Chapter 98: He’s Tired
Faulkner Group.
Vivian Lowell set an alarm for two o’clock.
When she woke up from her nap, she walked over to the window, pulled open the curtains, and instinctively glanced down at the street below. Just then, she saw Julian Faulkner getting out of a black Cayenne.
He was carrying a briefcase and looked travel-worn.
’Huh?’
’Is he that punctual?’
Vivian Lowell watched as Julian, down below, took out his phone just before entering the building. A moment later, her own phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hello?"
They had spoken at the same time. Out of politeness, Vivian paused, waiting for Julian to speak first.
But Julian didn’t say anything either.
They were both waiting for the other to start. After a moment of waiting, they both spoke in unison again, "You first."
Vivian chuckled. She was afraid if they kept going in circles, Julian would be up the elevator before they even needed to be on the phone.
Vivian decided to speak first. "I just saw you downstairs. Are you just getting back? Did you get a chance to nap? I just called Tanya."
"She said she still has one more check-up, so it might be a little later. If you’re tired, you can rest for a bit before we head out."
Vivian had seen Julian’s schedule before.
From eight in the morning until seven or eight at night, it was basically packed solid. Sometimes, if he had to travel out of town for a meeting or business trip, he might be busy until the early hours of the morning.
Vivian truly admired Julian for maintaining such a high-intensity workload.
She figured that even if he had time to rest in the car, he would probably just take out documents to review, wouldn’t he?
After all, during meetings, Julian was always remarkably articulate and clear about every single matter. He was also incredibly knowledgeable about the products of the brands he partnered with.
He spoke about them with such familiarity, almost like an expert discussing their own collection.
As the saying goes, "ten years of practice for ten minutes on stage." Vivian believed Julian’s stellar performance was inseparable from his diligent preparation.
Vivian was just being considerate of Julian.
On the other end of the line, Julian thought for a moment before replying, "Mm... I rested for a bit in the car. But since there’s no rush with Eleanor, it would be nice to rest a little more."
He was, in fact, a little tired.
He had woken up too early this morning, and he hadn’t slept well last night.
Thinking of last night, Julian couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.
’How could he have possibly slept well?’
Vivian had been beside him, her breathing even and steady. He could smell the faint, sweet fragrance on her, making his heart race, yet he couldn’t just get up and take a cold shower.
He was afraid that getting out of bed would wake Vivian, so he forced himself to lie there for most of the night. He had no idea what time it was when he finally, groggily, drifted off to sleep.
Julian felt helpless about it. Just now in the car, he had intended to review some documents, but after eating, the words on the page started to look like ants crawling before his eyes. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.
「A few minutes later.」
Julian came and knocked on her door.
Vivian opened the door and invited Julian to rest on her recliner.
"It’s really comfortable. I have a latex pillow, too. It’s super soft! Here, Julian, let me get it for you. Oh, and I have a small blanket. Do you want to use it?"
Julian nodded, took off his suit jacket, and lay down on Vivian’s recliner.
Just as he’d imagined, the recliner carried that faint, unique fragrance of Vivian’s. He found the sweet scent both pleasant and reassuring.
Vivian was the one who covered Julian with the blanket.
She said, "Now that you’re covered up, let me draw the curtains for you. Hmm... When it’s about time, I’ll wake you up, okay?"
"Okay."
After agreeing, Julian said, "Vivian, thank you."
"..."
Vivian’s hand, which was drawing the curtains, suddenly stiffened for a moment.
’Was this the first time he had called her Vivian?’
For some reason, although Julian’s tone was rather plain, the sound of it in Vivian’s ears was somewhat intoxicating.
She quite liked him calling her that. It felt as if the distance between them had shrunk.
Tanya called her Vivian, too.
Vivian tried to convince herself of this, thinking that the name "Vivian" wasn’t actually that intimate—friends could use it, too.
’She and Julian were friends now, right?’
As she pondered this, Vivian’s phone vibrated.
Vivian jumped, instinctively glancing at Julian. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw he hadn’t woken up.
’Whew, that was close.’
Vivian quickly switched her phone to silent mode and opened it to see a message from Eleanor Rhodes.
"Vivian, I got my stitches out! My shoulder is still a little sore, though. The doctor said I can’t lift anything heavy with my right hand for now."
"Good thing a scalpel isn’t heavy, so I can still hold one. Caleb Quinn is helping me with the discharge paperwork right now. Are you on your way? What are we eating tonight?"
"That spoilsport Caleb! I said I wanted hot pot, but he said it’s too spicy and bad for my wound’s recovery, so he won’t let me eat it!"
"Then I said let’s have seafood, and he said it’s a ’trigger food’ that’s also bad for my wound! Vivian, he’s so annoying! Can we not have dinner with him tonight, please?"
Reading the long string of messages from Eleanor Rhodes, Vivian couldn’t help but shake her head.
’Tanya is so cute.’
But she knew that when Tanya said Caleb was annoying, she didn’t really mean it.
Caleb had been treating Eleanor so well recently. Eleanor had seen it all, and deep down, she was surely willing to accept this ’junior’ of hers.
As for other feelings...
Last night, Vivian had tried to subtly hint about it to Eleanor, but unfortunately, the girl was so dense she hadn’t sensed at all that Caleb liked her!
So, Vivian had no choice but to give up for the time being.
Vivian knew.
Lately, Eleanor would sometimes stare out the window, lost in thought. Perhaps she was thinking of Henry Sterling.
After Henry Sterling left that day, Vivian had heard from a nurse that he had come by one more time with flowers and some fruit. However, before any of it could be delivered to Eleanor, Caleb intercepted it all.
Caleb wouldn’t let Henry see Eleanor.
Henry couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t win against Caleb, and he was also worried it would affect Eleanor’s recovery, so he left.
Eleanor actually knew about this.
After Caleb and Henry’s argument that day, Caleb had a peony petal on the corner of his clothes when he returned to the hospital room.
Peonies were Eleanor’s favorite flower.
She had never told Caleb that; only her family, Vivian, and Henry knew.
If Vivian had come and brought flowers, Caleb certainly wouldn’t have stopped her.
So.
Eleanor could already guess where the petal on Caleb’s clothes had come from.
And for the time being, Eleanor didn’t want to see Henry either.