Delayed Passion: Miss Lynch's Unrequited Love-Chapter 19: I Like Someone

Years ago, Aunt Rong and Thea Lynch’s parents had some disagreements, which isn’t really a secret in the compound. Due to the relationship between the elders of both families, Aunt Rong had to keep up appearances. But in private, she really couldn’t bring herself to like the Lynch family.

She knew early on that Ian Preston often abandoned work to take care of Thea Lynch, likely sensing Ian Preston’s feelings for her. Aunt Rong has even thrown quite a fit, causing Ian Preston to not return home for a prolonged period, and eventually, the matter was dropped.

After all, being Ian Preston’s mother, Silas Cheney couldn’t say much.

It’s surprising that after all these years, with Thea Lynch’s parents already gone, Aunt Rong is still dwelling on past grievances.

On the other end of the phone, Ian Preston remained silent for a while. Silas Cheney sighed, realizing that the rumors circulating yesterday must have been true.

——

Returning to work, Thea Lynch has been putting in overtime all week.

Although Stratus had some achievements early on, it has stagnated over the past two years and has gradually been surpassed by many competitors.

Currently, the project with Valiant is the most critical cooperation for Stratus, without a doubt. Valiant urgently needs a domestic mobile phone chip, and despite years of research by major companies, the field remains barren and the difficulties unsolved. Stratus is currently the most promising company.

If this project succeeds, Stratus can leverage Valiant’s products to make a breakthrough in the domestic chip market.

Silas Cheney is a competent businessman; in his eyes, Stratus is merely a small company under his name. He doesn’t expect Stratus to bring him significant fame in the future, only cares whether it can make money.

But Thea Lynch is different; she doesn’t care about money. What she thinks is that since they’re doing it, Stratus must become the leader in domestic chips. She has always been ambitious and plans to dedicate all her future efforts to Stratus.

So the project with Valiant must not have any mishaps.

After working overtime on Saturday night, Thea Lynch and a few colleagues dragged their weary bodies outside.

"Foreman Lynch, want to grab a bite?"

Foreman Chandler extended an invitation: "There’s a great barbecue place nearby; we often go there after work. It’s kind of our secret spot. Join us, Foreman Lynch."

In the engineering department, there were currently eight of them, all men in their thirties and forties balding. Thea Lynch was the youngest by far. Initially, some doubted her, but they quickly became impressed by her abilities.

Thea Lynch was hungry too and was planning to find a place to eat something. "Alright, let’s go together."

The barbecue place Foreman Chandler mentioned was just an unassuming little shop in a nearby lane. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

They went over and moved the two scarce desks at the entrance together.

Thea Lynch sat at the farthest corner, unsure of what to eat, so she let them do the ordering for her.

Tomorrow was the weekend, and the engineering department didn’t have to return for overtime, so everyone ordered thirty bottles of beer and two bottles of white wine, planning for a good rest to sleep through to Monday.

"Foreman Lynch, can you drink?"

Someone eagerly held a wine bottle.

Thea Lynch glanced at the white wine in his hand and shook her head.

The others were a bit disappointed; even though Thea Lynch was a girl, they usually treated her as a good buddy.

"Girls should avoid drinking," Foreman Chandler interrupted, but before he finished, Thea Lynch took out a cold beer from under the table. "Although I can have a few bottles of this."

"!"

Foreman Chandler looked at her in surprise, "Foreman Lynch knows how to drink?"

"A little bit." Talking about this, Thea Lynch couldn’t help but smile, "My grandfather at home quite likes drinking. When I was little, whenever he drank, he would secretly allow my brother and me to taste some."

"So Foreman Lynch has a brother?"

"What does Foreman Lynch’s brother do?"

This topic started too suddenly, and Thea Lynch was stunned for a moment before opening the beer with lowered eyes and speaking softly, "He works in the military district; we haven’t seen each other for a long time."

——

After the gathering ended, when Thea Lynch walked back to her apartment, it was already close to ten o’clock.

"Thea Lynch!" Just as she was about to enter the unit door, someone called her from behind.

Since she had consumed quite a bit of alcohol, Thea Lynch’s mind was a bit sluggish, turning around slowly.

She squinted to look at the approaching figure, barely recalling his name.

"Why are you here?" She held the door handle, turned her body facing Norbert Rhodes.

Since their last blind date, the two hadn’t met again. It was no wonder she took a moment to remember him.

"I called you around seven, but couldn’t reach you, so I had to wait downstairs at your place."

Upon hearing this, Thea Lynch checked her pocket and apologized, "I was working overtime at that time, my phone was on silent."

Norbert Rhodes approached her and quickly noticed the scent of alcohol. Only then did he realize something was off with her demeanor, "Did you go drinking?"

"Yeah, a colleague gathering." After answering, Thea Lynch furrowed her brows, "What do you need me for?"

Norbert Rhodes said "oh" and then quickly handed her a thermos box, "I heard you’ve been working overtime recently; I thought you were home today, so I made some tonic soup for you."

"And this is a gift my mom brought back from her trip to the south last week; she asked me to give it to you. Hope you’ll like it!"

"..."

After staring at the items in his hand for a while, Thea Lynch replied, "Why are you giving me gifts?"

She and Norbert Rhodes at most only had a passing acquaintance; though he often texted her, she didn’t show much warmth, only replying politely now and then.

They couldn’t even be considered friends.

"It’s just a small gift; my mom said it’s very suitable for you, no other meaning!"

Due to the alcohol’s effect, it took Thea Lynch quite a while to comprehend what he meant.

She rubbed her brow, softly explaining, "I think I mentioned on WeChat, I was standing in for someone else in the blind date; we aren’t suitable. I wasn’t joking."

"I know you said that." Norbert Rhodes persistently suggested: "Even if we’re not suitable, we can still be friends, right?"

"Didn’t you mention you just returned to Coronet and didn’t have many friends? You can always call me for meals or shopping! Besides, my work and home are very close to this place; I can come by anytime!"

He seemed determined to develop some kind of relationship with her.

Despite the muddled state of her mind, Thea Lynch could guess his intentions.

"Do you like me? But we’ve only met once."

She heard Ian Preston say that Norbert Rhodes expressed to his elders that he was quite satisfied with her.

She looked straight into Norbert Rhodes’s eyes, the latter hesitated before quickly averting his gaze, voice trembling slightly.

"I, I do like you. But I feel like this doesn’t have much to do with how many times we’ve met. I..."

His cautious manner made Thea Lynch see her former self.

She sighed deeply, not wanting to give him any hope, "Forgot to mention, I have someone I like."

"And, for a long time now."