A Crazy One-night Stand -
Chapter 53: Meeting at the Construction Site
Harry personally invited Wilson to visit the project site of Imperial Landscapes. Monica tagged along as well.
Harry had no idea that Wilson told his precious daughter that he had a wife. Monica didn't mention it to him either.
After returning from the cement plant that day, Monica was in low spirits. She pouted and asked Harry, "Dad, is Wilson married?"
"No!" Harry replied with certainty.
Almost all the elite people in Jameson City knew that Wilson was single. He did not even have a girlfriend. Since the car accident that took his fiancée, Rosalie's life, he remained single. For three years, there had been no rumours about him seeing any other women.
"Is he really not married? Dad, could it be that he married secretly?" Monica asked again to confirm.
Harry knitted his brows together. "A secret marriage? Why would he do that? Scott Group was flourishing and the price of their company's stock was increasing by the day. If Wilson really was married, no, if there was merely an announcement of his imminent marriage, that could set Scott Group's stock price off the charts. He would never hide it if he were ever to get married."
"Really?" Monica said excitedly.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Why would I lie to you?"
"That's great!" Monica jumped with joy. As long as she wasn't his wife, Alina was just a girlfriend at best.
She probed further, "Dad, does he have a fiancée? Or a girlfriend?"
Harry shook his head with a smile. "I don't think so. As the president of Scott Group, he would have announced it publicly if he were married. After all, having a girlfriend or fiancée will greatly increase the stock prices of Scott Group."
"I see." Monica was delighted by her father's reassurance.
Following that conversation, an invitation to visit the project site arrived.
Monica asked Harry to replace a suitable excuse so that she could spend more time with Wilson.
Harry was happy to oblige. Furthermore, this was his first collaboration with Wilson. His understanding and information regarding Wilson were limited to words spoken by other people. Harry wanted to spend more time with him and to know him more personally. This would be helpful for their future collaboration and his daughter's potential happiness. Why wouldn't he oblige?
Harry's personal assistant enthusiastically introduced the project to Wilson. "Mr. Wilson, the project by Imperial Landscapes covers an area of 600 thousand square metres, and it will be developed in three phases. This is the first phase, comprising of residential and commercial lots. For the second phase, we would launch the townhouse residences.
"Currently, our main focus is on marketing the project. Multiple well-known businesses have already signed an agreement with us. At the beginning of the new year, they will start moving in. By the way, I've heard Scott Group is also planning to expand its hotel business. I wonder if you have any intention of placing one of your chain hotels within the vicinity? If Scott Group is interested, we will definitely consider allocating a premium location at the centre of phase two for you, Mr. Wilson!"
After saying that, Harry's assistant looked at Harry questioningly. Harry nodded approvingly and asked Wilson with a smile, "Mr. Wilson, what do you think of this proposition?"
Harry was offering an enticing proposal. He was basically handing over a huge project to Wilson off the bat.
Almost everyone in Jameson City knew that the two giants of the hospitality industry were the Scott Family and Adams Family.
Although Scott Group's reputation had surpassed that of the Adams Family in recent years, the Adams Family were deeply rooted and well known in the hotel industry with their long-standing history. Harry could set up his own hotels in that area, but he offered the hotel project to Wilson. How could Wilson not understand what he meant?
Smiling, Wilson shook his head and said, "The Scott Group's hotels are generally located further away from the central business district. Thank you very much for your kind offer though, Mr. Harry." Wilson was unwilling to owe others a favour. Accepting a favour might cause him to be beholden to Harry.
At Wilson's refusal, Harry became more impressed by him. He smiled and waved his hand in the air. "You are right, the surroundings might be too busy. Mr. Wilson, please come this way!"
Wilson's original intention today was to observe Alina's landscape design at the project site. But as soon as he entered, he saw nothing but piles of sand and mud. What a pity!
Just as he felt a twinge of regret, he saw a crane moving a large ginkgo tree nearby. Someone was giving directions loudly. "To the left, to the left! Alright, now move forward a little!"
Wilson looked towards the direction of the sound and saw Alina. She was in sneakers and a safety helmet, the blueprints in her hand. She was looking up at the ginkgo tree with a wide smile on her face. He couldn't help but smile as well. She could even smile so brilliantly at something as trivial as a tree. Wilson loved seeing her genuine smile.
"It's Alina!" Until now, Monica was silent. When she saw Alina, she exclaimed excitedly.
As she said that, she peeked secretly at Wilson and saw a gentle smile on his lips. She bit her lower lip. So Wilson could smile too! She had thought that he was always indifferent and detached from everyone.
