Chapter 2 She Is My Wife

After she left the city hall, Elyse went directly to the supermarket to get some groceries.

As she went about her business, she had no idea that Adrian, who she believed to have gone his way, had trailed her and was now watching her.

He stood in a corner not far away from where Elyse was, observing her as she meticulously selected ingredients that she wanted to buy. Unconsciously, his lips subtly curved into a smile.

To him, every single woman in the world was simply a greedy and cunning individual who would go to great lengths to get her hands on money and be associated with power. After all, every single woman he had met, even married ones, had always tried to get closer to him because of his wealth and power.

However, as he observed Elyse, he concluded that she was no such woman. She was so focused on what she was doing. No other woman could do so without getting tired.

And for her to be so seamlessly hardworking, that could only mean that this was her daily routine.

A hardworking woman wasn't someone Adrian thought he would come across in his life, not to talk of one who worked hard daily.

Upon seeing the slight smile on Adrian's lips, Grayson, who was standing nearby, raised his eyebrows in surprise and glanced at Elyse.

He had known Adrian for a long time and he had never, not even for once, seen the latter smile like this. The Adrian he knew always had a cold look on his face regardless of the environment he was in.

But...

"Excuse me, Mr. Lambert, but for how long do you intend on following her? In about thirty minutes, Mr. Moss will arrive at the company for the meeting. We must head back now if we want to make it to the meeting in time," Grayson said nervously as he glanced around at the passing crowd, who were periodically glancing at them with curiosity-filled eyes.

Though the fact that he and Adrian were dressed in suits already made them stand out, Adrian's aura was clearly what was attracting most of the attention that they were getting.

"I'm busy right now. Return to the company and talk with Mr. Moss on my behalf," Adrian replied casually without taking his eyes off Elyse.

Hearing this, Grayson became speechless. Adrian was a career-oriented man whose work was at the forefront of his life. And now, all because of a woman, he was casually dismissing work?

Grayson couldn't help but take a long look at Elyse, wondering what sort of charm this strange woman had used on Adrian to make him regard her in such an important way.

Sure, she was beautiful and had a good figure, but then, Adrian had come across numerous other women who were even more beautiful and gracefully built, yet they hadn't been able to make Adrian pay them a fraction of the attention he was giving this strange woman.

Unable to make sense of what was going on with Adrian, Grayson sighed and left.

A little while later, Elyse left the supermarket with all that she had bought and made it to the market in the nick of time. Without taking a moment to rest, she began to set up her stall.

Adrian, having followed her all the way to the market, noticed that though she had no helper, she was able to get her stall in order in record time. This made him even admire her more than he already did.

With everything she did, she showed that she was nothing short of exceptional and was unlike the women he knew.

When he felt the time was right, Adrian decided to walk up to Elyse's stall. However, before he could get to her, another man walked up to the stall.

"Excuse me, Miss, I'll have a hamburger and crepe, please," the man said.

"Of course, sir. It will be ready in a moment," Elyse replied with a smile.

She had begun to sweat due to how busy she had been all day. She took in a deep breath and quickly began to put the man's order together.

As the steam from her cooking blew across her face, it gave her an angel-like appearance, causing her to look even more beautiful than she already was. Some passersby couldn't help but stop walking and admire her.

"Here you go, sir, your hamburger and crepe are ready," Elyse said as she passed the food to the man.

The man smiled at her as he received the food from her hand. But before Elyse could withdraw her hand, he reached out and held her with his free hand. "Do you mind giving me your WhatsApp number, Miss?" he asked with a smile.

Elyse didn't like the fact that the man was holding her hand but kept the smile on her face nonetheless. "I'm so sorry, sir, but I don't give strangers my WhatsApp number."

"Well, I'm not a stranger, Miss. I just bought a dish worth 30 bucks from you. Shouldn't that qualify me as your friend? Or do I need to order more than that before you can give me the number?" the man asked with a raised eyebrow.

Frustrated, Elyse finally frowned, pulled her hand away from the man's grasp, and said, "Sir, if you are here to indulge me in your shenanigans, I'll suggest that you drop the food and step aside so that those that are here to eat can get what they want."

Hearing this, the man frowned and said through gritted teeth, "Wow, you are more arrogant than I thought you'd be. Seems you've forgotten that you are just an ordinary snack vendor. You should count yourself lucky that I even patronized you..."

"Just shut up and get your ass out of here! I have no desire to have someone like you as my customer!" Elyse said furiously. She could no longer stand the nuisance that was in front of her.

Sure, this wasn't the first time that she was harassed by a customer, but others tended to leave her alone after she made it clear to them that she wasn't interested in them. On the other hand, this man today was unrelenting and just plain annoying.

Seeing what was going on, some people stepped forward to intervene but backtracked when they saw who the man was. He wasn't someone anyone wanted to confront.

The man was a well-known and extremely arrogant ruffian who lived not far from the market.

"You can get mad all you want, I don't care. I'll get your WhatsApp number today whether you like it or not!" With that, the ruffian tried to grab Elyse's phone, which she had placed on her stall table.

But just as his hand was about to touch the phone, a sizable hand emerged from behind and clasped his own.

Stunned, the ruffian said, "Who the hell is this? Let go of my hand this..." The ruffian had turned around to confront who dared interfere in his business when he met Adrian's icy eyes.

He stopped talking immediately and his blood ran cold. For the first time in a long time, he was scared.

Those eyes made his hardened heart lose control, causing it to beat widely, and his legs began to tremble uncontrollably.

Elyse was quite surprised that there was someone brave enough to stand up to this ruffian. She looked at the newcomer and narrowed her eyes in confusion. She felt certain that she had seen him somewhere before but couldn't remember where.

"Aren't you going to keep on yelling?" Adrian asked the ruffian with a voice so icy, that the nearby bystanders took a few steps back in fear. Raising an eyebrow and smiling wickedly, Adrian continued, "Or have you lost your voice?"

Summoning the little courage he had left, the ruffian swallowed hard and said lowly, "You are interfering with a private discussion that I'm having with my crush. Why don't you back off before I make you to?"

Hearing this, Adrian narrowed his eyes and said murderously, "Well, I'm sorry to inform you that the woman you are referring to as 'your crush' is actually my wife."