Chapter 21
“If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up. These games aren’t fun, Claude.”
Her voice immediately turned cold, and just as she was about to hang up, Claude quickly spoke.
“I’m not joking around. I really do have something that needs to be designed. You know Preston Corp needs a lot of collaborative designs. I want you to do
them.”
Aaliyah fell silent for a moment. Preston Corp was involved in most domestic products, and their annual design fees alone reached hundreds of millions-this was an extremely high commission, enough to keep their studio comfortable for years. But Aaliyah knew this was Claude’s deliberate move, and there had to be conditions waiting for her.
She considered it, then spoke.
“What’s the catch?”
Claude was obviously relieved. He’d never been this nervous before, but now that Aaliyah was willing to listen to him, it meant there was still hope for reconciliation.
“Come back to the States with me. Just for one day-that’s all I need. Preston Corp’s headquarters is domestic, and after taking this project, you’d need to come check things out anyway, right?”
Aaliyah agreed.
she wasn’t going to be dramatic about it. Since Claude was willing to give their studio this opportunity, seizing it properly was what mattered. With Preston Corp’s reputation behind them, their studio would definitely soar in the future.
She and Claude discussed the timeline for returning to the States and the specific items for the collaborative design. They talked for over half an hour total, and Finally, Claude couldn’t help but ask her.
‘Aaliyah, are you really still pissed at me? I get your dreams now-I’m cool with you doing design work.”
Aaliyah let out a mocking laugh.
‘Claude, what I want to do-you can’t stop me anymore.”
With that, she hung up directly and shared the good news with everyone else at the studio. Only a few people knew about her entanglement with Preston Corp, so most of her colleagues were excited that she could land such a huge project.
That was Preston Corp!
While everyone was celebrating excitedly, Claire found Aaliyah and asked with some concern in a low voice.
‘Aaliyah, would Claude really be so generous as to give us such a big project? Did you agree to some condition of his?”
Seeing the caring expression on her face, warmth rose in Aaliyah’s heart. If it weren’t for Claire and the others helping her without reservation, she wouldn’t have been able to fit in so quickly. So she genuinely felt that agreeing to Claude’s condition once wasn’t a big deal.
Aaliyah smiled. “It’s not an unreasonable condition. I just need to personally return to the States for coordination. Don’t worry about it, Claire.”
Hearing that the condition was just coordinating design content, Claire breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since she’d heard about Aaliyah’s experiences, she’d been very worried about her being hurt by Claude again.
But just because she wasn’t worried didn’t mean everyone could let it go.
That evening, Aaliyah ran into Leroy, who looked anxious and kept glancing at her as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t.
This behavior was strange. Leroy always said what was on his mind and never overthought things. When had he ever shown this kind of expression?
Aaliyah could guess what he was worried about.
“Are you really going back to the States?” Sure enough, that’s exactly what he said when he opened his mouth.
Aaliyah smiled. “Yeah, but don’t worry. I already told Claude I’m only going back for one day. I’ll come back right after the coordination meeting-I don’t need to stay in the States. The studio is where I want to be now.”
Chapter 21
Leroy still looked worried. He seemed to have made up his mind about something and suddenly spoke.
Aaliyah, I like you.”
She blinked, not understanding why he was saying this now. Leroy had already confessed to her before, but Aaliyah felt she only wanted to focus on work right now. Besides, she didn’t have the confidence to give 100% to someone else the way she had with Claude, so she’d rejected his confession last time.
Now, although she did have feelings for Leroy, she still thought it wasn’t the right time for romance. She didn’t want to escape from Claude only to immediately
run into another man’s arms
Just as she was about to speak, Leroy quickly continued.
“I know you won’t agree right now, but I just want to tell you how I feel. Maybe I’m not confident enough, but I’m scared that if you go back to the States, you won’t come back. So Aaliyah, I want to go back with you. I can wait for you.”
So that was it.
Aaliyah looked at his nervous expression and for some reason suddenly found it amusing.
“Alright, you can come back with me. But Claude probably has other things he wants to tell me, so if there’s any danger, I’ll contact you immediately.”
Leroy nodded repeatedly. The only thing he was afraid of was Aaliyah getting hurt.
