In the top-floor conference room of TY Entertainment, Natalia sat across Vasili. They were alone in the large conference room.
"Natalia, you usually have no problem taking Irina's place on the runway. How could you make such a mistake yesterday? Do you have anything to say to me?"
The suspicion on Vasili's face was unmistakable. Natalia sneered internally. It was obvious that Irina had bewitched him again and triggered his suspicion in Natalia.
In an instant, Natalia's eyes started brimming with tears. She pretended to be extremely aggrieved. "Vasili, are you suspecting that I deliberately ruined the show? Why would I deliberately ruin my own reputation? In this matter, I'm just like you, a victim of the incident. Furthermore, we nearly registered our marriage yesterday."
Hearing her words, Vasili wavered slightly.
Natalia was right. The continuous online criticism was clearly directed at her. The cyber troopers he hired deserved all the kudos in making that happen.
Everything that Natalia did—her cooperation—had gradually made Vasili let down his guard against her. He was now convinced it was an accident.
"Irina sprained her ankle. Nobody wants the incident yesterday to happen. Natalia, you know how it's like with Irina's current status. She's our company's golden goose right now. We mustn't let any harm come to her reputation at all. I hope you can be considerate and see the bigger picture here," Vasili instructed her.
"Oh, Vasili, you mean you're abandoning me, aren't you?" Natalia said sorrowfully.
Vasili was getting impatient. However, thinking about Natalia's usefulness to him, he convinced himself to keep putting up with her. "I'm not giving you up, Natalia. Like you said so yourself, we're so close to getting married. Since we're about to be husband and wife, I wish you'll be considerate for my career's sake. You'll benefit a lot from this too."
Natalia knew what to expect, so she was not surprised by Vasili's shamelessness.
What benefit? Once she lost all of her value, he would chuck her far away like a piece of trash.
Before this, she was rather hesitant because she did not want to burn this bridge. Now, there was no need for her to show mercy!
"Vasili, I understand what you mean. I know what to do during the press conference this afternoon." Natalia wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand and lowered her head to hide the cold contempt in her eyes.
"Thank you for your hard work. I'll remember your kindness, Natalia." Vasili placed a hand on Natalia's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
Natalia had to fight back nausea that rose to the back of her throat and suppress the urge to swat his hand away. She nodded docilely. "Vasili, suffering such grievance for you is nothing."
After completely dismissing Vasili's suspicions about her, Natalia smirked.
Next, she would give that shameless couple a huge surprise!
In the western restaurant downstairs, Vasili asked his assistant to book a private room for him to invite Natalia for lunch.
Natalia's cooperation in the press conference in the afternoon was crucial. Even though Vasili hated Natalya to the core, he needed to be patient and give this stupid woman some benefits. Only then would she be willing to do everything without complaints.
They had just sat down when the waiter approached them with two sets of exquisite silver cutlery. Vasili immediately yelled, "Sh*t! Get lost! Get the heck out of here!"
The sudden roar sent the waiter into a rapid retreat. "I'm sorry, Mr. Vasili," he said as he took the cutlery away.
The sight surprised Natalia. She had never seen Vasili so rude.
"Vasili, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine." Vasili was still in shock. He was a werewolf, and was thus, had an inborn fear of silver. Normally, his assistant would be careful. This was the first time he slipped up.
Meeting Natalia's puzzled gaze, Vasili tried to compose himself and returned to his seat.
"I don't like silver cutlery," Vasili explained with a pale face. Then, he opened up the menu and said, "How about some sirloin steak? I remember that's your favorite."
Natalia did not respond. She merely maintained a polite smile.
In all these years, Vasili never made any effort to remember her preferences. On the contrary, she knew his preferences like the back of her hand. It was a pity that she had never developed an in-depth understanding of him and failed to realize just how underhanded and dirty he was.
Natalia had just started flipping through the menu when there was a knock on the door. The star chef himself served Natalia a plate of sirloin steak.
"Miss Natalia, this is your favorite steak. Congratulations on your marriage!"
Vasili looked awkward.
However, he quickly caught onto something else. "Marriage?!"
Vasili frowned slightly. Then, he remembered that they were supposed to register their marriage yesterday, so he was relieved and assumed that the chef was talking about them.
As for the truth that they did not actually go through with that, he did not need to explain this to a chef.
Natalia smiled and thanked him. "Thank you very much for your wishes. Thank you for personally serving my favorite dish too."
As soon as she finished speaking, Natalia carefully soothed the little knot in Vasili's heart just to avoid alarming him. "Previously, I came here and ordered their steak twice. I've realized that they serve really amazing sirloin steak. I've never expected the chef to remember it."
Vasili nodded perfunctorily. In his opinion, Natalia's preferences did not matter. All he wanted to do now was to end this meal quickly and get rid of all that was troubling him. He wanted to return to his nest where his beauty awaited him as soon as possible. His Irina had been acting coquettishly with him for a long time now, causing him an unbearable itch for her throughout the day.
At that moment, Natalia's phone vibrated in her purse. She pulled it out to see a text from Alex. The caller ID read 'Hubby'.
Natalia smiled in spite of herself.
"Dear Natalia, I hope you'll like the steak. Please remember my advice to you—be careful of the man sitting opposite you. He's never up to any good. Also, the chef wishes us a happy marriage. Make no mistake about that."
Natalia's smile widened.
She could not help but fantasize about Alex's voice and smile as he typed this text. He should look very attractive, even more so than this heart-warming passage.
"What are you smiling at, Natalia?" In the overly quiet dining atmosphere, both of them could never give each other their full trust.
Looking at Natalia's lovely smile, Vasili instinctively felt something was up, but he could not pinpoint exactly what it was.
Natalia put away her phone and explained to Vasili, "It's a message from Bailey. She's worried I'll be dismayed to read the news online."
"I see. Bailey's really thoughtful."