The most ridiculous part of it was the fact that he took off his shirt and left it there.
If this was a drama, then it would be an outrageous farce!
Half an hour later, the restaurant’s manager personally sent over Elyette’s shirt and cash.
Among the other items sent over were two buttons from a women’s shirt.
“Whose buttons are these?” Chad asked as he held the buttons in his hand.
“I think it belonged to a certain Miss Tate.”
“Averie Tate?”
“Yes! They broke into a fight at the restaurant, and almost started getting it on.”
Chad was at a loss for words. Did “getting it on” mean what he thought it meant?
Tammy brought out a t–shirt for Averie.
“What on earth happened to you? How’d you fall and got the buttons on your shirt broken off? Tammy looked at her all suspiciously and guessed, “Averie, did you get into a fight with someone?”
Averie replied as she put on the shirt, “Yeah, you guessed it right.”
“And you lost right? You look terrible. Shall I hire you a bodyguard?” Tammy said as she poured Averie a glass of warm water, “You are the owner of a multi–billion dollar company now.; It’s essential to have one. Look at Elyette, he has a bunch of bodyguards following him around. I heard they were all extremely well trained…”
Averie smiled wryly and said, “If that‘s the case, I don‘t need to hire anyone else.”
Tammy asked, “Why?” and she understood as she asked it, “Is he out of his mind? What’d you have against that dirtbag?”
Averie took a sip of the water and put down her glass.
“Thanks for the shirt. I‘ll make my way back to the office now.” Mike was calling her to get some updates on the discussions.
She needed to head back now. “I‘ll see you out,” said Tammy as she was worried about Averie.
“No need, I‘m fine I promise. This isn‘t the first time we fought.” Averie responded half heartedly.
“I know, but this is the first time he‘s laid his hands on you!” Tammy said as she thought of something. She turned around and walked to the cabinet and took out a bottle of pepper spray and handed it over to Averie, “Carry this with you. You can use it on him the next time he bullies you again.”
At the Tate Tower, Mike was surprised to see Averie’s wardrobe change.
“It didn‘t go as we planned?”
“Yeah,” said Averie.
“It‘s fine,” Mike comforted her and said, “We can recruit a few more sales agent and sell it ourselves.”
Averie nodded and continued, “I thought so too. After all, we just started up. Slowly but surely we‘ll get there.”
Mike was never interested in managing a business or moneymaking. He stayed with Averie out
of gratitude. He‘ll let her steer the wheel.
“Mike, the money we made from overseas might be chipped in for this project… We might make some or we might even lose it all,” Averie confessed after a long pause.
“Don’t you worry about this, we can always make more money! Just stay put,” Mike said as he placed his hand on her shoulders and continued, “We had some rough sails too when we started our businesses overseas.”
Averie felt a slight comfort after hearing from Mike, “Perhaps I was a nobody back then, so I wasn’t pressured about the outcome.”
“Just focus on your own business, don‘t get sucked into other people’s opinion of you,” said Mike.
Averie sensed a huge relief as she laughed, “You sounded extra clever today, Mike.”
“Ha–ha! Come on, I‘ll take you shopping. This shirt is just awful on you,” said Mike with a slight aversed expression, “It‘s your birthday this weekend. You have to dress up!”
Mike pulled Averie away from the offices.
Late noon, Elyette arrived at the Sterling Group offices as Chad followed from behind.
“Chad, I‘m not going to Averie‘s party this weekend,” Elyette said with a familiar tone.
Chad knew of course, as to why Elyette had a change of mind. He had a huge argument with Averie that afternoon, it will be hard for him to recover from it.
He was sensitive about his reputation.
Taking off her shirt and throw money in the public… Elyette felt ridiculed.
Though the restaurant was mostly emptied, there must have been a bunch of people looking in from the outside. “I’ll go with Ben then,” said Chad, “We shouldn‘t be absent altogether.”
Elyette was distracted by the black bag on the table and asked, “What‘s this?” Chad coughed and couldn’t find words to say.
Elyette opened up the bag and found the shirt and cash inside.
“Swoop —” he smacked the bag and it fell to the ground.
“Get rid of it!“exclaimed Elyette coldly.
“Yes alright,” said Chad as he picked it up and walked out the door.
At the mall streets, Mike threw on multiple pieces of clothing to Averie for her to try on.
“You got to try it on before you know if it fits,” said Mike as he pushed her into the fitting room.
“You’ve such a good boyfriend, Miss. It‘s rare to have an attentive man!” The salesperson grinned as she said to Averie, “Do you need my assistance?”
Averie shook her head vigorously, “I can manage.”
Mike and Averie spun around the whole stretch of mall street for that entire noon. The back of the car was filled with shopping bags.
He bought clothes not only for Averie but also for Hayden, Layla, Laura, and himself.
This might be the last time Averie would agree to go shopping with Mike. Averie was famished at this point. They sat down at a random restaurant and she planned to head home right after.
“Hurry up and eat, Averie, I‘ll bring you to a hair salon next,” said Mike.
“But I‘m all drained up!” exclaimed Averie.
“You can just sit and relax at the salon. How are you going to look for your next love with that look of yours?” Mike said as he scrolled through his phone for a photo, “Look at this man from Edelweiss. Rich, tall, and handsome, so much better than that dirtbag Elyette. This man should be your standard from now on.”
Averie was dumbfounded.
She wasn‘t feeling hungry anymore.
“Do you think this man from Edelweiss will fall for me with me buying new clothes and changing my hairstyle?”
“Of course not. You have to go there if you want an opportunity to woo him,” Mike was adamant about it, “We will work towards the goal, baby steps.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
Leave a Reply