Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

**

Jasmine Walsh nodded. "Mhm, I will. I definitely will."

The moment she finished, another woman’s voice cut in. "Aren’t you the lucky one? Watch yourselves. This is a school, after all."

Hearing this, Herman Hawthorne immediately shook off Jasmine Walsh and looked toward the speaker.

That’s right. The person who had arrived was someone he never would have expected: Zoe Ellsworth.

For Zoe Ellsworth to come looking for him on her own was a miracle in itself.

"Zoe Ellsworth, what are you doing here?" Jasmine Walsh stared at her.

"If you can be here, why can’t I? It’s not like you own the place." Zoe Ellsworth looked at Herman Hawthorne, her voice unusually calm. "There’s something I need to tell you."

"Okay." Herman Hawthorne’s voice was a little hoarse, adding a sexy rasp. "My room, or...?"

"Let’s go downstairs. My car is at the main gate."

She turned and left.

Herman Hawthorne put his keys in his pocket and said to Jasmine Walsh, "Go on back."

"Boss!"

He stopped in his tracks. "Now what?"

"What’s your relationship with Zoe Ellsworth right now...?"

He rarely answered such questions, but this time he did. "Ordinarily, I wouldn’t tell you this, but since you’re leaving the team tomorrow, I might as well. Zoe Ellsworth will be my wife for life. No one can replace her."

He turned and walked away briskly.

Jasmine Walsh stood there. Then, leaning on the railing, she watched him go downstairs, catch up to Zoe Ellsworth, and walk shoulder-to-shoulder with her.

Their shadows slowly faded into the night until they were gone from sight.

After a long while, she spoke. "I spent my youth by your side, gave it all to you, did everything for you... All I ever wanted was for you to spare me a single glance. But in the end, you were never moved, not even once..."

Herman Hawthorne followed Zoe Ellsworth into the car. He chuckled. "Deep in the night, a man and a woman all alone in a car... isn’t this rather... ambiguous?"

"You’ve already done everything you should and shouldn’t have to me. What’s a little ambiguity at this point?" She fastened her seatbelt and started the car.

Her words caught Herman Hawthorne by surprise. "Does this mean... you’ve realized you still love me? You want to be with me again?"

Zoe Ellsworth shot him a glance. "Don’t be so full of yourself."

"Then why did you come looking for me? Are you planning to take me to get a room?"

Zoe Ellsworth let out a breath, then replied nonchalantly, "You’ll know when we get there."

The air in his nostrils was filled with her scent—familiar, and still able to stir his heart.

’This feeling is just too good.’

The car moved steadily, which was unlike her usual style. She normally drove very fast.

"Why are you driving so slowly today?"

"Cherishing life."

"..."

The car slowly pulled up to the entrance of Alveria’s General Hospital. Seeing the hospital’s name, Herman Hawthorne instinctively guessed, "Are you sick?"

"You’re the one who’s sick!"

"Then why the hell are we here? You’re not here for a cup of coffee, are you? No way."

Zoe Ellsworth grunted. "I wish. Maybe you could sell coffee in there."

"So what exactly are you here for?"

Zoe Ellsworth turned off the interior light and turned to face him. "Herman Hawthorne, I think there’s something I have to tell you. Even though I really don’t want to, you are, after all, the one primarily responsible."

"What? Just spit it out already!" He was going crazy with anticipation.

"You’ve created a life."

Herman Hawthorne’s brain short-circuited for a moment. Then, his eyes lit up, his heart filled with an unimaginable joy.

"You’re pregnant?"

Zoe Ellsworth was silent for a moment before saying, "Mhm."

"Then let’s get remarried. Give the child a home. We can welcome this new life together."

In contrast to his excitement, Zoe Ellsworth was very calm—so calm it was as if this wasn’t her first time becoming a mother.

"I don’t want to step into that grave with you again. I’ve made my position on this crystal clear countless times."

"You..." He looked at the hospital again. "You want to get rid of the baby? Zoe Ellsworth, are you even human?"

"Even if I’m not, I’m still better than a brute like you."

Herman Hawthorne forcefully pulled her into his arms. "Listen here. I forbid it."

"Since I came here, I’ve thought it through. What I want to show you, right to your face, is my resolve to get rid of this child, and my attitude toward you."

Herman Hawthorne was about to go insane with anger.

He yanked her out of the driver’s seat and switched places with her.

After a fierce struggle, he finally got his way.

He started the car and made a U-turn, intending to head back.

Zoe Ellsworth tried to grab the steering wheel. The car was moving fast. In a split second, the car CRASHED through the guardrail, nearly plunging into the river.

"Are you trying to kill me and the baby?!"

Zoe Ellsworth said sheepishly, "Turn the car around."

"Zoe Ellsworth, I know what you’re trying to do. But you probably didn’t expect the depth of my resolve to get back together with you."

He backed the car up and drove to the entrance of the Ellsworth Residence.

"Get out."

"Why did you bring me back to my house?"

"To confess this to our mom and dad, of course. What if you do something foolish the second I’m not looking?"

"You forced this child on me, Herman Hawthorne. And since you forced it on me, I’ll force you to see that there are some things you can’t stop. You have no idea how determined I am not to be with you."

He turned on the light and looked into her eyes. His own eyes immediately reddened.

"I wronged you in the past, Zoe. Can’t you just give me a chance to make it up to you?"

"If you throw up something you’ve eaten, can you ever make it whole again?"

Herman Hawthorne held her face and suddenly captured her lips, refusing to let go once he had them.

With one hand, he reclined her seat and pressed his body down on top of her.

"Let go!"

"I won’t!"

Zoe Ellsworth grabbed his hair and pulled hard. "Are you going to let go or not?"

Herman Hawthorne grabbed her hair too. "I’m not letting go. Let’s see whose is longer."

The two of them, like a pair of absolute morons, sat in the car pulling each other’s hair, refusing to let go.

They were locked in a stalemate for a good while, neither one willing to yield.

In the end, it was Herman Hawthorne who let go first.

’When a man is facing a woman, he should always be prepared to lose.’

’Even if I won, what would I really gain?’

"I was wrong."

She let go of his hair too, dissatisfied. "What were you wrong about?"

"I committed a crime."

"You committed a capital crime!"

"Yes, yes. Calm down, my dear wife."

"Hmph. Who’s your wife?"

"You are."

"I am not."

"It’s you. Even if you don’t admit it, it’s still you."

"I said I’m not!"

"Fine, you’re not."

"Then who is?"

"You..."

"Get off, are you trying to crush me?"

Herman Hawthorne quickly sat up straight. The moment he did, he froze.

Then, Zoe Ellsworth froze too.