Mrs Hale, I Surrender
Chapter 365 - 364 Old Affections: Rushing Towards Each Other, Only He Is a Fool (6 Updates)

Chapter 365: 364 Old Affections: Rushing Towards Each Other, Only He Is a Fool (6 Updates)

Tim Payne took a few big strides forward, bent down, and grabbed the man’s collar with such force that he hoisted Declan Saunders right off the ground.

He then glanced at the still-shocked president of the association, "I am not from this industry to begin with, just lending a hand to take out the trash for you. Go ahead with your selection."

Saying this, he dragged Declan Saunders out!

"Brother—" Zoe Payne frowned.

"Don’t follow me."

Her own brother, filled with such hostility, and now knowing about her uncle’s special relationship with Miss Lopez, she guessed was probably holding back a blaze of fury. If he vented all of it on Declan Saunders, he wouldn’t be going to beat the scumbag to death, would he?

"Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing."

Declan Saunders was kicked twice, his chest churned, the pain was unbearable, and he didn’t even have the strength to cry for help.

It was only then that the presenter quickly smoothed things over, "Apologies, there was a slight mishap, let’s continue with the selection."

Finn Hale tugged Sussie Lopez to sit down, his gaze swept past Finn Robinson...

Chilly, cold to the bone!

Finn Robinson felt a shiver crawl up his back.

Done for.

Finn Hale had specifically told him not to get involved in Sussie Lopez’s matter.

Yet, he had taken matters into his own hands. Given Finn’s character, he would definitely seek accountability later. Could he possibly be fired because of this?

Impossible.

He had followed him for nearly ten years; if not for merit, at least for his hard work. Finn wouldn’t treat him like this.

Why did Mr. Hale pursue Sussie Lopez?

Other than being pretty, what else is good about her?

Someone like Mr. Hale should be focusing on his career, not on romance.

Love would only hold him back from achieving greater heights in his career.

Women,

would only be a drag!

If it weren’t for Sussie Lopez, how could Mr. Hale have gotten involved in such turmoil!

If Mr. Hale held him accountable afterward, it would all be that woman Sussie Lopez’s fault.

The selection continued, but everyone’s mind was elsewhere, their glances wandering aimlessly, all falling on Finn Hale and Sussie Lopez.

People initially thought they were in for a plagiarism scandal tonight...

How did it suddenly turn into a love scandal?

Finn Hale pursuing Sussie Lopez?

What a sensational piece of news.

**

The venue was crowded and bustling.

Soon enough, the news that "Finn Hale is pursuing Junior President Payne’s junior sister" climbed to the top of the trending searches.

As a designer, Sussie Lopez wasn’t that famous in the circle.

So, the news titles left out her name and associated her with Junior President Payne.

In the freezing cold, the already asleep Elderly Hale was roused by a phone call. It was from the patriarch of the Shaw Family, who said straightaway, "Elderly Hale, congratulations."

"What’s there to celebrate in the middle of the night?"

"Finn Hale has found a girl he likes, isn’t that wonderful?"

"What?"

The old man opened his eyes wide, shock jolting him upright from his sickbed. He hurried to turn off his cell phone and unplug the phone line.

Ungrateful son, wicked grandson. Not a single one to put his mind at ease.

And more troublesome was another person—

Tim Payne!

His phone vibrated, and he saw the caller ID indicated his teacher. He stopped what he was doing. Declan Saunders, who had been being thrashed against the wall by him, finally had a chance to breathe, and he slumped down against the wall like a broken mudslide.

Tim Payne chose where to hit carefully.

No marks could be seen on the face, but his whole body felt as if every bone had been snapped and crushed one by one.

Punch after punch, full of malice.

Assistant Law had arrived thinking Declan Saunders would be relieved, at least saving him from Tim Payne’s unilateral beating.

Instead, Assistant Law straightforwardly said:

"Junior President Payne, I’ll keep watch for you!"

Declan Saunders was dumbstruck.

Thankfully, a phone call came through, and Tim stopped his actions. Dressed in black, his expression was stern, looking down at him with an imposing gaze that was highly intimidating.

Seeing this, Assistant Law hurried over.

