Then she began to sulk.

If it hadn’t been for Alayna forcing her to go to that engagement party, all this wouldn’t have happened. Moreover, if she hadn’t talked too much and urged Joseph to go, this wouldn’t have happened. After all, the culprit was that guy!

When she got to that point she suddenly came to her senses and felt that she was the one who had planned all this!

Alayna’s flight had been delayed and she was waiting bored at the airport.

Ding Her phone as she received a voice message from WeChat. Upon seeing the sender, her frustrated expression immediately transformed into a happy face, as if the cloudy sky had cleared.

She slowly slid her finger to unlock the screen of her phone and listened to Hayden’s accusations in a very good mood.

“To be honest, you forced me to go to the engagement party when you realized Joseph, you had already planned this whole thing?”

She tightened her grip on the phone and leaned close to the microphone.

“How is that possible? Anyway, did something happen last night, why didn’t you come back all night?”

“Nothing happened.”

“You sound very angry. I can’t believe nothing happened last night.”

On the other end of the phone they were silent and did not answer the message after quite some time.

Although they didn’t see each other face to face, Alayna could imagine seeing Hayden’s reddened face through the screen. However, it was a pity she couldn’t see it with her own eyes.

On the other hand, the airport broadcast informed her that her flight had arrived. So, slowly, she grabbed her bag and boarded the plane without a care in the world.

She lowered her voice and spoke into the phone. “I’m on the plane now, so I won’t ask you the details. But when I get back, you’ll have to share your night of passion with me.”

When he finished speaking, he immediately turned off the phone.

“Hi gorgeous, can I move your things from the trunk to the side?”.

As the plane relayed the safety precautions, a man’s gravelly voice came from above.

Alayna didn’t even bother to glance up. “It’s not mine, move whatever you want.”

“Thank you.”

The man thanked her politely. Just as he was moving things around, he suddenly stopped.

Alayna also thought the voice sounded familiar. She dropped her phone in her lap and looked up.

In an instant, all four eyes met.

“It’s you!”

Male and female voices overlapped, one from Alayna and one from Kevin.

After checking that the seat number was correct, Kevin sat down next to Alayna and raised his hand to shake her hand. “Miss Cole, what a coincidence, we meet again.”

Alayna rolled her eyes and raised her hand to call out to the flight attendant.

“Miss, what can I help you with?”.

“I want to change seats.”

Kevin blushed; his hand froze in the air, very embarrassed.

The flight attendant also sensed the peculiar atmosphere between them and smiled awkwardly, “Miss Cole, the seats on this flight are all full, so we can’t change it for you.”

Alayna’s expression changed instantly and she glared at Kevin beside her.

“Not even economy class? It’s okay to upgrade me to coach, as long as I don’t sit with this guy. I can even go to the steward’s lounge with you.”

“What do you mean?” Kevin scowled at her and said discontentedly, “I didn’t even ask for a seat change, and you’re still getting all up in arms?”

“I just can’t stand it when a man who is rude to women sits next to me!”. Alayna’s face was cold and distant.

“I’m very sorry, but there are no seats left.” The stewardess had embarrassment written all over her face.

Kevin also stretched his face and replied with contempt. “You see, now no one is happy. I guess you’re a hateful being of society, aren’t you? The plane is about to take off and you’re still here embarrassing a stewardess. Now you’re calling me rude, I guess you’re the rude one!”.

“You!”

Alayna frowned and gave the stewardess a sympathetic look to get her to leave. Then, she looked at Kevin and said, “I’m getting lazy arguing with you. I’m warning you, the flight takes four hours, we’ll pretend we don’t know each other. So don’t talk to me at all.”

“I…”. After being criticized a few times, Kevin was no longer angry. Instead, he was a little curious.

What had he done to make this woman hate him so much? Every time they met, she acted like she was going to explode.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the work permit on the table next to Alayna’s hand, and his eyes suddenly lit up a little.

The words ‘Orange Light Cultural Media Event’ were clearly printed on it. So, was she also going to attend the Orange Light cultural event?

If so, it was quite a destination. Kevin smiled and flashed a determined smile on his face.

The next day was Monday.

Putting aside all the ‘mishaps’ that had occurred over the weekend, Hayden began to focus on preparing the venue for the ST Group’s anniversary celebration. He spent the entire day pending segregation of the area for set-up.

“The signs on the board are not adequate. Make them prettier, so they don’t look like we have the monotony of renovation on top of them. Try not to cause inconvenience to guests currently staying at the hotel.”

“And around here, don’t pile things up, keep all things in storage. Take them out only when you need them. Never mind making another two trips.”

While she was busy for the afternoon, a receptionist shouted from the front desk, “Miss Downey, there’s a gentleman looking for you.”

Hayden was in the middle of directing workers to put up the new chandeliers. When he heard the voice and looked up, he saw a familiar figure standing at the reception desk.

After all these years, that figure was a little hunched over, looking much older than she remembered.

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