Love’s Unexpected Arrival The Bride Who Came Knocking by Rochelle

Chapter 3 Let’s Talk

“She has a high fever, and her body temperature is 39.5 degrees Celsius. It is due to overfatigue.” Harold Urry, dressed in a doctor’s white coat and leaning against the door with his arms wrapped around his chest, looked strangely at Hawk. Then Harold continued mockingly, “Mr. Cullen, this is the second time I’ve seen you carry a woman to the hospital. What is it? You finally let go?” Hawk coughed, almost choking on his saliva when hearing the word “overfatigue”. He rolled his eyes at Harold and asked, “When will she be awake?” Harold still grinned. He said, “She’s on a drip, and her high fever will be reduced quickly. She’ll wake up when she’s had enough sleep.” Then he glanced at the woman on the bed again and left with a grin. Hawk looked at the bag by the bed, which was Maria’s bag. He thought, “It looks cheap. It seems that she is not rich, and people who are not rich are short of money.” Then he quickly took a check and wrote in the amount of 850 thousand dollars. He thought, “I have to admit that I’m sorry about the things that happened yesterday. Yet I couldn’t control myself while my mind was a mess. I guess she got unlucky is all. At the end of the day, she got implicated because of me, and I never want to owe anyone anything. I guess 850 thousand dollars is enough for her to live well. Right?” Maria’s phone rang a few times, and he picked it up. A woman said anxiously, “Maria, you finally picked up the phone. How are you? Are you OK? I heard everything. Mr. Hanks is such a scumbag. I can’t believe he, as the director, stole your plan so cheekily, and he felt not guilty at all. Maria, don’t be too sad about it. It’s not worth it to get so angry for a scumbag like him. We all know that the design plan is your hard work, and you’ve devoted so much to every tree and every grass in it. Just listen to me. Don’t think about anything right now. You just have to focus on getting sleep and resting well…” Hawk put down the phone and glanced at the quiet woman in the bed. He thought, “So, her name is Maria, and her director stole her plan? I might as well give her a hand.” He took his phone, took a photo of Maria’s face, sent it to Luke, and then called Luke. “This woman’s name is Maria, probably a designer. Go and find out whether she designs clothes or houses. Also, she has a supervisor surnamed Hanks, who is a director. Find out about him, too. Get me the result as soon as you can.” Luke, on the other end of the line, felt a bit dumbfounded. Luke was extremely efficient and quickly rushed to the hospital with a pile of documents. In Harold’s office, Hawk quietly went through the documents Luke had brought. Maria Nolan was 24 years old this year. She graduated from Prosper University three years ago with a major in landscape engineering and now worked in the Department of Design of Great Mansion. The company was a real estate subsidiary of the White Group. She lived with her 40-year-old mother and 13-year-old brother. Her father died in a car accident a few years ago. Her mother was a housewife, and her brother was studying in the junior middle school of a noble school in Erus City. All the expenses of the family were borne by her alone. Her life was very simple. At work, she focused solely on the landscape design of a project called “Great Mansion”. In life, she had few friends except for a woman named Scarlett Barlow. Maria and her family moved from Ferres City to Erus City three years ago, and they currently lived in a rented place. Her immediate boss was Tim Hanks, a man of fortyish years old who used to claim his subordinate brilliant plans and ideas as his. When Maria woke up, it was dark, but the ward was still brightly lit. By the bed, next to her bag, a check caught her eye. There was a note attached to the check, and the writing on it was strong and powerful. It said, “The check is for you. Sorry for what happened yesterday.” Maria sneered and thought, “A check. A check again. “Three years ago, someone gave me a check, and three years later, I’m given a check again. It was 850 thousand dollars three years ago, and the amount today is 850 thousand dollars again. “I guess being rich allows one to be omnipotent. They can handle everything with checks.” As footsteps sounded, Maria looked up and saw Hawk. She smiled mockingly, “Didn’t you already give me the check? What are you doing here?” “Let’s talk.” Hawk pulled a chair and sat down. “What’s there to talk about?” Maria didn’t like Hawk at all. He reminded her of the two women who had given her the check three years ago. They said sorry to her, but she knew that in their hearts they were deeply dismissive of her. Everything, including their scornful eyes after she took the check and their triumphant smiles as she turned to walk away, made her uncomfortable. “If you want to change your job, I can help you out,” Hawk said. “You gave me 850 thousand dollars. With this money, I don’t have to work ever again, do I?” Maria was irritated, so of course, she looked gloomy. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to,” Hawk explained. That was all he could say, as he refused to tell her that he had been drugged. He would be humiliated if he did tell her. “If you need anything else besides money, we can talk about it, too,” Hawk added. “What if I want you to be responsible for me? Is that acceptable, too?” Maria said with a mocking expression. Hawk was stunned for a few seconds. It seemed that he was pondering seriously, and then he nodded. “I can give you marriage.” “Sure enough, men act on their primal reactions. Leave.” Maria glanced at Hawk with disdain. “I mean it. Think about it. What else do you want besides money? I’ll say yes to all as long as it’s something within my ability range. I’ll come to you tomorrow at noon,” Hawk said and then left.