In the café.
Soft music was playing in the background. After ordering a fruit juice for himself, Austin looked at me with annoyance in his eyes, "What do you want from me?"
"Do you hate me because of Andrea or because of something else?" I asked casually.
He laughed, "You want to meet me just to talk about this?"
I shook my head, "Nope. I'm just asking."
Discouraged by his response, I went ahead and said, "People shouldn't dwell on the past. Hendrix and I are married, and we have settled down. I know you like Andrea, so why don't you confess your love for her?"
"Are you done?" He frowned, visibly frustrated at me, "Arianna, just who do you think you are? Do you really think that we will live our lives the way you want us to?"
I lowered my gaze and stopped talking.
I was never good at persuading someone, so I shifted my topic, "Let's talk about the factory in the southern district then. The one you decided to shut it down on your own."
Austin was surprised and only started speaking after looking at my expression for a while, "I can't believe you found out about this."
"I want to know why," I said directly.
That was a business-related matter. So, I didn't beat around the bush and went straight for it.
"Did you come to me first? Why didn't you report to Hendrix?" he asked.
I looked down at the table and explained, "You were in charge of Advancer Tech, and its factory had been shut down for six months. Naturally, I'd come to you when I couldn't figure out from where you found the funds to fill in for the loss. I believe that you didn't do this with bad intentions. Besides, I don't want you to have any unnecessary dispute with Hendrix over this."
Austin sneered, "Arianna, you are this naive."
He raised his eyebrows and said cynically, "You can just tell Hendrix about Advancer Tech. He probably already figured it out anyway."
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