Free Web NovelChapter 113: Apartment Next Door
Jake grabbed the corner of Michael’s shirt and shook it a few times as he requested like a baby, "Mr. Lucas... Mummy and I would really love to have a drink. I forgot to include the drinks when ordered take-out. If I were to make another order, it would take a long time for the delivery to arrive."
When Michael continued to remain silent, Jake added, "Mr. Lucas, as you’ve seen, there’s nothing in our fridge at all."
His eyes were clear and bright, and Michael would never have suspected the child’s motives if it had been some other kid. However, this boy was his son. Michael kept having a nagging feeling that the child was out to trick him. He found it rather hard to turn the boy down when he looked at him in the eye, though.
Heaving out a sigh of resignation, he patted the boy on the head and gave in. Flashing him a helpless smile, Michael agreed, "Sure. Ill get the drinks."
"Thank you, Mr. Lucas," Jake replied and his lips curled up into a sweet smile.
When Michael walked over to the door, he couldn’t help but turn to take a second glance at Wendy. He knew that Jake would close the door shut the minute he left. However, he could only catch a glimpse of Wendy’s back when he reached the door. She really did not seem to have any lingering feelings for Michael.
’Forget it. I’ll make a move, then. I suppose it’ll be a way out for the both of us,’ he thought.
Otherwise, it would be awkward for Michael to continue on this path. He had wanted to whip up a meal for them to break the ice, but there was nothing for him to work with, and thus, he was unable to do anything.
As expected, the minute Michael left the house, he heard the door click shut. Michael couldn’t help but heave out a sigh and rub his nose as he stared at the door, which was now tightly shut.
It’s so hard to win the affection of my wife, but it’s even harder when it comes to my son, he thought with melancholy.
After shutting the door, Jake ran back to the dining table, grinned widely at Wendy, and seemed as if he was waiting for her to praise him. "Mummy, I’m impressive, aren’t I?" he asked.
"You are," Wendy agreed instantly and began to praise her clever son, "You’re even better than me."
At the very least, Wendy had failed to get Michael to leave on his own accord, whereas Jake had succeeded. Jake was over the moon when Wendy praised him, and he heaped some vegetables onto her plate and urged, "Here, Mummy. Have some more food."
...
Michael whipped out his phone as he stood outside the door and gave Mr. York a call, "I want you to buy the apartment beside Wendy’s as soon as possible. It would be best if I could move in tonight. One more thing. Could you get us two maids?"
Michael originally intended to recruit two maids to prepare meals for Wendy and perform the household chores. However, he quickly changed his mind, as he wouldn’t have had a chance to show off how he had improved if the maids were there to prepare the meals for them. Thus, he quickly retracted his words and said, "You can forgo the maids for the time being. Just get the apartment ready."
Mr. York felt that Michael was becoming increasingly determined. However, he could empathize with the fact that he was only doing it to regain his wife’s affection. With how rich Michael was, it was easy for him to secure an apartment.
If the owner of the apartment was reluctant to sell the house, he could easily increase his offer by twofold, threefold or even tenfold. freёweɓnovel.com
Michael could certainly move into the apartment beside Wendy’s on the same night if he wanted to.
Wendy heard her doorbell ring early the next morning. She couldn’t help but wonder who the visitor would be when it was still so early in the morning. She had only just returned to the country and was not acquainted with many people.
Upon reaching the door, she quickly spotted Michael’s face on the screen and she couldn’t help but feel amazed by how persistent he was in hanging around her like a ghost.
Isn’t he tired of this at all? she wondered.
Wendy decided against opening the door and simply allowed the doorbell to buzz on.
Jake had gotten out of bed by then, and he asked, "Mummy, it’s not Mr. Lucas again, is it?"
Wendy grunted in acknowledgment as she entered the kitchen to fetch the bread and milk.
Passing the food to Jake, she remarked, "Zess will be here today. Remember to fetch her from the neighborhood. Let’s make do with this for breakfast."
After breakfast, Wendy packed up and left for work. Michael was nowhere to be seen when she opened the door, and her mood improved.
She thought, fortunately, he was not completely obsessed. He knows that he should leave me alone after I’ve rejected him again and again.
Just when she was about to step out of her apartment, Michael’s voice rang out, "Good morning."
She closed her eyes helplessly, mentally retracting her faith in Michael. It seemed that he was more shameless than she had ever imagined him to be.
"Did you stay outside my apartment the entire night?* Wendy chuckled lightly as she said mockingly, "I wonder what other people would say about you if this got out."
"I’m sure they’ll say that I’m an insanely devoted and romantic man..." said Michael. Compared to how he had been five years ago, he seemed much more comfortable with complimenting himself now. It was an interesting change.
Wendy was suddenly reminded of what had happened the night of her welcome party. She had wanted Michael to embarrass himself in public so that everyone in the city would hear about it and mock him. However, he was instead painted as a hopelessly romantic man.
The thought of it made her grit her teeth in anger.
"You stalk me everywhere, and you always find a way to show up outside my door. Mr. Lucas, are you sure you’re just being devoted? This is simply inappropriate behavior," said Wendy, as she stared coldly at him. "I can’t believe they let just about anyone into the apartment building. It seems I should file a complaint against the security guards here."
The moment Michael heard those words, he handed her his phone. Smiling, he said, "Go ahead, lodge the complaint."
