CEO Proposed to His Ex-wife 99 Times
Chapter 324 Unshakable Responsibilities

But it wasn't just Katherine. Peter himself couldn't say with confidence that he understood Marshall.

Marshall's recent actions and reactions were something Peter had never witnessed, through the many years he had been the man's assistant.

When he had been forced to marry Katherine a long time ago, mildly unhappy and annoyed as he was, Marshall hadn't been like the way he acted now.

Marshall was definitely going through something, and that fact manifested itself through every aspect of Marshall's being; but at the same time, one would fail to pinpoint exactly how Marshall was off. He was just entirely different from before, plain and simple.

But Katherine didn't want to know more about Marshall since it wouldn't make her happy, so she patted gently on the car. "Right. I'm going back in 'cuz there's a whole lot of business to take care of, and you should leave as well. I'll let you know when I set a date for the opening."

Peter said "Okay," watched as Katherine went back into the store, and then drove away.

Marshall was in his office when Peter came back. When Peter walked in, Marshall was signing a document, and he didn't look up until he finished signing. "I saw the video. That's not a good name for a store." "Yup," replied Peter, "my thoughts exactly. But Kathy liked it, so."

"She does," said Marshall, chuckling, "that's just about the kind of stuff she likes."

Marshall tossed the pen aside as he finished speaking, clearly upset.

Peter was in no place to mind the business of his boss, but he thought Marshall was overstepping the bounds of appropriate behavior. After the divorce, Marshall really had no right to meddle in anything that Katherine did.

Marshall continued to be off his game throughout the afternoon, until Mr. Grant visited him in the office around dusk time, asking him to follow along to a business dinner. Marshall hadn't had too many dinner engagements in a while, so he agreed to go after barely giving it any thought. After all, it wasn't like he had much to do at home.

The dinner happened at a location decided by the other party, and Mr. Grant and Marshall didn't work much longer before heading to the fancy hotel, which allegedly had only received a large shipment of the freshest aquatic products a couple of hours ago.

Representatives of the other party were already there when the Grants arrived. When Marshall walked across the ground-floor lounge, he spotted several aquariums with large, uncommon sea creatures. Marshall looked away after only a glance. Helplessly, he was reminded of the business trip - specifically, he recalled the scenes of him dining with Katherine. Also came to his mind was another image of Katherine picking out seafood with Kyle.

He'd been thinking about the name of Katherine's store all afternoon. "Destined for Nothing," what a terrible name. and he was reasonable to wonder if the store had been purposefully named like so to rankle him.

Everyone else was there in the private dining room when the Grant father and son entered.

However gloomy he felt inside, Marshall had to feign a warm smile and greet everyone according to etiquette before they could all finally sit down and eat. But try as he might to make himself look more focused and upbeat, Marshall couldn't help getting restless midway.

Palming the cigarette box in his pocket, he excused himself and got out of the room. But instead of going to the bathroom, he went to the lounge area at the end of the hallway.

The lounge area served also as a balcony. With the windows open, he could feel the wind gently caressing his cheeks.

Marshall took out the cigarette box. He picked one out of the box, put it between his lips, and reached for the lighter. With the lounge empty, he didn't bother to walk away from the window and to a designated smoking area before he bent down his head and tried to light the cigarette. But just as he was doing that, a voice came behind him. "Marshall?"

Marshall paused without getting the cigarette lit. he turned around to replace Clara standing in front of him.

Clara, clearly intoxicated to some degree, was flushed in the cheeks. "It's really you!" she exclaimed with a smiley twinkle in her eyes. Clara walked over to him with a few steps. "I thought I mistook someone else for you. See, it's because of the blurred vision I get after consuming alcohol," she said as she put one hand on the windowsill and used the other hand to knock lightly on her forehead in an attempt to massage it.

"Are you here on business purposes, too?" Marshall asked in surprise.

