Who writes and reads novels nowadays?
13.06.2025 08:32
Five years ago, after graduating from university, my father asked me to return to Brimstone to inherit the family business.
I leaned back in the recliner and sneered.
“Alright, Lionel, doesn’t he have to pick me up and drop me off every day for work?”
How would you describe modern day Russian society, beyond just politics?
I put my hands in my pockets, curled the corners of my mouth and a hint of coldness and anger flashed in my eyes.
I fixed my gaze full of pressure on him.
“I can’t help it. This is the girls nowadays.”
I spent the next whole week busy with the transfer.
The next day, the real estate agent came to register the sales information of the villa.
The girl’s cold face showed some dissatisfaction.
My assistant suddenly pushed the door and casually said, “Sir, I saw Ms. Louisa and her assistant went to eat seafood. What do you want to eat? I’ll order it for you.”
“You took the car without my consent. I just wanted to take back what belonged to me.”
Now everything had changed.
Thank you for joining me, and I can’t wait to see you in the next chapter!
An hour later, her male assistant drove the car and posted a message on his social media.
“Mr. Gilmore, good evening. Ms. Watson and I just had dinner outside and came back a bit late. Please don’t blame her.”
Vernon Reid on Why Sly and the Family Stone Were the Greatest American Band - Rolling Stone
I nodded and responded, “Next week, I’ll transfer the management rights of the company to you and leave.”
I was really reluctant to leave everything behind and return to Brimstone now.
In his post, there was a box of underwear of this brand.
What is the impact of being stereotyped as poor on an individual's life? How does it make them feel?
Louisa became anxious. She frowned and said in defense, “How can this be a small matter? You follow me on business trips every day and I don’t want others to criticize you everywhere.”
To keep reading and uncover what happens next, download the Novelshort app and search for 337134 to continue the adventure.
When the salesperson sent me a message in the afternoon, I thought Louisa was trying to give me a surprise secretly, so I spent three hours happily in the dressing room choosing an outfit.
“The way he looks at you is not the way an ordinary subordinate looks at his superior.”
“Well, my Baby, here … I bought you a new limited-edition perfume, so don’t be angry.”
I threw the document on the table, interrupting the two people who were staring at each other.
How does an experienced gay/bi guy handle a bi-courius guy on his first time?
She grabbed her assistant’s hand, pushed the office door and left without looking back.
“This is an irrefutable evidence. Do you want me to expose all the dirty things you have done?”
I suddenly felt ridiculous.
Why is the Middle East prone to terrorism?
“With so many supercars you have, you don’t mind, do you?”
The perfume in her hand was more of a brand I had long since disliked.
Only when we did not love could we make rational judgments.
Do you have any problem dating a younger man?
She said the sports car had been cancelled and sent back to the automotive dealership.
She frowned and pouted.
And staying up the whole night working on a project together and drinking American coffee at 3 a.m.
Can you name a song with the word 'why' in it?
“Am I thinking of myself?”
She pulled out a chair in front of the table and sat down, sighing.
Since we wanted to sever ties, we naturally had to settle everything.
How did you become popular in school?
“You can prepare dinner yourself.”
“Louisa, do you want to hear what you’re saying right now?”
If he dared to accept it, he should be able to guess who the original owner of the car was.
“Marco Tucker, right? It’s just a car. I can still afford it.”
Having been in society for so many years, everyone had gained some insight.
I was sure now.
Marco took two steps forward with his long legs and blocked me.
Marco Tucker walked around the car to the passenger seat and opened the passenger door gently and considerately.
No man could bear to see the girl he loved using his own money to buy gifts for other men.
“Am I strange?”
She also wanted me to defend him with her despite feeling disgusted.
I squinted as I walked into the villa in a cold voice.
As early as yesterday, I had entrusted someone to send her a breakup message.
I took a sip of my mojito without saying a word.
My assistant shook the mobile phone in his hand with a look of surprise.
“You’re the boss, Lionel, this is a matter of words.”
She raised her hand and slammed the table angrily, saying harshly, “We can handle it ourselves. We don’t need you.”
It seemed like the superior-subordinate relationship between them was closer than I imagined.
I had money, good looks and a good figure, so why should I waste my time on someone who did not love me!
“My words were harsh, but you should know that Marco is the man in the company who can help me share the workload the most. You made him lose face in public today and I can’t just abandon him now.”
I did not even glance at them, just brushed past them.
Leaving me only the refreshing fragrance of gardenia that dissipated into the air.
Louisa, after nine years of our relationship, did you have any feelings for me?
In what capacity was he asking me not to blame my girlfriend?
I wanted to rush downstairs and question that girl right away.
