Chapter 331

Melanie stabilized herself. She noticed that Eugene was not looking happy either. Her arm hurt, and she was being accused of something she did not do.

She felt upset about it, but there was a taunting look on her face.

Melanie was about to say something when she heard footsteps behind her. Next, she heard Xander say in a low voice, “What’s going on, Melanie?”

She turned back to look at him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came over to take a look because you took too long.” Xander looked calm as usual. He glanced subtly at Eugene and Simon, who were not far from him. He frowned. “This place Stephen picked isn’t that great. Let’s not come here again.”

Melanie did not feel the need to say anything more to Eugene and Simon now that Xander was here. She replied quietly, “Come on, let’s go.”

Xander nodded.

Before she could turn away, Simon said eerily from behind her, “I'll remember this, Melanie Smith.”

Melanie stopped in her steps and looked at Simon from the corner of her eye. She said coldly, Haven't you had a dog before? A disobedient dog deserves to be punished.”

Simon's face turned frighteningly dark. He stared at Melanie, looking like he wanted to violently drag her over.

Xander noticed the look in Simon’s eyes and subtly stood between them to block Simon's view.

He lowered his head to look at Melanie and said calmly, “Come on, we should go.”

Xander was not loud, but his voice was not that soft either. Anyone nearby could hear him.

Alook flashed in Eugene’s dark eyes, and he slowly turned to look at Melanie.

Melanie’s head was slightly lowered. The beautiful back of her neck was exposed. She could sense Eugene’s gaze, but she ignored him.

She walked away with Xander and saw Stephen. Stephen was astounded to see them looking upset. “What happened?”

“Nothing, | should be going now,” Melanie said.

“Aren't you staying with Xander? We can leave together.”

Stephen was still not aware that Melanie had moved back to the North district. Melanie had to explain her situation to him.

He looked like he did not approve of it. “The security isn’t that great in an old district like that. Also, it's too far. It takes up a lot of travel time for you.”

Melanie replied in a small voice, “It's my home, after all. And Grandpa has always wanted to move back there.”

Stephen tried to talk her out of it but stopped saying anything more when he saw how determined Melanie was.

212 She did not let anyone walk her to the car, and she later drove back to the North district.

Before she left, she confirmed her tasks for the next day with Stephen. They agreed to have a meeting at the villa first before seeing potential partners.

Even though Xander had not been in Jepton for years, he did grow up here. With Yvonne's help, he was able to get a few potential clients.

As long as there was no problem on their side, they had a bigger chance than Dreamcatchers to get the contract.

When Melanie got home, she saw a few workers fixing the lights in the apartment building. They greeted her warmly when they saw her.

There was nothing much for Melanie to do at home. She turned off her phone after she washed up and began flipping through a book on art appraisal on her bed.

She had a good rest that night. The next day, Melanie drove to the villa.

When she arrived, everyone had just gotten out of bed. Melanie placed breakfast on the table.

Reny was the first to come over. “Why are you here so early, Melanie?”

“Aren't we meeting potential partners today?”

Renry rubbed her head and sighed. “I’ve been working with Lauder for a long time. This is the first time I’ve ever had to come up with a proposal and do business networking at the same time.

Melaniz replied, “It’s not a bad thing. It opens you to more opportunities While they were chatting, Xander walked down the stairs. He was dressed rather formally.

He nodded at Melanie as a simple greeting This last-minute meeting was to discuss detailed points on how they would operate today. Xander wanted the proposal to be completed on schedule but did not want the follow—op on the partnerships to be compromised.

“I'll go with you for the partnership talks,” Melanie said “I’m not that great at coming up with the design and conceptual proposals, but when it comes to lepton’s companies, | kanoner most of them.”

Xander nodded. “Alright”

While the others continued working on the proposal, Melanie left with Xander.

Xander did not look happy on the way, and she frowned as well after reading the documents he handed to her.

“These companies have never really taken part in any art events or exhibitions. It might be difficult to convince them.”

Xander did not disagree. He said, “It’s because of this very reason that it'll benefit us if we can convince them to get on board.

Melanie understood this as well. It was easy to talk about it, but getting it done was the difficult