The following day
By 8:50 am, Carolline Ruiz was already waiting downstairs at their apartment building.
Before 8 o'clock, she had put her resident book, ID card, and all other documents into a bag. She then spent fifty fretful minutes alone in the room without even thinking about breakfast, checking her documents several times.
At seven, she awoke, rang in sick to the head nurse, and took the day off. Much to the head nurse's displeasure, there was no alternative.
Carolline Ruiz was suffering from enteritis. With each flare-up, she would be stuck in the restroom for an hour, unable to come out. It was necessary for her to take medication, though it didn't always help immediately.
At nine o'clock, the Maybach stopped precisely in front of Carolline Ruiz. Xavier Estrada, who was acquainted with her from previous interactions wherein they had conversed about Bryan Hawkins, spotted her from afar when she made a turn.
Xavier Estrada got out of the car and opened the door on the opposite side of the backseat for Carolline.
"..." Carolline didn't move but peered inside the car at the intensely magnetic Bryan Hawkins, causing a shiver to run through her body, "Um... where are we going?"
"To the Civil Affairs Bureau. If you're scared or don't want to go, close the door now." Bryan Hawkins turned his head, his deep-set eyes focusing on the woman in front of him.
At this moment, he was somewhat fully awake. He admitted that his suggestion from the night before might have been impulsive. However, since he had made the proposal, he was obliged to go through with it, he had said that he would wait for her for ten minutes.
If she didn't show up in ten minutes, he would take it as a refusal, and he would abandon the idea.
But what he hadn't expected was that as soon their car rounded the corner, Carolline was already standing there, waiting for him.
"..." They are really going to the Civil Affairs Bureau? Carolline wondered. However, she felt somewhat dizzy when what she was thinking coincided with the reality about to occur.
"Are you coming or not? Five, four, ..." Bryan Hawkins began to count down.
"Let's go-" Carolline decisively muttered before jumping into the car. Once she'd found her courage, it somewhat ran out of control, she began to complain, "People usually start their countdown from ten, how come you started from five?"
"…" Bryan Hawkins couldn't help but to cast her a sidelong glance. This girl puffed up her small mouth so high, an alluring redness and cuteness to her cheeks. Her eyelashes were trembling, was she getting nervous?
There was an essential video conference for him to attend that day. The newly renovated hotel in R Country was awaiting the announcement of its opening date from Bryan Hawkins. After that, he would have to fly to R Country for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The timeline was quite tight. It was the end of August, and usually, the opening event would take half a month. With another half a month of readjustment that would lead precisely to the National Day, another event could be organized.
The National Day of R Country was determined by the king's birthday, and given that the king who took over at the beginning of the year was born on October 1st.
"I am me, others are others, do not compare me to others." Some time later, Bryan Hawkins responded to Carolline's somewhat complaining question.
Carolline: "..."
She thought he wouldn't answer, but what she got was such an arrogant response.
However, she could understand him. Bryan Hawkins was fundamentally an arrogant and conceited man. With his extraordinary conditions, in Carolline's eyes, he had the right to look down on all creatures.
Even though his legs were paralyzed and could not walk, even when he sat in a wheelchair, he was still above all.
"Did you hear?" Surprisingly, facing Carolline's silence, Bryan Hawkins seemed somewhat dissatisfied and reiterated his point.