Chapter 153: Frank’s Sincerity
Sylvia was taken aback for a moment. The fact that Benjamin knew about her love for tulips was something her close friends knew, but she never expected Benjamin to know as well.
Comparing this, Cyril’s gesture seemed utterly insincere. After all these years of marriage, he seemed to know nothing about her, while even someone she hadn’t seen in knew her favorite flower
“It’s really tough on Cyril to hate what you like,” Sylvia mused.
“Yeah, I really like tulips. It’s just that when my brother gave me tulips, they were artificial I’m allergic to pollen, after all,” she explained.
“I know. Do you remember when you graduated from junior high, someone gave you a jar of tulips? That was me. I turned the tulips into dried flowers and put them in a bottle for
Benjamin nodded. While others thought Sylvia received artificial flowers because her family couldn’t afford real ones, he sensed there was a special reason behind it. Buying real flowers wasn’t that expensive, after all.
So, he observed carefully and found out about Sylvia’s pollen allergy. When she graduated, he made dried flowers and put them in a bottle as a gift. He just wasn’t sure if Sylvia remembered it
Sylvia quickly searched her memories and indeed recalled the tulips. She loved them and still kept them in her room.
“It was you who gave them to me? I thought it was my brother’s doing. But I guess my brother wouldn’t have the patience to turn a flower into a dried one. You must have put a lot of effort into it. Thank you,” Sylvia said with a smile. The memory seemed to soften her attitude towards Benjamin.
As these two reminisced, they completely ignored Cyril
Cyril felt thoroughly aggrieved at being ignored. He didn’t know what to say. It seemed like Sylvia had been subjected to such disregard many times before, whereas he had only experienced a fraction of it. What right did he have to feel aggrieved?
Benjamin and Sylvia found common ground in their conversation, completely ignoring Cyril.
Juliet was in a good mood and ate a little more. When she noticed Cyrill staring blankly at Sylvia, she rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Why are you still here, Cyril? Can’t you see they’re having a good time? Why do you keep bothering them? Don’t you find yourself annoying?” she scolded.
“I didn’t mean to.” Cyril’s throat felt dry, struggling to express his emotions.
Juliet rolled her eyes again. “You didn’t mean to? Then take your roses and leave. It Sylvia has an allergic reaction later, she’ll have to find you. Is that your plan? Make Sylvia allergic to pollen and then get close to her again? You’ve hurt her countless times over the years, and this time is no different. You’re disgusting”
Juller’s words hit Cyril hard. His face flushed with embarrassment as he lett, clutching the roses. It wasn’t until he reached the door that he realized how impulsive his actions had been. He finally had the chance to see Sylvia, and Juliet had only said a few harsh words; she hadn’t actually hurt him
Yet, he left like a deserter, carrying the roses.
Cyril sighed at the door. It was too late to turn back now. He glanced back at Sylvia and Benjamin, who were chatting happily. The atmosphere was pleasant. His heart ached even more, knowing that all this should have been his. Even though he had lost it all
His phone rang, breaking his reverie. Without looking at the caller ID, Cyril answered.
“Cyril, it’s me. I called you today..”
It was Karina. Cyril frowned, surprised that she was calling him.
Cyril hung up without a word. He didn’t want any contact with Karina now. Her betrayal in the past could be disregarded.
But if Karina continued to pester him, he would have to seriously consider all the times she had deceived him over the years.
Once Cyril left, Benjamin and Sylvia charted for a while before Benjamin left. He had only come to help Sylda drive Cyril away, and now that he’d accomplished that, there was no need to linger
“Thave to say, he handled it quite gracefully. Honestly, you had met Benjamin earlier, maybe things wouldn’t have ended up like this. What do you think? pullet remarked. Although Juliet had been neglected for a while, she didn’t feel upset. On the contrary, having such a good friend around was not a bad thing, and Benjamin was indeed a nice guy. “Don’t talk nonsense. There’s nothing between us,” Sylvia replied, feeling a bit helpless. She had talked so much with Benjamin because she had recalled some things from junior high. Besides reminiscing about junior high, there wasn’t much else they could talk about. Business talk over dinner was rather dull.
“Okay, okay, you two really have nothing going on. But I have some news to tell you. Do you want to hear it?” Juliet pulled out her phone. While they were chatting earber, she had checked her company’s emails and saw a message
Sylwia nodded and took a bite of her food.
Jullet read the email aloud. As Sylvia listened, her brows furrowed more and more. When Juliet finished, she added, “Frank wants to continue working with us and has voluntarily lowered his share by three percentage points. What do you think?”
Their collaboration was significant, so Frank was indeed at a disadvantage by conceding so much. Sybia couldn’t understand why he suddenly chose to back down.
“What’s there to not understand? Frank was our best option from the start, and they seemed eager to continue working with us. If it weren’t for Cyril, this collaboration wouldn’t have been delayed for so long. Now that he has conceded, it’s for the sake of collaboration. Plus, you know, if we seal the deal this time, the subsequent collaborations will also go smoothly, right? So, in the long run, his move makes sense,” Juliet reasoned