After letting his beloved friend go somewhere, he immediately got ready for work. Seeing his friend's face suddenly turn listless after reading a text message, he was certain it must be from her ex-boyfriend or the agency. He had been quite content hanging out with his friend that morning.
Even as he sat in the CEO's office, dressed in expensive work clothes, his mind still wandered to the beautiful woman who looked even more adorable with each laugh. If only no one bothered his best friend anymore, he could still enjoy that beautiful view before heading to work. His silly antics over a faulty faucet actually managed to cheer her up.
"What are you really thinking, Flint?" Alfonso shook his head at the CEO who had been smiling since he arrived at the office.
"It turns out that living in a simple apartment has good sides and bad sides."
"What's the bad side?"
His gaze returned to the assistant. "I'll tell you the good side first. Just because I was acting silly this morning, I managed to make Ellen laugh. I really like her laugh."
Alfonso frowned. "What did you do to make Ellen laugh? Don't you usually hate showing your silly side to others?"
"Actually, this has something to do with the bad side I wanted to tell you about." He immediately hit his assistant's arm in annoyance. "Didn't you observe the apartment's surroundings first? How could the water pipes and faucets suddenly have problems?"
"I was certain that the apartment had been fine all along. Before I recommended it to you, I read various reviews from residents there." His hands were folded. "Shouldn't you be thanking me? If you hadn't lived there, you wouldn't have met Ellen."
"I should be thanking you. But I was so embarrassed in front of her! She laughed at me because I rinsed my hair with gallon water!"
Alfonso, imagining it, also laughed so hard his cheeks turned red. "Flint, if I were her, I'd definitely laugh at you. No one would give up drinking water to rinse their hair!"
"Anyway, after this, you have to buy me another gallon of water. I used two gallons just to rinse my hair."
"Okay, I'll just order five gallons just in case. You might want to rinse your hair with another gallon of water," Alfonso sneered.
Flint glared at his assistant, waving his right hand. "Are you satisfied with mocking me?"
"By the way, how has living there been since Ellen became your neighbor?"
Initially pouting, his smile widened again, imagining his friend's reaction, laughing happily at his silly antics. He propped his chin on his palm and stared out the window.
"I will make things even more difficult for her."
"I knew you were a spoiled brat. That's why you wouldn't be able to survive in a simple apartment." His eyes rolled. "Even though I've provided all kinds of expensive furniture for you, you really just want to live in a luxury home."
"Alfonso, I think you misunderstood. I didn't want to bother her because I wasn't comfortable living in a humble environment, but because I wanted to see her more often." She laughed awkwardly, remembering his friend's words about him being unemployed. "In fact, she always thought I was unemployed."
"Really? She doesn't suspect you as the CEO?"
"At first she suspected that I might come from a wealthy family, but for some reason she suddenly thought I was unemployed."
Alfonso burst out laughing again, imagining the perfectionist CEO becoming unemployed. "Actually, you're quite suited to being unemployed if you can't do anything. Especially rinsing your hair with two gallon jugs."
"Can you please not bring that up again?" His eyes fell on the luxury watch on his left wrist. "I have a meeting with the narrative designer team soon."
Alfonso's eyes widened. "What? This all of a sudden?"
"There's something I need to discuss with them. Do they have another meeting?"
"It shouldn't be. But they'll definitely be annoyed with you for calling the meeting so suddenly without any preparation."
*****
Ellen had to confront her ex-boyfriend, even though she had previously refused to communicate with him. Furthermore, he had asked her to meet him at a cafe they used to frequent. She was worried that paparazzi would secretly photograph her again, as before. Should she flee before the scandal escalated further on social media? Seeing her ex-boyfriend's innocent expression filled her with disgust.
"What did you call me for? Didn't you want to see me again?" she asked sharply.
Harley smiled sarcastically, turning the glass clockwise. "How are you doing now?"
"You shouldn't be asking me how I'm doing after we broke up. Do you want people to gossip about us again?"
"You seem like a vengeful type, Ellen. I didn't ask you out to fight." His gaze returned to his ex-girlfriend. "So you were the one who started the fire first."
"I don't want to make small talk with you, Harley. I know you're busy right now. But you still want to meet me just to make fun of me."
"Since you've been making me mad, I want to show you something." Harley pulled out his phone and showed a behind-the-scenes video of a bikini magazine photoshoot with Lauren. He even deliberately cut the video to the moment he kissed Lauren, hoping his ex-girlfriend would hate him even more and go crazy.
Ellen was furious when she saw the video. It was just a magazine photoshoot, but why did Harley and Lauren have to kiss? That made her realize even more how much of a jerk the couple was. She glared at her ex-boyfriend.
"What are you doing? Do you want me to hate you even more?"
"Since I've shown you that unexpected video, I hope you'll quickly forget what we did." He snapped his fingers. "That's right. I've been spending more time with Lauren than you. You'll be able to forget me easily."
"You!!" Her breath became increasingly labored as she heard the painful words her ex had said.
"Especially since we've never kissed. Do you actually feel disgusted by me?"