novelxo Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Surrender
Candice asked: [Who are you?]
The person replied: [Byron]
She was completely dumbfounded.
Candice remembered that his background image was blank and his profile picture was a black heart, which seemed to refer to Vicky, the evil woman.
Then again, it was a reference to himself, the dark, ruthless player.
She couldn’t recognize him.
While she was hesitating, Byron sent her another request and the door to the pantry was pushed open again without warning. Candice was so nervous that her fingers started shivering.
“What are you standing there for?”
She came back to her senses and quickly hid her phone behind her back.
Chapter 21. Surrender
“Patrick.”
788 Vouchers
“You haven’t been attentive at work lately because you’re preoccupied with dating. Are you planning to lose your job?” Patrick chastised harshly.
Candice looked down without explaining further.
“Are you all co cky now that you’ve h o o ked up with a doctor and you’re getting married soon? I can’t tolerate the slightest bit of misconduct and poor performance. If your can’t do well at work, I’ll sack you all the same even if you’re married to the boss!”
It was obvious that he was using work to get back at her. Indeed, petty men are not to be provoked.
“I’ll work on it and get in the right state as soon as possible,” she said after taking a deep breath.
“Close the deal with Fortune Group by the end of the month or get out of here,” Patrick said, giving her an ultimatum.
As soon as he left, Candice immediately picked up her phone to see that Byron wasn’t saying anything on Instagram.
She tapped on his profile and saw that he had posted three photos, with the latest being a photo of him at the gym, which was posted in the early hours of the morning. In the
3.331
Chapter 21 Surrender
photo, he was wearing a gray sports tank and beige shorts, with the hem rolled up. His arm muscles were rather toned and his abs were covered in sweat.
He was subtly seductive and s**y, with an understated feral touch of lust.
There was no caption for that photo, which was very much in line with Byron’s style.
She accidentally liked the photo while she was in a trance.
Almost in the same second, Candice unliked it.
Immediately afterwards, Byron sent a text: [I’m at the gym near your office.]
Having been caught stalking his profile, Candice pursed her lips and exited the app.
She lifted the blinds to look at Hotmax Gym, the gym on the second floor of Golden Building across the street, which was newly opened at the beginning of the year. The environment was nice too. She had a membership pass but she hadn’t had the time to hit the gym.
The spa cious and clear floor-to-ceiling glass was facing the Shelton Building where she was working.
Chapter 21 Sumender
uchert
NY General Hospital, Bourland Villa, and New Century Bar formed Byron’s three-point trajectory. Thus, coming to the Golden Building gym was a complete detour for him.
Candice had the impression that he had always been distant, aloof, and rigorous. At this point, she couldn’t figure out what his intentions were.
Back in the office, Candice told Monica about the Fortune Group deal she had to close, which gave the latter a great shock.
“Patrick couldn’t even close the deal himself. What’s the point of sending you?” she remarked.
The deal with Fortune Group was extremely hard to clinch. Candice didn’t know the specific reasons for it but she had already made three attempts, all of which were rejected.
Keeping her volume down, Monica said, “My boyfriend’s classmate works at Fortune Group, which is a joint venture with a foreign firm. They have rich resources but their boss is always out of office because he seems to have other business to attend to. So, its employees are free to sk ip work as they please as long as they meet their KPIs. Besides, the company is about to be listed soon and the elite core employees will be given shares. Would you jump ship if you were them?”
“No,” Candice said without hesitation.
13.50%
Chapter 21
Surrender
“Patrick is purely making things hard for you. He became the laughing stock of the company after the failed proposal. Of course, he wouldn’t let you off.”
Candice wasn’t willing to resign for no reason and accept the unreasonable treatment.
“I’ll just make a last-ditch effort and hope for the best.”
Monica pursed her lips and said, “Good luck.”
After work in the evening, Patrick criticized Candice again for submitting a messy proposal and lacking motivation.
Monica was so angry that she wanted to retort but Candice stopped her.
“Patrick must be going through menopause! How petty of him to be torturing a female employee,” she said.
indignantly.
The elevator was crowded and Candice was pondering about something while her phone kept ringing in her purse.
Sensing it, Monica asked, “Who’s that? You’re ignoring him.”
Candice couldn’t put a finger on what was wrong but she
19 52
Chapter 21. Sumender
felt that something was surreal.
“It’s a car salesman.”
789 Vouchers.
“He’s pretty stubborn,” Monica said apprehensively, staring at her from the wall without believing Candice.
