At first sight

Chapter 20

Evangeline changed out from her work uniform to her usual clothes, when she was about to walk to the main door, she spotted two familiar figures, both tall with wide shoulders.

She scuttled off to the nearest hiding spot the moment she recognised both of them. One being her so-called friend and one is a man that she took a liking to. She thought of sneakily pulling Carl away, however, despite being in a black mask, his suit and unique aura had set him off from other people.

She decided to make a phone call to Carl.

“Are you waiting for me?” The moment she popped the question, Carl began to look around. “Don’t look around!” Evangeline immediately added on.

“Mmm, I am waiting for you.” He said, as his eyes softened. Evangeline smiled as she watched him and replied, “Did you drove here? I will meet you in the carpark.”

“Yes, I will see you there.”

Evangeline turned to face him as she heard the clicking sounds of his office shoes approaching.

“Connor, I don’t know if you know. But you are not very good at hiding your identity.” She sighed and continued, “your suite is yelling Carl Hallsworth. Do you have any other clothes?” Evangeline gently bit her lips.

“No, the maroon shirt that I wore in the emergency department and the white shirt you told me to wear was bought by my brother,” Carl said, looking straight into Evangeline’s eyes. He could not help but smile as he heard her calling him Connor.

Evangeline longed expected these answers, she clapped her hands and grabbed his arm instinctively and announced, “time to go shopping!”

Evangeline wanted to bring him to the local mall, but she realised that if people were to find out his identity despite the new clothes, they will bash on him using non-high end clothes. Thinking of that made her heart aches a little, with a little googling, she decided to bring him to the most well known high-end shopping mall. The top-notch shopping mall has the tightest security, no reporters and unknown identity can enter the mall. Now, how am I supposed to get in? Tag along? Will they allow that? Sitting on the driver seat, Carl watched her expression change with amusement. Evangeline continued to read the details and features of the mall, perhaps she can find ways to sneak in with her rusty skills. Owned by the Hallsworth Cooperation. Evangeline's eyes grew wide as she reread the same sentence over and over again. Hallsworth even owned a shopping mall? She took a while to digest this information before a smile grew on her face, well guess she does not have to worry about getting into the mall.

“Connor, Skywoods mall!”

Without further ado, they drove straight to the mall. As they entered the mall Carl took Evangeline’s hand into his nature, which earned him a scene of blood rushing to Evangeline’s face and he let out a gentle chuckle. He took her straight to the VIP entrance and the securities immediately have their heads down and greet them before opening the door for them. Carl gestured to them to clear everyone out of the mall, while Evangeline thanked them awkwardly.

“Wow, our CEO with a woman and they are holding hands!!!”
“Shut your mouth and get back to work, to survive in the society we need to keep things to ourselves.” Another security interfered.

Under the Hallsworth Cooperation, those who spout nonsense of any gossips will be dealt with seriously, therefore, the people in Hallsworth know better to keep their lips sealed and thoughts to themselves. Carl held Evangeline's hand because it was safe for him to do it here, as for holding it in the public, his little darling will be the one making the decision.

“Try this and this and this and this and this on.” Evangeline passed him a load an of clothing, matching everything perfectly.

At the end of the day, from leather jackets, denim wear, sporty look, checkered wear, sweaters, hoodies, button-ups, jeans, sneakers, boots, she made sure he was styled in every different way. She then asked him to bring her to the store he had all his suits tailor made. The tailor was buzzing with excitement when he heard Evangeline wanting to change Carl's suit choices,  he immediately expressed that he had longed to make unique suits to Mr Carl, however Carl had been sticking to the plain black ones.

Evangeline looked at Carl with one of her eyebrow raised, "well, I actually expected it to be just grey and black, but it looks like you need more variety."

"Midnight blue, maroon, army green, grey, brown, dark navy. Double breasted suit jacket, single whatever. They will all look better than your usual black ones"

After adding on suits of different colour and design to Carl's collection, she requested for some unique designs for his sleeve cuffs, buttons and collar.

The old tailor was very pleased when they left the store.

“Last but not least, you need a baseball cap, sunglasses, cool grey scarf, glasses. These are the essentials, these will prevent you from being recognised. You don’t have to wear them all at once though.”

Pleased at all her creation, she took a last look at what she made Carl wear now and gave him a peck on his cheek. He looked exceptionally good with jeans, and a checkered button-down shirt layered with a dark grey sweater.

“Don’t move and look to your left,” Evangeline commanded playfully and took a photo on her phone. Carl simply laughed after realising what she had done.

As Carl walked towards her, Evangeline immediately brought her right hand back to stop him from taking her phone away. Instead of snatching her phone away, Carl reached for her empty hand instead.

“Let’s go.” He pulled her out of the store.

“To where?” Evangeline asked, dumbfounded.

“It’s your turn.”

Carl brought her to a few stores, leaving her no choice but to get at least a few dresses, shoes and accessories.

“You deserve everything.” He simply said.

Evangeline knows, by no means, he was ashamed of how she looked. She knew it would be nice for her to have a few high-end clothing so she can look good beside him from time to time, so she simply selects a few clothing without complaining.

After choosing two sets of outfit for herself, she decided to try on a turquoise dress that Carl chose,  it was a long dress with two slits that will show off her legs slightly when she moves. Unsure what shoes to match the masterpiece, she tipped toes and looked down at her barefoot, part of her loose wavy hair fell covering some parts of her face. Carl immediately looks a picture of her.

All these while, these two lovebirds were so into their own world that they did not realise how shocked the employees were. Their big boss with a woman, their big boss showing such a warm expression, their big boss doting on the woman beside him. At the end of the day, the biggest question is ‘Who is this woman? She was dressed so simply.’ and ‘Are they together?’.  

The couple left the mall hand in hand in matching black cap, frame glasses and a small smile on their face, leaving the security guards jaw dropped. If they did not clear the whole mall for their boss, they would not have recognized him in this outfit, and surprisingly he looked extremely good in them.