198 The Fox and the Turtle End

Leaving the red-faced man sputtering with nothing to say, Liz smiled wide and walked away, triumph mirrored in her confident steps as she even hummed a merry tune.

As Keren came into her view, she walked up to her and said, "I can't believe you missed it! It was amazing!"

Laughing again, Keren stretched out her hands and caught Liz's shoulders before saying, "Because you deserved it. I've put a lot of people like him in their place, so I know that the satisfaction that comes from that is really something else. I wanted you to experience that for yourself. It was truly exhilarating, right?"

Grinning, Liz said, "Exactly! I could feel my blood racing, and my mind was just…so clear with satisfaction!"

Nodding, Keren replied, "Good. Remember that feeling, Liz. All of this was because of you: and that's the charm of business. That feeling that comes when you succeed is almost unachievable in any other field. Savor it. Relish it. But over all, remember it. I believe that maybe, you have more talent than me, who was raised for this. Will was really lucky to find you, Liz."

Usually, Liz was used to Keren acting childish, so when she heard her speaking with a serious tone, she listened with full attention.

With the backdrop of beautiful trees, sumptuous food and hundreds of people buzzing about random things, Liz branded this feeling into her heart, along with Keren's words.

After giving Liz a moment, Keren said, "All right then, let's go. Someone's upset that you've been ignoring them a lot, you know."

"Hmm? Who?"

"Really? Do you get that single-minded when you have something to do? I say, I should warn my brother about this…"

Oh, right. Will!

Completely absorbed in making this whole thing come alive, Liz had been neglecting all the calls and messages that her poor boyfriend had been sending her.

She really did get a one-track mind when doing certain things, and it seemed that this was one of those.

Quickly taking out her phone, Liz saw that there was another missed call, but when she called him, she got a busy tone.

Seeing this, Keren said, "It's Monday in some parts of the world, so he might be in a meeting. Just talk to him tomorrow. Don't worry: my brother is very understanding, and he's actually one of the few people in the world who can understand perfectly about what happened to you. So shall we go find the man of the hour?"

Listening to this, Liz sighed, but agreed, while thinking about what special ways she could use to 'apologize' to her dear boyfriend.

Nodding, she followed Keren, but her mind was still on Will.

Why hadn't he planned anything yet?!

Frowning as she got this thought, Liz decided to change the track of her thoughts, and tried to think about the remaining culprit: the one who was responsible for the leaks.

Of course, she had used them on this occasion to achieve victory, but she couldn't always do that. Whoever they were, they had to be identified and stopped immediately.

Turning around and noticing that tomato-faced Larry was still standing there even though 2 minutes had passed, Liz couldn't help but laugh again.

She really did have to agree: this did feel incredible.

…

The entire night passed with glitz and glamor: Luke really was the man of the hour, and when all the press that Larry had 'casually' invited who were blown away by just how much New Yorkers were liking the food realized that this was a big story, he was inundated by reporters who wanted to interview him.

As someone completely experienced with this life, Liz was with him every step of the way. She carefully let him give interview after interview, and although he was very awkward at first, her constant stream of tips, encouragement and good ol' shaming helped him to learn fast, so that by the 4th interview, he was very impressive.

Liz watched all this happily. She knew that Luke deserved all this and more- he had always had talent, but they had never had an avenue to succeed. Now that she saw him getting what he had always dreamed of, there was no one happier than Liz.

Hungry, she also ate on one of the tables, and she had to admit that the food was amazing. Of course, as it was cooked on a large scale, there were some concessions such as the finesse of each dish, but the raw flavor hit one like a punch, making them go back for more and more.

After that, she got some work done on her phone, before departing to home with a very, very tired Luke who couldn't stop smiling and recounting everything. Keren had left on her own after bidding goodbye to both of them.

Liz humored him even though she was dead tired, and after dropping him off, she even dozed off in the car before getting off at her house and hopping into bed quickly.

After finally sleeping soundly for a night, Liz woke up the next morning refreshed, but she frowned as she heard someone moving around her room.

Seeing that it was Mary, Liz was about to ask why she was in her room, when she noticed the packed bags that were placed to the side.

"Liz, wake up and get ready fast. Will said that you two have to go on an urgent trip. He's waiting at the airport. Chop chop, young lady!"

Huh?

Liz was puzzled, but she obliged, thinking that it might be some emergency.

Quickly getting ready, she waved in farewell to Mary and Derek, promising the latter that she would get him a lot of gifts.

She asked Rao on the way and tried calling Will, but the latter was unresponsive, and the former didn't seem to know anything.

It was only after she reached the private airstrip did she finally realize that something was different.

Why the hell was there a gigantic Boeing airplane instead of Will's usual smaller aircraft parked here?