Chapter 561 - I Like Handsome.

"I see. So Zoey didn't inform him that I'm staying here temporarily that's why he came here." Cora muttered as she nodded in understanding.

Although the translation he did was broken, Cora grasped his message. 

"Sleeping here?"

She asked as she raised her head and faced Ivan. The latter nodded while leaning his back, relaxing as she finally understood that he didn't have a place to stay.

"No money?" Cora threw another question, arching her brows curiously as he didn't seem someone who couldn't afford a room for the night.

"Gamble." Ivan answered with a shrug. However, as soon as he did, he noticed that Cora didn't understand him. 

With a sigh, Ivan reached for the dictionary and searched for the translation. When he did, he pointed the word while Cora leaned her head forward to read it.

"Ahh..."'

"Was frustrated earlier today so I gambled. All my luck ran out and I'm here penniless." Ivan sighed as he didn't care if she understood him.

Searching for words he wanted to say in her language was more taxing than he thought. He just wanted a normal conversation, but that was impossible at the moment. 

Well, it was not all that bad. At the very least, he had a company for a while which he was unsure for how long she would hang around.

"Read. Memorize -- I mean, study." Ivan pointed at the notes he jotted down earlier to add in her vocabulary.

Since he didn't know how long she would stay, Ivan thought she should stay and study. She would surely ask questions. Thus, he was certain she wouldn't go in that soon. Sneaky of him.

"Okay." Cora nodded as she placed her focus on the notes. 

Unlike the lesson he gave her that afternoon, Ivan made an effort to construct sentences. However, they were also broken just like her English. Hence, her mind autocorrected them.

Cora was starting to believe that having Ivan teach her would be pointless. After all, he couldn't speak Mandarin himself. He didn't understand that translating something and putting them together could change the meaning entirely.

Still, since she liked his presence, Cora pretended she didn't know that. Cunning she was, but that was just her method of expressing herself.

She wasn't a high maintenance lady. She didn't need extravagant things and dates. How presumptuous of her to even consider he had plans on dating her. Regardless, that's who she was. 

Also, she couldn't sleep in this place. If only she could, she would have been fast asleep before Ivan came there.

While Cora was reading the notes, inking every once in a while as if correcting the sentences he wrote, the corner of his lips curved into a subtle smile. He leaned back, crossing his arms as he enjoyed the sight of her.

'I wonder what her reason is behind taking this lesson seriously. Does she want to say something to me?' Ivan wondered internally, his eyes glinting with excitement as he had a few guesses of the things she wanted to tell him.

Just the thought of her confessing caused him to let out a brief giggle. Upon hearing it, Cora turned her head to him with her brows knitted.

"What?" She asked, seeing the smug grin on his lips.

For some reason, she felt self-conscious with him staring and giggling at her. She knew she looked funny, but did she look that bad that it was hilarious? Was there something on her face?

"Nothing." Ivan, still bearing the grin on his face shook his head lightly. "Don't mind me."

He added, waggling his brows which made her extremely self-conscious. Awkwardly, Cora nodded as a forced smile resurfaced on her lips.

With that being said, Cora returned her focus on the notes. However, she couldn't concentrate feeling his intent gaze on her. She tried to ignore, but it was hard to do so.

"Ahem!" She cleared her throat loudly, shaking her head as an attempt to shrug her thoughts off.

Silence enveloped the entire office. Cora managed to deceive herself into thinking she was alone. Thus, she could concentrate on the notes he had jotted. 

Unconsciously, Cora cast him a glance as she had sensed he wasn't looking anymore.To her surprise, Ivan was still staring, bearing no emotions or whatsoever. 

When their eyes met, Ivan just raised his brows briefly as if telling her to go on. Cora nodded awkwardly before averting her eyes away. 

She thought he had fallen asleep, but he was just watching her all this time?

"Uhm, I have question." 

"Hmm?" Ivan hummed a low tune, arching his right brow as he watched her slowly turn her head back at him.

"This afternoon, I heard talking: Zoey, Mr. Xi, you." Cora mustered her courage to speak about what she had overheard earlier.

Although he didn't fully understand everything, she guessed one thing or two. It had been lingering in her head ever since, but didn't plan to probe further as her instinct told her it was something she should forget.

Cora didn't know what dawned on her why she suddenly brought it up to him. Upon seeing that his expression changed, she pursed her lips in a thin line as she changed her mind.

"What about it?"

"Nothing." Cora shook her head, sporting a smile on her lips. However, Ivan's expression completely changed as he already knew she understood a few things about their conversation.

Ivan had already figured Cora wasn't stupid. Sure, she couldn't speak English fluently. But, that didn't wasn't the basis of the level of her intellect. Hence, it wasn't nothing.

His jaw tightened, staring at her as she looked away and refocused her eyes on the notes resting on her lap. "That's right."

"Huh?"

"Me and my sis, we're not the people whom you thought we were." Ivan uttered flatly. Cora blinked her eyes as she returned her gaze full of curiosity back at him.

"You should find better people to hang with. You're not safe with me or with Zoey." Without a care if she understood him, Ivan warned her as the truth of the reality -- the reason of his frustration today which caused him to lose his mind -- returned, slapping him back to his sentences.

Sure, Cora didn't understand what he just said. But her heart discerned that he was trying to shoo her away from their lives. Or rather, he was advising her for her own good.

His words sounded alien, but her heart could comprehend more than her mind could. Cora curled her hand into a fist for a second before loosening them. She inhaled heavy and released it as if she had decided before passing the notes to him.

"Huh?" Ivan arched his right brow.

Slowly, he gazed down as he picked up the note. Under the notes he had written, there was a sentence written in English. It says:

"I like handsome."