Are You Free Tonight?

Marcus shook his head and said, "No. I just went into Mr. Sterling's office, and seeing him with that dark look on his face was scary as hell. I have no idea what happened."

Hearing that, Wes rubbed his chin. "Nothing's been going on with the company lately, and things between Mr. Sterling and Miss Bennett have been going great too. There really shouldn't be anything..."

The two of them wondered about it for a while, but still couldn't figure out the key to the problem.

In the end, Wes patted Marcus on the shoulder and said, "Anyway, Mr. Sterling's in a bad mood, so let's both be careful these next few days. Don't go looking to get caught in the line of fire. You don't have anything you forgot to handle, right?"

"What could I possibly have..." Marcus stopped halfway, suddenly freezing. He smacked his forehead and said, "Actually, there is!"

"What is it?" Wes asked in surprise.

"Miss Bennett's mural was finished before, but the company still hasn't settled the final payment with her. I need to go push the finance department..."

As he spoke, Marcus turned on his computer and got in touch with the company's finance department.

Ten minutes later, Claire Bennett received a transfer from Sterling International's account. She was stunned for a moment before remembering that it was the remaining payment for the mural.

After getting paid, Claire's mood instantly brightened.

Suddenly, as if thinking of something, she quickly took out her phone and sent Julian Sterling a message: "Are you free tonight?"

Claire had just suddenly remembered the strange little tricks Ruby Sterling had taught her after she asked her about it.

Ruby had said that men and women were essentially the same. When men pursued women, they gave them all kinds of things, and women would be delighted. Men were the same way.

Claire had already thought before about buying Julian a few more clothes, and now that the mural payment had come in, it was the perfect chance to do it.

But even though she had been with Julian for so long and knew his size, she didn't know whether the clothes would actually look good on him. The best way was to have him try them on himself.

And they could also sneak in a date while they were at it.

A faint blush suddenly rose on Claire's cheeks. Actually, the main reason she wanted to ask him along was that second one.

At that moment, in the office, Julian Sterling stared at his phone, his brows tightly furrowed.

He didn't know what Claire Bennett meant by specifically asking whether he was free, and thinking back to what had happened before, he couldn't help but let his mind wander.

After a moment of silence, Julian still went along with it and replied, "What is it?"

Claire Bennett: "After work later, can you come with me somewhere?"

Julian's brows drew even tighter.

In the end, he decided he'd deal with whatever came, and go see just where Claire Bennett wanted to take him.

After work, Claire happily packed up her things.

At the entrance of Sterling International, Julian Sterling's car arrived right on time. Claire couldn't help marveling that whenever he said he'd be there in ten minutes or five minutes, he really meant exactly that. He was unbelievably punctual.

After getting into the car, Claire showed Julian the address she had already pulled up in navigation.

Julian glanced at it. It was a large chain shopping mall in downtown Chicago, and one owned by Sterling Group at that.

He didn't ask any questions and simply drove there.

After arriving at the mall, Claire grabbed Julian and headed straight for the men's clothing section, while Julian followed behind her at an unhurried pace.

Claire chose a menswear store with fairly high quality and prices within what she could afford. After going in and looking around, she took a few pieces of clothing off the rack and held them up against Julian.

A moment later, she stuffed them into his arms with satisfaction and said, "These few should do. Go try them on."

Julian looked at the clothes in his arms, then at the anticipation in Claire's eyes, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

Claire was buying him clothes?

His mood suddenly turned a little buoyant. He felt that Claire must care about him if she was buying him clothes, and this brand wasn't cheap either.

Because there was a contract relationship between them, Julian Sterling had never handed his salary card over to Claire Bennett.

Precisely because of that, the fact that she could give him such expensive clothes should count as her giving everything she had.

Julian took the clothes and went into the fitting room.

Claire sat outside waiting on a chair.

Just then, her phone rang. It was a call from Sean Shaw.

What did he want with her?

Claire swiped to answer the phone. "Sean."

On the other end of the line came Sean's excited, gossip-hungry voice as he asked, "Claire, yesterday you said you were going to pursue Julian Sterling. How's that going? Want your big brother here to teach you a few tricks?"

Hearing that, Claire let out a somewhat helpless sigh.

She said, "I just started, so I don't know how it'll turn out yet. We're out shopping right now. My best friend told me I could prepare some surprises for him and give him some gifts, so right now I'm planning to give him clothes."

Claire didn't hide anything and told Sean what she was thinking.

After hearing her out, Sean immediately said, "That won't work!"