Not wanting to waste Owen Rhodes’s time or interfere with his work, Stella Sterling didn’t beat around the bush.
"Why don’t you take Liam Hawthorne with you? If he’s not here, I’m worried it will affect your work."
It was clear that Owen Rhodes was used to having Liam Hawthorne around. Liam, in turn, understood Owen well, so the two shared a natural, fluid working chemistry.
A faint smile spread across Owen Rhodes’s eyes.
"Mrs. Rhodes, Liam Hawthorne isn’t the only assistant in the President’s Office."
Stella Sterling nodded. "I know, but you prefer Liam to the other assistants, don’t you?"
Otherwise, Liam wouldn’t have been the one to deliver the suits for their marriage registration yesterday, and he wouldn’t have made a special trip to Lanthos Bay this morning before Owen left.
Owen Rhodes raised an eyebrow. "Mrs. Rhodes, you’re quite observant."
Stella Sterling loved being praised. Even Owen’s casual, understated compliment was enough to make her eyes curve into a smile.
"Exactly. So when you go away for work, you should naturally take your most capable assistant with you."
The corners of Owen Rhodes’s mouth lifted by an imperceptible two pixels.
"Mrs. Rhodes, the most important person to bring on a work trip is myself. It’s true that Liam is usually with me the most, but the others in the President’s Office are no slouches either. Besides..."
Owen Rhodes bent down slightly to meet her clear gaze, his large hand resting on the crown of her head. "It’s precisely because I often take him with me on trips that everyone else knows his words represent my intentions."
He straightened up and reminded her again, "Remember to take him with you when you go out. Call me if anything comes up. Got it?"
’So he left Liam Hawthorne behind for my sake.’
’But he’s so busy with work. Won’t I be bothering him if I call?’
’What if he’s in the middle of something important?’
"Don’t worry about bothering me. If I can’t pick up, I’ll hang up and send you a message."
"..."
’Okay, okay, he knows what I’m thinking again.’
Stella Sterling gazed at his deep-set eyes and nodded obediently.
Only then did Owen Rhodes seem relieved. He turned and walked out the door.
He had only taken two steps when he seemed to remember something and suddenly turned back.
In the distance, Liam Hawthorne and the second assistant, Quinn Lawson, who were standing side-by-side in front of the Rolls-Royce Ghost, watched as their president leaned down to whisper something in Stella Sterling’s ear while she was still in her pajamas.
Quinn Lawson looked dazed. "Liam... has President Rhodes’s body been snatched, or have I gone insane?"
Liam Hawthorne: "Hm?"
"Is ’patiently explaining things to people’ part of President Rhodes’s character profile?"
In the eyes of everyone at Kyros Group, from top to bottom, Owen Rhodes had always maintained an image of being a man of few words—concise and to the point.
Sometimes his words were so terse that the assistants in the President’s Office would even huddle together to try and decipher his intentions.
Liam Hawthorne, on the other hand, had managed to fight his way through the pack to become Owen Rhodes’s first assistant thanks to his perfect score in perceptiveness.
They never knew that Owen Rhodes could also be like a normal person, explaining things so gently and patiently.
Liam patted his shoulder. "Don’t worry. Even if you’ve gone insane, President Rhodes won’t get his body snatched."
Quinn turned to look at him. "Liam, when will President Rhodes ever be that gentle with me?"
Liam answered without a second thought, "When you become his wife in your next life."
Oh, next life...
So, never, huh.
Hm? Wait! Wife???
Quinn Lawson’s brain completely shut down.
Seeing his shocked expression, Liam calmly said, "From now on, when you see her, remember to address her as ’Mrs. Rhodes’."
What! How did their president, who had been single for years, suddenly have a wife!
Is this for real?!
’No way. I can’t be the only one having an existential crisis over this.’
He silently pulled out his phone, wanting to drop this bombshell in the President’s Office group chat.
Before he could even press the shutter button, his phone was snatched away.
