Eve Sherman awkwardly tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Honestly, they'd been married two years and still hadn't met; Skye Sherman's unease was pretty reasonable.
But where could she even find that guy?
She didn't even have his contact info! They'd added each other on iMessage back then, and now she couldn't recall what happened to it.
"Recently, the Shaw Family… Actually, your parents—have they come to see you lately?"
Eve blinked and shook her head, "Nope. Why would they?"
Skye breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. Nothing big going on."
She hadn't come back in a while, so Skye bought lots of groceries, chatted with her a bit, and then went to help out in the kitchen. Eve leaned against her grandmother's hospital bed, holding her phone, flipping through her old iMessage contact list.
Over a thousand contacts, and she searched all the way until dinner was ready—still couldn't find him.
Looking back, it was almost funny.
She was married, and couldn't even find her own husband.
...
The next day, Eve got up early.
Stellan Sutton was heading to Marinus next door for a contract meeting, Lucas would be at Sterling for progress updates, so Eve was left to handle Stellan's trip arrangements.
This was her first time managing Stellan's business trip on her own; usually Lucas, the seasoned pro, stood by to help.
Suddenly, the weight on her shoulders felt much heavier.
But, as always, her body had to mess things up at crucial moments. Before she even left home, she realized her period had come three days early.
Work stress over the years—somewhere along the way, her cramps got really bad.
Before heading out, she popped two painkillers, then went to pick up Stellan and set off for Marinus together.
By the time they arrived, a reception team was waiting at the airport.
Stellan moved briskly, Eve had to half jog to keep up. When Stellan finished greeting them, Eve shook hands quickly too, then followed him into his chauffeured car.
The schedule was packed. After touring the factory with the rep, Stellan rushed straight to a meeting. Eve was so busy she barely had time for a drink.
She wore the standard office suit today; her heels were higher than usual. During the meeting, she stood behind Stellan's side the whole time, her feet feeling like she was walking on knives—agonizing pain.
The painkillers wore off fast. The cramps in her belly felt like a digger tearing at her lower abdomen, pain so sharp it gave her cold sweats.
She clenched her teeth and made it through the meeting. Then, they got invited to dinner with Stellan that evening.
These kinds of social events usually went through the motions. Stellan agreed readily.
Eve stepped into the elevator downstairs, leaning to the side to catch her breath unnoticed.
Stellan sensed something was off, turned to her, "You're not feeling well?"
Eve didn't want her period to interfere with work, so she straightened up immediately and shook her head, "I'm fine, President Sutton."
Stellan's gaze swept her sweat-soaked face, "You sure don't look fine."
He added, "It's a pretty tight schedule here. Can you handle it? If not, go rest at the hotel—the main business is done anyway."
Eve shook her head, "I'll take you back to the hotel first."
She insisted, so Stellan didn't press, and once they got in the car, Eve finally relaxed, digging for her painkillers in her bag when someone tapped her shoulder.
She turned, and saw Stellan holding out a dark grey thin blanket. "Cover yourself, it'll feel better."
Eve didn't expect he'd notice, felt a bit embarrassed as she took the blanket, "Thank you, President Sutton."
"Mm." Stellan nodded, then told the driver, "Set the AC to 27 degrees."
It was hot today, and even hotter in the car.
Eve knew he was doing all this purely out of concern for his employee's health.
Pleased but anxious, she also felt grateful.
The car drove smoothly. Stellan glanced down at his tablet and said in a low voice, "Special Assistant Sherman, I'm thinking of offering female staff one day of menstrual leave every month. What do you think?"
Eve blinked in surprise, "Are you serious?"
"This is something that should've been done." Stellan said, lifting his eyes to her, "I can see you all really don't feel well during this time."
Eve wanted to say more, but Stellan already instructed, "Once we're back, set up a meeting to discuss this."