After her phone stopped vibrating, she glanced at it to see that it was a random number and not Byron.
As soon as they were out of the elevator, they heard a chatter in the lobby, and Monica dragged her forward to a Jaguar parked outside the office. The door on the driver side was open and half of the man’s silhouette was faintly visible.
The combination of dusk, a mature man, and smoke was incredibly mysterious, leaving much room for imagination.
It was a story of passionate obscurity.
After just taking one glance, Candice coincidentally met Byron’s gaze and he hon ked to greet her.
A handsome man in a luxury car was even rarer than a beautiful woman in a luxury car, and most men who drive luxury cars were fat and repulsive.
Chapter 21: Surender
1 et Nouchers
“Is that Mr. A from Tinder giving me a surprise?” Monica said while nudging Candice’s arm.
Mr. A was Monica’s backup lover. She was planning to dump her current boyfriend because he was lazy and undriven, but she had yet to find another guy who was good enough. Mr. A was quite a good catch but he had yet to confirm his relationship with her.
“Have you never met him in real life?” Candice asked, glaring at him.
“He’s a talent show singer and he’s usually very busy with commercial performances and gigs.”
“You seriously believe that?”
“I’ve seen a photo of his back. He looks really cool.”
Monica pulled out her lipstick and quickly put some on her lips. Her cosmetic mirror shook a little and she faced it in. front of her.
“He’s alighting! He’s so tall and cool. He’s coming closer!” she exclaimed.
Candice walked towards the side door but Byron stepped forward to stop her, preventing her from leaving.
Chapter 21: Surrender
“Why didn’t you reply to my text?”
182 (Voucher
She bit the bullet and said, “Professor Wilson… are you here to look for someone?”
He stuck one hand in his pocket, held a cigarette in the other and dusted it off toward the door while remaining silent.
“I don’t think I owe the hospital any medical bills, do I?”
“What do you mean? Do you hate me now because we’re not dating?” Byron suddenly said.
An idea came to Candice’s mind and she said, “I’m just worried I might implicate you.”
He chuckled and said, “Is that so?”
Byron turned around and turned on the hazard lights of his car before leaning against it.
The bumper of Candice’s Mini was damaged and undergoing repair at the workshop. She was initially planning to hitch a ride in Monica’s boyfriend’s car but now that there was a free ride, she obviously wouldn’t refute.
She sat on the passenger side while Byron closed the door and went around to the other side.
Chapter 21: Surrender
He unbuttoned his suit with one hand while sitting in, and his aura was strong and sharp. Candice saw Monica taking pictures through the rearview mirror, and deliberately crossing over to capture only Byron.
She mouthed the words, “How did you get so da mn lucky?”
Candice was indeed luckier than most women who would never get the chance to meet a man like Byron. However, it was just her luck that she couldn’t be in a relationship with this dreamboat while the men she had were all scu m bags.
“Has your wound healed?”
“Not so soon,” Byron said as he raised his right arm in front of her.
Candice understood that he wanted her to check for him.
She touched his sleeve and Byron pretended to casually hold her fingertips.
His palm was dry while hers was cold and clammy because she had been in the air-conditioned room for a long time. When their hands touched, it was like a collision between fire and ice.
She tried to retract her hand but to no avail.
Chapter 21: Surrender
1288 Nouchers
“Professor Wilson, I don’t want to fall hard for you, so please don’t flirt with me.”
Staring at the road ahead, he didn’t let go and said, “Isn’t it good to fall for me?”
“No, I don’t want to be cannon fodder.”
“Cannon fodder?”
Candice turned her head to look at him seriously before saying, “The cannon fodder of your exes.”
“No such thing,” Byron said, his smile fading a little.
A while later, she recalled Harry’s friendly reminder to her.
“Professor Wilson, is this a sugar-coated bomb?” she asked.
His hand was on her knees and it looked rather intimate yet restrained, with endless ambiguity.
“What is?”
“The way you’re acting now.”
He didn’t have any emotions in his eyes and his gaze was
42 66
Chapter 21: Surrender
gentle, no longer as icy cold as before.
“I’m not that free.”
288 Vouchers
In other words, he was trying to say that he meant it and wasn’t just playing her out.
Candice had no choice but to admit that Byron was very seductive.
For example, once he confessed, women would definitely drop all suspicions and fall in love with him without regret.
Byron stopped right there without advancing further. He even took a photo of Candice’s side profile and uploaded it to his Whatsapp Moments after blurring the important parts.
