Chapter 547
547:
That evening at dinner, Ernst took the seat beside Brenna and leaned in slightly, speaking in a low tone. “You’ve been caught up with work lately, haven’t you?”
Brenna blinked, a bit puzzled by the question, but shrugged it off and responded with a light smile. “Yeah, things have been a little hectic. I just wrapped up some last details with the military, but it’s all settled now. Why? Something wrong?”
Ernst arched a brow, his expression a mix of curiosity and teasing concern. “Hmm. Not really. Just thought it was funny—we live under the same roof, yet I haven’t run into you in over two weeks. I’m a CEO, and you’re an engineer. How is it that you’re somehow busier than me?”
With a serene smile, Brenna explained, “The military was rushing my studio for results. They wanted everything handed over before October, so I had to put in some extra hours.”
Dalton, overhearing their quiet exchange, leaned in with a grin. “Don’t let his probing bother you. He’s trying to get info for Ethan. You two haven’t been spending much time together, right?”
Catching Dalton’s cheeky grin, Brenna responded with a light laugh. “This project really hogged all my calendar slots recently. No room left for dates, unfortunately.”
She believed there was no rift between her and Ethan; it was simply a matter of professional priorities clashing with personal time. Despite Ethan’s repeated attempts to whisk her away for evenings out, her commitment to meeting the project’s deadline meant she had to regretfully decline each invitation.
Ernst was visibly annoyed, his eyes narrowing at Dalton as he regretted divulging Ethan’s grievances to him. Ethan had tasked him with finding out what was preoccupying Brenna and subtly assessing her mood, particularly if she was still irked by the incident.
Now that the cat was out of the bag, Ernst found himself scrambling for a way to continue the conversation with Brenna without raising suspicions.
“Brenna, you look like you could use a break. How about I take you out for a bit of downtime? What do you say?” he suggested, trying to sound casual.
gⲁ𝗅𝓝𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀.𝗰0𝗺. 𝒶𝒸𝒸𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒
Brenna shot him a skeptical glance. They had almost nothing in common. Why would he want to spend time with her?
“Where to?” she asked, her voice laced with a hint of disinterest.
“Fishing. Want to join?” Ernst blurted out, the idea popping into his head without much thought.
“Nope. That’s really more of a guy thing. I don’t get any fun out of it,” Brenna responded directly, shutting down the suggestion without a second thought. After enduring two grueling weeks of overtime, her only desire was to collapse into bed for some much-needed rest. Undeterred, Ernst floated a few more activity ideas, typically favored by women, but each one was met with flat rejection.
Dalton couldn’t help but chuckle at Ernst’s bumbling efforts, shaking his head in amusement.
Because of the fighter jet project’s urgent deadlines, Brenna had been drowning in work, pushing all other commitments to the back burner. She hadn’t met Ethan in days.
Ethan had made several attempts to visit her workshop, only to find her engulfed in tasks, barely acknowledging his presence as she had been busy with work.
.
.
.