Wilson's expression became serious and asked Harry's assistant, "What is the survival rate of the plants if they are transplanted during the winter season?"
Although Scott Group was involved in construction and development of real estate, Wilson was not familiar with the details. Most of the details would be handled by the relevant departments. Even if there were problems, Simon would handle them at his level and those problems would not be reported to Wilson.
Wilson was mainly in charge of spearheading the general direction of development, such as land prices, geographical locations, future prospects of real estate development, bank loans, and so on.
As far as he knew, the survival rate of transplanting trees during the winter should be very low. In addition, large-sized plants or trees were very expensive to transplant. Mr. Harry's assistant had introduced the project of Imperial Landscapes to be a high-end residential area.
Harry's assistant smiled and answered, "The rate of survival is actually quite good. When the trees are transplanted, the soil around the roots are removed as well, so most of the roots are preserved. Besides that, after the transplantation, our landscape architects would provide the plants with nutrient fluids which guarantees their survival."
"Oh," Wilson replied. He turned to Alina and saw her looking at him at the same time. She appeared shocked to see him, her smile disappearing from her face.
Wilson didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What was she thinking in her mind? Was he such a scary person? In fact, many women in this world would beg and plead to be his wife.
Alina looked a little awkward when she saw Wilson. She nudged Rosie and said, "Rosie, keep an eye on things. I need to go to the bathroom!"
With that, she made her escape.
Rosie shouted after her, "Hey, this is a construction site!"
Alina didn't even turn around. "I know! The bathroom is behind the temporary office."
She was so embarrassed to see him. Alina had no money to pay him back. Alas, she really couldn't wait to return the money to him immediately! Wilson stared at her as she fled from his sight. To be honest, he was not angry at Alina's avoidance of him. He couldn't stifle a soft chuckle. "Wilson, what's wrong with Alina? Why did she run away when she saw you?" Monica asked, confused by Alina's behaviour.
She did not understand why did Wilson tell her that Alina was wife, and yet here she was working at the Adams Family construction site? That must be just an excuse to reject her. What a lame excuse. Was she, Monica Adams, someone who could be easily fooled? At any rate, she would not give up such a good catch so easily.
"I don't know," Wilson answered casually.
Harry noticed that the transplantation process had started. He asked the assistant beside him, "Has the landscaping started?" "Yes," his assistant replied.
"Was the young lady just now called Alina? The designer of the winning landscape design?" Harry continued.
Harry remembered Alina's name because of the incident with Hall. After Harry received the report, only then he knew that Alina was the actual designer. Later on, the new director of the design department had suggested to promote Alina as team leader. Naturally, he agreed.
He had seen the winning landscape design by Alina. It was amazing, one of the best designs he had seen in the recent years. Furthermore, she had brought up a new concept of preparing the landscape before marketing the property to buyers. Since the cost of development was similar, they could complete the landscaping prior to construction. A mature landscape might attract more buyers to the development.
Hearing Harry's question, the assistant immediately replied, "Yes! Her name is Alina. She is an intelligent and creative designer. Her landscape designs are very good. With her in charge, this project by Imperial Landscapes would sell well and bring in huge profits to the company.
"Alina is not only innovative and a talented designer, she is also responsible and warm-hearted. Some time ago, an accident happened in the construction site because of negligence from management. A young man named Michael was injured by falling bricks. Thanks to Alina, he was sent to the hospital and she took care of him for a period of time. Now, Alina is promoted to the team leader of the design department."
Wilson felt pleased at hearing Harry's assistant praising Alina.
Harry thought of something and turned to his daughter. "You know Alina too?"
Monica nodded. "Yes, I met her at the banquet last time. She came as Wilson's female companion!"
Harry stared at Wilson, puzzled. He could not figure out how a big shot like Wilson knew someone like Alina, an unknown designer.
Wilson said without hesitation, "She is my fiancée. We are going to get married!"
Regardless whether Alina was willing or not, Wilson had made up his mind. Although he might not fall in love with anyone else except Rosalie, he could not deny his desire to get married to Alina. He always had been afraid of troublesome people. Getting married to Alina would ward off most of his troubles. This was because Wilson knew that Alina would not demand love from him. Both of them had their hearts occupied with someone else.
Even if he couldn't love her, at least he could take good care of her. He didn't want to see her getting bullied, having to live a humble life because of poverty, and being harassed by her abusive mother. Everyone gaped in surprise when they heard Wilson's declaration. They were still in shock as Wilson continued with a smile, "Mr. Harry, I hope you won't ask Alina to leave Adams Group just because of her being my wife, right?"☐☐☐☐☐☐
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