Trevor said, “I haven’t been involved in the company’s later development.”
Hearing this, Chester looked at Wynn in surprise. “So, Wynn, you’re actually capable?”
Wynn replied, “Not really. The credit goes to the engineers. Most of them were already with the company before I took over. The company’s current success is, as you said, largely thanks to Trevor. I had very little to do with it.”
Chester smiled and said, “You’re really modest.”
At first, upon learning that Wynn had her own business only because Trevor gave it to her, Chester had thought she wasn’t all that impressive and didn’t quite match up to Trevor.
But now, hearing them speak and watching how they supported and acknowledged each other, he suddenly figured that Trevor must regard Wynn as an expert in the AI field–someone even more specialized than he was–and that’s why he had entrusted her with the company, believing it would grow better in her hands. 4 After all, Trevor was indeed generous and humble. It was exactly the kind of thing he would do.
Wynn, hearing the compliment, waved it off. “I’m really not just being modest…” 1
A moment later, they dropped the topic and moved on to something lighter, sharing amusing stories from Andostan.
They had all studied abroad there, so they had a lot of common topics.
Plus, Wynn was naturally sociable. Even though this was her first time meeting Chester, the dinner ended up being quite relaxed and enjoyable.
In fact, at times, she chatted with Chester even more than Trevor did.
Chester was in the country on a business trip with his father and would be leaving the next day. After dinner, he had other plans and was about to take his leave. 1
Before leaving, he shook hands with Wynn and said, “Wynn, I’m really glad I met you today. You’re a very interesting and charming woman.” 3
As he said that, he glanced at Trevor and hesitated slightly, as if he wanted to say something more. But before he could, Wynn politely replied, “You flatter me, Chester.”
After saying goodbye, Chester waved to them and was just about to get into the car when he spotted Celeste, who had just finished dinner with Matthias and several business associates. 2
Chester didn’t recognize Matthias or the others, but he did recognize Celeste. He pointed at her in surprise and said to Trevor, “That woman… Isn’t she-” (1)
Trevor didn’t respond.
Celeste, seeing Chester point at her as if he knew her, wasn’t originally planning to pay any attention to the people around Trevor. But just as she was turning her face away, she suddenly remembered who Chester
was.
They had only met once. At the time, she knew he was one of Trevor’s close friends in Andostan.
1/3
+25 BONUS
He had come back to visit and had looked up Trevor, and she happened to be there too, so they had met briefly.
That meeting, however, had ended with a minor unpleasant incident.
Still…
That had been years ago.
She came to the realization suddenly.,
Celeste’s business partner and Matthias were speaking to her, so she pulled her thoughts back and turned away to resume the conversation, not sparing another glance toward Trevor’s group.
Chester also noticed Celeste’s cold demeanor.
Looking back and forth between Trevor and Celeste, both of whom now had new partners, he seemed to understand something and chose not to say more. 1
Besides, he was in a hurry. He said goodbye to Trevor and Wynn and got into the car.
Wynn wasn’t surprised that Chester knew Celeste. She had only glanced at Celeste and Matthias when they appeared and didn’t pay much attention.
Although her initial interaction with Chester had been slightly awkward, she now had a good impression of
him. 2
She said to Trevor, “Chester is really a good and genuine person. It’s very easy to be around him.”
Trevor smiled at that and replied, “He is, indeed.” 10
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