How Can Two People From Different Sides Ever Fall in Love? - Chapter 28

Chapter 28

◎ Others can do it, so can I ◎

Successfully checked into the hotel, and Raven’s suitcase successfully returned to his own hands. Pushing open the door to the room, he looked at the two single beds side-by-side and fell into deep thought.

At this moment, does this count as a public area or a private domain?

Hollis came in behind him. Thinking Raven was dissatisfied with the room’s specifications, he explained unhurriedly: “The higher-ups only approved this much budget.”

In recent years, with the economic downturn, everyone is treated equally during business trips. Consumption has been downgraded; transportation is uniformly land-based as a starting point. To have a hotel room that even comes with a window is already a decent choice.

Otherwise, any excess in the budget would have to be subsidized out of one’s own pocket.

Hollis had exactly that intention. Standing beside Raven, he proposed: “Not used to it? I’ll go to the front desk; shall we upgrade the room?”

Raven didn’t understand where he got the right to be “not used to it.”

He quickly stopped the eager Hollis, fearing that if he weren’t timely, the receipt would be submitted and the disciplinary department would come knocking.

“No need. If others can do it, so can I.”

Hollis looked blank, not understanding where these “others” came from.

“Fine,” but since things had come to this, he could only nod. “Tell me if you have any needs later.”

Raven, of course, would have no such needs. After enjoying the required room specifications with a clear conscience, he sat in the chair by the window, holding the documents needed for this trip to perform a final check.

The content was already memorized by heart, but he still read carefully and earnestly, letting Hollis move in and out without being affected in the slightest.

At this moment, Hollis opened his suitcase, spreading it on the floor. He took out daily necessities, shuttling back and forth between the bathroom and the room.

Placing each item in its corresponding spot, he glanced at Raven’s suitcase and said to the person bathed in the window’s sunlight: “What did you pack? Do you want me to open it for you?”

Raven lifted his gaze, staring at the suitcase dazed for a moment.

He only remembered to “act the part”; in reality, he had just stuffed a few pieces of clothing inside, and whether they would even fit was an unknown.

For a short business trip, the things Hollis brought were enough to handle all situations.

“No need.” Raven looked back at the documents. The originally clear words began to twist, crawling around like maggots. He actually felt a bit dizzy watching them, leaving only a feigned look of profound mystery on his face. “When it’s time to open it, I will.”

“Fine, I’ll leave it here for you.” Hollis let him be “deep,” dragging the suitcase to stuff it into the gap between the bed and the bathroom wall to avoid occupying the aisle and causing a blockage.

Having tidied everything, Hollis walked to the window. After quietly watching the narrow chair for a while, he sat on the edge of the adjacent bed.

Knowing Raven’s germaphobia, he specifically clarified: “I’m sleeping in this bed.”

Raven, whose brain was empty because he couldn’t focus on the documents: “What did you say?”

Hollis repeated himself. Raven’s gaze swept back and forth between him and the bed.

Great. Not only is he a hands-off boss, but he’s also a quite picky hands-off boss.

The hands-off boss let out a sigh. Sorting through his thoughts, he gazed at the partner marked on the document, slowly uttering the name of the conglomerate: “Victor.”

Hollis was also holding a document. Hearing this, he looked toward Raven: “Is there a problem?”

“No.” Raven shook his head. “Since the higher-ups chose them as a partner, they must have done a detailed background check. As for the local rumors, the impact shouldn’t be large.”

Hollis closed the document and stated the so-called local rumors expressionlessly: “You mean the dozen or so children who slaughtered each other to fight for an inheritance.”

“The child who was most highly anticipated not only killed the father with his own hands but also framed the mother. Of the rest, some are dead, some are crippled, some are mad. The core industries fell into the hands of the most unexpected person.”

Words spoken from a mouth of thirty-odd degrees Celsius, yet they were bone-chillingly cold.

Raven had initially approached this with a curious “melon-eating” mindset, but at this moment, he couldn’t help but fall into an bottomless abyss of human nature.

“The appointment is for tomorrow morning at ten, right?” Raven closed the document, temporarily losing the mood to discuss the bizarre anecdotes behind the Victor Group.

“Correct,” Hollis replied while comparing the process logs. “The current head of the group will personally sign the contract with us. If I recall correctly, everyone refers to him now as.”

“I am very sorry, but Mr. Victor Junior has a very important meeting today and is afraid he cannot receive the two of you.”

In a skyscraper that reached into the clouds, the male employee at the first-floor front desk had a curve in his brows. He gave Raven and Hollis an apologetic smile, politely serving them a “closed-door soup” (a rejection).

Raven returned the smile. His exquisite features caused the receptionist’s eyes to flash for a moment. “It’s no matter. We can come back in the afternoon. At what time will Mr. Victor Junior be free?”

The receptionist was infatuated by the beauty for a moment but didn’t forget his duty, continuing to stall: “I am truly sorry, that cannot be determined yet.”

A trace of regret flashed across Raven’s face. Just as the receptionist showed a look of being unable to bear it, Raven tossed out a second plan: “Then please inform Mr. Clement.”

Andre Clement. He shared no blood relation with the previous head of the Victor Group; he was the child of that head’s last public lover and another man.

However, currently, he was ostensibly the second-in-command of the Victor Group, but in reality, he was the mastermind behind everything.

All local rumors remained unknown to this day—why he yielded the position to an incompetent person like Victor Junior. Before the truth broke out, countless speculations came thick and fast, among which “he must be brewing some conspiracy” was the loudest.

