Tabitha's POV
"I just thought your necklace was very beautiful, so I took a few more glances. Where did you buy it?" I had a smile on my face, trying to lighten the mood.
Elizabeth's necklace was her only adornment, a small but delicate rose with a sparkling diamond at its center.
"This was the year-end bonus that Mr. Greenwood had custom-made two years ago," Elizabeth replied calmly.
"Oh, I see. I will work hard to earn this year's bonus then," I said with a smile.
She just glanced at me before leaving with her bag.
Charlie, who had been silent until now, spoke up, "Don't take it personally. She has always been like that."
I asked, "So you mean Elizabeth has always been this cold?"
"Well, I haven't seen her smile since she started working here. Although cold, she's efficient at her job," he replied.
We chatted for a while, and then I was the last one to leave the office.
I didn't go far but waited in the underground parking lot.
Soon a car came. Derek lowered the car window and coldly said, "Get in."
I got into the car, and we returned to the Black Thorn Pack villa. It was a journey we'd never taken together in all the years I'd known him.
On the way, my mind was filled with various thoughts. The people in the Secretary Department had different personalities, each with their own quirks.
"Regretting it?" Derek had been tapping on his laptop since I got in the car, but he looked up at me when asking.
He pushed the silver wire-framed glasses and said, "It's not too late to regret now."
I lifted the notebook in my hand, which recorded all of Derek's preferences.
"Well, I hadn't finished yet. Three cubes of sugar in the coffee, steak cooked medium rare, loves cherries and blueberries..."
I closed the notebook and looked at him seriously. "I remember you dislike these fruits the most. You only eat steak medium rare. As for coffee, you never add sugar."
If it weren't for the serious look on the person who gave me the notebook, warning me not to make any mistakes, I would have thought someone was trying to sabotage me.
This preference form clearly contradicts Derek's habits.
Derek took the notebook from my hand and said, "Forget about that."
His preferences were inscrutable, and no one knew his true likes except me.
He added, "You just needed to follow the instructions."
The glow from his laptop screen highlighted his sharp features, making him seem even more distant.
I suddenly realized how little I truly knew the man I shared my bed with.
He in the workplace was a stranger to me.
I nodded, "I would get used to it."
We'd disappeared for a while, and he had a mountain of work to catch up on.
So after returning to the villa, he had to continue reading the emails.
I took a shower and sat on the bed with my laptop.
I recalled to myself, 'The day Rolf appeared in John's ward, I happened to be asking for a rejection ceremony.
'Derek later told me that he had returned to the Black Thorn Pack to handle pack affairs.
'He would not pass by the werewolf hospital, whether he was coming from the company or the villa.
'Typically, Rolf should have been managing the pack patrol, or he would have stayed by Derek's side to protect him.
'So it could be arranged by Derek himself, for he wanted to check on John's condition personally in the ward.
'Another possibility is that Rolf needed to go to the hospital himself.'
Soon, I found Derek's itinerary during that time on the laptop.
Ever since my father fell into a coma, Derek had arranged for Rolf to visit him at the hospital every week.
So it was Derek sending Rolf, and that's why Rolf was there that day. He was for a visit instead of harming my father.
Seeing this, I felt a shock like never before.
I wondered, 'Could it be that the misunderstandings between us were all manipulated by someone behind the scenes?
'He or she was using my concern for my father to harm Derek and our relationship.
'If I hadn't changed my mind at the last minute, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
'What a cruel person.'
At that moment, Derek appeared by the door and gave me a cold glance. "What's with that expression?"
He walked towards me with big strides.
"What are you looking at?" he asked.
I did not hide the screen, and he saw it.
"What's so interesting about these?" he asked.
I turned off the laptop and asked, "Was Rolf present that day when my father regained consciousness during his coma?"
"Yes," he replied.
Soon he added, "That day, Rolf was supposed to go to the hospital to check his condition."
Just as I expected. So could it be that all of this was manipulated?
Seeing me silent, Derek said in confusion, "You don't think I planned everything, do you?"
He pulled my shoulder over, looking serious. "Tabitha, stop your unrealistic daydreaming. If I wanted to harm him, he'd be dead a thousand times over."
Derek's tone was icy. "If I wanted, I had a hundred, a thousand ways..."
He didn't finish. I suddenly hugged him, wrapping my arms around his waist. "I believe you," I said.
He reached out and grabbed my chin, forcing my gaze to meet his. His eyes burned with intensity, making my cheeks warm and my heart race.
"I don't know what you are thinking. Yes, I haven't treated you well these past two years. You hate me, blame me, and I can understand that, Tabitha. I know deep down that we can't go back to the past," he said.
He grasped my hand. "But I would never want John dead, no matter how much I hate him. It's all because of you. If he dies, it would sever all the connections between us. So I sent Rolf to visit your father in the hospital that day."