Chapter 220: Seeing Caleb Quinn Again
On Monday morning, a few minutes before her alarm was set to go off, Vivian Lowell’s biological clock woke her up. She opened her eyes, rubbed them, and glanced out the window. The sun was shining brightly. It was almost summer, after all. A sunny day was the only "normal weather" for Aethelburg!
With that in mind, Vivian threw off the covers and got up, just in time to see Julian Faulkner walking out of the bathroom. He was holding a razor, and there were still small patches of shaving foam on his chin and neck.
Seeing this, Vivian’s sleepiness vanished entirely. She excitedly bounded over to Julian’s side.
"Let me help you!" she offered. Vivian was incredibly fascinated by shaving! After all, she didn’t have a beard herself—just a little peach fuzz that was hard to even see, let alone shave with a razor. Naturally, her only option was to shave Julian’s!
Julian had only heard a noise and wanted to come out to see if Vivian was awake. Who would have thought that the moment he stepped out, she would pounce on him?
"No," Julian mumbled in response.
He had just woken up, and Vivian was now standing in front of him wearing nothing but a thin, short nightgown, without any underwear. Given their height difference, Julian was getting quite an eyeful of things he shouldn’t be looking at right now. Naturally, he didn’t want her getting any closer!
Vivian hadn’t expected Julian to reject her so decisively. She glared at him and couldn’t help but mutter, "A man can never say he ’can’t’!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Julian’s hand paused. He looked down at Vivian, then took two steps toward her. Vivian was already close to the bed, and with Julian advancing on her so intimidatingly, she hurriedly backed away. But with nowhere left to go, she plopped right onto the mattress.
By this time, Julian had already scraped off the remaining stubble on his chin. He casually tossed the razor aside, pulled out a wet wipe, and wiped his face clean.
Vivian swallowed hard. Staring at his clean-shaven chin, her voice trembled slightly as she asked, "Julian. What... what do you want to do?"
"Vivian." Julian’s gaze deepened. He let out a sigh as he leaned his face close to hers. Propping both hands on the bed, he essentially caged her in, locking her firmly in place before him. "It’s early in the morning, and I was barely awake to begin with. Yet you just had to come over and tease me. What do you think I want to do right now?"
A wicked smirk flashed across Julian’s lips. At this moment, he didn’t look anything like the ascetic CEO he was known to be. He was more like a man thoroughly overcome by lust. When it came to Vivian, he was utterly helpless; even his usually ironclad willpower had weakened significantly.
"I..." Vivian’s face flushed instantly. She had been sick for the past two days, during which they had maintained a "truce," allowing her to rest and recover perfectly. However, from the looks of it, Julian hadn’t rested well at all. It was hardly surprising. He had held himself back for so many years, and like opening the floodgates of a dam, once he finally got a taste of it, Julian just couldn’t get enough...
"I haven’t washed my face or brushed my teeth yet! I need to go do that first! It’s already past six, and Grandma Faulkner must be up and eating breakfast! If we don’t go down soon, she’ll definitely be worried!"
Vivian hurriedly made excuses, attempting to duck under the gap beneath Julian’s arm as soon as she finished speaking! But Julian didn’t give her the chance. Right now, she was like a piece of prey trapped in a cage, devoid of any opportunity to escape.
It wasn’t until seven o’clock that Vivian and Julian finally came downstairs.
As they descended, Vivian kept turning back to glare at Julian. Her legs were still a bit weak, and though Julian tried to help her, she stubbornly refused.
"I can walk by myself!" Vivian rolled her eyes. When she turned back around, she spotted Grandma Faulkner changing her shoes by the front door. She was holding the golden retriever’s leash, evidently getting ready for a walk.
"Morning, Grandma! Have you already finished breakfast? I... I woke up a bit late this morning and couldn’t eat with you. I’m sorry!" Vivian looked at Grandma Faulkner with an apologetic expression.
Grandma Faulkner merely chuckled, waving her hand dismissively at Vivian. "It’s fine, it’s fine! You two have been quite exhausted these past few days. It’s good to sleep in a little longer in the mornings! Mr. Zhou has already prepared breakfast; you can just go ahead and eat!"
Exhausted these past few days? Well, the photoshoot they did the other day was a bit tiring, but... but... Vivian found herself unable to retort. She suddenly realized that after the intense tossing and turning they had just endured, she genuinely was quite exhausted.
"Grandma, then... please take care of yourself too! I’ll come home early tonight and have dinner with you!" Vivian’s cheeks reddened. Grandma Faulkner smiled and waved again, her shoes fully laced up as she led the large golden retriever out the door for their walk!
Thankfully, during breakfast, Julian didn’t say anything else to tease Vivian. Instead, he attentively kept her company, dutifully pouring her milk and eating by her side.
Twenty minutes later, the two finished their meal and headed out together. Their routes to the company and the pet hospital shared a stretch of road, so Julian drove closely behind Vivian’s car, acting as her personal escort. Finally, they parted ways near the highway overpass, and Vivian couldn’t help but feel a pang of reluctance to leave him.
