Chapter 98

They returned to the manor.

“It’s true that when a man and a woman combine their strength, we won’t feel as tired. It seems that you have a good haul this time, Mr. Hardesty. I don’t think we can finish so many fish here!”

William produced a gentle smile and replied with a crisp and sound voice, “If you cannot finish all of them, you can put them back. Letting the fishes escape danger is a good deed on your part.”

“What kind of logic is that? If you really want all fishes to live freely and survive without facing any danger, you shouldn’t go fishing on them in the first place, no?” Riley looked at more than a dozen fishes in the bucket and had to admit that he was really a good fishing expert.

Fishing? Expert?

Why did her mind wander to a line from the Little Mermaid?

William flashed another one of his smiles again, “If one were to immerse oneself in a safe and comfortable haven for some time, one would lose their bearing on what it means to be happy. Without struggles and obstacles, happiness would feel cheap and hollow. You have to remind someone what it means to be happy from time to time.”

What he said sounded reasonable and she couldn’t find any words as a response. However, why did she have a feeling that he was hinting at something?

If one would cease to feel the true essence of happiness while they were always happy, would someone forget about their unfortunate circumstances if he or she were to be plunged into such a state for a long time? Would one get used to being unfortunate in life?

She felt somewhat annoyed. Why did she have to apply that logic on herself?

When Sarah saw the two of them engaging in such vested conversation, she blinked playfully, “Hey, it seems that you two are having a great time talking to each other! Should I find a place to hide?” Then, she giggled.

Riley grabbed her hand abruptly and threatened her in a low voice, “You rascal, aren’t you getting too full of yourself after being a go-between for some time?”

Sarah grinned widely without any shame, “It seems that you are really taking your undeserved gain for granted! Hmph!”

Damn it, she didn’t expect that she would be seen through.

To tell the truth, whenever she was with William, Riley would feel very relaxed. He was very gentle, and they would never have the chance to fight or have any conflict. He was good at resolve awkward moments, and he was attentive to details... He was really the epitome of a model boyfriend.

“But, now I...”

“To hell with that! You won’t meet a good man very often, and besides, he’s not just merely good in the sense of the word! Just give up on Euan, that big shark, and embrace your dolphin!”

Her analogy hit the mark in terms of their images. Euan was a ruthless and emotionless shark while William was a gentle dolphin.

“Are you thirsty? Drink some water.” William handed a uncorked mineral water bottle to her.

“Both of you, how do you plan to eat this fish? Steam it? Braise it? Or cook it? With their size... what is the best method to process them?”

“Pfft!”

Riley spat out the water she had just poured into her mouth!

Sarah and William turned to look at Riley at the same time, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Cough cough cough!” Her throat caught some of that water as she continued to clutch her chest while coughing, “I’m fine... I’m fine.”

Eating some fish? Damn, she suddenly recalled a scene from when she was eating fish with Euan. Her brain was now full of Euan’s devilish face.

William patted her back, “I think you should use a glass to drink water. It’s always easy to choke yourself on water if you drink from a bottle.”

“That’s not it, don’t mind me.”

Sarah swayed her gaze back and forth between the two of them and thought that they were really a match made in heaven! If they got together, they would be the most compatible couple!

“You guys go on, I need to bring the fish to the kitchen.” Sarah said while stifling a laughter.

Sarah was really doing a good job as a matchmaker.

Mr. Hardesty thought that he was really satisfied with Sarah’s performance. He vowed to pay her back handsomely later on.

Riley rubbed her brows and cursed at Sarah silently. She was really dropping rocks on her. Let’s see how she would retaliate against Sarah later on!

“Are you tired from all that fishing just now? Sit down and rest for a while.”

“Oh, okay.”

In the small pavilion, two sofa was placed opposite one another, and there was a wooden table in between them. Some fruits and a Go chess set were perched on top of it.

