Cline lowered his eyes, glanced at the hand on his arm, and coldly said, "Your clothes are wrinkled."
Runa quickly released her grip, a hint of disappointment on her face as she lowered her head and said, "Is your mysophobia still not better?"
Cline meticulously wiped his clothes with a handkerchief and indifferently replied, "It won't get better."
Runa was left speechless.
She remembered the first day she took up her position when he held her hand.
In the office, when she accidentally sat on his lap, he didn't say anything.
That night, when she suffered from acute gastroenteritis, it was he who carried her out of the car at the emergency entrance.
She had thought that after five years, his mysophobia might have improved, but he said it was incurable.
Perhaps it wasn't really incurable, but he was dissatisfied with her and thus unwilling to let her touch him.
"Cline, I'm sorry."
Runa cautiously explained, "Five years ago, I refused your proposal because I felt I wasn't good enough, so I went abroad to study hard. Now that I've become the CEO of the Winward Group and can stand shoulder to shoulder with you, please don't be angry with me anymore, okay?"
Cline's cold and rigid face softened slightly.
He turned his head and looked at Runa, speaking softly, "My issue has nothing to do with you. Don't overthink it."
Runa felt a bit more at ease.
Cline had been particular about cleanliness since childhood. Since she chose him, she would give him more time to adjust.
Luana returned to her workstation, her small face turning somewhat pale.
She never expected Runa and Cline to appear in the elevator at this time, nor did she expect them to be heading to the chairman's office.
If she had known, she would never have used the CEO's exclusive elevator card.
She had promised to disappear from his sight forever, but here she was, encountering him again so soon.
However, seeing Cline again felt like an eon had passed.
He now had Runa by his side, and she had slept with that mysterious stranger.
It seemed they had both returned to their respective life tracks.
The only difference was that Cline quickly moved on from the past while she still struggled to let go.
Taking a deep breath, Luana opened her computer, intending to organize the handover documents, when the chairman's direct line rang.
Luana was taken aback. The chairman rarely contacted her directly. Even if he needed to, he usually did so through Laura. Why would he call her personally?
Despite her doubts, Luana quickly picked up the phone.
"Come to my office," the chairman, Dawn, said in a gentle voice.
He hung up after giving this brief instruction, not giving Luana a chance to refuse.
Thinking of Cline being there, Luana was reluctant, but the chairman's summons must have been for something important.
Having been treated kindly by the chairman during her time at Winward, she hesitated but decided to go to his office.
As expected, Cline was there, discussing project cooperation with Dawn, the topic involving the western land bidding.
After the Elan Group's mishap, the Moriarty Group had inexplicably postponed the bidding for several days.
So far, the bidding had not taken place, and the Elan family had not yet suspected the fake contract.
Moreover, Travis was severely injured and still in a coma, likely not having had the chance to hand over the fake contract to the Elan family.
Luana was vaguely worried that if Travis woke up and discovered the issue with the fake contract, he might come after her.
But that was a problem for later.
By the time Travis woke up, the Elan family would face a series of troublesome issues, such as how to restore their family's reputation, how to bail out the Elan Group chairman, and how to raise funds to pay the liquidated damages to their partners.
By the time he dealt with these matters, she might already be gone, and even if he wanted to settle scores, he would be unable to.
Luana put aside her jumbled thoughts and was about to knock on the door when she heard them mention the Coburn Group from Washington.
The words "Coburn Group" made Luana's face pale instantly, the image of that young man involuntarily emerging in her mind.
She struggled to control her emotions, lightly knocked on the open door, and respectfully asked, "Mr. Ortega, you called for me?"
Dawn put down his coffee cup, looked at Luana, and asked, "The reception for the Coburn Group is your responsibility, right?"
Luana nodded, replying, "Yes."
Dawn checked his watch and said, "In that case, arrange a dinner for Mr. Coburn tonight. The meal will be around six o'clock. Book a high-end restaurant and pick up Mr. Coburn from the airport."
Pick up Mr. Coburn?
In the past, only the project leaders of the Coburn Group came to Winward on business trips, and the CEO of the Coburn Group never made an appearance.
So she had never met him, but now she was asked to pick him up...