Chapter 6 I’m the Hostess
The door shuddered violently from the great impact. Standing next to it, Ophelia felt that her mind was completely blank, blushing utterly.
Two rooms on both sides of the door fell silent.
After a few seconds, Winford’s voice rang out. “I knocked over the shampoo.”
“Yeah, I-I saw that,” she stuttered.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I-I’m here because … my dad wants a favor from you…”
Winford’s expression froze slightly. For some reason, he felt disappointed, and the faint flutter in her heart vanished right away.
Rumors had it that he was a crazy, cruel lunatic who was going to die. It made sense that she married him because she wanted something.
But on the first day? It was so soon. He couldn’t help but feel let down.
“Don’t say yes.”
“What?” he instinctively said.
Ophelia thought he hadn’t heard her words, so she emphasized, “If he uses me as an excuse and wants you to do anything—for example, funding my family’s company—don’t say yes! Just ignore him.”
It took Winford a few seconds to process what he heard.
“Why?” then he asked.
Why?
Ophelia blinked. “Why? Why do you think? I’m married to you, OK? I wasn’t sold to you. Since I’m your wife, I have every right to spend your money. But you’re not obliged to spend any money on my family.”
Her words left Winford stunned.
He remained silent for a while.
Then he said slowly, “OK.”
For some reason, his deep, magnetic voice made Ophelia slightly nervous. Coupled with what she had just seen…
She blushed. “Alright then. I’m going back to my room. Rest early. Goodnight!”
With that, she fled away, missing his response as she closed the door.
“Goodnight.”
Once back in her room, she blushed again, her cheeks burning.
Though she had married Winford in her past life and had gone out with Cullen, she had never done anything intimate with either of them. What she saw was simply mind-blowing.
She got up early the next day.
Thinking that she could enjoy breakfast with Winford today, she walked downstairs eagerly.
Yet, she was the only one sitting at the dining table.
“Where’s Winford?” she couldn’t help but ask.
He was out already?
Bertha replied tonelessly, “Mr. Pruitt doesn’t have the habit of eating with others.”
Ophelia was stunned.
She never knew.
In her past life, all she’d wanted was to stay away from him, so naturally, she never noticed.
Honestly, she was a bit disappointed.
She was given a second chance. Was she not good enough this time? He actually didn’t want to eat with her.
She took a few bites and then stood up.
“Where’s Winford?”
“Mr. Pruitt is busy. Even if he isn’t, he prefers to be alone.” Bertha pulled a long face. “Mrs. Pruitt, if you don’t have anything important, maybe you shouldn’t disturb him.”
Ophelia stopped in her tracks. “What did you call me, Bertha?”
“Mrs. Pruitt,” Bertha answered.
Ophelia smiled, though her eyes were devoid of any emotion.
“So, you do know I’m Winford’s wife, the hostess. Do you think you get a say in whatever I do? Winford can tell me himself whether he wants to be disturbed or not. Others should just shut their mouths up. What do you think, Bertha?”
Bertha’s face turned livid at once.
Ophelia walked away before Bertha could say anything.
Bertha was the housekeeper who had waited on the Pruitt family for years. Out of respect, Ophelia had no intention of making Bertha an enemy. But it didn’t mean she’d suffer in silence now that Bertha was openly challenging her.
She came upstairs, but there was no sign of Winford. Instead, she saw Graham at the study door.
“Is Winford in there?” She walked over.
“Yes. Mr. Pruitt is busy,” he replied respectfully.
“I see.” She was a bit down since she didn’t get to see him. “I’m going back to pay my family a visit. Could you tell him that?”
In the morning, Erin called her, wanting her to go back. She didn’t want to at first, but then she changed her mind because she had to retrieve something.
Graham nodded.
Then she went back to the Greene’s house.
The second she walked inside, a gentle, elegant middle-aged woman walked over and smiled at her tenderly, “Ophelia, you’re back.”
It was Erin.
Ophelia stared at the smile on Erin’s face, her eyes darkening for a second.
Fooled by Erin’s gentle facade for years, she had once treated Erin as her own mother. How ridiculous.
With a half-smile, she said, “Yeah.”
Erin paused slightly. For a second, she sensed something off in Ophelia’s tone, which made her uneasy. She couldn’t help but feel Ophelia was like an entirely different person.
But, upon closer look, it was still that foolish, gullible Ophelia who was standing in front of her. She figured maybe she overthought it.
Then she pointed at Samuel, who pulled a long face, and said a bit reproachfully, “Samuel is your father. There’s no need to throw a tantrum with him, right? Go and apologize to him.”
Apologize?
Ophelia couldn’t see why. For turning down Samuel’s request? Or hanging up on him?
She had to admit each word Erin said was the result of meticulous calculation.
In her past life, she had longed for Samuel’s love. Had Erin put it differently, her past self might have willingly walked up to Samuel to apologize.
But the word “apologize” provoked the rebellious side of her.
Thinking about it, Erin was one of the big reasons why she had a strained relationship with Samuel.
But she wasn’t planning on getting back at Erin because of it. In this life, she never wanted to have Samuel’s love back anyway.
She said, “I’m going back to my room to fetch something.”
Then she left, not even glancing at Samuel this whole time.
Erin sighed, feigning helplessness, “Ophelia is still mad. Don’t take it to heart.”
Her remarks enraged Samuel even more. Seeing this, she curled her lips imperceptibly.
Neither Samuel nor Erin felt anything off about Ophelia. Since Ophelia and Samuel had never got along, she often clashed with him.
Standing at the door to her room, Ophelia looked inside. Her heart clenched with unspoken sentiment as she saw those furnishings that were both familiar and foreign.
She rummaged through the cabinet while being guided by memory.
She had left something important here—Harriet’s medical notes. It was the only reason she came back today.
Harriet was a renowned genius doctor, and countless people sought to obtain her medical notes. In fact, Cullen approached her for Harriet’s legacy, too, which included those valuable notes.
A few minutes later, Ophelia’s expression changed.
The notes were gone!
