Protected Ex-wife

Chapter 2: Annoying Black-Framed Glasses

Three years later.

...

At Stroast South International Hotel, a hundreds-of-meters long red carpet stretched along the road with bouquets of colourful flowers and balloons decorated on both sides. On this day, Whizystems was holding an annual meeting here.

Everyone in Stroast South knew that the CEO of Whizystems, Charlie Gardner, was a real business genius. It took him merely three years to graduate from university and start his own company.

During the short period, he had continuously built his company into one of the largest entities in the world.

As his business began to thrive and expand across the globe in the past few years, he made a name for himself on an international scale. Just recently, he had returned from overseas, and it was rumoured that he would start a new multi-billion dollar project million over there.

Once the project succeeded, Charlie would undoubtedly climb even higher up the ladder. By then, no one in Stroast South would be able to compete with him.

At noon sharp, several luxury cars slowly pulled to a stop in front of the hotel. The Rolls-Royce limo in the middle was particularly eye-catching, especially with its unique license plate. Instantly, it caused a stir among the crowd. "Look, it's Charlie! Charlie is here!"

The media reporters who had been waiting outside the hotel all raised their cameras at once. Numerous onlookers had also gathered around the hotel entrance, busily talking about the well-known business genius and wanting to catch a glimpse of him.

A hotel staff stepped forward and opened the door respectfully. Then, a pair of shiny leather shoes appeared, followed by a pair of slender legs as Charlie exited the car.

"Oh my God, he's gorgeous!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.

"He is so much better looking in real life!"

Meanwhile, multiple blinding camera lights flashed one after another. However, Charlie calmly strode on the red carpet, leaving behind the noisy crowd of reporters and admirers.

His secretary, Theo, followed closely behind with a briefcase in hand. After walking through the hotel lobby, the latter quickly went forward and pressed open the lift for Charlie to enter.

Then, just as the lift door was closing, a figure in purple appeared in Charlie's sight. "Wait a minute!" he shouted in a hurry, but it was too late.

"Mr. Gardner, what is it?" Theo asked in surprise.

"Never mind, I may have seen wrongly." Closing his eyes, Charlie thought to himself, "How could she possibly appear after disappearing for three years? She hates me. Even if she were to show up, she wouldn't come here of all places and occasions."

In the hotel lobby, Elsie was following a young man while struggling to carry a large bag. The man asked impatiently, "What is my schedule for today?"

"At one o'clock, you have an appointment with Mr. Rogers to discuss the collaboration project. At three o'clock, we will go to the old folks' home to do charity. You've also promised to have dinner with Mr. Allen; it will be his treat." Looking at the card in her hand, she continued, "By the way, Miss Lily is returning tonight—"

"You will attend the dinner on my behalf."

"Me?" Elsie gaped and then immediately shook her head. "No! Mr. Reynolds, I can't!"

"Why not?" Cristopher Reynolds turned to look at her. He felt annoyed at the sight of her black-framed glasses; he despised women who wore glasses. However, Joel Graham had insisted on appointing her as his secretary.

The first impression he had of Elsie was that she was too serious, old-fashioned, stubborn, and overbearing. Frivolous was in his nature, hence he felt extremely uncomfortable to suddenly have her by his side.

Nevertheless, he had no choice but to accept her for Joel's sake.

Though, it didn't mean he would treat her nicely. During the few months of working by his side, she had already been tortured by him countless times.

Still, he had to say that she was really tough. No matter how he made things difficult for her, she would never say a word or complain to Joel. This was the only side of her that slightly comforted Cristopher.

This time around, his grandfather had made him come to Stroast South to handle some business matters. Obviously, the former wanted to use this excuse to discipline him, and of course, he blamed it on Elsie. With her around, nothing good would befall him. Therefore, he hadn't thought twice before deciding to bring her along to the city to make her suffer with him.

At first, she was very resistant to the idea of returning to Stroast South.

Perhaps, Cristopher would have gone easy on her if she had agreed to tag along with him. Nonetheless, the more she resisted, the more he wanted to torture her. Thus, she had ended up coming here with him.

"Mr. Reynolds, can't you send someone else? I'm dull; I can't hold a conversation and can't drink either... Besides, I'm ugly." Seeing that he was staring at her, Elsie hastily pointed out her shortcomings in one breath.

"It's good that you know how useless you are, but don't worry. I'm making you go exactly because of that. If you were smarter and prettier, I wouldn't have been willing to send you to those perverts." Hearing his blunt words, she nearly choked.

Then, he quickly added as he feared that she would threaten to resign again, "Of course, you can refuse if you don't want your job anymore."

He strode out of the hotel after that, while Elsie was momentarily stunned before she ran to catch up with him.