Hiding Behind Her Superficiality novel Chapter 22

Chapter 22 Callum Is Actually Blushing
Does Edmund have feelings for Elspeth? There was inexplicable displeasure in Callum’s eyes as he hummed and turned around to leave the room.
Seeing that he had successfully made Callum unhappy, Edmund was now in a good mood. He even reminded Elspeth to take care of her health before he left and intended to caress her head, but she dodged his hand.
Everyone at the scene was now lost in their own thoughts, which made the atmosphere overly awkward. Coupled with Elspeth getting injured, Theodore waved his hand and everyone descended the hill to head home.
Meanwhile, Elspeth was admitted to the hospital where Arthur worked.
Theodore knocked on the door to her ward, which rarely happened, and looked at her face while reminiscing about past memories he shared with his comrade. His expression softened as he inquired, “Elsie, are you feeling better? Those boys are so careless that they can’t even look after a girl. You don’t deserve this.”
A warm feeling filled Elspeth’s heart. “Mr. Winthrop, it’s my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was walking. They had nothing to do with this.”
“Elsie, you can rest assured that no matter who marries you, I’ll give him twenty percent of Winthrop Group’s shares and twenty villas in Blaydal so that you’d have the best life you deserve!”
After hearing Theodore’s promise, Elspeth felt her heart tighten as gratitude filled up inside her.
At the door, Arthur was about to knock with his hand raised in midair, but he was attracted by the conversation happening inside. He was stunned in his spot when he heard their conversation. We can actually get that many benefits by just marrying Elspeth? We only have five percent of the shares each, but once we marry her, we can actually get twenty percent?
Later, Theodore left a few more words of concern before picking up a call and leaving in a hurry.
Arthur found it difficult to suppress the excitement in his heart and he took a deep breath to calm his nerves before heading inside. When he saw Elspeth, his gaze immediately softened before he approached her to massage her ankle. “Does it still hurt?”
Despite knowing that he was diagnosing her condition, Elspeth felt an inexplicable awkwardness and backed away as if she was rejecting his attempt to get closer to her. She squeezed out a smile and answered, “I feel better. It doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”
Smiling gently, he reminded her, “That’s good to hear. If there’s anything you need, feel free to call me anytime.”
Still, Elspeth was not accustomed to such friendly concern and was stunned. She could not figure out why Arthur, who did not give a damn about her, would suddenly change his attitude and become so enthusiastic toward her. With a shake of her head, she said, “It’s alright. I can manage on my own.”
Smiling adoringly at her, he rubbed her head. “I told you. You can’t keep everything to yourself. A young lady like you should learn to rely on others.”
What? Elspeth froze in place as if she had been struck by lightning. Just a few days ago, he told me he wasn’t interested in me, so why is he showing me so much care now?
Even until he left, she was still cracking her head to solve this mystery.
During the days she was at the hospital, Callum never came to visit her.
Since the company was recently in its steady development stage, there were not many things that needed to be dealt with. After contemplating, Elspeth thought that he might be avoiding her, so she specifically asked to carpool with him on the day she returned to work after recovery.
“Mr. Winthrop, since you’re such a nice person, you wouldn’t mind me carpooling with you, right?” Then, she spontaneously got into the passenger seat and buckled herself.
Rolling his eyes, Callum questioned coldly, “Why don’t you take Edmund’s car instead?”
Elspeth smiled softly. “I like your car better. Come on. Get in or we’ll be late.”
At that, he shook his head and brought her to work, knowing that he could not win against her.
On the way, Elspeth focused on the scenery outside the window while the light breeze blew on her hair, creating a vague and beautiful sight. In the end, Callum broke the silence. “What’s going on with you and Edmund?”
Hearing that question, she turned around and batted her eyelashes. “Nothing.”
Then, why were they…
“I see you only believe in one side of the story. That’s not something a person as smart as you should be doing.” The breeze was blowing on Elspeth so comfortably that she softly squinted her eyes.
On the other hand, Callum was stunned and his lips could not help but hook slightly.
Feeling intrigued after catching the smile on his lips, she began to tease him. “You look happy. Wait, are you into me? Is that why you care so much about what’s between me and Edmund?”
His expression immediately hardened. “What? No.”
That made her burst out laughing uncontrollably. “I cannot believe that Callum Winthrop is actually blushing. How interesting.”
To avoid any more of her tricky questions, Callum stepped on the accelerator and sped toward the company.
When they arrived, Elspeth saw an uninvited guest. At the design department, Ophelia was sitting in the director’s chair when she saw her coming over. She then greeted Elspeth with a smile and said, “You’re back. How are you feeling, Elspeth?”
Though she said that, she was secretly hoping that Elspeth would never get better.
“Thank you for your concern. I’m doing well.” Elspeth did not intend to talk much with Ophelia because she was annoyed by her fake pleasantries all the time.
Suddenly thinking of something, Ophelia announced with a smile, “That’s good to hear. By the way, Callum told me that one of his departments is lacking a director, so I volunteered myself. Is that okay with you?”
Chuckling softly, Elspeth replied, “What’s there to not be okay about? You’re going to be Mrs. Winthrop in the future while this is just a department director’s position. Honestly, this is nothing.”
The color drained from Ophelia’s face as she retorted, “Elspeth, how can you be so mean? I was just worried that you’d be annoyed since I’m joining the company as a supervisor while you’re merely an… employee.”
So what, if you’re an excellent student? Callum cares about me and gives me a position that’s higher than yours.
“Jeez. Do you hide in my room or something? What makes you think I’d be annoyed?” Elspeth snorted. “Miss Fleming, I suggest you focus your efforts on company matters. With the time you spend on talking to me, you could have written two proposals.”
With no choice, Ophelia felt gloomy as she knew that she could not win against Elspeth in a tongue fight. With that, the two parted on bad terms while Elspeth returned to her desk and began to focus on work.
By afternoon, she went to Callum’s office to discuss the next step of their plan, but she saw Ophelia inside the office, hugging his arm and acting like a spoiled child. “Callum, it’s noon. Let’s have lunch together.”
Meanwhile, Elspeth was standing outside the doorway and was about to leave when Callum called out to her. “Elspeth, come in.”
With pursed lips, she looked at them with a fiery gaze. “No, thanks. I wouldn’t want to be the third-wheel.”
Callum removed his arm out of Ophelia’s grip and sat back to his chair. “Come over here. We’ll discuss the plan.”
Meanwhile, Ophelia was at a loss for what to do after the obvious rejection. She did not expect the man who had never rejected her would actually ignore her for Elspeth.
Though she was actually raging in frustration, she still managed to squeeze out a few tears upon looking at him. “But Callum, I was the one who asked you out first.”