Our Love Story: Hard to Guard Against the Sudden Love Strike-Chapter 480 - 458: Reputation

Ian Grant was seething with anger, but Quentin Thorne hadn’t done any of these things in her sight, so she couldn’t find a reason to argue right away. As a result, she had to endure it, feeling utterly miserable, tossing and turning in pain at night.

Finally, on a night at the end of December, she got her chance to explode.

That day was very cold, snow was falling outside. Quentin went to work as usual, but whereas he would usually be home by six, that day he didn’t return until almost eight.

As soon as he entered, he smiled and said to Sienna Thornton, who happened to be coming downstairs, "Sienna, Dad went to The State Guesthouse today to check it out. The main banquet hall can accommodate thirty tables. How about we hold the post-wedding banquet there for you?"

The State Guesthouse, located near the picturesque Forest Park, is one of the hotels used to receive foreign guests. Of course, it is also open for business to others, though few manage to book their banquet halls. Most importantly, it was conveniently less than a kilometer from where Melinda Linton lived at The Springs Residences.

Thinking of Quentin running around in the cold December to find a good venue for her post-wedding banquet, Sienna felt both grateful and touched. She said, "Sure, it’s all fine with me."

Seeing her agreement, Quentin was quite pleased and, while taking off his coat, said, "I brought their menu. Let’s choose the dishes for the banquet later."

Sienna quickly stepped forward to take Quentin’s coat and hung it on the rack, "Please go wash your hands with hot water; it’s time to eat."

Ian and Mina Thorne never helped him with his coat. The whole family usually just went into the dining room to eat when they got home, and no one ever cared if someone needed to wash their hands. For two to three decades, Quentin was used to it and never found it odd.

But after Sienna started staying at the Thorne Family house for more than a month, caring for him in such ways, he realized how cold the house he had been living in was...

.

Quentin washed his face and then went to the dining room, seating himself to discuss the evening details of the post-wedding banquet with Sienna.

"At most, we can have twenty-five tables, and I plan to keep the cost at about 20,000 yuan per table, including drinks."

Sienna listened quietly and asked, "Don’t you have quite a few friends? Would twenty-five tables be enough?"

Quentin said helplessly, "Public servants can’t indulge too much, a maximum of only twenty-five tables, about two hundred and fifty people."

"Alright."

Seeing that Sienna had no objections, Quentin instructed, "In the next few days, when you have time, make a guest list, and I will arrange it. If there are no issues, I’ll find time to pay the deposit."

"How much is the deposit?"

"With a budget of 20,000 per table, twenty-five tables is 500,000. The deposit is ten percent, 50,000 yuan." Quentin couldn’t hide his excitement, as if the banquet was just around the corner.

Right after work that evening, he went to see the venue, standing on the stage of the understated yet luxurious banquet hall at The State Guesthouse, imagining the day of the banquet, when he would personally lead his eldest daughter into the venue and entrust her to a man who loves her. With numerous relatives and friends blessing her, he felt incredibly thrilled and excited.

He pondered over this along the way and, when he got home, he couldn’t wait to eat and started discussing with Sienna, completely ignoring Ian, who had been waiting to have dinner since he got off work and was still starving up to that moment.

While they were discussing, Ian looked very pale and was silently enduring.

Upon hearing that Quentin wanted to spend 500,000 on Sienna’s post-wedding banquet, a sum that didn’t include the dowry, Ian finally couldn’t hold back the years of resentment she had been bottling up. She slammed the chopsticks on the table, stood up, and shouted at Quentin, "Quentin Thorne! You want to spend 500,000 on this girl’s post-wedding banquet? This is joint marital property! Did you ask my opinion? Huh?"

The confrontation and volume quickly matched that of Sylvia Langley’s.

The sharp sound of Ian’s yelling made Sienna’s heart race erratically, and her head buzzed, making her nauseous and almost unable to eat.

She glanced briefly at Quentin and Mina.

Mina remained expressionless, eating her dinner.

Quentin, however, slowly put down his chopsticks, propped his elbows on the dining table, and pressed his interlaced fingers against his forehead, seemingly deep in thought.

The atmosphere turned tense and nail-bitingly silent.

After a while, Quentin slowly lifted his head to look at Ian, with a cold voice, "You can consider this money as my part of our joint marital property."

Ian screamed, her voice almost piercing the roof, "I don’t want that! I’ll go to court tomorrow to apply to freeze all assets under your name! You won’t spend a dime on this girl, not even for her wedding!"

Quentin put his hands down, leaned back into the dining chair, pressed his palms against the table edge, took a deep breath, and said in a small yet earnest warning, "To freeze my assets, unless you can prove my income is illegal, you can only apply under the grounds of filing for divorce! Are you sure about this?"

Ian was taken aback by this. Mina quietly tugged her sleeve, signaling her to stop speaking recklessly.

Ian fell silent.

But no one was in the mood to eat anymore.

Quentin pondered for a moment and eventually decided to give in.

He glanced at Sienna, then at Ian, and asked, "Since you don’t want me to use our joint marital property, I agree."

Hearing this, Ian assumed he had personal savings, and she instantly visualized Quentin secretly supporting Melinda and her daughter with his stash.

Ian was infuriated and bellowed, "How much do you actually have stashed away for this mother and daughter? Huh? If you don’t tell me today, we’re not done!"

Perhaps not wanting to see Ian continue to rant, Quentin had to explain patiently, "There is an inheritance that my mom left for Annie, and I can draw from that first."

"That’s still not okay!" Ian shouted, "Who knows if your mom was biased! I can’t accept that!"

Quentin had reached his limit and was about to ask Ian to talk in the study when Sienna calmly said, "It’s fine, I will cover the 500,000."

After saying that, she smiled at Quentin, "Don’t worry, I have enough for this."

These words turned Ian’s face pale, with all sorts of envious and jealous thoughts surging in her mind. She glared at Quentin and Sienna, and finally asked furiously, "Quentin Thorne, so when this girl has her post-wedding banquet, you plan to sit next to her mother? Aren’t you afraid people will mistake you for a couple?"

Quentin remained silent.

Ian couldn’t take it any longer and broke down screaming, "You’re treating me as if I’m dead! Let me tell you! I will call all the guests and cancel the invitations! I won’t let you embarrass me like this publicly!"

The situation spiraled out of control.

Quentin stood to drag her away, gritting his teeth: "We’ll discuss this in private!"

Ian shook off his hand, "We’ll talk right here! In front of this girl!"

Sienna saw that Quentin was so enraged his face changed color, fearing he might have a stroke any second from this anger.

She felt sorry for Quentin, wishing he would slap Ian to make her stop.

But it seemed, because Mina was present, Quentin dared not do anything to Ian, or perhaps the gentlemanly and refined him would never resort to hitting a woman.

But how to shut Ian’s mad-dog behavior?

Ian was still bickering and screaming with Quentin.

Sienna, getting a headache and unable to stand it any longer, put down her chopsticks and looked coldly at Ian: "So what do you mean, Aunt Grant? Speak up, and let’s discuss it together?"