Chapter 48
Seeing the message, Coralie Chariott's hand trembled slightly.
She tended to be nervous whenever she saw Skylar Holland's name.
After thinking for a moment, she replied with a single word. "OK.".
When she got off work, Coralie spotted Skylar immediately as she stepped out of the company. He was waiting for her in a closer position than the place where he usually waited for Corrine Quincy. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
Coralie put her hand in her bag and touched the household registration booklet, marriage certificate, and the bank cards in it.
"Yes."
Skylar's expression seemed unpleasant.
Coralie thought that he must be still angry with her. After all, her words were rather out of line when she spoke to Lillian Ford in front of him that day.
Although Coralie felt that Lillian was wrong, she also knew that generally, men would stand on their mother's side unconditionally.
Howard Schultz was like that back then.
Howard's mother once complained that Coralie was lazy because she cooked the same dishes twice a week. Coralie complained to Howard about this, but in the end, he sided with his mother without hesitation, saying that she did not fulfill her duty as a daughter-in-law.
Skylar took Coralie to a Japanese restaurant.
The private room they were in was tatami-styled.
"I'm so sorry to make you pay for this."
This was the first thing Coralie said when she entered the restaurant. The restaurant was not located in a shopping mall or an office building. It was a shop on its own. It was decorated in a Japanese style, all the way from the entrance to the inside of the shop.
Before arriving at the private room, they had to pass through a special Japanese-styled courtyard. In such a place where land was scarce and valuable, the owners were willing to waste so much space to build a courtyard, which meant that the cost could definitely be earned back.
When Skylar heard her words, he raised his eyelids and glanced at her. Then, he turned to the waiter to order some dishes. "I've made a reservation. Your boss knew this. In addition, we want another two pots of your boss's self-manufactured plum wine."
Coralie sat there and looked at Skylar talking politely to the waiter, showing his good manners. She forgot to take her eyes off him.
When Skylar was done ordering, he turned around and noticed Coralie staring at him with her beautiful misty eyes. There was a light smile on her face, and her eyes seemed to be filled with a sense of appreciation, and perhaps, obsession.
When she was in college, she used to look at him this way, but he hadn't seen this for many years.
"How long are you going to continue staring at me?"
Skylar reminded her with a faint expression.
Coralie came to her senses, and she looked a little embarrassed. She apologized repeatedly, "I'm sorry."
Facing her embarrassment, Skylar couldn't help but ask, "Coralie, do you have to be so polite to me?"
"I..."
Coralie was feeling conflicted, and the waiter's voice could be heard from outside the sliding door of the room. "Hello, dear guests. It's time to serve you your food." Then, the sliding door opened, and the waiter knelt down and served the dishes for them.
As the dishes were ordered by Skylar beforehand, they were served quickly at one go.
The waiter knelt on the side again and asked, "Would you like me to pour you some wine?"
Skylar waved his hand and said, "No, thanks. Please do not come in unless I call for you."
As the waiter left, Coralie and Skylar were the only ones left in the room, and probably no one would come in for a long time.
Although it was a sliding door, the noise insulation was actually very good. The sound of the waiter walking outside could not be heard at all in the private room.
"Don't worry. The ingredients here are all flown in from Japan daily. This sea urchin tofu is the specialty of this place."
Skylar noticed that Coralie hadn't taken her chopsticks yet, so he put a set of the sea urchin tofu in front of Coralie.
"Thank you. You don't have to worry about me. I will help myself,"
Coralie answered politely. She picked up the small spoon in front of her and imitated Skylar's method of eating the tofu in the sea urchin.
"How is it?"
Skylar asked after she ate it.
"It tastes very fresh," Coralie answered truthfully. She could only say these words, and she added in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, it seems that such good food is wasted on me. I never ate such food before, and I am not sure how to appreciate this dish."
"Really? But once you've eaten the best, then you'll never be able to eat anything of lesser quality, even if it's very close, you might not want to eat it." Skylar looked at her as he spoke. His eyes were deep and sharp, but the expression on his handsome face was enigmatic.
He was talking about food, but at the same time, it seemed that he was not talking about food.
"I... I'll taste it again."
Coralie didn't know what to say, and she could only focus on eating to avoid his stares.
The private room instantly quieted down and the atmosphere became very awkward.
"Do you want a drink?" Skylar picked up the warm pot full of plum wine and asked Coralie. Seeing that she was a little hesitant, he added, "This wine is sweet and has low alcohol content. You won't get drunk." "But I will get tipsy. You know, when I was in college, I once got drunk and lost consciousness. I heard that you sent me back to the hotel." Coralie still wanted to refuse.
Speaking of that night, Skylar looked at Coralie's calm expression and asked, "Don't you remember what happened that night?"
"I don't remember..." Coralie shook her head. "I remember that I happened to have my period that day. When I woke up the next day, I found that my bed in the hotel was stained. I was scolded by the hotel staf and I paid for the cleaning fee."
When she said this, she couldn't help but smile, as if she was recalling something that was very funny.
However, Skylar, who was sitting opposite her, looked a little pale. "You were on your period?"
"Yes, I didn't expect it either. At first, I thought that it was a nosebleed, but later, I found out that I had my period."
Coralie still remembered, on that day, she had just entered the dormitory. Her roommate had reminded her that her pants were red. Only then did she know that the blood that she found on the bed in the hotel was the blood from her period.
Skylar didn't say a word. This was different from his memory, completely different.
In other words, he didn't expect Coralie not to remember what had happened that night.
That night, he had a love affair with Coralie for the first time. Skylar always thought that it was a secret between Coralie and himself, but now he knew that it was his own secret.
Coralie didn't remember this at all.
"Don't be angry. I'll just drink. I can't still be that bad at drinking after all these years, can I?"
Coralie looked at Skylar's cold face, thinking that he was angry. She picked up the pot and was about to pour wine into her glass, but was stopped by Skylar. "Forget it."
When they had eaten some food, Coralie took the opportunity to take out the household registration booklet, marriage certificate, and the bank cards given by Skylar. She placed them on the table.
"I scolded your mother that day, and I'm sorry. I also know that she won't forgive me, so we'd better get a divorce in advance. There are still 4.72 million dollars in the bank account of this card. I will return you the rest slowly."