"Yes," nodded Clara, "and I've done this with Dad a couple of times now, but still, I don't think I'm used to it yet. I couldn't stand the cigarette smoke in our private room, so I sneaked out when they were too busy drinking to notice. This kind of business dinner is so excruciating."

Marshall smiled faintly as he put away the lighter and dropped the idea of smoking a cig.

Clara looked out of the window as she said, "I can't really hold my liquor and I never intend to appear in such occasions, but Dad wanted me to get used to it as soon as possible because," she paused with a smile, "well, because my brother is still young, and um, you know, someone has to lay the groundwork for him. Dad's health isn't what it used to be, so I'm told that I'm quite useful now."

After she finished speaking, she started giggling, as if what she'd said had been a complete joke.

But Marshall knew what the Henderson household was like. Jakub Henderson Clara's young brother, was still a schoolboy, a fact that the Henderson men from other branches of the clan sought to take advantage of so that they could divvy up the family's wealth. Tomas Henderson, on the other hand, was getting old and couldn't be as thorough as before when he tried to protect the company ownership, so naturally he was in need of assistance. And who else could serve as a trustier assistant than his very own Clara? Thus, Clara's conundrum was understandable - it surely would be difficult for someone who had been taught to be a demure and graceful lady all her life to make the sudden transition into her now-required role as a badass girl boss.

With that in mind, Marshall's stare at Clara turned a little softer. In some ways, the two of them actually did resemble each other.

Clara exhaled and tapped lightly on her chest. "It's my own fault to get so queasy after just a couple of drinks. That's lame of me, isn't it?"

"You'll get used to it," replied Marshall as he, too, gazed out of the window with both hands in his pocket, "and you will have to get used to it because a lot of the responsibilities they put on you cannot be shaken."

Clara's lips curved into a smile. "Just like..." but she stopped herself after that, knowing what she intended to say wouldn't please its audience. So she quickly changed the subject and continued with, "Just like you, then. Because I can see that you are not happy with the lifestyle of constant business dinners, either, but you are trying very hard to adapt as well."

What Clara had intended to say was, "Just like your marriage with Katherine."

Marshall turned his head to shoot a glance at her, but he said nothing more, only smiling briefly at her instead.

Clara didn't stay with him long before she headed back to her private dining room. Before she went, she said resignedly, "So help me God, I hope this dinner ends soon."

Marshall kept silent, so Clara walked away with a sigh.

Marshall headed into his own private room after a while, too. Business dinners like the one he had today would only end after someone blacked out from excessive drinking, so he needed to act.

Marshall took the seat and was quiet for a while, but he grinned when someone walked up to him with a glass of wine. "Sir, you flatter me. Cheers now!"

When he drained the whole glass, Marshall didn't put it down. Instead, he went ahead and filled it up again before facing the man he'd been talking to. "Sorry if I missed anything when I went to the bathroom. Now, I toast to your health."

The man responded warmly to Marshall's welcoming attitude, but after downing a good couple of glasses with Marshall, his response became less warm, and he had to sit down to keep his balance. Marshall had always had a good tolerance to alcohol, so after toasting one person, he would go on to replace his next target.

Mr. Grant, already intoxicated himself, was well aware of Marshall's intention, so he kept silent and watched his son in action with his head propped on one arm.

After Marshall had drunk a few people into a stupor, the dinner was finally near its end.

Marshall hadn't paced himself when drinking, so he felt a little queasy, too. When he sat down, he let out a short breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.

The blacked-out people from the other party went out of the room with the help of their chauffeur. Marshall and Mr. Grant, however, didn't require help walking. After catching some rest, the two of them strolled out of their private dining room, too.

When the walked up to the elevator, the door to another private room opened to reveal Mr. Henderson and Clara. Mr. Henderson was clearly drunk; Clara looked inebriated as well, but in a better condition than her father.

Mr. Grant shot them one short glance before looking away, pretending not to see them at all. But Clara saw them. With a weak voice, she said, "Marshall."☐☐☐☐☐☐