Dating the Bossy CEO Next Door
Chapter 71- Partners

Chapter 71: Chapter 71- Partners

After noticing the weird vibe between Morrison and Lilian, Karl decided to dig a little on his own. He quietly reached out to some old classmates and found out that Lilian never had any publicly known boyfriend—no rumors, no whispers of dating at all.

If she really was the girl Morrison cooked for, that meant their relationship was completely under the radar.

So why would they hide it?

Karl’s mind immediately jumped to one likely reason: Morrison’s reputation. His brother was notorious for being a womanizer, and if Lilian’s parents knew, they’d probably shut the whole thing down in an instant. After all, Lilian was such a pure and innocent girl—there was no way her parents would approve of her dating someone like Morrison.

But why would those two even fall for each other? No matter how smart Karl was, he just couldn’t figure it out.

Of course, he couldn’t—because the reason they got together was something only a low-IQ person would think of. High-IQ people like Karl simply can’t wrap their heads around the crazy decisions made by someone less sharp.

Karl hadn’t expected that after coming back home, the very first thing he’d end up researching wouldn’t be his own studies, but his brother’s secret love life.

If those two ever ended up together for real, Karl swore he’d give Morrison a good beating—and demand a fat research budget in return to support his own work.

Yeah, for that kind of funding, Karl figured he might as well do his best to push their relationship forward.

He grabbed his phone and dialed Morrison.

"Bro, Lilian’s big brother invited us for dinner tonight. As my big brother, shouldn’t you return the favor and treat them sometime?"

Morrison had already heard this line from Linda once before. This time, his anger wasn’t as sharp—just a cold snort.

"If her brother and sister-in-law treat you guys, then you’re the ones who should return the favor. Got it? Not me inviting you out."

Invite Lilian and Karl out? Show them all lovey-dovey and cute in front of him?

Morrison wasn’t dying that soon. And more importantly, he wasn’t going to let Karl die that soon either—at least, not before he gave him a good beating.

Karl seemed completely oblivious to the bad mood on the other end. He kept talking like nothing was wrong.

"Alright, alright, thanks for the advice, bro. I’ll treat Lilian’s brother and sister-in-law next time."

He kept calling her "Lilian" over and over, and Morrison couldn’t help but feel annoyed. He was about to hang up when Karl suddenly opened up again like a floodgate.

"Bro, I’m feeling really stressed all of a sudden."

Karl didn’t even give Morrison a chance to hang up before he continued,

"The other day at a reunion with some old classmates, they heard I’m with Lilian now and were all so jealous. That’s when I realized a lot of them have had their eyes on her for a while—just too afraid to make a move because of her family, especially her big brother."

What Karl said was true. A good girl like Lilian naturally attracts attention.

Men aren’t fools—they know exactly what kind of woman is worth bringing home.

Among the guys around Karl’s age in Burg Eltz, several had their sights set on Lilian. Some were even picked by their families to pursue her. But because she was so well-mannered and never involved in any nonsense, most didn’t dare to chase her. Especially with her big brother Dave looming over everything.

They felt inferior compared to Dave and somehow lost the confidence to go after her.

Karl hadn’t known Lilian was so popular until he asked around. He found it pretty surprising—these days, girls who are pure, well-behaved, and straightforward like her were rare.

So of course, Karl had to tell his own big brother about it—especially since Morrison was the kind of guy who kept his feelings to himself despite clearly caring.

Unsurprisingly, Morrison hung up again with a grumpy sigh.

Morrison already knew how popular she was. Daniel had mentioned Burg Eltz before, saying plenty of families admired her. Now hearing it again from Karl, Morrison’s mood couldn’t help but sour.

He’d never felt so anxious and restless over a woman before—eating poorly, sleeping badly. Before Karl came back, Morrison thought his feelings for Lilian were just bitterness from being dumped. But once Karl returned and started dating her openly, the sense of crisis and tension hit him full force.

He wanted to take action, truly he did. But the fear of that one-and-only, lifetime commitment held him back.

He couldn’t promise himself to be faithful to just one woman for life. He couldn’t promise he’d only ever love one woman. Yet somehow, he craved her so intensely it hurt.

This contradiction tore him up inside, leaving him restless these past few days.

The next day, Norton was late for work again.

