Melanie took a second to understand what he meant. She frowned and said hesitantly, “I don’t think I can…‘
“Why not?” Xander straightened up. “Didn’t you want to learn how to set up an exhibition too?”
Melanie’s fingers curled slightly, and she looked down at her bandaged forearm. “I hurt my hand. I might not be able to help you.”
She wanted to explain, but Xander said nonchalantly, “I have plenty of handymen. Besides, I’m just asking if you want to be my trainee for a bit. Do you really think this is something you can master in a day or two?”
Melanie shook her head. “I just don’t want to cause you any more trouble.‘
Xander said, “How much trouble can you be?”
His attitude did convince Melanie a little. She knew perfectly well that an opportunity to learn from Xander was rare and precious indeed.
After agreeing to Xander’s request, Melanie remembered she had the rest of the day off. Since she had nothing to do in the afternoon, she followed Xander to his studio.
Xander brought her inside, and they immediately saw a bunch of young people arguing over something: When they saw that Xander was back, they immediately fell quiet and greeted him. “Boss, you’re back!”
Xander looked back at Melanie. “Sit wherever you want.”
Melanie looked around. The entire room was filled with junk. Aside from a table in the far corner, there was nowhere else for her to sit.
The young people in the room were rather surprised to see Melanié. A girl in glasses sized up Melanie for a moment before she gasped and asked Xander, “Boss, since when did you have a mistress?”
“I had no idea either!” a boy in a checkered shirt chimed in excitedly.
Xander could not be bothered to waste his breath on their nonsense. Instead, he just glanced at them and picked up a design draft from the table. “What were you guys doing just now?”
As soon as the topic switched to work, the two young people immediately became serious. The girl said in glasses, “I think the previous proposal was better with marble, both in terms of esthetics and practicality.”
The boy in the shirt wailed, “Reny Quark, what is your definition of practicality? Do you have any idea how much marble will inflate the budget?!”
Melanie found their argument fascinating, and she instinctively moved a little closer.
Unexpectedly, the boy in the shirt became more and more agitated as he spoke. He raised his hand and waved it around, almost hitting Melanie.
“Oliver!” Xander barked suddenly.
Chapter 98
Oliver froze, turning around to see Melanie not far behind him.
Melanie had not expected Xander to shout at Oliver like that. Embarrassed, she apologized softly, “I’m sorry. Am I in the way?”
Xander placed his hands on the table. His collar was slightly up, revealing a glimpse of the crystal pendant around his neck.
He looked at Melanie. “Come over here. You can listen in from here.”
After the discussion, the team headed out for dinner. Melanie did not plan to join them, so she told Xander she would take a cab back to the hotel.
It was late by the time she got to the hotel. Melanie put her phone on the bedside table and went to wash up.
When she came out of the bathroom, she saw a bunch of messages on her phone.
Sure enough, it was Simon who was spamming the group, inviting everyone out for a weekend getaway. He even tagged Eugene multiple times.
Melanie glanced at her screen and turned off the app.
To her surprise, however, she found Simon downstairs the next day.
Simon was just as surprised to see her. He raised his eyebrows and walked over to greet her.” So you’re here too?”
Melanie’s expression did not change. “I’m here on business.”
Simon clicked his tongue. “Why does Eugene keep taking you out on business trips? Doesn’t he ever get tired of it?”
He was a typical rich young master who had a beautiful new model on his arm every week. As a result, he could not understand why Eugene would choose to take Melanie along every time he went on a business trip.
Then again, that was not something he could ask Melanie. “Where’s Eugene?”
“I don’t know,” Melanie said.
It was the truth. She really did not know where Eugene was. After all, she had not seen him since yesterday morning.
Chapter 99
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