Chapter 10 - You're not gonna ask...?

Amelia walks into the hospital room to an extra person seated at the couch opposite to the bed. Marilyn's assistant, Zoe, was seated there with a briefcase and a few files of documents.

Amelia frowns. This silly girl was working even after she collapsed. She turns to scold her patient only to find that the patient was calmly seated on the bed with no documents in hand. The one with documents was the young man seated next to her.

The young lady was playing with his left hand as he flipped through the document with the other one. "What do you think?" She asks.

"Hm.." He studies it for half a second more and asks her, "How many projects of theirs have you handled yet?"

"None. This is the first."

He closes the file and tosses it on to the table. "Reject it, then. Their proposal is full of loopholes and they're clearly treating you as fools who wouldn't spot the issues. If you really need to make a deal, I'll list all the issues and confront them about it."

"Mm. I'll reject it, then."

He smiles. "There's only one more left. We'll finish that and you'll eat like you promised."

"Yes, yes. I'll eat." She pinches the palm she was playing with. "Go on, read the last one."

"Miss Zoe?" He turns to the assistant.

"Yes, Sir. This is a proposal from 'Stalwart Vision Gaming Co.' it's a new company that we helped by investing in. It's a request for partnership."

"Reject it." Marilyn says, even before the file can reach Michael's hands. He tosses it to the table.

"There. All done. Now tell me what you want to eat so I can get it for you." He says turning to her.

She groans. "Don't leave." She pulls on his hand. "We'll get the food later."

He pinches her palm just as she had his. "You just said that you would eat. What happened?"

"I'll eat. I just don't want you to leave now. Your hand is nice to play with. We'll have someone else get the food later."

"Wha-" He stares at her, speechless.

"Have no fear, my dear. For I have come with two portions of food in hand!" The doctor who had been watching from the doorway yells, walking in towards the bed. "The two of you get eating and I'll grab another for myself." She turns to Zoe, who was seated on the couch. "You wanna eat too, Miss Assistant?"

"Ah, No. Thank you, Doctor. Since I'm done with work here, I'll take my leave." Zoe turns to Marilyn. "Please have a nice rest, President. Goodbye, Ma'am, Sir."

"Fine, I'll grab a meal for myself, you guys get eating." Amelia turns, leaving the room along with Zoe.

Michael picks up the paper bag and opens it to find two boxes of takeout along with utensils. He pulls them out and opens one to show to Marilyn. "Are you fine with that? Do you want me to get you something else?"

She grabs the box from him. "This is fine. I'll eat." She then proceeds to slowly chew and swallow a spoonful while maintaining eye contact with the man. "Look. I'm eating."

"Yep. You're eating." He parrots immediately. He fills a glass of water and places it on the table next to her. "There."

Marilyn glances at the young man curiously. "You're not gonna ask why I rejected a partnership with a company I invested in?"

"You don't want to partner. Doesn't matter why."

"I don't know how you keep yourself from asking me things." She glares at her food, discontent, and grabs his hand to play with. "It's my so-called uncle's company. I'd be ungrateful if I didn't invest but the partnership is something I can reject if it's unreasonable." She scoffs. "As if that mongrel could try not to take advantage of me!" She squeezes his hand in an agitated manner.

"Hm." He nudges their intertwined hands with the fingers of his other hand. "Mr. McGrath's second son? The one that had his brother killed for succession? The reason why you ended up becoming the CEO?"

"Yes, that one! He's such a greedy pig, he's still relying on Grandfather for the money he pleases his mistresses with! Ah, he makes me mad."

"Mm. What else? I'm listening." He urges her to speak more and get the dissatisfaction off her chest.