There were lush foliage surrounding them, and littered in the midst of all that greenness were red and yellow flowers. When the breeze came, a white yarn which was dangling from the roof of the pavilion swayed lightly. A faint flowery fragrance was in the air, and there was a moisture too brought upon by a nearby lake.

The scenery was so relaxing and comfortable it made them feel loose.

“Do you like this place?” William crossed his legs naturally and his extremely handsome face was revealing a comforting smile.

Riley was really scared that her soul would get sucked in by his gentleness into a vortex.

“This place is really pretty so nobody wouldn’t love this place. There’s no reason to not love this place, no?”

This not only applied to the scenery, it also applied to the people here. If one couldn’t find any reason to not like someone, then he or she would fall for that person sooner or later.

“As long as you like it. I think you won’t find places like KTV fancy. This place suits you more and it is not that far from city center. You can come here anytime you want.”

Anytime?

“Isn’t that a little inappropriate? I can see at a glance that this is a personal manor. It won’t be opened to public that easily I suppose.”

This was definitely a private property. She was smart enough to tell that.

However, when it came to the owner of this manor...

He smiled faintly and replied, “Indeed, this place is not opened to public every day, but if you are the visitor, this place will always welcome you with open arms. I know the owner of this manor, so you don’t have anything to worry about. Treat this place like your home.”

He was going too fast with this, and she wasn’t able to stop this topic from getting out of hand.

“I think... It’s okay.”

He was going to say something, but Riley’s phone started ringing.

When Riley saw the name of the caller, Riley felt her heart jump as she bit her lips, “Hello.”

“Where are you?”

A black Rolls-Royce was parked past the entrance of the manor. The security guard was not able to stop it.

“I am at...” Riley was in a dilemma whether to tell him the truth.

“Spit it out, where are you now?” Euan sounded furious.

“I am in a manor with Sarah now...” This was part of the truth too.

At the same time, William’s phone rang too.

When he saw the number, he hurriedly left the pavilion.

“What’s wrong?”

“Mr. Hardesty, there is someone intruding into the manor forcefully, and we were not able to stop him. He is now driving further into the manor.”

Oh?

“Who is that?”

“He is... The president of MBK, Mr. George.”

Euan? He was able to find this place? He was not half-bad.

“Alright, let him in.”

Euan got off his car, and not far away, there was a sculpted mountain, and there were green vegetation at the bottom with a pavilion in the mix. He took the steps and ascended, “Riley, you are really getting bolder.”

“I don’t understand what you mean, Mr. George. I am just out with friends, and I can’t see why this will offend you.”

Hmph! It seemed that this woman really wanted to anger him to death. It was very unlikely that she would have some self-consciousness!

“I will tell you face to face later.”

After hanging up the phone, Riley was completely in a daze.

William hung up the phone and settled back onto the sofa, “Do you want some fruits? Let me peel a tangerine for you.”

His long and pleasing fingers peeled the skin of the tangerine and then he carefully removed the white fine lines from the edible parts before bending forward to hand it to her, “Open your mouth. Taste this Vietnamese tangerine and tell me what you think about it.”

Riley was shocked a little. This... didn’t the action of feeding someone personally feel a little ambiguous?

“What’s wrong? Are you afraid of me poisoning you? Or you think this tangerine is not peeled cleanly enough?”

“Huh? That’s not it.”

“If that’s not it, then are you trying to punish me by making me maintaining this posture until my muscles ache all over?”

His smile was so pure and straightforward, which made her felt guilty at having dirty thoughts about him. She removed her messy thoughts and thanked him, “Thank you.”

This was great! So this was what she mean when she said she was together with Sarah! So this was what she meant when she said she was having an outing!

“Mr. Hardesty, it seems that you are very willing to take care of my wife for me.”

A low baritone sounded from behind them without any warning! His voice sounded like an intense alcohol which put someone’s temper on full display.

Riley felt her body jolt as she shot up from the sofa. She even forgot to chew on the tangerine in her mouth as she just stared at an unrealistically eye-catching man wearing black pants, white shirt who was standing on the stairs.

