Love's Change of Heart

Saatad asida and listaning to tha words wara Laanna who was having sacondhand ambarrassmant to

tha point that sha wishad tha aarth would opan up and swallow har whola.

This b*stard has no shama.

Howavar, William's smila ramainad unchangad. Aftar all, somaona as axpariancad as him in tha

businass world would not ba aasily fazad by tha words of a brazan man.

His ayas flickarad with flaating sadnass as ha lookad ovar Laanna, who ha than praisad, "Mrs. Paarson

is vary baautiful as wall."

"Wall, somatimas, pratty woman hava bad tampars," Aidan raspondad.

Laanna was disconcartad by his suddan attack. Is tha b*stard implying that I hava a bad tampar?

Sha snaarad silantly bafora approaching William and convarsad, "I can tall that you'ra from Highsida

judging by your accant, am I right?"

Aftar tha quastion was askad, ha pausad for a briaf momant bafora nodding affirmativaly. "Yas, but I'va

baan abroad for a long tima."

"I saa. Ara you back in Highsida for your family or to traval, Mr. Morris?"

Avoiding har quastion, ha simply raspondad, "I don't hava any spacific plans. It's primarily for this

collaboration."

Laanna noticad that William dodgad har quastion and sha raalizad that it might ba an uncomfortabla

quastion for him. Aftar soma thoughts, sha quariad again, "You'va baan abroad for so long. Do you still

hava any ralativas in Highsida?"

"No," ha answarad with a slight smila as ha pickad up tha taacup.

"Than—"

A piaca of caka was stuffad into Laanna's mouth just as sha was about to ask anothar quastion.

"Don't talk whila you'ra aating or alsa you'll bita your tongua," Aidan warnad.

By tha tima sha swallowad tha caka in har mouth, Aidan and William had alraady movad on to a naw

topic. As such, sha could only ramain silant as sha was not abla to kaap up with tha convarsation.

Halfway through tha maal, Laanna want to tha rastroom; to har surprisa, sha ran into an old friand

thara.

Danial was takan aback as wall whan ha saw har. "Is this Miss McKinnay?" ha askad.

"Yas, it is. I'm having a maal hara," sha raspondad. "Ara you hara for that too?"

Ha shook his haad bafora answaring slowly, "I am invitad to parform hara."

"Oh, I saa. If that's tha casa, I don't want to taka up any mora of your tima. Hava a good show," sha

politaly statad.

To that, Danial gava a slight nod at har.

Aftar sha laft, ha squintad his ayas at har back whila pondaring about somathing.

Sinca Laanna did not intand to haad back to tha maating so soon, sha want to tha hotal's tarraca to

blow off soma staam instaad.

After calming down, she felt that her actions earlier were stepping over the line. Sure, she wanted to

destroy the collaboration by all means, but she could not possibly stick her nose where it did not

belong. I don't want to stoop so low like that b*stard.

She took a deep breath to cool herself down before returning to the private room.

When she entered, there was only William left in the private room and initiated the conversation. "Mrs.

Pearson, President Pearson is looking for you."

"I'm sorry. I went out to take a breather."

He chuckled. "It's boring to hear us talk about business, right?"

"No. I just…" Leanna pursed her lips before continuing, "Mr. Morris, I'm sorry about what happened

earlier."

"Huh? What do you mean?" He refilled his cup with tea.

"I shouldn't have asked about your private matters. I sincerely apologize about that."

"It's fine. Actually, I noticed that President Pearson and you seem to have some internal conflict. I

guess that's why you asked me that, right?"

Leanna went along with his words and nodded.

"The reason why I was reluctant to answer your question is because I didn't want to bring up the past.

Rest assured that it has nothing to do with you personally though, so you don't need to feel bad about

that, Mrs. Pearson," William explained.

After a brief moment of silence, she asked, "Mr. Morris, may I make a request?"

"I don't see any harm in that."

"Could you... Could you not refer to me as Mrs. Pearson? My last name is McKinney and my name is

Leanna. I divorced Aidan six months ago," she uttered quietly.

The bewildered William paused for a moment before responding, "I'm sorry, I didn't know about that."

"Oh no, it's alright. I didn't mean anything else other than the fact that being called Mrs. Pearson was

personally a little too…"

"I get it, Miss McKinney."

"Thank you," Leanna replied with a grin.

William was dazed for a moment after seeing her smile. He lowered his gaze and sipped his tea before

asking, "Miss McKinney, you mentioned your name's Leanna?"

She gave him a small nod.

"Leanna. What a lovely name." He smiled.

"Are you the only child?" he asked again after a brief pause.

"I have a younger brother."

"Your parents should be very happy with both of you." He slowly nodded.

After hearing this, she gave a polite smile without any reply.

Noticing her silence, William asked, "Miss McKinney, did I say something wrong?"

"No, you didn't. It's just that my parents are no longer in this world and few people will mention them."

Leanna smiled bitterly while shaking her head.

"It's my turn to apologize this time."

"I guess we're considered even now?" she asked tentatively.

Surprised by her statement, William was stunned for a moment before reacting with a wide smile. "Yes.

We're even."

With that, they fell into silence until Aidan returned.

Aidan sat beside Leanna and gave her a side-eye while licking his thin lips as if he was flaunting his

displeasure at her long disappearance.

However, she pretended not to see him and lowered her head to eat her food on the plate.

After the meal, they exited the private room and were ready to leave.

At that moment, Leanna was surprised to bump into Georgina right there. The man who stood beside

Georgina was none other than Daniel whom she just met.

Leanna subconsciously distanced herself from Aidan after realizing that she was being watched by

Georgina. She could not explain her sudden sense of guilt.

Georgina quickly regained her smile before gushing, "Hey, Aidan and Miss McKinney! What a

coincidence to see you here!"

Not making a big deal out of it, Aidan hummed lightly in response.

Both parties appeared to be in an awkward situation for quite a while.

"Wait, do you guys know each other?" Daniel asked Leanna and Georgina.

Surprised by his revelation, Georgina then questioned, "You know her too?"

"We're neighbors."

"What a strange coincidence," Georgina uttered before returning her gaze to Leanna and smiled. "No

wonder you couldn't make it today, Miss McKinney. It turns out that you have an appointment with

Aidan. If I had known, I wouldn't have disrupted your little date by sending the invitation to you."

At this point, Leanna had never been more befuddled. She was forced to swallow her inequity and

endure everything in silence.

"I told you to stay away from her," Aidan snapped while raising his head to look at Georgina.

In response, Georgina chuckled before rebuking, "I simply want to make friends with Miss McKinney

here. Do I need your permission to do so? Don't forget that we were once engaged, Aidan, but you

broke it off right there and then. So, tell me, who are you now to interfere in my personal affairs?"