The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 49

Back then, First High assigned class placements based entirely on entrance exam rankings. Garnett was the absolute top student in Class One.

During winter break of his freshman year, he had wanted to go on a trip with Sigrid, Tobin, and their friends. His father had completely refused, only offering one condition: if Garnett ranked first in the entire grade on his finals, he could go.

Garnett thought it was a guaranteed win. To his shock, he only placed second. First place went to the kid in Class Two who always wore a mask and read unrelated books during lectures.

That was the first time in his life he had ever viewed someone as a genuine rival.

Pulling himself out of the memory, Garnett sized up the man standing in front of him. His striking looks and commanding presence immediately flared up Garnett's old competitive streak.

He firmly shook Charley's hand. "Old classmate. Where are you working these days?"

"Celestial Capital, fund manager," Charley smiled faintly, looking entirely unbothered.

Garnett let go of his hand and turned to Latham. "Latham, how are you feeling?"

...

After staying in the room for nearly an hour, Garnett realized he was barely part of the conversation. Charley seemed incredibly close with Lavinia, and even Latham was treating him like family.

Garnett checked his watch and turned to Lavinia. "I have a business dinner tonight. I need to get going."

"Alright, I'll walk you out."

The second Lavinia stood up, Garnett caught her hand in his.

"Since we can't have dinner together, just walk me downstairs," Garnett said smoothly.

Lavinia was completely thrown. He never showed this kind of public affection.

Garnett wrapped his arm possessively around her waist as they walked out. Just before the elevator doors closed, he caught sight of Saul and Charley stepping out of the room as well.

Seeing them look over, Garnett intentionally tightened his grip and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Let's go get dinner."

Lavinia instinctively leaned away from him. "Didn't you just say you had a business dinner?"

"I was just making an excuse to get away from Saul," he smirked. "I only want to have dinner with you."

This unprovoked charm offensive was baffling. Lavinia suspected he had completely lost his mind today.

Down the hall, Saul glared at Garnett's arm wrapped tightly around Lavinia. "That piece of trash. I should have done whatever it took to stop her from marrying him!"

Charley didn't say a word.

"What exactly does he do?"

"He sells mutual funds." Lavinia paused. "If you want to invest, you can hit him up."

Garnett casually cut another piece of steak. "In the future, try to associate with people more on our level."

Lavinia pressed her lips together and didn't bother responding.

"What, are you still mad?" Garnett pressed. "To make it up to you, I even replaced my chief secretary. The entire office has been chaos for two days because of it."

Lavinia frowned. "When did I ever force you to fire your secretary? Who you hire is none of my business."

Seeing the slight furrow in her brow, Garnett actually found her annoyance a bit endearing.

"Your English is excellent. For someone who never studied abroad, it's incredibly high-level," Garnett remarked.

Hearing the phrase 'never studied abroad,' Lavinia knew exactly what he was doing. He was passive-aggressively comparing her to Sigrid, implying she was inferior.

This entire dinner was absolute torture. The food was overpriced and tasted awful. She desperately missed that amazing local diner that served the perfect chicken hotpot.