Chapter 860
His tone sounded incredibly anxious.
Claire quickly spoke up to explain, terrified the assistant would get in trouble because of her. “I insisted on going for a walk by myself. Besides, I’m a grown woman. What could possibly happen to me?”
Seeing her return safe and sound, Wilbur visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Don’t be so nervous,” Claire smiled at him.
Wilbur paused for a second before explaining, “Noreen told me to take good care of you. She said if anything happened to you, she’d hold me personally responsible.”
“Wow, she’s overreacting,” Claire chuckled.
Her gaze was suddenly drawn to a large bouquet of purple tulips sitting nearby.
It was her favorite flower. And her favorite color.
Pleasantly surprised, she asked Wilbur, “Did you buy these?”
“Just grabbed them randomly,” Wilbur replied, his expression slightly unnatural.
Fortunately, Claire’s attention was entirely on the flowers, so she didn’t notice his awkwardness. She happily picked up the bouquet. “These are my absolute favorite.”
Wilbur smoothly added, “Well, that’s quite a coincidence.
Little did she know, his palms were sweating. There were no true coincidences in this world. Every coincidence was the result of deliberate effort.
A long time ago, in a minor interview, Claire had mentioned that her favorite flowers were purple tulips. That was back before she had gained any real popularity. Later, when she realized fans would send her flowers and gifts, she stopped mentioning things she liked, afraid her fans would waste their money on her.
So, she completely believed Wilbur’s explanation.
Claire was staying in a VIP suite, which naturally came equipped with things like vases. She quickly found one, arranged the flowers, and admired them happily for a while.
Finally, Wilbur said his goodbyes.
He had squeezed in a visit during his lunch break to check on her. And, of course, to bring her food.
Claire knew he was very busy. After all, her best friend practically lived for her job, so she knew exactly how demanding their industry was.
So she told him, “If you’re busy, you really don’t have to keep running to the hospital.
I just have a little cold and a fever. If the doctor hadn’t forbidden it, I would have discharged myself already.”
Hearing this, Wilbur stuck to his usual excuse. “Noreen’s orders. My hands are tied.”
“I’ll talk to her later,” Claire smiled awkwardly.
After Wilbur left, the assistant brought the food over, laying it out on the overbed table and reminding her it was time to eat.
The meal was lavish and delicious, prepared by the Lotus Garden, the most famous restaurant in Northerest. It was the kind of place that required advance reservations even for takeout, which meant Wilbur had put a lot of effort into this.
Just as Claire picked up her fork, the assistant opened a small cake box.
It was dessert. From the same bakery as last night.
Claire glanced at the address on the box. It was in the complete opposite direction
of The Lotus Garden. She paused her eating for a moment.
But she quickly suppressed the sudden wave of emotion and went back to her meal.
Halfway through her lunch, Felix arrived.
The moment Claire saw him, she felt her appetite completely vanish. She kept eating, not even sparing him a glance.
Felix, however, frowned when he saw she was already eating. “If you ordered food, you should have told my grandmother. That way she wouldn’t have gone out of her way to have someone bring you a meal. It’s a waste.”
Claire took a sip of soup, feeling a warm comfort in her stomach, before replying slowly, “How is it a waste? You can take it and give it to Madeline Lynwood. She’s absolutely dying to eat a meal from the Quigley family.”
Felix’s face turned icy, and that familiar, nameless anger flared up in his chest again.
“Do you really have to speak to me in that tone of voice?”