Chapter 39: Are You Being Serious?
Selene avoided his gaze. “I’ve told you in advance that I would not go with you. I won’t pay you for the ticket. Anyway, I’m tired and need to rest.”
Selene then took her bag and left the store.
Clint, however, followed and grabbed her arm. “Is there anything going on between you and Mr. White?”
“We’re just friends. We grew up together.” Selene didn’t intend to answer his question but did so anyway.
“Just friends?”
“Why do you care, anyway? Are you thinking of marrying me again?” Selene sneered all of a sudden.
“Why are you saying this?” Clint frowned. “I thought that you were cold and distant with everyone. But it turns out I was wrong.” Clint said sarcastically. “You seem very close with Austin. You’ve spent the week with him, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have,” Selene answered.
She was very direct, which surprised Clint. But he maintained his sense of rationality. He loosened his grip on Selene’s hand. “Did I do something to upset you?”
Selene kept silent.
For him, her silence meant that the answer was affirmative. “If I did something wrong, please tell me.”
Selene kept silent for a while but then suddenly replied, “Nothing. I just don’t think we should continue seeing each other. You’re a reminder that I did something stupid by sleeping with a stranger and getting married on a whim.”
“You really think like that?”
“I can’t help it.”
“Even though it was a foolish mistake, it still happened.”
“But I hate being reminded of it every time I see you..”
“Okay. I will stop coming here if that’s what you want.” Clint said angrily.
As expected, Clint stopped going to Selene’s store.
Austin, however, did the opposite; He went to Selene’s apartment as often as he could so that they could have dinner together.
With Austin keeping her company, Selene felt comfortable and less lonely than before. She didn’t get much chance to think about Clint.
In August, there was a Business Forum in the city, and a themed party was held. The sponsor had commissioned costumes for ten female guests from Selene, as the sponsor knew Selene from one of her customers. The sponsor liked Selene’s previous designs and placed the order in advance, confident that he would not be disappointed.
She had two weeks to finish the ten costumes. As a result, Selene worked very hard and stayed up late every night to finish the order on time. Unfortunately, however, she was informed that the order had been canceled only a few days before the party.
When she asked the sponsor the reason for canceling the order, the man just replied that he had decided to hire a different designer for the order.
Though she lost a fortune as a result of the canceled order, what hurt her the most was the time and effort that had gone to waste. Moreover, as the order was made through a recommendation from an acquaintance of hers, Selene did not sign a contract with the sponsor, who ended up paying her only 30% of the agreed cost of the order. Because of this, he wasn’t legally obliged to pay her anything, and Selene could not dispute this in court. That bastard!
Several days later, when Austin came to have dinner with her, they sat on the couch, eating and watching TV. The local news channel was doing a piece on the theme bar party of the Business Forum.
Selene, who had just about gotten over it, found herself very angry once again. She took the remote control to change channels.
But, to her surprise, Austin put down his dish and grabbed the device from Selene. “Let’s just watch this. Some representatives from my company have attended the party.”
“I’m sick of hearing about that damned party!” Selene said, rolling her eyes.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Austin asked, looking at her.
“Just look at what they’re wearing!”
“Yes, I see. Did you design those dresses?”
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t be so angry about the party. The sponsor had ordered the dresses from me, but he canceled just a few days before the party after putting in all the work and wasting my time. I had to pay out of my pocket because we never signed a contract.”
Selene then stretched her index finger, displaying a large cut that had barely healed. “Look at this! I got it when working on those dresses.”
Austin frowned and gently brought her hand closer to him so that he could take a better look. “How can they treat you like this? I’ll find the sponsor and ask him to give you an explanation.” He declared angrily.
“Let it go. It’s not a big deal. I was paid some of the money. I’m just not happy about the cancellation.”
“Will you really just forget about it?” Austin inquired.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
“It’s really not worth the effort of getting involved. Just forget about it and concentrate on your own business.”
“I will deal with it for you, Selene. It’s a big deal for me.”
“Wow, Austin. Why are you insisting? Just a few days ago, your mother called and said that you should be focusing on finding yourself a wife.”
“I don’t have time for marriage. I’m too busy with my career right now.” Austin said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He then stared at Selene with his two big eyes. “What about you? You broke up with Joseph more than a year ago. Maybe it’s time for you to move on and get into a new relationship.”
Selene glanced at him.
Meanwhile, Austin suddenly perked up, seemingly very interested in Selene’s love life.
“I knew that Joseph wasn’t your ‘Mr. Right’ from the very beginning. It seems that I was right.” Austin said, grinning.
“To be honest, I didn’t love him very much. He is from the same town as me and has a strong desire to achieve success in his career. But that turned into a problem. He chose his career over love.”
“You didn’t love him? What kind of man do you want? I could introduce you to some guys.”