The actual situation was currently unknown to anyone. Raven didn’t care about matters unrelated to work; he only wanted to solve the trouble in front of him.

But the receptionist was clearly prepared: “I am sorry, Mr. Clement is not in the company.”

“When will he be back?” Raven frowned. Suddenly, he couldn’t quite tell whose handiwork this “closed-door soup” was.

Is this how a legendary “Uncrowned King” acts? Being led by the nose by an incompetent fool.

“The General Manager’s itinerary cannot possibly be reported to me, wouldn’t you say, sir?” The receptionist gave an awkward twitch of the lips.

Raven stopped Hollis from stepping forward. He deepened the smile on his face bit by bit. His gentle expression vaguely carried a hair-raising quality. The receptionist’s upper body instinctively leaned back, moving further away from him.

“Look, how about this, sir,” the receptionist’s momentum weakened. He spoke cautiously to Raven, “I’ll take down your phone number. As soon as there is news, I will notify you immediately.”

“Then I’ll trouble you.” Raven already had the number of the second-in-command’s assistant saved in his phone; it’s just that it wouldn’t go through right now.

There was no need to make things difficult for a low-level worker; he was only following orders. Thus, they exchanged numbers. Raven shot a look at Hollis and walked out of the office building with him.

“What do we do next?” Stepping down the long stairs in front of the door, Hollis asked Raven calmly.

Raven gradually slowed his pace until he stopped, turning back to take a deep look at the building behind them.

The building rose from the ground to lean against the sky it was both a show of skill and a symbol of wealth. Humans standing before it were small, almost like ants.

But hidden behind this tall building were cases upon cases of bloody rumors; human lives had truly become ants to be stepped on at will beneath its feet.

“Back to the hotel first.” Raven tucked away the smile on his face.

Taking a taxi back to the hotel, Raven bought cigarettes and a lighter at a nearby convenience store after getting out.

Hollis showed no emotion, simply stating: “The craving hit.”

Raven nodded: “Mm.”

Reaching the floor where their room was located, Raven saw Hollis to the door. While walking toward the smoking room, he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and waved a hand behind him: “Sorry, I’m going for a smoke first.”

The smoking room was empty. Raven walked in, closed the door, tore open the cigarette pack, drew out half a cigarette, and caught it in his mouth.

Click. A flame leaped from the lighter. Raven squinted his eyes as he leaned in, lighting the cigarette with the flame.

The private matters hadn’t been settled cleanly yet, and public business had pulled him into new trouble.

In such a large group, they actually couldn’t find a single sensible leader. The contract had been agreed upon long ago, needing only the final step, yet now some were “in meetings” and some were “out”—whether it was true was still a mystery.

If you asked him, if they can’t do the job, they should leave quickly and yield the position to someone truly capable.

The duration of one cigarette though the calming effect of nicotine was better than nothing the small space filled with smoke successfully obstructed his brain’s thinking. Raven’s state of mind was thus able to settle.

Snuffing out the embers, he shook his suit jacket, thinking of finding a vent to dissipate the smell of smoke on him before entering the room. Unexpectedly, as soon as he stepped out of the smoking room, he saw the person he had sent back first standing right at the door.

“Why are you here?” Nicotine shouldn’t have hallucinogenic effects, right?

“Looking for you.” Hallucinations don’t have a real sense of touch; Raven could feel the force with which Hollis brushed the ash off his cuff.

Raven’s heart began to fluctuate again. He couldn’t describe his mood, so he could only ask Hollis to return to the room with him.

In the room, Raven took off his jacket and used a hotel hanger to hang it by the door. He searched for the smoke-removal spray but came up empty; it was Hollis who pulled it out of his own suitcase.

Raven: “…”

We might never achieve a separation of public and private in this lifetime.

The task of removing the scent was left to Hollis. Raven walked to the window to sit down, opening it to let the air out.

“The priority is to find Victor Junior’s whereabouts.” If he were truly in a meeting, they could corner him at the company. If he’s avoiding them, who knows what corner he’s hiding in.

Raven tapped the tabletop with his fingertip, pondering a strategy: “Or get in touch with Clement. His say is no less than the other’s.”

Hollis came over after putting away the spray. He still sat on the edge of the bed, legs spread, facing Raven directly as if taking him into an embrace.

“Do you have a candidate in mind?”

Finding someone’s whereabouts is nothing more than using one’s network. Raven had worked for several years and knew quite a few people, but to carry this out while hiding it from the leadership for a moment, he couldn’t think of a suitable candidate.

Failing to complete the task meant poor performance, even if the responsibility wasn’t theirs. Unless it was a situation of absolute necessity, Raven would not use his work-related connections.

If it reached the higher-ups and they questioned it, it would be another trouble.

However, hearing Hollis’s tone, Raven was startled and asked back: “You do?”

Hollis nodded firmly: “I have one. And we can bypass our respective units.”

Raven’s eyes lit up, his interest piqued. He pressed: “Who?”

Hollis was about to answer when a ringtone pierced the brief silence, forcefully shoving its way into their conversation.

“Silver?”

After seeing the name clearly, Raven was surprised she was calling him at this time.

But since she was the only one left at the workstation, Raven worried it was a work matter. He answered and turned on the speakerphone immediately.

It seemed it was truly an emergency. Raven had barely said “Hello” when Silver said urgently: “Raven, this is bad! Your relationship with Hollis has been discovered!”

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