Clearly, apart from Vicky, the rest of his contacts on Whatsapp were a bunch of fan girls that got his number through connections.
He was using Candice as a tool to make them back off.
A week later, Byron asked Candice out on a swimming date but she turned him down, saying that she didn’t know how to swim. Byron then said that he would teach her.
Chapter 21 Surrender
She did want to go, not because she had any special
Vouchers
thoughts, but because she was happy to see Byron’s face. Besides, the weather was really hot so it would be great to cool down.
Candice changed into her swimsuit in the women’s locker room. She had opted for a relatively conservative one-piece, with her chest and buttocks well covered.
As she entered the swimming pool, Byron became silent for, a moment when he saw her.
“You’re swimming in this?” he asked.
“This won’t ride up when I’m in the water, right?” asked Candice who didn’t know much about swimwear.
Those that would float up weren’t suitable for her.
Byron thought that she would wear a s**y swimsuit. After all, she had tried her best to court him and win his heart back then and not to mention, she had a marvelous figure too. Even if she couldn’t win his heart, she could at least get his attention.
Other women whose figures weren’t as good as hers, would rush to strip in front of him.
It seemed that she wasn’t really playing hard to get but had.
50 65%
Chapter 21 Sumender
really given up.
11788 Wouchers
Byron was a little frustrated. He reached out and pulled Candice, catching her off guard and causing her to fall into the water. He held her body with his hand, only to realize that there was an intricate design at the back of her swimsuit.
It was a bandeau design that exuded a subtle sex iness, revealing her porcelain skin that was simply glowing.
Candice’s figure was slim yet curvy in all the right places. Byron had seen her body before but he didn’t expect her to be so conservative despite having such a great figure, which gives full play to her pure innocence.
She kept trying to cover herself but unintentionally revealed some of her body parts. Mixed with a tinge of naivete, her behavior was absolutely attractive.
“Are you scared?”
Candice thought about it and shook her head as she answered, “With you around, I’m not afraid. It’s quite cool here.”
She didn’t realize how satisfying this little gesture of feminine reliance was to men.
Chapter 21: Surrender
Byron stood behind her to shield her in his arms as the rippling water roamed towards the deepest area in the
center.
288 Woucher:
Candice’s skin was as tender and soft as cotton. She was incredibly meek and feeble too. He couldn’t take his hands. off her at all.
He didn’t feel any sexual lust for her at first but his desires had now been aroused because of the physical contact.
Byron sucked away a line of water droplets on her neck, clearly restraining himself to the point that his breathing was suppressed too while his hormones raged within him.
Candice couldn’t help but tense her back at the wet, suggestive kiss.
“Didn’t you ask me out for a swim?”
“We’re already in the pool. Why are you still asking that?” Byron said, kissing her every now and then.
“Please focus on teaching me how to swim then.”
He chuckled and said, “Are you st*pid? How many men are really serious about teaching when it comes to something like swimming where you’re barely clothed?”
Chapter 21: Surrender
Candice tried to break free and turned around to face him.
“In that case, I must be mistaken.”
She turned around again and moved along the wall while Byron deliberately brought her to the deepest areas of the pool. Although the water level was high above her chest, she stubbornly refused to give in and beg him for help.
Byron watched her for a long time before swimming over
too.
He thought that Candice was being too uptight and pretentious. Since they had already been intimate with each other, there was no difference in getting closer. Since they both had the hots for each other and the atmosphere was just right, there was no harm in satisfying each other’s sexual needs.
However, Byron found Candice’s stubbornness to be rather attractive because she was purer and had more self-respect for herself compared to Vicky.
She was incredibly alluring and they were just an inch apart. It felt like she was arousing him through the air. He wouldn’t have many thoughts about her if he didn’t touch her but once he kissed her, all hell would break loose.
He had been bewitched by Vicky.
Chapter 21: Sumender
He had to compare every woman and the way they made him feel to Vicky.
Candice may not be able to defeat her but she wouldn’t fall too far behind.
In the past few years, Vicky had gotten a millions of dollars from him and she would make him pay her at least a hundred grand for every date that they went on. She would then go around sleeping with other men. Byron had been confronted by her 16th boyfriend too.
At that time, her boyfriend said straightforwardly, “Vicky borrowed 800 grand from me. She wants you to pay for her.”
Vicky.
Byron had never given her any mushy pet names. At most, he addressed her as “his woman”.
She often made him furious yet helpless.
Now Candice was playing the nonchalant game again.
