The Contracted Ever After (Cordelia and Ronan) novel Chapter 635

Ronan glanced at Cordelia. "Oh, if you say so. I didn't really notice."

Cordelia just rolled her eyes.

You know how they say, "Where there’s smoke, there’s fire"—especially when it’s coming from some pretty influential folks.

Typically, when everyone’s giving a romance the thumbs down, it’s a safe bet it’s a bad match.

Janice was worried too. She wasn't sure how serious things had gotten between this girl and Harold. If they weren’t too deep, she hoped they'd break it off.

It wasn’t that Janice was just swallowing what the naysayers were spouting. It’s just that Daniella’s dad was a big shot, and Harold, well, he was just a small fry. Sure, Daniella's dad could pull some strings for Harold, but it’d do him more harm than good. People would talk, saying Harold was only cozying up to Daniella to climb the social ladder, painting even genuine affection as something sneaky. Good ol' Harold could easily get tagged as a "social climber" using his lady's connections to get ahead.

Janice had made up her mind—this wasn't going to fly.

"Callum, let's go play," she said, having made up her mind. With that, she whisked Callum off to the playroom.

She wanted to shoot Harold a message on Messenger. Plus, with Emerson around, there was bound to be business to discuss, and she didn't want to be in the way.

Emerson, with one leg casually draped over the other, drawled, "Daniella gave Harold some boxers, and he kept them. Looks like things are heating up between them."

Ronan and Cordelia had clued Emerson in on the plan for him to pursue Daniella.

But Emerson was still in the dark about Victoria’s crush on Harold.

"Hey, son, what's the deal with you and Daniella? Mom’s thinking, if it’s not too serious, you might want to think twice. First off, they say 'birds of a feather flock together', and we’re not exactly flying in the same air space as her family. You could get a lot of flak for it, and I don’t want that. Secondly, you know how it is with beauties—they can be trouble. I'm not being judgmental, but if things go south, isn’t that just asking for a headache? Let’s not lead her on, or she might take it to heart."

Harold received the message during his training, his thoughts lingering on Cordelia. No one else had managed to catch his eye.

After some consideration and his mom’s advice in mind, Harold decided to return the boxers to Daniella. They were too intimate a gift; keeping them seemed to imply a deeper relationship, which they didn’t have.

When Daniella returned to the base, she made time to see Harold.

Harold, holding the bag, handed it back to Daniella.