Ian could see she was teasing him, so he played along and huddled closer. He pretended to take a whiff of her scent, but he was actually kissing her.
Cindy felt ticklish, and she evaded him. “Alright, stop fooling around. What did Hannah say?”
Ian kissed her neck anyway before he retreated. Then he leaned against the sofa, looking languid. Hannah hadn’t said much to him. She had heard about the news, and when he went to see her, Hannah looked solemn.
She had asked Ian about his interactions with Yulia and what the director told him. Ian told her the truth, and he could see that Hannah was upset. He didn’t say anything bad about Yulia, nor did he bring up his relationship with Cindy. He just said he didn’t have any feelings for Yulia.
Hannah wanted him to steer clear of Yulia as well. Even though Cindy was his fake girlfriend, or at least that was what Hannah thought, they had still gone public, and it was important to note that Yulia had some entanglement with him prior to that.
If he did get together with Yulia, the public would boycott him, since they would think that Yulia was a mistress who usurped Ian’s girlfriend’s place. They would think Ian was a two-timer who dumped his long-time girlfriend for Yulia, who could help his career and had connections. It was easy for someone’s reputation to be ruined, but it was hard for it to be salvaged. They had to spend a lot of time, effort, and money on it. After what happened to Ian, the company had to be careful and avoid any pitfalls that Ian might step on. He had to steer clear of Yulia for that.
Cindy leaned against his chest. “If the company says so, then that’s settled.”
Ian was a popular celebrity, so his company wouldn’t abandon him. He wasn’t even in the wrong in this scandal, so the company would protect him. Yulia was just an individual no matter how powerful she was. Even if she had her network, it wasn’t enough to go against a whole company. They had a bigger network and more funds. Yulia was no match for them.
Cindy felt sleepy a while later perhaps because of the wine she had. As she had nothing to do, she wobbled back to the room and went to bed.
Ian wasn’t sleepy though. After Cindy had fallen asleep, he looked at his phone and went to change before going out. A car was parked outside the neighborhood, and Ian bent down to knock on the window. Someone rolled it down, and Ian saw a familiar face in the car.
Yulia said, “Let’s find somewhere we can talk.”
Ian didn’t move. “This place is as good as any. Cindy’s asleep. I don’t want to leave her alone.”
Yulia sighed. “Must you do this?”
Ian stood up and took two steps back to keep some distance between him and the car. “Must you do this, then?”
Yulia pursed her lips angrily. She never thought Ian still wouldn’t cave in even after all she did. She didn’t tell the directors to put any pressure on Ian during the gathering, but they were her friends and they wanted to stand up for her, so they had tried to convince Ian to give in. She didn’t expect that at all.
She never wanted to take things to the extreme. Ian was in the entertainment industry, so even if he had gone public with his relationship, he still had to remain unmarried for as long as possible for the sake of his career.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Returning EX (John and Sophia)
So what happens to Ian and Cindy. Is she/ or does she get pregnant? Do they go back to the city and Ian works with Logan? Does Aurora stay in the entertainment industry or return with Ian? Terrible ending, who cares if Aurora was drinking/drunk with colleagues. What happened with Ian and Cindy?!...
Get rid of Gary. Apparently Cindy is too dumb to figure out his motives 😡...
Why are you trying to break them up when they just got together and are a loving couple. Let them stay close and move back to their true friends, Logan, Lola, John and Sophia!...
Sure hope Ian pulls his head out of his behind and works this out with Cindy. His brother needs him at the company and neither one of them truly like the celebrity life. Sophia and Lola will love her …....
I can’t wait for John to take down the Bailey’s including Isabelle so he, Sophia, William and Matilda can live in peace. Introduce Yolanda to Richard so they are out of the picture....
Ugh, don’t break up Sophia and John… they belong together and Sophia is just stubborn for no reason...
Sophia lives John, he just needs to tell her he loves her and get on with their life and family. Too much interference from others....
Sophia is so stupid....
John needs to man up, tell his mother and Isabelle to take a flying leap and confess to Sophia that he made a horrible mistake in divorcing her. This story is taking too long and once again, the bitches are looking like they are on the right side. Awful...