Byron grimaced and ignored her as he passed by.
Candice called out to him, “What about me?”
Chapter 21: Surrender
“Get back on your own.”
He left it at that and walked away from the swimming pool.
Candice had never been to this part of the city before, and couldn’t get a taxi in the suburbs, so she scrambled to get changed and went out to chase Byron.
He didn’t actually leave either. Instead, he was talking on speakerphone with the window open and a cigarette in his mouth.
Candice stopped two or three meters away from him and unintentionally overheard a couple of sentences.
“He is back in NY.”
The person on the other end was very calm.
“He’s been back for half a month.”
“He has come to see me.”
“Did he force you to sign the agreement?”
Byron exhaled some smoke through his nostrils as he said, “He wouldn’t dare to.”
Chapter 21. Surrender
“Is he going to leave again?”
“No idea.”
The person on the other end said, “Whether he leaves or not, just go about your life. You can’t cross paths for now.”
Byron was unfazed, put out his cigarette and started the engine.
Candice did not move as she was frozen in place.
He said impatiently, “Are you not going to come up?”
She finally closed the door and went forward.
Byron was generally a very civilized gentleman, but occasionally he was unpredictable, so she couldn’t be sure, especially since they had just had a bit of a conflict. Thus, she was even more scared to provoke him.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Home.”
The rest of the journey was silent.
Chapter 21 Surrender
When she arrived at her destination, Candice was about to push the door open when Byron grabbed her by the shoulders and, with a little force, pulled her into his lap.
He touched Candice’s face and kissed her domineeringly.
The smell of smoke this time was astringent, bitter and aggressive.
Candice clenched her teeth and didn’t let him get away with it.
Completely annoyed, Byron let go of her and said, “Get out.”
That day, Harry texted her.
[Did you really surrender?]
Baffled, Candice replied: [To who?]
He posted a screenshot.
She zoomed in to see that it was a new photo of her swimming in the pool, which Byron had posted.
The angle of the photo was shot from a third person perspective and most importantly, she was blocked from seeing that photo.
The photo was sent to her, but she was blocked.
Candice couldn’t figure it out, and asked Harry: [Does he want to go public with our relationship?]
She had a crush on Byron, and there were many women who loved him, both for his looks and for his riches.
wwwww.
However, Candice had great concerns when it came to an exclusive partner.
She had suffered losses before.
Byron couldn’t forget his ex-lover and definitely wouldn’t be able to do so in the next few years. She was more like a rebound to him and a tool for comfort. Having learned her lesson with Rufus, she knew that getting into a relationship with a man who couldn’t forget his ex would only cause herself to get hurt.
Since her first marriage didn’t end well, she definitely had to be cautious with her next relationship.
On the other hand, Harry regretted his decision to be nosy. He Harry and Byron had known each other for ten years and had a very close friendship. Byron had even helped Harry court his first love, who was a forensic scientists that he was deeply in love with. As a result, he started developing a penchant for forensic scientists and went on to date three
『་ཁིར་མ༴་པོགི་ཆར། ང་ནི། །ཨཽ་ད་ར་ཀ་ཞར་བ་དང་སི་
consecutive forensic scientists before finally changing his
type two years ago.
Harry’s first love was arrogant and picky about her boyfriend, and only wanted to date men from prestigious families. Men from middle-class backgrounds wouldn’t catch her eye at all. Later on, Byron pulled some courtship tricks and managed to get her for Harry.
However, Harry’s first love fell for Byron instead.
Not only did she not resent him after finding out the truth, but she also even started courting Byron aggressively, causing him to be so overwhelmed that he decided to go abroad to further his studies, so as to hide from her. Only then did she decide to date Harry.
Of course, he had already prepared to go abroad to study drama, which was what Vicky was studying in France. She was obsessed with romantic retro European drama. However, Byron wasn’t actually interested in theater and preferred law, directed venture capital, and finance. He almost made a name for himself in the industry but unfortunately, someone caught wind of it and hampered him, for fear that he might rise to fame.
He then majored in theater, only to get close to Vicky.
However, Harry remembered that favor and was thankful to him for it. By right, he should not be betraying Byron.
However, he took pity on Candice for being used as cannon fodder.
Harry weighed his options again and again, and finally chose his buddy. Thus, he did not expose him.
He immediately sent another text to fill the loophole.
[No, he doesn’t. Did you guys go swimming together?]
Candice typed with a different hand.
[He’s really weird. He was acting like a different person today.]
Harry didn’t reply.