Before getting off work, I received two business trip applications for two people and clicked “agree”.
I frowned.
“Are you used to driving?”
I was already angry and hearing these words only added fuel to the fire.
“I don’t care if you misjudged his contribution to the company or you feel sorry for him for accompanying you on business trips and driving every day. The company has given him enough salary and if it’s not enough, he can ask for more, instead of you secretly using my supercar to compensate him.”
In a flash, I remembered the X post Marco posted two days ago.
It was her handwriting.
I was furious instantly and lost my sanity.
“If I want to have a future with you, I have to get stronger. Of course, you can act childish and ask me not to go today, but I don’t want to disappoint my subordinates who fight side by side with me.”
The breakfast box she brought in the bag was my least favorite lamb sandwich.
Love did not become a burden when two people’s hearts were truly together.
“She just feels too tired being with you. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t earn even one-tenth of your family’s money and she can’t spend your money with peace of mind.”
The way he called her changed to be more intimate.
No.
At three o’clock in the afternoon, I walked into the largest conference room of the company with Reymond on time.
“It’s too late now. It’s not safe to go out. You can go tomorrow.”
I bent down and opened the bottom cabinet.
Did she know what it meant to give a man underwear as a gift?
I had loved her for so many years, what storms had I not seen.
Her eyes were fixed on Marco, who opened the car door for her, with a hint of aggressiveness.
Her eyes were a bit red and her gaze was full of charm.
She knew that I loved cars as much as my life, yet she dared to steal it and give it away to someone else.
Louisa was stunned and frowned.
A message from Louisa popped up on my mobile phone.
In the past, I admired her rational and clear nature the most.
“Notify everyone that there will be a staff meeting this afternoon.” I ordered.
As soon as I arrived, the airport lobby was crowded with people.
Faced with his provocation, my gaze turned a bit cold and I found it somewhat funny.
A majestic roar came from afar and a limited-edition supercar with black and gold paint appeared in front of the villa.
Ms. Louisa?
I did not have any emotions more, I just smiled indifferently and returned the phone to my assistant.
“Don’t you like this car? It’s also for your sake that I canceled it early.”
“Do you want me to use my authority to force the people below to shut their mouths up?”
I was too lazy to argue with her, so I just opened X and showed her Marco’s X account.
“Got it! Marco and I have nothing, not now and not in the future.”
[Wow, after reading your secret stories on your crush for four years, you finally got her love!]
Not only did he dare to accept it, he also dared to post it openly on his X post and another social media to show off.
A relationship that had changed in quality was like an unappetizing breakfast. There was no need to force ourself to eat it.
Nine years of giving everything for a girl, but in the end, she still did not appreciate it.
“But you have to know, as an assistant, what you should and shouldn’t accept.”
“The blind date with the eldest daughter of the Scotts, I’ll go.”
Marco took a step back, lost his composure and apologized several times.
Just as I was trying to calm my emotions and go downstairs, she pushed open the bathroom door with the flip-flop sound of her slippers.
At night, my best friend, Reymond Blunt called me to drink.
Until my assistant nervously handed me Marco’s X account and said, “Sir, I think I should let you know about this.”
[Marco and I go to meet some clients and have lunch together.]
She reacted, quickly stopped me and angrily said to Marco behind her, “What the hell is going on! When did I lie down with you?!”
She took out a bottle of perfume from her eight-digit Hermes bag and smiled dotingly.
She and Marco would go back to the company to work overtime tonight and would not go home.
She defended him.
Let her pick and send it away.
[Driving the car given by my boss to send her home and even the wind was sweet.]
I got it.
“I’ve been waiting for this car for almost half a year and no one can take it away, not even you, my girlfriend.”
Until I saw a post on X.
I walked out and stood in front of the girl.
Louisa, took my underwear and gave it to his assistant?
“Also, today, I suddenly remembered that you had ordered a supercar, so I picked it up and gave it to him.”
But I did not expect, Louisa brought me breakfast on the table with the sticky note on the bag.
“Lionel, Marco has returned the car to the dealer, but I need to go over to cancel the account.”
“Speak! Marco!”
I handed the breakfast to my assistant and asked him to go out and sell me another one.
When we were in love, she once whispered in my ear that she would only love me and only me in her life.
A series of notifications popped up on my phone and it was an X post that Marco had just posted.
She really took the car that I had been longing for half a year away from the automotive dealership secretly and gave it to someone else.
“I feel strange with you like this.”
I looked at her deeply and believed her pledge of allegiance for the time being.
“Rosie is taking a day off today. You take a shower first and I’ll go fry you a steak,” she said.
