Chapter 183: The Elevator

At last, the roar beside Giselle’s ears stopped completely.

She opened her eyes.

The long pale legs that had been disturbing her focus were gone from her line of sight. Elias had already sat down on the bed and was unplugging the hair dryer. He wrapped the cord with tidy little movements, put the dryer away, and only then looked back at her.

He reached out, lifted a loose strand of her now dry, fluffy silver hair, and brushed it between his fingers.

"There," he said, satisfied. "All dry."

Then he blinked and stared straight at her.

"Giselle, why is your face so red?"

System Theta could barely keep watching.

Host, you made her blush on purpose. Why are you asking like you have no idea?

Giselle’s ice-queen composure deserved respect. Her expression did not change at all.

"The hair dryer was hot."

Elias almost lost control of his face.

He had not expected someone as serious as Giselle to have this kind of deadpan humor.

Still, he pretended to believe her and nodded with complete sincerity. Then his voice softened.

"It’s getting late. We should... rest."

"Mm," Giselle said.

System Theta immediately perked up.

Here it comes. The host is going to eat someone alive.

Then System Theta watched the two of them lie down on the same bed, facing each other.

They looked at each other quietly for a while. In the end, neither of them seemed to know who moved first. A hand reached toward the switch on the wall beside the bed.

Click.

The room went dark.

A man and a woman alone in one bedroom, lying in the same bed, with the lights off. Under any normal circumstances, nothing happening would almost be harder to justify than something happening.

But Elias only smiled shyly in the dark.

He knew Giselle could see him.

"Good night," he whispered.

"Good night."

[Giselle Frost’s favorability has increased. Current value: 50%.]

Elias seemed to know exactly what System Theta was thinking.

"I said I’d save her for last, so I’m saving her for last. Stop expecting nonsense. Sleep. Be good."

System Theta sounded disappointed. "Oh..."

But System Theta was not the only one whose expectations fell flat.

The next morning, Elias and Giselle had barely opened the bedroom door when they found Naomi standing outside.

Naomi’s anxious expression froze the instant she saw them.

Then embarrassment crept over her face.

"You’re... awake."

Giselle glanced at her. "Let’s go."

She took Elias with her and brushed right past Naomi.

As they passed, Naomi shot Elias a look.

Elias understood it at once. He lifted one finger to his full lips and smiled at her, bright and sweet, eyes blinking with shameless mischief.

"Shh."

Naomi stared at him.

Anyone who did not know better would think Elias had snuck out of the room last night, gone downstairs to Yvonne Quinn, stolen a second meal, and come back before dawn. Even one glance from him was that dangerously sweet.

Once Giselle went to wash up, Naomi finally had a chance to talk to Elias alone.

She leaned in, looking both anxious and deeply disappointed. "No, seriously, nothing happened last night?"

Elias smiled at her. "What did you expect?"

Naomi let out a long sigh. "I wasted all that anticipation. I thought you were going to devour Giselle until there wasn’t even a bone left."

Elias rolled his eyes at her. "What am I, a man-eating flower?"

Naomi quickly turned her head away, avoiding that devastatingly pretty glare.

"I don’t care," she muttered. "I went through hell and back to bring Giselle here, and that’s the show you gave me? I’m not satisfied. You owe me compensation."

Elias looked at her with a smile that did not quite reach innocence. "Are you sure you were the one who brought her here?"

Naomi felt guilty for no reason. "If it wasn’t me, what, was it you?"

Elias was about to answer when Giselle came out of the bathroom.

His expression changed in an instant.

The innocent little angel act clicked into place. His face turned soft, clean, and obedient as he asked gently, "Can I trouble you to drive us back to Westbridge?"

"You’re not eating the breakfast I made..."

Under Elias’s cold stare, Naomi swallowed the rest of the sentence before it could ruin everything.

"Okay, okay. I’ll drive you."

She agreed quickly, but her mind kept circling back to what Elias had said.

Giselle really had not been brought over by Naomi alone.

With Victoria Frost’s original attitude, Naomi would never have been able to take Giselle out no matter what she said. The moment Victoria changed her mind, it had been after that phone call.

Naomi tried to remember the details.

Before she could think any further, the elevator doors opened.

Her thoughts stopped, and the three of them stepped inside together.

The elevator began to descend.

It only dropped one floor before stopping again.

Naomi, still half-lost in thought, snapped awake at once.

She instantly realized what it meant for the elevator to stop on this floor.

The doors slid open.

A tall, slender figure stood outside.

Gold-rimmed glasses. Polite, cool restraint. A refined face that seemed carved out of distance and discipline. In a different way, she had the same ice-bound aura as Giselle.

Yvonne Quinn.

Then, in the next second, the ice softened.

Yvonne smiled gently at Naomi.

"Good morning."

Naomi responded on instinct. "Good morning, Dr. Quinn."

Then she realized something and looked carefully at Yvonne’s face.

Yvonne’s gaze had landed only on Naomi.

She did not look at Elias.

She did not look at Giselle.

Naomi instinctively glanced toward Elias and found him standing face-to-face with Giselle, whispering something to her with a sweet little smile on his face. He had not given Yvonne a single glance either.

Damn.

Naomi cursed inwardly.

This was insane.

Elias and Yvonne. Elias and Giselle. Only Naomi knew what had happened between them.

Acting in the same elevator with two Oscar-level performers forced Naomi to summon every bit of focus she had. She had to make sure not a single crack showed on her face.

"Heading to work?" Naomi asked.

"Mm," Yvonne said with a light smile.

That was the version of her that appeared in public: courteous, warm, approachable, every inch the doctor who healed people and made them feel safe.

Maybe Naomi’s greeting drew Giselle’s attention. Giselle lifted her eyes and looked at Yvonne.

Those deep blue eyes, as quiet as the sea at night, met Yvonne’s for one brief moment.

Then Giselle lowered her gaze again and gave her attention back to the boy beside her.

Yvonne also withdrew her eyes and stepped into the elevator.

Naomi quietly moved into the corner.

She looked at Elias standing between Yvonne and Giselle, and the corners of her mouth nearly rose out of control.

This was too exciting.

Too thrilling.

It felt as if these two women might start fighting in the next second.

Over the boy standing between them.

But Naomi waited, and the elevator dropped several more floors.

Nothing happened.

The doors opened again.

They had reached the first floor.

All three of them stepped forward at the same time.

Then Yvonne calmly withdrew her foot and smiled politely at the silver-haired girl.

"You go ahead."

Giselle gave a slight nod and led Elias out.

At that moment, Yvonne suddenly felt a faint brush of warmth across the back of her hand.

She lowered her eyes just in time to catch the boy’s fingertip sliding over the vein on the back of her hand.

The pressure was too delicate to be accidental.

The movement was too deliberate to be a mistake.

Especially because the boy slowly turned his head afterward. His bright, watery eyes held a trace of laughter as he gave her a teasing little wink.

Then she heard him say, "Thank you."