Liam checked his photo album. "You can look with your eyes, but you can’t take pictures. Also, unless President Rhodes and Mrs. Rhodes announce it themselves, you’d better take this secret to your grave."
His brain rebooted. Quinn Lawson quickly nodded and solemnly thanked Liam for "saving his life."
Looking back, he didn’t know what President Rhodes had just said, but Mrs. Rhodes’s cheeks were flushed red, and her eyes shimmered with a watery light as she looked up.
’Mrs. Rhodes is so beautiful!’
’I want to take another look.’
Then he caught President Rhodes’s dark gaze.
’Never mind, I’d better not look. My life is more important.’
...
With Owen Rhodes away on his business trip, the huge villa felt even more empty.
Stella Sterling took Owen Rhodes’s words to heart and began designing the art studio on the third floor.
Once she had a rough concept in mind, she quickly transferred her ideas onto paper and then started making arrangements.
She planned to buy the large items, art supplies, and paints directly online.
As for the smaller decorative items, the ones online were too generic, so she planned to go out and browse for them later.
And so, after holing up at home and going on a five-day online shopping spree, Stella Sterling decided to go out.
Stella Sterling was very obedient to Owen Rhodes’s instructions. She called Liam Hawthorne a day in advance to ask if he was free to accompany her out the next afternoon.
Liam Hawthorne’s first reaction: ’I’m free!’
His second reaction: ’The boss’s wife is so considerate!’
’She actually asked if he was free!’
’She’s so... I could just die.’
At two o’clock the next afternoon, Liam Hawthorne picked Stella Sterling up from Lanthos Bay in a black Maybach.
It was Liam Hawthorne’s first time alone with Stella Sterling, and he was strangely nervous.
At first, he’d been quite happy. Instead of accompanying Owen Rhodes on a business trip, he would stay in Jandor at Stella Sterling’s disposal, acting as a temporary driver. There was no psychological pressure.
’How relaxing is that? It’s practically a sudden vacation!’
But he soon stopped thinking that way.
Recalling the look Owen Rhodes gave Quinn Lawson before getting in the car on the day he left for his trip, Liam felt like he’d been handed a hot potato.
The moment Stella Sterling got in the car, Liam sent a message to report to Owen Rhodes.
[President Rhodes, I’ve picked up Mrs. Rhodes from Lanthos Bay. She said she wants to browse the Front Street Market.]
Owen Rhodes replied in seconds: [Mm.]
The Front Street Market was an old general goods market in Jandor. It originally served as a place for small-scale farmers to sell their produce, but as the city developed, artisans and art students gradually moved in, and it slowly transformed into a hidden art market.
If you wanted to hunt for unique works of art for decoration, there was no better place.
Today was the weekend, and the streets were crowded with pedestrians. The large screen on the outer wall of a downtown shopping mall was energetically cycling through advertisements.
Liam was focused on driving toward the Front Street Market when, in a surprisingly quiet spot amidst the downtown hustle, he suddenly heard Stella say, "Stop here."
Liam pulled the car over to the side of the road. Stella told him to wait in the car, then got out and walked into a nearby jewelry store.
She had never been comfortable with simply accepting kindness from others. To put it bluntly, just as Owen Rhodes had once said, she also believed in repaying favors.
The main reason she was willing to start designing the third-floor studio was that Owen had said a house should look like a home.
Lanthos Bay was too empty right now; it didn’t feel like a home at all.
That’s why these past few days, she hadn’t just been buying things for the studio, but also other items they could use around the house.
In her free time, she would also wonder what else she could do for Owen Rhodes.
As it happened, while she was thinking, she saw an ad for matching rings on the mall’s exterior screen.
They had already registered their marriage, but they still didn’t have matching rings.
The dazzling jewels under the spotlights were dizzying, but a single pair of rings with clean, simple lines caught Stella’s eye, making her suddenly think of Owen Rhodes.
"Hello, could you please show me this one? Thank you."
Two voices spoke at the same time.
Stella turned her head to look.
Well, what do you know. It was Kiana Sterling and Ethan Rhodes.