Tim Payne glanced at him, told him to deal with Declan Saunders, and then walked out of the hotel to the supermarket next door to buy a pack of cigarettes.

"Is it true about Sussie and Finn Hale?" Mr. Hale asked with concern.

"It should be."

"Did you already know about it?"

"I just found out."

"But hasn’t Sussie been living at your place? How could you have just found out?"

"..."

Tim Payne was at a loss for words.

He answered the phone with one hand, pulled out a cigarette with the other, clenched it between his lips, struck a lighter, and took a fierce drag. It had been so long since he last smoked that it pained his throat.

His eyes squinting through the haze of smoke, the ambiguity at the bottom of his gaze seemed to harbor the brewing of some unnamed storm.

He hadn’t expected Finn Hale to be so audacious.

To pursue his sister under his very nose.

He himself had been oblivious, in the dark despite the light.

"We’ll discuss this later. For now, go online and see if you can control the public opinion," Mr. Hale advised.

Tim Payne ended the call and discovered when he opened his phone that the matter of Finn Hale and his sister had already blown up on the trending searches. Finn Hale had such a heavy spotlight on him that the internet buzz was mainly divided into three camps:

First, those sending their blessings;

Second, those thinking Sussie wasn’t good enough for him;

Third, those digging into their relationship because...

A so-called insider claimed: "A few years ago, I interned at M & R for several months, and Sussie had a pretty obvious crush on Finn Hale back then, though we didn’t know she was Junior President Payne’s sister at the time."

The person also shared their internship ID badge to lend credibility to their story.

"I once thought it was only Finn Hale who was unilaterally pursuing her, but it seems now it was a mutual rush towards each other."

"Holy shit, I suddenly find it kind of sweet."

"Some people shouldn’t be so sour. When it comes to love, there’s no such thing as being unworthy. As long as they like each other, that’s all that matters."

"@Insider, you said you interned at M & R. Are you implying that Sussie interned there too back then?" a particularly astute netizen quickly sensed something was amiss.

Then, the all-knowing netizens dug up the list of interns at M & R from the past few years.

These were all on the department’s internal network.

It’s a mystery where they got their information from.

But indeed, they discovered that Sussie Lopez had once interned at M & R.

Judging by that, she was an old acquaintance of Finn Hale.

Then another insider popped up: "Mr. Hale had been inquiring about someone for years, and there was talk in the industry about his ’funeral chase’ for a wife. Could Miss Lopez be the one?"

"There you go, that confirms it."

"Alright, I’m shipping this couple now; throw all the sweetness my way."

...

The more Tim Payne looked, the more suffocated he felt.

He slowly exhaled a cloud of foul smoke.

Having smoked only half the cigarette, he snuffed out the rest in a nearby trash can.

He initially thought it was just Finn Hale trying to steal her away, but according to this insider, it seemed more likely that his own "vegetable" had gotten clever first and ensnared Finn Hale, the "pig."

Rubbing his temples with a headache, he wondered what exactly had happened between the two.

If it was just Finn Hale chasing his sister, that would be one thing, but now it appeared they’d known each other all along and were acting in front of him.

Did they take him for a fool?

Especially during his sister’s recovery, according to the surveillance footage time stamps, it was definitely at night.

So that was Hannah Johnson’s "caregiver"?

Fine!

Apparently, he was the only clueless one!

**

By the time Tim Payne returned to the venue, scent of smoke dissipated, the awards ceremony had ended, and everyone had moved to the adjacent banquet hall for the meal.

Finn Hale was talking to the association president, and Sussie sat next to Zoe Payne. Since William Hale and Michale Shaw were at the same table, it seemed that no one dared to cozy up.

With such an incident occurring, Sussie had no appetite, but with Zoe Payne’s persuasion, she had just bitten into a small cake when she caught sight of her senior brother arriving and quickly set the cake down.

Like a primary school student who had done something wrong and suddenly encountered their teacher, she hung her head, nervous and anxious, occasionally glancing at him with a pitiful look.

Tim Payne frowned:

How did you end up looking so wronged?

Sussie looked towards Zoe Payne, her voice barely above a whisper, "I feel like my senior brother wants to skin me alive."

Zoe Payne pressed her lips together—it’s a society governed by law after all, so that shouldn’t actually happen, right?