Darling, Don't Get Rid of Me

"Who do you think you are, trying to negotiate with me?" Wesley looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Back in the days Harriet would be so mad at what he said, but now she couldn't care less as she had accepted her fate. She replied frankly, "Well, technically speaking I am your lover. Don't tell me that you wouldn't recognize that, Mr. Smith? I've been with you for almost more than two years now, am I not entitled to make a small request in the very least?"

The woman's tone of voice wasn't forceful, it was instead delicate and affectionate. Because of that, Wesley was in a better mood and he said with poise, "Spit it out."

Harriet pondered about it for a bit, then she said seriously, "The thing is, I have decided on a role on my own in the last few days, I wanted to try something new. But the producer can only let me join the crew with your permission, so..."

She took out the script from her handbag as she was saying it and handed it to Wesley.

Harriet usually acted in graceful dramas of an ancient setting, but this was a horror drama. Harriet's plan was to play the female supporting role, she had the feeling that she could unleash the character's potential to its fullest. She had no intention to play the heroine as the characters were always portrayed as ditzy and filled with a baseless sense of justice. She was very fed up with the trope.

"You want the female supporting role?" Wesley raised his eyebrows at her again.

Harriet nodded firmly, "Yes, I think the supporting role suits me better than the leading role. I had no experience with this type of drama either, it will be a good challenge for me."

In the story the female supporting role was portrayed as a scheming person. She was pure and innocent on the outside and were best friends with the heroine, but in reality she was planning to stab the heroine's family in the back. Her identity in the story was also very mysterious, which enhanced the element of suspense of the plot.

"Are you sure?"

Harriet frowned, "You promised me that I get to choose my own role one day. I don't like other people making decisions for me and that I only get to act in a few selected dramas." Wesley squinted his eyes, "It's not 'some other people', it was me."

It was exactly because of him that she wanted to make her own decisions and not be constantly under his control.

She kept that thought in her head and didn't dare to say it out loud, "Well, I'm here to ask for your permission, I hope that you can consider my request, Mr. Smith, and let me play a different role for once." She made herself sound all cutesy, just to win his heart. Wesley was obviously falling for the trick, he looked quite happy and wasn't going to put her in a difficult spot. He answered, "I'll permit this, since you are so obedient for once."

"The way you are phrasing it, Mr. Smith, made it sound like I wasn't always this obedient." She smiled faintly and said, "Please keep your promise, Mr. Smith. You are a reasonable person and may you be blessed with life-long peace."

She reached for her handbag as she finished her sentence and said, "If you'll pardon me, I'll be taking my leave, Mr. Smith. Please continue on with your busy schedule."

"You're just going to leave like that?" She stopped turning around abruptly when she heard him say that.

"Well, what else could I do for you, Mr. Smith?"

Wesley looked her up and down without any expression, he then said, "How is your body?"

Harriet was stunned for a bit, she couldn't help but laughed and said, "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Smith. I'm pink in health."

It had nothing to do with him whether she was well or not. He never really cared about her and she wondered why did he ask such a pointless question.

"Delay your job for a few days and go home and rest." As usual Wesley sounded like he was giving out an order.

Harriet had no come-back, the man had also fulfilled many of her requests today to her surprise and she wouldn't want to annoy him and made him go back on his words.

Molly asked Harriet nervously as she saw Harriet walked out of the office, "Harriet, what did Mr. Smith said?"

Harriet winked at Molly and said, "He agreed to rehire you."

Molly let out a sigh of relief and said, "I see that Mr. Smith is not that unreasonable after all."

"Says who? I signed a contract filled with unfair clauses that could probably humiliate the whole country just for you." Harriet was pulling her manager's leg, "How about you compensate me in some way to appease my broken soul?"

"I'll treat you to some good food! Crayfish, crabs, hot pot, you name it!"

"Sounds good. I'm taking the next few days off so you better prepare your wallet.

Harriet started with her moving the next day since she took some days off.

The mansion at Plumwave Bay was now empty, Wesley knew that she was living here for a while. Harriet decided to keep her new address a secret from Wesley, and hence whenever Wesley wanted to meet up with her, she would have to go to him by herself and not to let him drive her.

Harriet arrived in the smaller area, as she carried her luggage into the lift and the door was about to close, a familiar voice yelled, "Please wait!"

Harriet immediately stopped the door from closing with her hand, the man walked in and was smiling politely, "Thank you... Wait, you're Miss Clark!"

The man was wearing glasses, he looked refine and gentle, and was a bit on the lean side. Though he looked a bit pale and sickly, it seemed like he had some sort of long-term illness. Harriet's eyes glowed, "What a coincidence, Mr. Davis."

She knew this man, he was her current landlord and his name was Len. She met him once when she came over to take a look at the apartment, he left quite a bit of impression on her. "Right!" Len smiled brightly, "We would definitely be seeing each other quite often in the future."

"I'll be in your care, Mr. Davis." Harriet answered politely.

Len owned two apartments here, he rented it out since he had an extra. The two apartments were next to each other, technically speaking they were neighbors now.

Harriet opened the door to the apartment, it was a single suite and it was furnished. She really liked how open the space was, it reminded her of VIP single suites in 5 stars hotels.

"I liked this area for a while now, but I couldn't rent a place here. I was quite disappointed for a bit." Harriet opened the door and was rattling on to the man, "I'm so glad that you are renting out your extra apartment, my wish was finally fulfilled."

The feeling of the apartment was homely and great, unlike the big and empty mansion that would make her feel unsafe. It was also at a convenient location, it was perfect for Harriet who was living alone. "It's my pleasure, renting the place to you, Miss Clark." Len's voice was coming from behind her.

Harriet turned around and realized that the man was still standing by her door, he didn't just waltz in and was looking at her carefully as he asked, "May I come in?"

"Of course, welcome in."

Harriet smiled, she had never met such a polite man. And Len gave off a different feeling as well, he didn't act all gentlemanly and tried to carry her luggage for her. It was most likely because of his health conditions.

Len coughed slightly, and then he toured Harriet around the apartment one more time.

"My family prepared this apartment for me, but I have no use for it right now." Len sounded a bit dejected, he then looked at Harriet's luggage and said, "May I help you with unpacking?" "It's okay, you should get some rest. I'll be fine on my own."

Len looked a bit guilty, "I'm sorry that I couldn't help with anything right now, I have some issues with my health. But please do come to me if you ever need help in the future, I will do my best to help you." "Don't worry, I'm a simple person and I don't normally like to trouble anyone." It never crossed Harriet's mind to ask for help from the man who was rather sickly, and hence she answered straight-forwardly. Len smiled plainly, but all of a sudden he had a terrible coughing fit, Harriet was startled.

"Mr. Davis, are you okay?" Harriet didn't know what to do, she could only stand next to him doing nothing.

"I'm sorry, could you bring me to my room? I'll need to get my medicines." It was hard for Len to talk, the coughing fit finally stopped for a bit but his complexion got way worse than before.☐☐