“Mr. Smith, you’re so good at this. I ran all over the court and still couldn’t return the ball once.”
“You’re too kind, Mr. Wilson.”
Emory was beaming from Frederick’s praise as he played even more enthusiastically, ignoring Anathea.
“Mr. Wilson is too much. He’s bad at this, yet he keeps entertaining Mr. Smith. He’s obviously trying to stop Mr. Smith from discussing the proposal with us!” said Lena indignantly.
“He’s not bad at it,” Anathea replied flatly.
Frederick was doing it on purpose.
Anathea watched Frederick’s movements. Although it looked as though he was running all over the court while Emory stood in the center and casually returned each shot with ease, in reality, Frederick kept hitting the ball straight to the middle, making sure Emory could return it smoothly.
Basically, Frederick made it seem as if Emory was getting the upper hand, which flattered the latter so much that he didn’t want to stop playing.
Anathea glanced at the time. An entire hour had already passed.
“Nat, what do we do now?” Lena was starting to get anxious.
If they didn’t finalize the proposal soon, they wouldn’t be able to arder the flowers in advance. With the added time needed for air freight, if the freshest flowers didn’t show up at Juliana’s wedding on time, the blame would fall squarely on the studio’s
shoulders.
“Relax,” Anathea uttered as she calmly took a seat in the lounge. Then, she asked, “Have you had breakfast?”
Lena blinked, shaking her head. “Not yet.”
“Let’s eat first, then. Order whatever you like.” Anathea handed Lena the menu.
“But…”
“Shouldn’t we be stopping them? Why are we suddenly ordering food?” Lena thought in confusion.
Yet when she saw Anathea’s composed expression, she swallowed the words she was about to say.
If Anathea decided to do something, there had to be a reason behind it. All Lena needed to do was follow Anathea’s lead.
Half an hour passed.
Anathea slowly ate the breakfast brought over by the server. “It tastes alright, though the pasta is a little soggy and not as flavorful as the ones in Estara.”
“I think so too.” Lena nodded, but it didn’t stop her from enjoying the meal.
In the end, Evangeline, who was at the office, lost her patience and messaged Anathea first.
“How’s it going? Is the final plan confirmed yet? With such a large order, I need to get in touch with the purchasing department ahead of time.”
Anathea took a sip of the coffee and replied, “Almost.”
At the same time, after hitting another shot, Emory raised his hand and stated, “Let’s take a break. I’m a bit tired.”
“Of course. You play exceptionally well, Mr. Smith.” Frederick smiled.
When Emory heard that, his face brightened. “You’re the one who needs more practice. If you’re bad at this, then practice more.
Chapter 476
+25 BONUS
“Alright.” Frederick nodded, rolling his eyes internally.
He was just about to signal his assistant to bring Emory some water when Anathea beat him to it.
She got up and handed Emory a bottle of water she had prepared in advance. “Here, Mr. Smith, have some water.” “Limited–edition Evian?” Emory chuckled as he took it. “Ms. Jacobson, you’re really going all out.”
“I hope it’s to your liking,” Anathea remarked with a slight smile.
She noticed the unfriendly look in Frederick’s eyes but continued smoothly, “Now that you’ve finished playing, why don’t we talk about the wedding flowers? A wedding is a major life event–the venue should be beautifully decorated.”
Only then did Emory nod. “You’re right, Ms. Jacobson. But…”
He hesitated, looking a little conflicted. “You know that Mr. Wilson invited me to play first. It wouldn’t be very polite of me to just leave him hanging, don’t you agree?”
“You scheduled a meeting first, Nat. He just swooped in out of nowhere,” Lena muttered under her breath.
Without reacting, Anathea lightly patted Lena on the shoulder, then turned to Frederick. “You’re an incredibly busy man, Mr. Wilson. I didn’t think you’d have time to play tennis.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m incredibly busy.” Frederick waved it off. “I just love to play tennis. It doesn’t feel right if I don’t get a few rounds each day. But I suppose you wouldn’t understand, Ms. Jacobson. After all, you don’t seem like someone who exercises often.”
