His Mute Wife: He Can't Sleep After She Left-Chapter 180: Are You Afraid Ian Won’t Agree?
When it comes to not smiling much, Ethan Sinclair definitely inherited it from Zoe Xavier.
Both of them have rather cold personalities, and their facial expressions aren’t as rich as other people’s.
But whenever they do smile, it’s impossible to resist.
When Zoe Xavier smiles, the phrase "beauty enough to topple a kingdom" isn’t an exaggeration.
Sometimes Kiana Sutton wonders, Zoe Xavier is so gorgeous, yet Howard Sinclair still chose to divorce her for another woman—his taste must be as bad as The Frostlands are cold.
Ethan Sinclair’s taste must be inherited from Howard Sinclair.
Hmph, they’re both blind!
Kiana Sutton slowly walked towards Zoe Xavier, feeling more than a little nervous facing her mother-in-law.
"Have a seat."
Kiana obediently nodded and sat opposite Zoe Xavier, anxious to the extreme.
But she didn’t dare look at Zoe Xavier, her beautiful doe eyes having nowhere to settle.
"Are you very afraid of me?"
On hearing Zoe Xavier’s words, Kiana suddenly shook her head.
"Then why won’t you look at me?"
Kiana pursed her lips, slowly raised her gaze to Zoe Xavier, and met those eyes that had weathered so much yet remained so clear—her heart was pounding.
She wanted to find a topic to break the awkwardness but didn’t know how to start.
Seeing how uncomfortable yet obedient Kiana looked, Zoe Xavier felt a bit moved.
At first, she had thought Kiana was someone who looked sweet on the outside but was actually very calculating and good at playing games.
Only now did she realize that Kiana is fully genuine, sincere and kind-hearted.
Kindness is a necessary trait in everyone, but the kindness Zoe speaks of is pure; Kiana had gone through hardship and suffering, even doubted the world at times, yet she kept her authenticity and goodness.
"Order whatever you want, don’t be polite."
Zoe Xavier handed the menu to Kiana, who accepted it and gestured, "What would you like to eat? I’ll order for you first."
"I’ve already ordered, just waiting for you."
"Sorry I’m late."
"I’m not blaming you, I just didn’t set the time with you in advance."
For some reason, Kiana kept feeling that Zoe Xavier’s attitude toward her had changed a lot.
Was it because she helped Zoe last time in Whitecloud Village?
No matter what, as long as it’s headed in a good direction, it’s fine.
While they were waiting for the food, Zoe Xavier handed Kiana a file.
"Besides meeting you today, I wanted to discuss something. Have a look first."
Kiana took the file and, utterly shocked, looked up at Zoe Xavier.
"The producer of this reality show is a good friend of mine. He heard Ian’s married so he’s sought me out several times—I turned him down each time, but I really couldn’t refuse anymore, so I wanted to ask your opinion: Do you want to do this show with me?"
Kiana was still in a daze.
Zoe had given her a contract, basically inviting Zoe Xavier and Kiana Sutton to participate together in a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law reality show.
For Kiana, it was like suddenly being smacked by a windfall—she couldn’t react for a while.
"If you agree, I’ll call him and have him set everything up. If you feel uncomfortable, it’s okay, it’s really not a big deal."
Kiana quickly shook her head. If she remembered correctly, Zoe Xavier had never joined any reality shows all these years.
An actress is an actress—if she does too many variety shows, exposing her real self to the camera, people watching her films or series afterward will struggle to suspend disbelief.
The fact that Zoe was bringing her this contract meant Zoe had thought it over for a long time.
And this wasn’t just any show—it was a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law reality show. Zoe asking her to join likely meant Zoe had already accepted her as a daughter-in-law.
Just thinking about it made Kiana feel really happy inside.
But...
Would Ethan Sinclair let her join this show?
Seeing Kiana’s conflicted little face, Zoe Xavier seemed to read her thoughts, and curled her lips, "You’re worried Ian won’t agree."
Kiana pressed her lips tightly and nodded.
Even though a lot of people already knew she and Ethan Sinclair were married, if she and Zoe did this show together, the whole country, maybe the whole world, would know.
Ethan Sinclair loved Kate Lynch so much, he definitely wanted to grow old with Kate, he’d never allow this.
"Just consider if you personally want to participate. Don’t worry about Ian."
Kiana was stunned. Don’t worry about Ethan Sinclair?
"I’m your mother-in-law, you’re my daughter-in-law. This is a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law show, not a mother-in-law/son/daughter-in-law show. Why should we ask his opinion?"
Zoe’s logic was so sound, Kiana was completely speechless.
"As for payment, I think it’s too low. If you’re not satisfied, I can ask him to raise it for you."
Kiana hadn’t even looked at the pay yet. She flipped to the payment page—her eyes widened.
Ten million!
That much money!
Kiana looked at Zoe Xavier in disbelief. This is called low?
For Zoe Xavier, this amount really wasn’t much, but for Kiana, she probably couldn’t earn this much in her whole life.
The production team was only offering her so much because she was Zoe Xavier’s daughter-in-law.
Kiana put the contract down and sat up straight, gesturing, "I’m just an ordinary person—this much pay is more than enough."
"So, you’re saying you agree?"
Kiana still worried Ethan would get furious, but Zoe rarely asked her for anything—especially something so good—she couldn’t say no.
Then again, Ethan Sinclair didn’t care about her; their marriage was already that bad. She couldn’t make things worse.
But she also couldn’t let down Zoe Xavier’s sincere intentions.
Thinking this through, Kiana nodded firmly.
"Good girl, sign it then."
Hearing the pampering "good girl" from Zoe’s lips, Kiana’s cheeks flushed a little. She took a pen from her bag and signed her name on the contract.
Just then, the dishes were brought to the table.
Meanwhile, after finishing up with his guests, Ethan Sinclair went to look for Kiana Sutton. When he didn’t see her at work, he asked Nathan Lawson, "Where is she?"
"Miss Sutton went to lunch."
Ethan was infuriated. That damn woman—not only was she late to work, but hadn’t even seen him after getting back to the office and had run off to eat?
She claimed to like him, but honestly, food clearly rated higher than he did.
Ethan Sinclair rarely visited the cafeteria, so all the staff eating there were anxious, wondering why President Sinclair would suddenly show up.
The cafeteria manager rushed out, bowing and scraping to serve him.
"President Sinclair, what would you like to eat today?"
Ethan swept his sharp gaze across the cafeteria. Still, he didn’t spot Kiana Sutton.
Amy Manning sat with headphones on, staring at her phone and completely unaware of Ethan Sinclair’s arrival.
Until a shadow blocked her screen, and when she looked up, the rice almost came flying out of her mouth.
"M-Mr. Sinclair, what... what are you doing here?"
"Where’s Kiana?"
Amy Manning was totally confused. "Kiana? I have no idea!"
"Don’t you two usually eat together?"
"Uh... We used to, but today Kiana said she was meeting someone for lunch, so I came by myself."
At that, Ethan Sinclair’s face turned very dark. He strode out of the cafeteria and called Connor Grant. "I want Kiana Sutton’s exact location within ten minutes."
Amy Manning stared at Ethan Sinclair’s departing back, full of question marks. What was going on?
