She recognized the voice. It was Chase Childs.

She didn’t hear Seth Quinn speak, only the sound of Chase Childs leaving and closing the door.

Once the line fell silent again, Seth Quinn finally spoke. There wasn’t a trace of anger in his voice, only helpless indulgence. "Alright, then. I happen to have a meeting to get to as well. I probably won’t have time to bother you for the next hour or two."

Hearing this, a mischievous idea sparked in Clara Grant’s mind. She told him, "Okay, but remember to take your phone to the meeting. And turn the ringer on. If I call you, you have to answer, understand?"

Seth Quinn was taken aback for a moment, but then he understood. He shook his head and chuckled. "Understood, my dear wife."

Clara Grant calmly said, "I’m hanging up now." But after she ended the call, she couldn’t help but press her lips together to hold back a smile at his "my dear wife."

Sarah Shelby, who had been walking ahead looking utterly bored, stopped and waited for her to catch up when she saw her hang up the phone. "Finally willing to hang up?" she asked.

Clara Grant looked at her apologetically. "Hehe, I hung up, I hung up. Don’t worry, he won’t be calling back anytime soon."

She had been the one to ask Sarah to come out with her, but she had been so preoccupied with Seth Quinn’s call that Sarah was getting bored.

’I have to give Seth Quinn a taste of what it’s like to be interrupted.’

After browsing with Sarah for ten minutes, she figured Seth Quinn’s meeting must have started. She took out her phone and made the first call.

Seth Quinn’s meeting had just begun. A department manager was in the middle of a presentation when the phone Seth had placed beside him lit up.

He immediately shifted his attention from the manager to his phone. A smile actually appeared on his face when he saw the name flashing on the screen.

He raised a hand, signaling for the manager to pause. The manager, assuming he was about to comment on the report, immediately stopped talking and looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

Everyone else at the conference table also looked at him, perplexed. River Sterling was sitting to his right, so when the phone lit up, he subconsciously glanced at it. The sight made his stomach churn.

Clara-honey?

’Clara-honey? Honey, my ass! Who came up with such a sappy nickname?!’

’Ugh, I’m going to be sick!’

’I never thought that Seth Quinn, Mr. Reserved himself, would be even more disgustingly lovey-dovey than Linden Jennings when he decides to show off his relationship.’

As River Sterling thought this, he subconsciously glanced at Linden Jennings, who was sitting across from him.

Linden Jennings, unwittingly caught in the crossfire, had no idea what was going on. Seeing River Sterling look at him, he shot back a questioning glance, but River simply raised an eyebrow and looked away.

Just when everyone thought Seth Quinn was about to speak to the department manager, he picked up his phone in full view of everyone and walked out of the conference room.

Immediately, a low murmur of discussion filled the room.

Linden Jennings also frowned and whispered to River Sterling, "River, whose call was that?"

River Sterling covered his mouth with one hand, blocking the view of others, and replied, "Take a guess!"

...

Outside the conference room, Seth Quinn stood by the window and answered the call, his voice laced with amusement. "Hello. What’s this? Is it your turn to miss me now?"

"Haha, it’s nothing, it’s nothing." Clara Grant’s sheepish laugh came through the phone. "I just wanted to see if you were doing what I told you."

Seth Quinn chuckled, his voice doting. "Of course I’d do what you say."

Although his phone’s ringer was off, being ready to take her call at a moment’s notice was, naturally, not a problem.

"Okay, it was nothing. You can go back to your meeting. I’m hanging up."

Before he even had a chance to reply, Clara Grant hung up.

Seth Quinn put his phone away, smiled silently to himself again, and turned to go back into the conference room. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The moment he pushed the door open, the smile was still clearly visible on his lips, leaving everyone in the room stunned.

’Whose call was that? Who could possibly make President Quinn’s eternal poker face blossom into a smile?!’

Seth Quinn returned to his seat and gestured to the manager from before. "Continue."

Less than five minutes later, Seth Quinn’s phone lit up again.

Seth Quinn once again signaled for the manager to pause, then calmly walked out of the conference room with his phone, under the watchful eyes of everyone present.

He returned less than a minute later, that same baffling smile still playing on his lips.

Not even five minutes later, Seth Quinn stood up again...

Never mind the manager whose report had been interrupted multiple times—even River Sterling was completely dumbfounded.