My father even agreed to a blind date with the Scott Family on my behalf overnight.
In the evening, I stood on the balcony of the villa and gazed the sunset.
That night, I brought all the top-of-the-line sports cars that I had collected in my garage to her.
He looked up, a hint of surprise appearing in his eyes.
Rosie paid extra attention to this and checked it carefully every day.
“I still have over a dozen supercars in my basement. Choose any one you want and consider it as a gift from me.”
She took a deep breath and said, her eyes filled with disapproval of me, “You took back the gift I gave him in public and now you’re letting him waste so much time at the dealer.”
My face turned cold and so did my heart.
As a cold and aloof beauty, men pursue her and compete to get her.
However, I did not want to leave Louisa, so I stayed in Araya.
The atmosphere was silent.
Even though the gift she gave was to serve herself.
In his latest X post, he posted a picture of Louisa lying in his arms and sleeping soundly.
Louisa did not expect me to speak so bluntly and her face suddenly turned ugly.
“When is your blind date with the Scott Family arranged? Have you really decided to leave Araya?”
— —
Marco reacted earlier than Louisa.
I nodded and looked at her leaving back, then opened the cabinet where my underwear was stored.
My hand, which was about to sign, paused and I raised my eyes.
His slender fingers gripped the steering wheel and the corners of his mouth curved in just the right angle.
“No, I do.”
“You have a prominent family background, Lionel, unlike ordinary people like me.”
On the contrary, Marco posted photos related to Louisa every day.
Since the argument that day, Louisa had blocked me on X and WhatsApp.
I saw admiration and heartache for another man in her eyes.
After all, there was no evidence that they were having an affair.
I just wanted my favorite supercar back.
Haha … I sounded like a stingy person from his words.
Wasn’t it normal for people to criticize a boss who gave his or her assistant a luxury car?
Whatever Louisa wanted to do, I accompanied her.
She said I was her life.
“Mr. Gilmore is already busy with work, so it’s better not to trouble him with these small matters.”
I turned my gaze away from the door and let out a long sigh.
“I’ll cancel and return it to the dealer as soon as possible.”
Louisa Watson, who was showing off her affection to me on X a second ago, quietly took away the limited-edition sports car that I had reserved for a long time in the automotive dealership.
I felt a chill in my heart and blurted out. “Go ahead.”
I saw them exchanging a few words with each other and Louisa smiled particularly happily.
Louisa and I had been dating since we were in college until now.
I waited for her for so long that I was starving. I then opened my mobile phone and saw Marco’s social media.
As a man, he should know why I was angry.
Marco pursed his lips and said no words.
Louisa stepped on her high heels to protect the man behind her and hugged my waist.
Louisa then pulled me all the way into the bathroom.
At first, I suspected that Marco took the photos secretly behind Louisa out of vanity.
Jealousy over a slightly more good-looking male assistant was truly a fall from grace.
“First of all, a person of integrity has nothing to fear. If you, Louisa, are doing your job impartially, rewarding him for bringing huge profits to the company and giving him a supercar is understandable.”
I stepped down from the stage and left the conference room.
“It’s my fault, Mr. Gilmore. I shouldn’t have accepted Ms. Watson’s gift.”
Louisa stepped in front of him and pulled my sleeve.
Louisa held my hand and said in a deep voice, “Lionel, why are you so angry?”
Seeing I stopped talking, she sighed.
I, who felt heartbroken at first, became numb in the end.
Just overnight, he changed the way he called his boss from “Ms. Louisa” being “Louisa”.
Louisa who was wearing a white suit and holding a white crocodile leather bag, stepped out of the car.
It turned out that all this time she always felt that we were not a good match.
“But the fact is, the value of these orders is far less than that of a supercar.”
I got in the car and headed to the airport.
Although I did not want to admit it, I was now so jealous that I was insane.
I lit a cigarette and blew a puff into the air.
He uttered a dull response. “Hmm”.
Everyone was in an uproar, expressing shock hearing this news.
“I haven’t said anything yet, but you’re eager to put the blame on me.”
Seeing that I had given in, she pushed the door open and left without any hesitation.
“Didn’t you give him the car and he accepted it? What’s the point of having me, an outsider, wipe his ass?”
Her voice came from outside the door. “Oh, by the way, Rosie said that your underwear needs to be replaced, so she threw them all away. You can get new ones from the bottom.”
She was standing in the crowd, looking at me from afar.
There was no point to keep a woman who had left my heart.
I ignored her shock, put away my mobile phone and walked past her.
Marco was the partner who could stand shoulder to shoulder with her.
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And that’s where we’ll leave the story for now. The journey ahead is full of twists, turns, and unforgettable moments you won’t want to miss.