“Euan, why... Why are you here?”

Euan breezed past the last flight of stairs nonchalantly and stood outside the pavilion with his rigid body straightened. With one of his hands thrust into his pockets, and his silence immediately brought the temperature of the place down to a freezing coldness.

“You are the one who has led me here! Did you forget about that?” Euan replied with an expressionless face, but there was something lurking in the darkness of his pupils.

When did she ever say that?

William smiled elegantly, “Mr. George, welcome.”

Euan glanced at him without any emotion before walking over to the sofa which Riley had sat on previously. There were only two sofas in this small pavilion. This...

When William was about to order sometime to bring over another chair, Euan suddenly sat down on that sofa and he even wrapped his huge hand around Riley’s thin waist, “Don’t continue to stand here. Sit down.”

Sit down? Sitting on the ground? There was no chair for her, so where should she sit?

“My wife, sit down here.”

Boom!

Riley’s eyes expanded immediately. Euan was actually inviting her to sit on his thighs!

William cupped his forehead with frustration, “I’ll ask someone to send over another chair.”

“You don’t need to bother with that, Mr. Hardesty. This is perfectly fine.”

This man forced her to sit on his lap without giving her any chance to resist. Riley was really skinny, and when she sat on his thigh, her back was pressed against his chest. With the very thin fabric separating their skins, the man’s heartbeat was very profound, which she felt on her back. His heartbeat came in regular waves, and they sounded energetic!

Riley’s face was already completely flushed at the moment.

William gulped down a huge mouthful of water as he suddenly felt thirsty. Euan was really something else!

Euan lowered his gaze at the chess set while silently swiped aside the tangerine which was freshly peeled by William. The tangerine fell to the ground...

“Mr. Hardesty, what about a game of chess?”

This sudden start of their warfare felt suffocating for Riley to the point that she felt like she couldn’t even breathe!

She was sitting on Euan’s thigh, and she couldn’t move around at all... This whole situation was really embarrassing for her!

William pulled a tissue paper to wipe off some of the remnants of tangerine on his hand, “Of course, as you please.”

Euan’s thin lips curled up imperceptibly, “Choose your side.”

There were black and white chess, and he was letting William choose first.

William chose the white chess, and Euan commented with his lips lifted, “So you’re choosing white. Very well.”

Only Euan knew very well what his words meant.

A chess of Go was a tug of war that tested the scheming and cunning strategy-forming ability on both sides. One’s patience and strategy would be tested.

Riley had a premonition that this match was going to put William in a disadvantage.

As expected...

“Mr. Hardesty, good game.”

“Mr. George, you have good skills.”

“Shall we continue?”

“Yes.”

William was still the losing one in the second round.

Riley couldn’t continue watching this as she knew very well that losing three in a row would make William lose face, “Shall we stop here? Why not we go somewhere to sightsee. I feel bored watching you two having a game of chess.”

Euan stroked her hair intimately while his voice sounded like his usual sexy and seductive self, “Anything you say.”

William put down the chess pieces and asked, “What kind of scenery do you fancy? Let me lead the way.”

Euan placed the woman down to the ground while he stood up and wiped off some imaginary dust on his suit, “A stroll emphasizes casualness, so you don’t need to lead the way. Mr. Hardesty, I implore you to put the chess back to its original state.”

There was an unspoken rule in the game of Go, which stated that loser had to tidy up the chess after the game by placing both the black and white side neatly into two chess boxes.

While he let William to handle the chess, Euan held Riley’s hand and led her down the stairs.

Mr George, Don't Be So Arrogant Chapter 97 Accompanying To Sleep Is Very Successful Mistaken Identity Chapter 73: Empire State Building Shouldn't Have Kissed You Chapter 51: Epilogue After descending the stairs, Euan gripped her wrist hard and an explosion of anger finally erupted in his eyes, “Riley, it seems that you enjoy cheating on me that much!”

Mr George, Don't Be So Arrogant Mistaken Identity Shouldn't Have Kissed You