Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

Nora Ainsworth froze, immediately understanding he had misunderstood.

”Quentin—”

He cut her off. ”You no longer have the right to say my name.”

He turned, stumbling, and hurried away.

Ethan Ellsworth rushed after him.

Chloe Marshall was dumbfounded. When she finally snapped out of it, a mix of emotions washed over her. ”Nora, why didn’t you explain?”

Tears streamed down Nora Ainsworth’s face. ”What can I possibly say? Chloe, I’ve always said a woman’s intuition is always right.”

Chloe Marshall was worried sick. ”Nora, what if I go explain things to Young Master Grant?”

She grabbed Chloe Marshall’s hand. ”Don’t. Let’s wait for the lab report. It won’t be too late to explain then. I’m just afraid... if something’s really wrong with me, then—”

She trailed off, trusting Chloe Marshall would understand what she meant.

”Nora, why are you always letting your imagination run wild? You’re so young, what could possibly be wrong with you? It’s nothing, you’ll be fine. You just had surgery, you can’t be on your feet for too long. Go back and get some rest. Once you’re at the hotel, give Young Master Grant a call. Don’t let this drag on. Just talk to him. I’m sure the report will come back fine.”

Heartbroken and crestfallen, she nodded. The two of them made their way to the stairwell, one step at a time.

They got into the car and drove back to the hotel.

Nora Ainsworth lay motionless on the bed.

She clutched her phone tightly in her hand.

After a long hesitation, she called Quentin Grant’s phone, but there was no answer. She tried again, only to find it had been turned off.

Nora Ainsworth set her phone aside, utterly heartbroken.

She couldn’t find the words to describe how she felt. In her eyes, everything was fleeting, like a flower that blooms for a single night.

The past two days with him felt like a dream, and now that she had woken up, all that remained was a bitter cold.

She wanted to be brave and stay with him forever, yet she couldn’t fight the cruelty of reality. She constantly wavered between these two feelings.

She lay there half-reclined, as if her soul had left her body.

The door pushed open, and a familiar figure appeared before her, but she couldn’t seem to register who it was.

Her gaze was unfocused, lost somewhere far away.

Her world was a turbulent mix of fire and ice.

”Nora, what’s wrong? Were you crying?”

She looked up, tears spilling down her cheeks. ”Leon, do you think... maybe I shouldn’t even be alive?”

Her words gave Leon Lynch a shock. He furrowed his brow. ”Are you depressed? How about I take you out for a bit to clear your head?”

She shook her head. ”I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to sleep. If I’m sleeping, I don’t have to think about anything or remember anything.”

”Then get some sleep. I’ll stay here and watch over you. The hotel kitchen is making a nourishing soup later. I’ll wake you when they bring it up.”

She nodded. ”Okay.”

Ethan Ellsworth stood on the balcony holding a cup of coffee, with Chloe Marshall standing by his side.

The two stood in silence for some time.

Chloe Marshall kept Nora Ainsworth’s words in mind, but she couldn’t bear to say nothing. She desperately wanted to do something to help.

”Boss Ellsworth, is Young Master Grant really angry?”

He shot her a glance. ”Do you think anyone would be laughing after what happened?”

”No, that’s not it, Boss Ellsworth. There are things I can’t say, but I want you to know that Nora’s love for him is just as profound as his. She’s in a lot of pain, too.”

Ethan Ellsworth set down his cup. ”This incident has changed my opinion of Nora. Quentin treats her so well, and she just... hurts him this badly? No matter what, she should have told Quentin first. How could she just do whatever she wants without considering him—”

Chloe Marshall was already upset, and his words made her immediately retort, ”Boss Ellsworth! I already told you Nora loves Young Master Grant more than anything, and you’re still saying things like that about her! It’s not her fault. You have no idea what’s really going on.”

Ethan Ellsworth’s brow remained furrowed. ”Then tell me. What is really going on?”

Chloe Marshall’s shoulders slumped in defeat. ”All I can say is, Nora did nothing wrong.”

Ethan Ellsworth said worriedly, ”This time, I think the two of them might really be over for good.”

”So where is he now?”

Ethan Ellsworth’s expression relaxed slightly. ”I don’t know. He probably went back to the city. I think he’ll be fine. He’s been through worse.”

**

That evening, they were scheduled to film the final three scenes.

They would be filmed tonight, tomorrow, and the day after. After that, filming for *Love when the sun comes out* would be officially wrapped.

When Nora Ainsworth arrived at the makeup room, Ethan Ellsworth was already finishing up. The room was nearly empty.

She glanced at him before sitting down, unable to stop herself from asking, ”Is he okay?”

Ethan Ellsworth shot her an icy glare. ”Oh, so you do still care about him? What do you think? Do you think he’s okay?”

Nora Ainsworth said awkwardly, ”Ethan Ellsworth, please, talk to him. Tell him not to be upset over a woman like me.”

Ethan Ellsworth turned to face her, his gaze intense. ”Nora, you want me to talk to him? Why don’t you go see him yourself after we wrap tonight? You know better than anyone that your words mean more to him than mine ever will. Whatever your reasons are, I think it would be best if you explained them to him yourself.”

She nodded. ”Okay.”

Her voice was barely a whisper, and her face was pale.

’All afternoon, she had been wrestling with the question: should she let him go on believing the worst so he would never see her again, or should she go to him and try to save everything?’

’Either way, the outcome for her would be the same. It was only a question of how much longer she could stay by his side—a question of enduring more torture because she couldn’t bear to leave him.’

’But in the end, she decided that even if it meant more suffering, she was willing to endure it just to be able to see him.’

After agonizing over it, twisting and turning through her tangled emotions, she finally decided. She would go back, explain everything about the hospital, and tell him the real reason she was there.

She had finally decided to face it.

’Whether he decided to never see her again or to face this with her, at least my heart won’t ache so much. With no regrets, I can finally be brave.’

The car sped down the highway and into the city.

It headed toward an upscale residential complex.

Nora Ainsworth’s heart, once a tangled mess, had finally found a sense of calm after an agonizing struggle.

When the car stopped in front of Quentin Grant’s home, her legs felt so weak she could hardly stand. Still, she forced herself to walk up and ring the doorbell.

The door opened almost immediately.

It was one of his men.

”Miss Ainsworth, please come in.”

Nora Ainsworth was taken aback, but she nodded and followed him inside.

A single dim lamp was lit in the living room.

He was sitting on the sofa. The table in front of him was cluttered with empty liquor bottles.

She could see that his eyes were bloodshot.

She paused, taking off her down jacket and slipping into a pair of house slippers.

He glared, his brow furrowed in anger. ”What are you doing here?”

Seeing his haggard expression, Nora Ainsworth’s heart ached. ”I came to explain.”

”Explain? What’s the difference? The outcome will be the same regardless, won’t it?”

Nora Ainsworth moved closer, wanting to embrace him, but Quentin Grant shoved her away violently. Her body crumpled to the floor like a rag doll.