Chapter 1
This was the first time Adrian had ever hung up on Olivia.
In their five years of marriage, she had always taken advantage of his love, forcing him to compromise every time. If he showed even the slightest displeasure, she would never let it go.
Sure enough, Olivia called back immediately.
Adrian didn’t even bother to look at his phone before rejecting the call and blocking all of Olivia’s accounts.
He glanced at the pair of tickets he had just purchased and asked the young woman at the counter, “Can you help me exchange these for a single ticket?”
The girl looked confused. “But the couple’s ticket has such a big discount. Did your friend cancel?”
Adrian smiled. “She can’t make it. Because she just died.”
The ticket seller froze for a moment, then helped him exchange the ticket with a mix of sympathy and bewilderment.
As Adrian scrolled through his WhatsApp, he suddenly saw a message from William in the work group chat:
“Intern William @everyone: The post I just shared on Instagram was a joke. Thanks to Olivia for being so understanding. If I offended anyone, I apologize.”
Offended who? This passive-aggressive apology was clearly a provocation aimed at Adrian!
Adrian laughed coldly.
He was about to put his phone away when he saw Olivia’s instant reply:
“Everyone can tell you were joking. It’s good for young people like you to liven things up. No need to apologize. Only petty people would take offense.”
With the head translator backing William, colleagues who had been lurking came out to suck up:
“Yeah, that Instagram post was obviously a joke. We wouldn’t take it seriously. No need to apologize specifically.”
“Thanks to William, we got to see Olivia’s amazing debate skills. Olivia is so impressive, I need to study every word!”
“I bet that petty person is lurking right now. Geez, I don’t get how some people can be so petty!”
The colleagues unanimously criticized Adrian for defending William in order to flatter their boss.
What angered Adrian most were the junior managers he had personally trained and promoted. They cursed him the harshest while polishing their boss’s shoes the fastest.
No wonder - Olivia was the company owner, and William was her precious darling.
In their eyes, Adrian, who had invested his entire fortune to help Olivia start her business, was just a lovesick fool with a green hat who didn’t even know he was being cheated on.
Adrian took a deep breath and left the group chat. He didn’t want to ruin his rare day off because of them.
However, just as he was queuing up for the roller coaster, he received a FaceTime call from his assistant Zhang. Her tone was full of reproach:
“Adrian, why aren’t you at the office yet? The international delegation is coming in two days. Where are your materials? When will you submit them to me? You know how important this reception is, don’t you?”
Her words left Adrian confused. He frowned, “What delegation?”
He had been working overtime for over half a month before the holiday, just to free up these few days to travel with Olivia. He clearly didn’t have anything scheduled for these days.
Zhang impatiently said: “The delegation of professors from top art schools coming for academic exchange.”
Adrian bit his lip in confusion: “Wasn’t that task assigned to William by Olivia?”
“Yes, but William had to go back home for something urgent, so he’s on leave. Olivia said to have you take over. You need to come to the office right now to prepare.”
Adrian laughed bitterly. The visiting professors were from 10 countries including the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Egypt. With William’s mediocre English skills, he could never handle hosting this delegation.
But William had his eye on the opportunity to show off in front of top professors and leaders, so he begged Olivia to give him the task.
At the time, Adrian said William couldn’t handle it, but Olivia indulged him and assigned the task to William anyway.
Now that the visit was approaching and William hadn’t prepared anything, he wanted Adrian to clean up his mess! No wonder he suddenly took leave - he must have realized he couldn’t handle this important task.
“Adrian, did you hear me? If you heard, hurry to the office.”
Because Olivia always ordered Adrian around at work, even fresh graduates like Zhang now dared to command him! Adrian laughed coldly and said firmly,
“I’m also on vacation, didn’t you know? I can’t make it back. I can’t take on this translation task. Tell Olivia to figure it out herself.”
He hung up without giving Zhang a chance to respond.
Taking her cheating intern to hide out in the countryside while making Adrian clean up the mess - she was really trying to ride all over him!
Adrian sat down on the vertical drop roller coaster with a cold expression.
Unexpectedly, five minutes later, the entire amusement park was broadcasting announcements to find him:
“Mr. Adrian Quinn, your wife has an urgent matter and is looking for you. Please come to the park’s communication room to take a call as soon as you hear this announcement.”
Adrian rolled his eyes. Olivia was really something… The announcements played over and over. With no choice, Adrian went to the park entrance and picked up the phone. Olivia’s furious voice nearly split his eardrum:
“Adrian Quinn, have I given you too much face?”