Dylan looked at her in amazement. Then in a fast pace he looked at her sullenly, retorted, "Reason?"
"I'm just a stranger to you now. It's not fair to you." Savannah said softly, "Forget it if it's just for the sake of responsibility. There are too many unmarried mothers in this day and age. Even if I have a baby with you, it doesn't mean we have to get married. As for your fear that my appearance in public will occasionally be gossiped, affecting the reputation of your family, I can assure you that I'll try to avoid it in the future. Sorry, it's getting late. I really should go to the company. Bye."
Then she turned and left the villa quickly.
Dylan watched the little woman run away and stunned for a long time before realizing his proposal had been rejected.
He rubbed his eyebrows, somewhat disconcerted.
He didn't understand why he felt so uncomfortable. The little woman was right, she was only a stranger to him, and he should be happy when she refused him.
It was not him who was unwilling to take the responsibility, but that she refused to accept his offer. He should be relieved that he didn't have to bear guilt and burden.
But, in fact, after being rejected by the little woman, he was not happy at all, only depressed.
What's going on? Did he really want to marry her? Was he really jealous so he didn't want other men to get close to her?
It couldn't be! How could he want to marry her if he didn't even remember her?
Perhaps, he just didn't want her gossips to affect his family. After all, she was the mother of his son.
When Garwood came, he saw his boss sitting by the window with a sulky face, as though meditating.
"Sir?" He asked carefully, "Are you going to the company today?"
Dylan roused himself and sat up.
"Garwood, do me a favor."
* * *
Savannah found out in the late afternoon that the online news about her affair with Chris had all disappeared.
After a busy day at work, she rubbed her nose and was about to turn off the computer when she suddenly remembered Dylan's words this morning. She opened the browser and wanted to see what the media wrote about her and Chris.
In fact, she knew they had been having a lot of rumors recently, but she didn't care about that and never even bothered to read those news reports.
But after typing in Chris's name, she couldn't find any news about herself, not even her picture with Chris.
Just then, Tina came in with the papers for her signature.
"Tina, check your cell phone to see if you can find anything about Chris and me," she called Tina in a daze.
Tina, a little surprised, took out her phone and searched on the website, and then on Twitter and IG. After a few minutes, her face changed.
"All the gossips about you and Chris have gone! I saw this morning that the topics about your AD activity last night was in the trend for hours. Why have they all gone?" Tina looked at her cell phone in surprise.
Savannah gasped. It was not her network that had the problem. It was true. All reports and pictures about her and Chris were taken off the Internet and disappeared.
She suddenly realized who was behind all this.
"Was it made by Mr. Sterling?" Tina apparently guessed something too.
Savannah said nothing. Besides that man, who else could have the power to do this without considering the feelings of all the media.
Obviously, that man couldn't tolerate the slightest bit of affair between her and other men.
Unfortunately, he wasn't jealous... but for the sake of his own face.
* * *
In Sterling's house, at night.
After playing with Kaiden for a while, old Sterling asked a servant to take away the toys on the floor.
"Time for bed, baby," he pulled his grandson up from the carpet as he signaled the nanny to take Kaiden upstairs.
Kaiden, however, seemed preoccupied today.
"I can't sleep." His face was heavy as he sighed.
"What's the matter," old Sterling was amused. "Tell grandpa, what's bothering you?"
"I want daddy to marry mommy," Kaiden grumbled, upset and aggrieved.
Every time he got ready to go to daddy and mommy's wedding, something wrong happened.
His little friends in the kindergarten all laughed at him, especially his little girlfriend Lisa, saying that he must be lying.
The smile on old Sterling's face froze. He sighed and touched the boy's head to comfort him.
***
Dylan came back not soon after Kaiden was taken away by the nanny.
"Dylan, come here." Old Sterling called.
"Dad?" Dylan removed his tie as he walked over.
"I heard that you had the media removed all the news reports about the affair between Savannah and Chris and that you had told the press to stop writing about them?"
"Well, yes." He nodded.
Old Sterling looked thoughtfully at his son and smiled.
"It seems that you are not completely indifferent to Savannah."
At least, he was jealous, wasn't he?
"I did it for the sake of my face and the honor of the family." Dylan was a little embarrassed.
"Is that so? You proposed to her this morning just to save face?" Old Sterling teased.
Dylan's face fell. Damn the gossips!
After a pause, he replied coldly, "you should also know that she refused me. In that case, forget it."
"It wasn't that she didn't want to marry you, but that you weren't sincere enough without even a ring. I wouldn't marry you if I were a woman!" Old Sterling stared at him. "I've got the ring ready for you, and you can choose the place to propose: the hotel, the resort, even the castle abroad, whatever, propose again tomorrow--"
"Wait a minute!" Dylan interrupted his father, who arranged everything well for him. "I proposed to her because I wanted to be responsible for her. Since she's my woman and has a child for the Sterling family, it's normal to make her my legal wife. But she's refused, and I'm not going to propose again!"