Chapter 4
My laid-back life officially began the moment I got home. Home was a massive estate so huge that even driving a golf cart from my bedroom to the front gate took five full minutes.
Butlers, gardeners, chefs, bodyguards... it had everything. My head chef had once cooked for royalty, my wine cellar was packed with liquor I'd brewed myself, and my gym was bigger than most luxury fitness clubs.
My daily routine was simple: sleep until I woke up naturally, work out a little, eat great food, and enjoy good drinks.
The company?
Didn't exist in my world.
Every day, James brought the most important files to me. I'd spend five minutes reading them, sign my name, and toss everything back to him to handle.
He seemed to enjoy staying busy.
Several department heads were secretly competing like crazy for the title of number one employee, and their performance kept shooting up. During my so-called lazy period, our company's stock price didn't fall—it went up instead.
It even sparked a trending joke online.
It started because one day I overslept and missed a board meeting. Facing the directors, James calmly explained, "The boss is still resting. He said nothing in the world is more important than his extra sleep."
The story got leaked and blew up online. Our stock hit the daily limit that same day, and investors all said a boss sleeping that soundly meant the company had no problems.
I was speechless.
Fine, whatever.
My only problem was that my wife, Charlotte Summers, was still pretty lukewarm toward me. Every day without fail, I sent her good morning and good night texts with all kinds of cheesy lines.
She either didn't reply or just sent back [Mm.] or [.].
Every day, I had the chef prepare a loving lunch and send it to her office. According to the delivery guy, she accepted it expressionlessly, then handed it straight to her secretary and staff.
I sent her flowers, jewelry, and limited-edition bags.
She rejected every single one.
Her reason was simple. "I don't take gifts for nothing."
That stung a little.
Lying on a lounge chair by the pool, I asked weakly, [Program, does my wife hate me?]
[Analyzing... Analysis complete. Charlotte Summers's favorability toward you has risen from -50 to -10.]
[-10?]
I nearly fell off the chair.
After all that, I was still in the negatives?
[Please don't lose heart, Host. An iceberg does not melt in one day. According to the data, Charlotte Summers was raised as an heir from childhood, and emotions were treated as weakness. She was betrayed by the person she trusted most, so she closed off her heart.]
[She is a genius at work but an absolute idiot in daily life. For example, she can't cook and has a terrible sense of direction.]
What the program said opened up a whole new world for me. Hopeless in daily life? Terrible sense of direction? Wasn't that my opening right there?
I shot right up from the chair and called James.
"Check my wife's schedule for tonight."
"Yes, boss. Ms. Summers has a charity dinner tonight at the Grand Regency Hotel."
"West side?" My eyes lit up. "So she... got lost again?"
James fell silent for a moment, sounding impressed. "Boss, that's freaky. Ms. Summers's driver just called. She insisted on driving herself, and now she's stuck on the Northside River Bridge. At this rate, she'll be late."
"Nice!"
I headed straight for the bridge.
A chance to rescue the beauty had just fallen into my lap, hadn't it?