Rotten Twins: Making a CEO a Daddy novel Chapter 160

”I know!”

“Know? About what?”

“Mark, I don’t believe love will last forever but I will remember what you say today. Even if you don’t love me anymore one day, as long as you will never lie to me, it’s enough.”

“Don’t worry. I, Mark Pattison, give you my word,” Mark said.

He deeply stared into Lyla’s eyes and added, “But now, I cannot get you off my mind and I think I can love you longer than forever…”

Lyla stopped him before he could get any closer. “Don’t cross the line.”

“But are you willing to leave me brokenhearted?”

Lyla blushed. She pretended like nothing happened and said, “That’s your business. If you can’t handle it, go into the bathroom and cool yourself down!”

“I’m a healthy and normal man, do you think it’s appropriate to make me take a cold bath?”

“It will help you cool down your strange thoughts!”

“You…” Mark stared at Lyla with gnashing teeth.

“Fine, I’ll wait. I believe you have the need too and when you do, I won’t give it to you even if you beg me.”

Mark sulked and got off her. He laid down beside her and stared at the ceiling like a dead body.

Lyla found it amusing but did not say anything to cheer him up. She laid down beside him quietly.

Then, Lyla suddenly thought of something. “Hey, guess who did I bump into today?”

“Who?”

“Kathleen.”

Mark frowned when he heard the name but that was it.

Lyla continued since Mark barely responded. “I was shopping with Emmy and Lily when I bumped into her. She was just fired from her job and was looking for another.”

“Ho-oh?” Mark grunted.

Lyla frowned at him. “Why are you so calm?”

“What do you expect? If I react strongly, will you be jealous?” Mark asked with a raised brow.

Lyla smiled mischievously. “I’d drown in the rain if I am jealous of her.”

“Come on, be honest to yourself. Women don't always mean what they say.” Mark slowly moved his hands to her laps.

Lyla tapped his hand and said, “Behave!”

Mark sulked and took his hand back.

Lyla looked at him. “You really don’t feel anything?”

Mark noticed the serious look on her. He propped his head on his palm and looked at her in the same way. “What do you want me to do?”

“I am not asking you to do anything, it’s just that when I saw her, I... I don’t know how to describe my feelings!”

“To me, she’s past tense. No matter what happened, it’s all been settled. We all have our own lives now, and maybe she’s having it better without me interfering with her life,” Mark said.

Mark’s words spoke to her heart. Lyla nodded and said, “I guess you are right.”

“If she can return to her natural self, that would be the best place for her.”

Lyla smiled and nodded in agreement. “Okay, I get it.”

“Feeling better already?” Mark asked.

Lyla smiled. “Yeah.”

“Then…” Mark reached out his hand and wanted to hug her but Lyla bolted up.

“I’m going to take a bath and I hope that when I come back, you are already gone!”

She strode to the bathroom and slammed the door shut with a bang.

Staring at the shut bathroom door, Mark was speechless. He clenched his fists but he realized he could not do anything at all.

“I’m not leaving! I’ll just sleep!”

……

Downstairs.

Hansel had slept for a full day and finally felt better. Since he had settled the matter for quite some time now but had yet to give Orpheus an update, he believed he should go online and give everyone an explanation.

After he went online, he was flooded by messages. He did not even have the chance to read all of it, all he did was skim through the chat history.

“Don’t stop me! I’m going to Hansel now!”

“No one is stopping you, just go!”

“You guys… Is no one feeling anything?”

“We are also waiting for an answer but we are not as impulsive and rash as you.”

The chat started three minutes ago.

Hansel simply skimmed through and typed, “Ahem, Hi guys. I’m here.”

A second of silence later, messages flooded the chat again.

Orpheus: “Look who decided to finally show up!”

Jack: “Hansel! You’ve lied to us!”

Justin: “Hansel, if you don’t give us an explanation today, Orpheus will go to your house and knock on your door.”

Hansel: “Hey, I came online as fast as I can to give you guys an update.”

“As fast as you can? Bro, do you even know how long you have gone missing?”

“Oh, I was actually sleeping.”

“Sleeping? How can you sleep on it? Do you know how stirred we are?” Orpheus asked excitedly.

“Okay okay, I get it. I’m here already. Ask away.” Hansel expected this to happen and he was already prepared before he came online.

Orpheus went silent for a second. “Is Mark Pattison your daddy?”

“Yes, he is.”

“But…”

“There are no buts here. My daddy might be a little evil and cunning but after all these years fighting each other, he too has suffered losses because of you. I think the two of you are the same.”

“Hansel is right.” Jack also joined the conversation.

“So you guys agree on this?” Orpheus asked.

“If it brings more benefits to us, of course we agree!”

“That’s enough Orpheus. We are actually considering this as well but like you said, Mark is a cunning person, we don’t trust him but with Hansel on our side, I think we can afford to take the calculated risk.”

“That’s right. Working with Ghost Gate will save us a lot of problems.”

“Orpheus, I assure you if you shoot my daddy, I will stop helping everyone!” Hansel added.

Orpheus was rendered speechless by their argument.

In the end, he said, “That’s it. You guys continue the discussion.”

Orpheus then went offline.

“Did I overstep?” Hansel asked meekly.

“It’s fine. Just give him some time to take it in,” Justin said.

“Yeah. It’s so Orpheus, he will be fine when he cools down.”

“Okay.”

“Right, Hansel, I don’t think you only talked to Mark about the alliance right? You must have promised him more than that,” Justin asked.

“Uhm…”

“What else did you promise him?” Jack asked.

“It’s nothing actually. You guys know that my daddy will never deal in a losing business, so I agree to give him the distribution right of Alpine.”

“You what?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not dealing in a losing business, that's the clean profit that you promised him!” Jack said.

“Well I was out of options back then and I had to show myself at the end. My daddy is really a bugger. I suppose you guys know what I’m talking about.” Hansel also felt extremely helpless.

However, the others agreed to what Hansel said because Piers reported exactly the same thing.

“Thank god that you didn’t promise him the distribution right of the Asian market.”

“He did ask for it but I rejected it.”

“Smart kid.”

“There should be a probation period for this. If daddy performs well with the distribution, I’ll think about it.”

Justin and Jack were speechless. They did not know how to answer.

“Don’t worry guys, at least you guys don’t have to worry about our stocks during delivery and transfer,” Hansel said, attempting to console them.