Facade of Love

Chapter 320 A Clash

I was totally speechless. I was just about to say something when Idris hit me with, “You’re not gonna bail on dinner too, right?”

Awesome. He had me backed into a corner.

I pursed my lips, shot him a skeptical glance, and muttered, “Sure, if you’ve got nothing better to do, dinner’s cool.”

Feeling irked, I was not in the mood to hang around and talk, so I spun on my heel to take off. I had only made it a few steps when I paused and threw a look over my shoulder at him. His usually handsome face was now sporting a weird redness. “Hey, just so you know, you’re looking a bit feverish. You might want to take some meds.”

As I walked into the police station that morning, I could not shake off the sight of his cheeks, all pink and flushed. At first, I thought he was just shaking off the last bits of sleep, but the redness stuck around way after we stepped outside. That is when it clicked: he must have slept in his car overnight, and the cold got to him.

“Alright!” he suddenly burst out, the hard lines of his face melting into something gentler. Our eyes met, and he nodded. “Got it.”

The way he switched gears so fast left me feeling super awkward. I did not stick around to dwell on it, though. I just turned around and made a beeline for the safety of Scott Corporation. Idris and I were different now. Our chats and hangouts had this weird new vibe, not as uptight and by–the–book as before. Maybe it was because of the divorce. I felt like I could breathe again, but my fuse was way shorter now.

Strutting into Scott Corp with my arms full of blooms, I caught a bunch of stares. I slapped on my best “everything’s peachy” grin and zipped to my office.

I dumped the flowers on my desk and just stared. Who would do something like this?

They were definitely nice to look at, but flowers out of nowhere?

Was it Maxwell playing secret admirer?

Just as I thought about him, Maxwell strolled in, his arms loaded with papers. His eyes caught sight of the flowers, and he could not help but flash a cheeky grin. “Well, well, what’s all this? Looks like someone’s got a secret admirer, huh?”

gave him a pointed look. “These aren’t from

like I had just turned

your to an alien. “Why would I be sending you flowers?

he had

bit as he leaned in. “You seriously have

eyes with him, totally speechless. “You know

He

a casual shrug, his face telling me he was too swamped to play detective.” I just came

puzzled look. Who had decided to play secret admirer if Idris and Maxwell were out

did a little dance with a few buzzes.

on the screen, and I could not help but flick my gaze to the flowers in front of me. Maxwell caught my surprised look, and a mischievous smile crept onto his face, as though he was in the front row at the movies watching the

and answered the

like

ever,

question caught me off guard. “Wait, you are the one who sent them?” I stammered, my thoughts racing to catch up. Why would Charlie send me flowers, of all

picture him smiling. “I swung by the police station to drop off those flowers and noticed you seemed to dig them. I just wanted to say thanks for last night. I wasn’t sure what you

out was, “Mr. Yates, why are you

some gratitude,” Charlie said, his chuckle warm

totally tongue–tied.

and I’m still riding that high. I just wanted to share the good vibes

thrown. “You already gave me something last