At around 7:40, Vivian arrived at the pet hospital. Since it was still early, she unlocked the doors herself.
At the entrance, she found a carrier containing a tabby cat with red, irritated eyes, completely abandoned on their doorstep. Vivian inspected the feline and noted that aside from the redness in its eyes, the little cat seemed to be in good spirits. It was likely nothing serious—just an eye infection.
Looking at the abandoned kitten, Vivian let out a long sigh. Ever since the pet hospital had put up a notice stating they no longer accepted abandoned cats, the number of people dumping pets at their doorstep had drastically decreased. There had been a slight resurgence recently due to the whole incident with Wendy Wynn, but those were isolated cases. Once Wendy’s scandal was cleared up, the numbers had dropped back down.
And now, another one had shown up today.
Vivian examined the kitten again. After a moment of thought, she proceeded to open the hospital doors, brought out some cat food and water from inside, and placed them into the carrier. The rules they had established couldn’t be bent for this. Even if it broke her heart, she had to harden it. Their mission to rescue stray animals was aimed at improving the entire stray population in the city, not at footing the bill for a few individuals’ sheer irresponsibility.
Having dealt with that, Vivian headed into the cat room to scoop the litter boxes, clean the cages, and feed the kittens waiting for adoption. These chores were incredibly time-consuming. Since every single cage had to be meticulously scrubbed and sanitized, and the hospital had quite a few enclosures, it was nearly nine o’clock by the time she finished.
Staff members gradually trickled into the hospital for their shifts. Just as Vivian was wrapping up her tasks, she heard a knock on the door behind her.
"Eleanor?" Vivian assumed it was Eleanor Rhodes arriving, but when she turned around, she discovered it was actually Caleb Quinn.
"Caleb?" Vivian was somewhat surprised. She remembered Eleanor telling her that after Caleb’s failed confession, he hadn’t reached out to her for quite a long time. Why was he suddenly here now?
"It’s me, Mr. Lowell," Caleb replied, earnest and polite. He gave Vivian a slight bow before asking, "Has Mr. Eleanor not arrived yet? I came today because I have something I want to discuss with her."
"She should be here soon," Vivian said, glancing at her phone. It was five minutes to nine. Even though Eleanor was the boss, she strictly adhered to the company’s nine-to-six working hours and was almost never late.
Right on cue, Eleanor walked through the entrance. She dropped her bag by the door and skipped over to them.
"Vivian, did you get here just after seven today? Oh my, you’ve worked so hard! We’ve been closed for a few days, so the kitties’ area must have been an absolute mess, right?"
Eleanor chattered away as she approached. When she reached the front of the cat room and spotted Caleb, she froze for a brief second.
"Caleb?" Eleanor quickly masked her surprise with a gentle smile and asked, "What... what brings you here? Is it because summer break is starting and you’re looking for part-time work?"
"Yeah..." Caleb nodded. "The part-time job is one thing. But another reason is that I wanted to come say goodbye to you, Mr. Eleanor. I’ll be heading overseas in about a month."
"Overseas?" Eleanor was visibly astonished. She knew that Caleb’s family wasn’t well-off; when he first got accepted into Aethelburg University, he had to rely on student loans. Thankfully, Caleb had excellent grades and had earned quite a few scholarships. Combined with his income from part-time jobs, he essentially covered his tuition and living expenses all on his own. Applying to prestigious universities abroad was no easy feat, and even if accepted, the annual tuition fees were notoriously high.
"Yes." Caleb rubbed the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "There’s an exchange student program at the university for a year abroad. My advisor asked if I was interested.
"I already qualified for direct admission to a master’s program, right? Being an exchange student won’t affect that, and going abroad will allow me to learn even more, so I agreed. It’s just... for that one year, my tuition is covered, but living expenses are still an issue.
"Thankfully, I still have a month left, so I thought I could come work part-time here for Mr. Eleanor for a month, if that’s alright? During the year I’m away, I probably won’t be able to come back."
Eleanor’s initial expression had been slightly strained, but now she nodded, smiling as she patted Caleb on the shoulder. "Good for you, kid! An exchange student!
"If you’re going abroad as an exchange student from Aethelburg University, the destination school must be fantastic! Study hard! As for the part-time job, come whenever you’d like! I definitely won’t shortchange you on your wages, either!"
"Okay..." Caleb nodded, his gaze lingering on Eleanor with a hint of complexity. In the end, he didn’t say anything more.
Watching from the sidelines, Vivian felt a wave of mixed emotions herself. She could see it clearly. Caleb still had strong feelings for Eleanor; otherwise, he wouldn’t have specifically sought out a part-time job at her place in his final month before leaving the country.
He would be gone for a whole year. For someone who was deeply in love, having to spend an entire year restricted to merely longing for the other person in their mind, completely out of reach, must be incredibly agonizing.
If that was the case...
As Vivian pondered this, Caleb suddenly spoke up again. "Speaking of which, the person who actually gave me this opportunity to go abroad was Professor Sterling!"