For Morrison—who hadn’t been with a woman for over a year and still had that girl on his mind—this was a brutal blow. He shot Norton a cold glare and said flatly,

"If this keeps up, you’re gonna be late every single day. I can’t afford to have an employee like that."

Norton hurriedly tried to explain.

"Boss, you’ve got it all wrong. Nothing happened last night—"

Morrison snapped,

"Do you take me for a fool?"

Norton was at a loss for words.

"Really, it’s not what you think. What actually happened last night was—"

Before Norton could finish, Morrison barked,

"You expect me to hear the whole story?"

"Get out! Right now! Or do you want me to kick you out myself?"

Norton turned around and disappeared from the office as fast as he could. But as soon as he stepped outside, he bumped right into his younger brother Sean, who grinned teasingly.

"Bro, you two were that intense? How come you’re always late after those arguments?"

Norton felt like losing it.

"Shut up!"

He snapped at Sean and slammed the door to his own office.

Damn that woman—she’d deliberately turned off his alarm last night, causing him to sleep straight through and be late.

In truth, nothing had happened between them last night.

The previous afternoon, Norton and Sean had accompanied Morrison to stretch out and loosen up before Morrison went home. The brothers had planned to eat out together, but as fate would have it, they ran into Monna and her friends at the restaurant.

Since that night—whatever happened between Norton and Monna—they’d been in a cold war, ignoring each other completely. Neither side said a word. After the awkward encounter at the restaurant entrance, they’d parted ways without exchanging a glance.

Norton and Sean found a window seat and placed their orders, waiting quietly.

Not long after, Monna strutted over in her heels, radiating confidence. Sean whispered to Norton,

"Hey, you’re not wearing your glasses today. What if she mistakes you for someone else?"

Norton’s cheek was injured; after disinfecting, he’d slapped on a band-aid and hadn’t bothered with glasses.

He didn’t care if people saw the bandage—it wouldn’t affect his image. He had someone special on his mind and didn’t want any other woman looking his way.

Without glasses, Norton looked remarkably like Sean. To make things worse, Sean mischievously put on a stern face, copying Norton’s usual frown.

Looking at Sean, Norton calmly said,

"If she mistakes me, then I’m done for good. It means I never mattered to her at all."

No matter how alike two people were, they were still different individuals. If she couldn’t even tell them apart, it only meant she didn’t care.

Never mind the fact they’d spent one night together, and he was her first man.

Sean clicked his tongue at that.

As Sean made his "tsk tsk" noises, Monna approached their table. Sean, trying to be funny, adopted the exact same serious expression as Norton.

Norton’s gaze on Monna was a mix of deliberate coldness, suppressed anger—and, beneath it all, a deep love.

Sean played along perfectly, but Monna didn’t even glance at him. Instead, she locked eyes on Norton and furrowed her brows.

"What happened to your face?"

Sean was embarrassed. So she didn’t mistake him after all? His little act was for nothing.

No fun at all.

Unlike Monna—the boss’s girlfriend—who kept switching between thinking Norton was Sean and thinking Sean was Norton, just for fun.

Facing Monna’s sharp question, Norton replied flatly,

"None of your business."

Monna was caught off guard by his bluntness. Her proud expression flickered into awkwardness for a moment, then she crossed her arms and stood firm.

"You belong to me. How can I not control your face?"

Norton didn’t expect her to say something so domineering and bossy. He was stunned.

The tension hung thick until Sean chuckled and spilled the truth.

"Our boss did it..."

Monna immediately pulled out her phone to call Morrison, which led to that fierce confrontation scene with Morrison later.

Hearing her fiercely defend him, the anger Norton had bottled up all these days slowly melted away. His expression softened, no longer cold and hard like before.

Sean noticed the change and wisely said,

"Bro, I just remembered something. I gotta go first."

He grabbed his things and left, and Monna took the seat opposite Norton.

Norton finally laughed at her stubbornness.

"Monna, what’s your deal?"

She rested her hands on the table, playing with her manicured nails without looking at him.

"Nothing much. Just thought partners should have dinner together."

Neither Norton nor Monna was the type to admit defeat easily, so she didn’t say she was worried about his injury.

Not that she was really worried—it was just that he was her man. No one else had the right to hurt him like that.

Norton’s lips curled up. Leaning in a little, he whispered,

"Partners? You mean... partners in bed?"