His reaction made it difficult for her to respond. Since she had already made the threat, Wendy had no choice but to follow through. She called the security department. The moment the call went through, she said, "I want to complain about the security here. It’s simply unsafe for the residents if your security guards let just about anyone into our building."
"Miss, can you please elaborate? Were you harmed or harassed in any way?"
"Yes, I’ve been getting harassed, absolutely. I urge you to inform your security guards not to allow anyone without a resident to pass into the building from now on. Otherwise, it’s very unsafe for the residents living here."
"Miss, we have always been responsible for ensuring the safety of our residents. Only people with a resident pass are allowed to enter the building, along with those that have obtained clearance from us."
"There’s a man standing beside me..." Wendy wanted to continue talking about how Michael did not have a resident pass, but before she could finish, he flashed his resident pass with a smile on his face. Frowning, she examined his pass and took it out, too, so that she could compare them. Indeed, Michael’s resident pass appeared to be legitimate.
A smug smile appeared on his face when he saw the disbelief in Wendy’s eyes. Raising his eyebrows, Michael said, "I forgot to tell you that I own the apartment next door. Don’t you think we are meant to be? It’s such a coincidence that you ended up renting an apartment right beside me"
Wendy did not believe him in the least! There were no coincidences in this world. It did not take much for her to figure out that Michael must have bought the apartment next door after she moved in. This was definitely something that he was capable of doing.
"Miss?" The voice over the phone was heard.
Fuming, Wendy replied, "Forget it."
With that, she hung up and tossed Michael’s phone back at him.
She caught a glimpse of his wallpaper in her peripheral vision. That photo seemed familiar.
However, before she could get a clear look, he caught his phone and kept it in his pocket. Still smiling, he said, "Wendy, we’re neighbors now."
Wendy thought, I sure as hell don’t want to be his neighbor! Furious, she decided to ignore him.
She went to the garage and drove off. Michael got into his car and followed behind her in a leisurely manner. There was an affectionate and gentle look on his face.
Michael followed her everywhere over the next few days. He waited outside her apartment every morning so that they could leave for work together and waited outside her office until she headed out at the end of the day. If not for Zess’s arrival, it seemed likely that Michael would have just barged into their kitchen and demanded to cook for Wendy and Jake. Zess’s presence meant that Michael had no excuse to insist on doing that.
Wendy was overwhelmed by Michael’s persistence. She wondered why she had never realized just how shameless he could be.
Fortunately, he never did anything that really crossed the line, which made it easy for her to simply ignore him. However, seeing Michael outside her door every single morning always put her in a bad mood.
Hence, Wendy decided to start waking up earlier at 6.30 A.M. this morning to go to work so that she could avoid him. She did not have to worry about preparing Jake’s breakfast since Zess was staying in the apartment.
The sky was still dark at this hour. Wendy believed that Michael must still be asleep.
She did not see Michael’s annoying face when she opened the door. Her lips curled into a smile, and she was instantly in a much better mood. At long last, she was one step ahead of him today. Work didn’t start until 9 A.M., and since the apartment was pretty near to the office, she only needed ten minutes to travel there.
Michael often started camping outside her door at 8 every morning. However, he never expected her to leave so early this morning just to avoid him.
Michael stood outside Wendy’s door at 8 A.M. just like any other day. However, she did not show up even after he had waited for one whole hour. He suddenly sensed something amiss. She was not the type to be late unless there was an emergency. After all, Wendy had always been very serious when it came to working. With a confused frown on his face, Michael gave Mr. York a call. He said, "is Wendy at the office?"
Mr. York immediately replied, "Yes, she is. She came in early today. She was already here when l arrived at 8 this morning."
"She was already there at 8 A.M?" said Michael, "Can you check what time exactly she arrived at work this morning?" frёewebnoѵēl.com
Mr. York immediately did as he was told. Soon after, he said, "She arrived at the company before 7 A.M."
"7 A.M.?" Michael reached out and rubbed his forehead. Then, he started shaking his head with a smile on his face. He thought, did she really have to do that just to avoid me?
Realizing he had become such an inconvenience to her, he decided to leave her alone for today and just let her enjoy herself without his presence. With that mindset, he kept to his word and did not bother Wendy at for the entire day.
However, things did not always turn out as he wanted.
Right before it was time to head out of work, Michael received a call from Mrs. Lucas. When he saw the name on his phone display, he immediately knew why she was calling. Mrs. Lucas had called him multiple times ever since Wendy returned to Lake City. Every single time she called, she would ask him when he could bring Wendy back to visit her at the mansion.
It was obvious that Mrs. Lucas genuinely cared for Wendy. Even when Wendy claimed to have cheated on Michael and gotten pregnant with another man’s baby five years ago, Mrs. Lucas never did anything against her. She was disappointed in Wendy, but that was it. Just like everyone else, she had spent the last five years believing that Wendy was dead. She also tried her best to persuade Michael to move on after seeing how much pain he was in. Now that she knew Wendy was alive, she wished very much to see her again.
However, Wendy had returned to Lake City with a different identity, and she hated Michael more than anything. Due to their circumstances, Michael could only tell his grandmother to give him some time to convince Wendy to visit her at the mansion.
Even though he wished that Wendy could admit who she really was and return to his side, he could not deny that he was responsible for hurting her so deeply five years ago. He wanted to wait until his relationship with Wendy had improved before bringing her back to the mansion to see Mrs. Lucas.
