Billionaire Lawyer's Secretary - Chapter 109: Chapter 109

Adrian said, "We're together every day—eating, watching movies. How can you say we're not from the same world?"
Elara unbuckled her seatbelt. "Mr. Hartley, you know I don't mean just being in the same place."
Seeing Elara about to get out, Adrian didn't stop her. He let her go home early to get some rest. "I'll take the car tonight and pick you up tomorrow morning."
"Huh?" Elara was surprised and quickly realized that he had lent his car to Logan. "No need. Just go straight to the office. Noah's car is still with me. I'll drive his car to work tomorrow."
Adrian let out a laugh, half exasperated. "Can't I pick you up for work?"
Elara wasn't having it. "Don't you need to have your coffee ready in advance?"
"Can't I bend the rules for you?" he asked, his tone firm.
But Elara just stared back, unmoved. The driver's window was open, and the cool autumn breeze carried the faint scent of tobacco. She caught the familiar smell, and her heart softened a little.
There was no way Elara could pretend she felt nothing about Adrian's advances. With a man as handsome as him, even if his words didn't always match his true feelings, it was hard not to be moved.
Especially since, when he said those things, he actually seemed genuinely sincere. Elara avoided his burning gaze, turned to open the car door, and said, "See you tomorrow, Mr. Hartley."
The next morning, Elara chose a fitted dark blue blouse and paired it with a black fishtail midi skirt. Her makeup was much lighter today, thanks to the good sleep and her improved complexion.
Around 8 a.m., Adrian arrived downstairs.
Elara stepped out of the apartment complex in her high heels and spotted the eye-catching black Bugatti. As she got into the car, Adrian noticed her perfume was different today.
Once she fastened her seatbelt, he gently pressed the accelerator and asked, "Did you change your perfume?"
Elara hadn't expected him to notice and nodded. "Yeah." She often switched up her perfume to match the color of her outfit. Today's look was understated with a hint of intellect, so she picked a scent that was softer and more elegant.
The top notes were lavender, bringing a calm and peaceful vibe, while the base was a light woody scent, just a touch of cedar, clean and lingering.
Seeing that Adrian didn't say anything, Elara glanced at him. "What? Does it not smell good?"
'It smells great. How could it not?' Adrian thought. His tone stayed neutral, giving nothing away as he said, "It's fine. Just different from yesterday."
Elara thought he might have an issue with it. "Yeah, I change my perfume often, but they're all light scents. I usually only spray a little, so it won't affect the air in the office or elevator."
Using the right amount of perfume was a basic requirement for a good senior secretary, and Elara knew that.
Adrian knew she had misunderstood him, but didn't bother explaining further. The car soon entered the bustling downtown area, and the speed began to slow down.
They were stuck at a red light, both silent, eyes fixed on the jammed-up road ahead. It was enough to make anyone impatient.
A motorcycle squeezed through the gaps between cars and slowly came to a stop right in front of them. Elara's gaze landed on the black helmet, and for a moment, her mind wandered off.
Adrian glanced over, catching her zoning out for a few seconds, and figured she was thinking of something again.
The light turned green, and the motorcycle took off first, weaving crookedly through the narrow space before vanishing from sight. The Bugatti, on the other hand, kept lurching forward at a snail's pace.
With the car barely moving, Elara let out a sigh, pulled out her phone, scrolled aimlessly for a bit, then locked the screen out of boredom. "It's still so packed even on a Saturday."
"Yeah, vacations are coming up, so everyone's here for overtime," Adrian replied.
Elara finally got it.
The car rolled forward a bit, and that black motorcycle showed up in their line of sight again.
Elara stared at the black helmet and spoke up slowly, "Last time, you said you were a sponsor for the 2020 national racing competition, right?"
Adrian had seen this coming and just gave a quiet "mm."
"One of the racers had an accident that year. Didn't it affect you sponsors at all?" she asked.
The car stopped again at a crosswalk, and Adrian tapped his long fingers on the steering wheel. "No."
"That big of an accident and nothing happened?" Elara was skeptical.
"You seem pretty concerned about that racer," he said.
Elara didn't know why he would ask that. This was the first time she'd even brought it up. And she hadn't even asked about the racer. She was asking about the sponsors. "That accident must've been all over the news back then."
Even though Elara went abroad, she'd heard from Julian that tons of media covered it, and the government straight-up banned those kinds of racing competitions because of it.
The racing scene, which had been super popular for a while, totally tanked, and a bunch of racing clubs went out of business.
"Yeah, it caused a huge stir," Adrian replied.
Back then, when Joseph found out Adrian had almost died in a race, he launched a full-on crackdown on anything to do with racing. He cancelled every race in the country. He also wrecked every club he could get his hands on in Veritasiton.
At the time, Noah's FIGHT Racing Club was the hottest one around, but thanks to the Hartley family's power, they had no choice but to move to Marisiton.
Even after leaving Veritasiton, they still couldn't escape the public backlash. All these years, they've barely managed to survive, only thanks to the investment from Kalmien Group.
"What happened to that racer in the end?" Elara asked.
"He's doing just fine," Adrian replied.
Elara nodded. "That's good."
A small smile tugged at Adrian's lips. "Want me to take you to see him next time?"
"No need for that," she said.
"Then why are you asking so many questions? What, is he better looking than Noah?" he teased.
"I'm just curious. He looked pretty messed up back then, and I don't even know what he looks like," she said. With a helmet that big, there was no way she could see his face.
Adrian chuckled. "You should've taken off his helmet back then. Who knows, maybe he was 3000 times better looking than Noah."
Elara shot him a look. "He was covered in blood. I wasn't exactly thinking about that."
"Guess your fangirl tendencies are still curable," he said.
Elara let out a cold laugh. "Hmph, you're just underestimating me." She glanced at the time. She wouldn't be late, but breakfast was definitely out of the question.
She was just about to order some breakfast on her phone when she suddenly froze. She turned to Adrian. "Adrian, you just said I should've taken off his helmet. But how did you know I was even there at the time?"
Seeing Elara finally catch on, Adrian couldn't help but tease her for being so slow. He replied lazily, "Just a guess."
"A guess? You guessed I was there? And that I didn't take off his helmet?" she pressed, still a bit incredulous.
Adrian said, "You said it yourself. Noah wasn't supposed to be in first place, but the one in front of him crashed. So you must've witnessed the accident.
"Racers all wear helmets, and when you went to help, his head wasn't hurt, and the helmet was still on. So it's not hard to figure out you didn't take it off."
"Oh, true." Elara nodded, finally convinced. She kept her head down, scrolling through her phone as she picked out what to order for breakfast. "Did Noah have some kind of grudge against him?"
The car rolled to a stop again. Adrian lowered the window halfway and lit a cigarette. "How so?"
"I tried to flag down his F12 on the roadside, wanted him to stop and help, but he just drove off," she said.
Adrian's eyes flashed with surprise. He turned his gaze to her. "You saw Noah back then?"
Elara nodded. "Yeah. Right after that black race bike flew off the hill, I ran over, and Noah's yellow F12 happened to pass by. I was standing there, waving at him to stop."
"He didn't stop?"
Elara shook her head. "No."