Winning Her Heart Back



Doting

Lyle didn't know what else to say, so he waited until William was done with work before accompanying him to Westward Club for a drink. Of course, he drank alcohol, while William stuck to plain water.

It was already 1:00 am by the time they left, and Lyle returned home.

Seeing that the lights in the living room were off before entering, he assumed that everyone had gone to bed. However, when he stepped inside, he found Emelie still working in the open study in the corner of the living room.

A single lamp overhead illuminated her desk.

Lyle walked over. "Why haven't you gone to bed?"

"Some documents came in from Mercianna. I'm working late to finish them, so Wesley won't have to deal with them tomorrow."

Emelie had already showered. Her face was bare, and her skin was clean and smooth. Likely from straining her eyes over documents for too long, she was now wearing a pair of black- rimmed glasses.

This softened her usually cool demeanor and gave her a more scholarly air.

"You really dote on him." Lyle chuckled as he collapsed onto the living room couch.

Emelie gave him a smile. "I dote on you too."

Lyle clicked his tongue with his eyes closed. "Go on. What's the task this time? You never dote on me without working me to death."

"Beathan recently opened a hot spring hotel, but there's definitely something off about it. Jodie and Marcel have already investigated the place, but they found nothing. I need you to gather some intel and see where we can dig in. Once you have a lead, you can begin investigating,"

Lyle agreed and asked, "And my compensation?"

"It will be deposited into your account on time."

Lyle didn't work for Emelie for free. She always paid him for his services.

He propped himself up on the couch and peered at her over the back of it as he replied, "This sounds like a troublesome job. I'd like to ask for a raise."

Emelie was always generous in such matters. "Sure. How much?"

"Add..." Lyle grinned. "Add a plate of salad with vinaigrette dressing for me."

Emelie was speechless. "If you're hungry, then you should've grabbed something from those late-night stalls you'd pass by on the way back."

Lyle raised an eyebrow. "That's what I was going to tell you. Those stalls are gone, including the one that sold your favorite meatballs."

Emelie was puzzled. "What do you mean by 'gone?""

"I asked the cleaning staff, and they said that the city management had come and cleared them out."

Lyle frowned and continued, "It's strange. Those vendors had been there for over 30 years, and the city management had always turned a blind eye to them. They cleaned up after themselves every night, so the neighbors never complained. Why did they suddenly get removed?"

Emelie didn't know either. But the disappearance of stalls, especially the one selling meatballs, that had been there for decades made her frown.

She had always believed that her parents and brother had eaten there. It was the one connection she had to them, and now it was gone.

She put her pen down. "I'll make you some noodles."

"Forget it. I'm not that hungry." Lyle flopped back onto the couch. "If Will finds out that I dared to ask you to cook for me in the middle of the night, he'd never let me off."Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Emelie paused. "Were you with him until this late?"

"You were so focused on Wesley today that you didn't notice how much it upset Will. He even said that he now understands how much it had hurt you back when he had favored Daphne."

Emelie seemed not to hear him as she continued working.

Lyle had already fallen asleep.

The following day, Lyle woke to find that Emelie had already left with Jodie to visit Samuel.

Yawning, Lyle draped his arm over his eyes. He lazily wondered how she managed to keep up with everything. She was constantly worrying about this and that.

Wasn't she exhausted?