The Secret Obsession of the CEO-Chapter 213: Conflict

After mentioning it that day, Liam never mentioned about moving to her homeland again. So, she thought that he must have weighed in the factors and thought that it won’t be suitable for them to move here.

That’s fine too.

But she wanted to move out of that penthouse suite as soon as possible. Once he starts getting a steady flow of income, the first thing she is going to ask him is to get a mansion with acres of land around them.

She is not built for apartment life. She needs space; lots of space. She wants to see the stars with her naked eye and breathe in the clean and fresh air.

That evening she was taking a walk in the garden as usual. She had found that she had gained some weight after losing a lot earlier. She was walking a lot, and yet she started gaining weight. She must be eating so much. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

She thought she heard Ian’s voice. She heard a woman’s voice too and she had her Spidey senses prickling. It sounded like Elizabeth. She walked carefully so as not to alert them. She wanted to "overhear" what they are talking about.

Ian was indeed chatting with Elizabeth. Rory could not hear what they were talking about clearly because the wind was not cooperating with her eavesdropping, but their body language was clearly very odd. Aunt Isabelle said that Elizabeth asked for leave that day and she is here, in the mansion, talking to Ian.

The sense of familiarity between them is not surprising considering that Elizabeth is working in the mansion for more than four years. And they know each other practically all their life.

It was just a very usual scene in the garden that she had seen in a lot of romance dramas-- a man taking a stuck leaf from the hair of the woman.

But the blush on Elizabeth’s face and the way Ian was smiling, his shaking fingers, and the way he stuttered looking into her eyes... There is something going on here.

She observed Ian some more. He looked stumped and acted like a nincompoop, staggering and tripping on grass. Isn’t that a tell-tale sign of men falling in love as portrayed in romance dramas?

Unfortunately, they were not standing too close or kissing, or doing any salacious acts. That only confused Rory more. She thought that maybe she is projecting her wish for Ian to marry Elizabeth onto their innocent conversation and seeing something that was not there.

Ian won’t be the type to cheat on his girlfriend, right? Ah, Davina... She looked so cute! She cannot get hurt!

Rory turned on her camera and taped their interaction. She wanted to ask for a second opinion of her dear husband. Thinking of Liam... How did he act back in the day?

He said that he fell for her when they were in high school. But he never acted silly in front of her. He never banged on walls after talking to her or fell face-first on the ground when he saw her as he was riding his bike.

Thinking about Liam, she forgot what she was doing. She sat on the grass supporting her cheeks in her hands.

Maybe she never noticed it?

Ah, no... He was with Jennifer almost the whole first year, acting like her personal slave just to get a date with her. He didn’t even care when she was bullied.

But wait... Did he act as her slave to stop her from bullying me?

My sweet Liam...

Then she remembered him blushing with his face covered with his hand, some days earlier when she told him that she was falling for him.

He was cute... Aww, I want to see him blush more...

She wanted to call him, but she didn’t want to wake him. He was taking care of Ellie for quite some time now. And it had taken a toll on him. She contemplated leaving earlier. She asked Liam but he said that they can celebrate Christmas there. She wondered if she should get on a flight without telling Liam.

With a pout, she took a look at her phone. She was still recording those two, but she couldn’t see them on her screen.

Wait... where did they go?

"Rory! What are you doing here?" Ian’s voice made Rory jump.

"N0-nothing!" she stood up. "I was out here...meditating..." she said the first word that popped into her brain.

"Meditating?" Ian raised his brows.

"Elizabeth! I’m surprised seeing you here," Rory smiled. But she couldn’t contain the doubt she had in her eyes.

Elizabeth bowed her head. "I- I was going home from the grocery store. My brother visited and that’s why I asked for leave today. I saw Master Campbell~"

"Elizabeth, don’t keep your brother waiting. Here," Ian passed the bag of groceries he was holding to Elizabeth.

"Ah, yes, Master Campbell," she bowed and ran out of the garden.

"Is her house still at the other end of the village?" Rory asked. "And did you take a bus here? Where is your girlfriend?" It was odd Ian walked here considering he had a car.

And Elizabeth, even if she saw Ian on the way, she walked the wrong way to walk with Ian.

"What’s with you questioning me, huh?" Ian raised his voice. "Are you doubting me?" He walked with a larger gait.

"Should I, Ian?" Rory ran and caught up to him. "Should I see something between you two?" she grabbed his arm.

"Stop!" Ian got out of her hold and glared at her. "Don’t bother with my business."

"Okay," Rory shrugged. "Why should I care what you do? Have a girlfriend and a side chick... Why should I care? To think you are just like other men..." she snarled at him and ran to the house.

She couldn’t believe that Ian would react this way to her. He could have talked to her.

"Rory, wait..." Ian shouted and ran behind her. "It’s not like that! Listen..."

Rory ran to her room and locked her door. Just then Liam called, and Rory couldn’t control her emotions.

"Are you crying?" Liam asked. He felt like his heart was getting displaced when he heard her choking voice.

"Fizzy, I want to come home..." She said and started crying.

"Is it your PMS?" Liam asked. He had a feeling that should be it. It’s that time of the month.

Rory wanted to shout at him for dismissing her concerns but then she realized that should be the case too. Otherwise, why else would she take something her friend does too personally?

"Maybe..." she said with a pout.

Liam chuckled softly and waited until she calmed down. Rory told him what happened in the garden entirely.

"Was I wrong to confront him? I felt bad for Davina..." She asked Liam.

"No," Liam said with surety. But he thought that she might have been too nosy about other people’s business. He didn’t want to tell her that.

"And he is like a brother to me. Should I not call him out if he strays? Aunt Isabelle asked me to keep an eye on him too, you know? She should have some doubts too, right?" Rory went on with her complaints, justifying what she did.

Liam listened to her patiently. "Ian called me last night," he told her. He didn’t want to tell her that, but he thought it would be better if she knows.

Ian sounded a little drunk which surprised Liam considering it would be morning there. But Ian told him that he is going to tell Rory that he used to like her a lot in the past and that he wanted to marry her.

Well, obviously, Liam talked him out of it. He didn’t want Rory to lose her friendship with Ian too. He knew it. The moment Rory knows of Ian’s true feelings towards her, she will build a wall between them. She keeps on saying that Ian is like a brother and if he confesses, that won’t go well.

And isn’t it a scumy move to profess one’s love to a married woman even if he doesn’t feel that way anymore? Ian is no good.

And Liam wanted to help Rory. He already spoiled her relationship with Derick. Derick told him that she is not talking to him a lot and he felt like she had put up a wall. That happened just because she learned that he doubted their relationship. Liam didn’t want her to lose every person close to her.

Well, after he convinced Ian that he doesn’t have to talk about his past love to Rory, Ian opened up. He said that he doesn’t feel that "spark" with Davina. But he didn’t want to disappoint his parents. Ian was feeling guilty that after everything they put up with regarding his career choice, he didn’t want to be selfish and deny the partner they chose for him too.

Liam had a feeling that Ian likes Elizabeth more than he admits to. They’ve never admitted their love to each other, but Ian said that he had a feeling that Elizabeth likes him too.

Ian’s heart is not conflicted about the person he loves but was conflicted because of his filial piety.

"What did he tell you?" Rory asked.

Liam didn’t tell her about Ian’s past feelings towards her. And he told her about everything else.

"Hmm..." Rory understood it all. "Does he think that his parents won’t accept Elizabeth because of her status?" she asked.