“I would like to inform everyone that I will be stepping down as the general manager. The company will be fully handed over to Mr. Blunt and Mr. Vaughan beside me.”
My head exploded with a loud bang.
I picked up the documents she brought back and gave a faint response. “Hmm.”
But she refused decisively and stayed by my side wholeheartedly.
Followed Marco behind her.
A nice and friendly reminder to board the plane sounded at the airport.
Getting up early and having breakfast together in the hotel.
I pulled the corners of my mouth and smiled.
I was stunned for a moment and frowned. “Where did you see them?”
I frowned and responded calmly, “Let go, it’s so dirty.”
Marco behind her spoke up, “It’s okay, Mr. Gilmore, a few rumors can’t hurt me.”
This clothing company was co founded by me and Louisa. She and I both hold half of the equity.
[Congratulations for becoming a boyfriend and becoming a regular employee officially.]
The next day, I came to the company with hungry stomach from the night.
“On X, her assistant posted a message thanking Ms. Louisa for treating him to a delicious meal.”
She was stunned for a moment, her lips slightly parted, with an incredulous expression.
I took out my mobile phone and called my father who was far away in Brimstone.
Hearing those words, both of them were stunned.
“You dare to give a supercar worth two million seven hundred dollars to the man who adores you, Louisa ….”
A supercar worth nearly two million seven hundred dollars was not something that a marketing director with no background like Louisa could afford.
But now everything had changed.
Then, her tone was both coaxing and scolding, brought me back to my senses. “I know you are jealous because you love me, but the others who don’t know will think you’re targeting someone else’s staff.”
“This is your own problem. I shouldn’t have to put on a leadership role and help you solve it.”
The guilt I felt for impulsively agreeing to the blind date last night completely disappeared.
She did not let my hand go, instead she patiently said, “I know you’re angry, I apologize to you, okay? But Marco and I really have nothing, you’re sold your shares and broke up ….”
In the past five years, I had transformed from a rich second-generation who knew nothing to a first-generation entrepreneur.
I had Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, so everything had to be neatly laid out.
[Finally, from crush to girlfriend ….]
“Lionel, sorry, I didn’t get back from meeting with my business partners at noon. I just had a quick bite outside. Have you eaten yet?”
A side photo taken from the perspective of the girlfriend sitting in the passenger seat.
Seeing her smile and express her emotions towards him.
My raging anger suddenly died down and what followed was endless coldness and disappointment.
After five years of ups and downs, we opened the largest clothing company in Araya.
Shouldn’t we have anticipated such a result?
With an annual revenue of nearly 10 billion, she said we were not a match.
He joked that I should have changed a long time ago.
“Can’t you go tomorrow? Why do you have to go out so late?” asked me in annoyance.
At that moment, all my expectations were dashed.
It was obvious that it was not what she was prepared for me.
He bowed to me, his voice pleading. “I’m sorry, Mr. Gilmore. I didn’t think carefully about this matter. I will solve it myself. Don’t blame Louisa.”
She had some impatience on her face, but she still held back her patience to explain to me.
Forget it, it was better for the person who did not belong to me to leave.
I did not need to be too concerned.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, I finished dealing with all the documents, but there was no sign of Louisa.
“It’s my fault, Mr. Gilmore. Please don’t blame Ms. Louisa.”
[Having a boss who cares for her subordinates is my happiness.]
It was time to end this tangled triangle relationship.
Now, he even called her “Louisa”.
I stared at the perfume in her hand and recalled every moment of us for the past nine years.
But in the cabinet, a box of men’s underwear was missing.
“Lionel, I don’t know how the news about the sports car spread in the company. The staffs are all talking about Marco behind his back. Can you come and help Marco explain it for the sake of signing big orders today?”
I dragged my suitcase towards the security checkpoint and ran into Louisa and Marco who were rushing back.
Marco’s eyes slightly lifted and his cold face turned slightly pale.
A pair of gleaming silver stiletto heels stepped on the ground.
“Lionel, you can’t just think about yourself.”
Spending their time together watching the sunset on the beach after chatting with their bussiness partner.
We had been in relationship for nine years and this was the first time I had gotten so angry over another man.
I laid in my bed and stayed up the whole night.
Targeting? He was not worthy.
She also said that she liked my innate arrogance and rebelliousness the most.
“Louisa has been with me for nine years and has seen a lot of things. I don’t think a supercar is a big deal.”
I stared at it for a long time.
At three o’clock in the afternoon, Louisa pushed the door to my office and stepped in with her high heels.
“As the marketing director, you have a keen eye, so you shouldn’t miss it.”