Chapter 524 - Knew It Already

Meanwhile, as Ivan scooted away like a bolt of lightning, Cora stared at his retreating figure until he was gone. She blinked her eyes in puzzlement as she could not understand his sudden departure.

"Pfft--!" Yet, Cora could not help but chuckle as she covered her lips by the back of her hand, "He is really strange." 

Cora shook her head and laughed to her heart's content seeing how he fled. In the middle of her waves of laughter, Cora suddenly stopped at the recollection of how close she got to him hit her.

Instantly, she blushed at thought and covered her lips by her palm. "That…" 

*Bathump! Bathump!*

She could hear her beating heart as if it was in front of her ear. It was beating like crazy but unlike the nervousness that crept in her heart in front of Zion, this time, she felt warm. 

Cora recalled how Ivan, despite his short-temper, restrained himself from losing his patience while teaching her. After all, Cora kept on mispronouncing some words he taught her. Nevertheless, he only scolded her lightly and proceeded to teach her more.yeah 

Yeah 

"No, I think I'm the strange one." Cora whispered as she clenched her chest. 

Indeed, liking Ivan in the first place only meant she's the strange confessions. After hearing Zion's, her first love's and having the gall to reject it, Cora must have lost her mind. 

Yet, she didn't feel any guilt from it. The reason she was crying was because she felt bad about not feeling bad for rejecting the man whom she thought she loved.

*****

Meanwhile, inside Zoey's office…

"Boss, stop spinning." Ivan glanced at Zoey who kept on spinning on the swivel chair. He wouldn't mind this habit but it was producing a creaking sound which was annoying.

"Hmm," Zoey rubbed her chin lightly as she ignored Angelo's request. "Hmmm…" 

"Hmm?" Angelo hummed as he knitted his brows and turned to Zoey. However, staring at her spinning for a minute made him look away.

"A problem, a problem," Zoey muttered under her breath as she narrowed her eyes and thought about Cora's problem. "A problem?" 

Zoey repeated but this time in a questioning note. "Is it really a problem?"

"Problem?" Angelo repeated as he glanced at Zoey before averting his eyes away from her again. "Did something happen with the plan?"

"No," Zoey muttered as she finally stopped from spinning. "It's far greater than that."

Upon hearing her last remarks, Angelo's eyes widened as his subconscious mind waited to hear for the worst. If the problem was bigger than Zoey's plans, then it only meant that Inigo finally made his move.

"What?!" 

After two minutes of silence, Zoey finally spoke. "Cora likes Ivan." 

Angelo: "..."

He was too out of words that he couldn't think straight. His mind already concluded the worst case possible within a short fraction of minutes. Yet, this absurd thing was what he would hear?! 

"She should be liking my big brother not my little brother," Zoey sighed heavily as she shook her head sideways. "Even though I said I am not against it, I'm really concerned."

"Why do you concern yourself with this nonsense?" Irked, Angelo's eyes darkened as his mood sullen. "If your friend likes your big brother or your younger brother, why do you care?"

Angelo stared at Zoey; his eyes were piercing as he was utterly displeased at Zoey's priorities. They had bigger problems than other people's love lives. Thus, sparing even the slightest brain cell in this matter was nothing but a waste.

"There are bigger problems that need all your focus. Don't meddle with other people's hearts just because you don't approve of it if that's your problem. Whoever your friend will like, you should stay out of it."

Zoey stared at the enraged Angelo as her eyes widened in shock. She didn't expect him to be this mad nor did she expect him to bother himself from it. It was none of his business and Angelo was slightly overreacting about it.

"Your job is not who ends up with who. Your job is to make sure they can make that decision before the enemy uses them against you!" Angelo shouted as he never shifted his gaze away from Zoey.

He had noticed how Zoey went back and forth with everything. Especially when Matthew came into a picture, Angelo didn't see Zoey in action.

He often convinced himself that she had her plans in place, but without any proof and action. But now she's worrying about something she shouldn't, Angelo was totally dissatisfied where her thoughts were heading.

For a moment, the entire office fell into nothing but silence. Angelo breathed heavily as he restrained himself from shouting his thoughts while Zoey stared at him wordlessly.

"Are you an idiot?" After another minute of silence, Zoey tilted her head to the side. Her demeanor was surprisingly calm as she rested her jaw by the back of her hand.

"If Cora likes Ivan and Ivan ends up liking Cora, we have bigger problems. The world Ivan grew up with… he has more enemies than I do. Although Inigo is undeniably a headache, it's the same problem if you put the numbers of those people who bore grudges against him." Zoey shrugged her shoulders.

"Brother Zion and Cora will be married in a few years, but I already planned to stop them until I take care of something. However, my efforts will be for naught if Ivan will bring her more problems than the original one." 

Zoey turned to Angelo who finally calmed down after hearing her explanation. Although the last remarks she spouted was quite confusing and nonsense, Angelo got the gist of her point.

Indeed, this was not the time for more problems. They could take care of it if Inigo wasn't after them. However, that wasn't the case. Inigo was cunning and he would use people as pawns to get what he wanted.

They weren't wrong, though. Inigo was like that as a person. Alas, both Zoey and Angelo were clueless about Matthew's connection with the man and what they were truly after.

"I see," Angelo nodded in understanding which pleased Zoey.

Little did they know, outside the office, Ivan was standing there and heard their entire conversation.

"I already knew that.." He whispered before he walked away bearing a gloomy air around him.