Wishing for the contract marriage to develop into a real marriage, and seeing no hope, Olive clenched her fist once more.
Eight years have passed; it’s about time.
I’ll take responsibility and make him take off that wig!
Olive’s eyes sparkled once again.
***
The Vice President had gone to a meeting, and her stomach was growling.
It was a drowsy afternoon, and she thought about taking a little nap.
Rrr.
The ringing phone interrupted the peaceful afternoon, and Alice frowned.
[Yes, this is Alice Wesley.]
[Alice, are you busy right now?]
On the other end of the line, Vera’s voice sounded urgent.
[No, the Vice President went to a meeting.]
[Help me, no, suddenly they want me to bring coffee! Fifteen cups!]
[What? I can’t be away for long, so let’s hurry back.]
Responding to Vera’s distress call, Alice quickly headed to the café.
“What’s with the sudden request for coffee setup 30 minutes before the meeting? Today of all days, Chef Dani is on vacation, so we’re short-handed.”
The two hurriedly bought coffee and headed back up. Thanks to the pre-order, by the time they arrived at the café, everything was already packed.
“Oh, Secretary Vera. You brought my warm Americano, right? I’m getting old, and my teeth are sensitive.”
As Vera’s boss, Manager Dickson, walked into the meeting room, he threw a comment at Vera.
Vera’s expression clearly showed her inner thoughts, cursing the “damn potbelly.”
Here comes another comment?
“Damn potbelly!”
Seeing Vera’s lips moving without sound, Alice silently laughed.
Thanks to Alice, Vera quickly finished setting up and left her seat to follow Alice.
“Aren’t you going back to your seat? You can’t leave it empty for too long.”
“My destination was here, you know? I already set my phone to forward calls.”
Vera waved her phone at Alice.
“I thought you were alone since the Vice President went to a meeting. I just wanted to chat for about ten minutes.”
Good job, well done.
Though she said ten minutes, who knows how long it would actually take.
Alice felt her freedom was over and stared blankly at the clock hanging on the wall.
The end of happiness, the start of gossip.
“Did you know yesterday was totally intense? The manager was humiliated, and the news has already spread everywhere!”
Vera poked the floor with her index finger.
She was pointing to the marketing department manager on the floor below.
“I guess he wrote the market share figures wrong. The Vice President caught it, and in just a few words, he turned the meeting room tense. Isn’t it impressive how he can command older subordinates even though he’s young?”
Vera almost praised him, shaking her hands together. She even mimicked a commanding gesture.
A handsome man, a dignified man, all true, but he also likes Army Based Stew and smiles shyly when it’s made for him, pretending he doesn’t like it.
I wonder what else the Vice President likes.
As Ryan’s story came up, Alice recalled the aspects of him she had recently learned.
While Vera was chatting away, she seemed to remember something and opened her mouth.
“Oh, I heard a new employee joined?”
“The secretary’s office?”
“No, the public recruitment.”
“What does that have to do with us?”
Alice shook her head and laughed, while Vera slammed her hand on the desk and leaned in closer to Alice.
“Excuse me! Handsome new employees might join! How exciting is that in this ant hell of a company? Even if we want to escape, we’re trapped in credit card hell because of the monthly bills! We don’t have partners, so we can date at work, right?”
“Dating at work, right.”
Haha. Then I’d be having an affair.
“I think new employees joined the management planning department too. I heard today is their first day, but I haven’t seen them yet.”
“Yeah. I’ll let you know if I see them.”
Alice was actually uninterested but answered sincerely.
Then she pushed Vera’s back, telling her to hurry up and get back to work.
***
Ryan, who came home earlier than usual, entered the house where he felt no presence.
“She probably hasn’t come back yet.”
Ryan stepped into the dark house. As he was about to head straight to his room, he suddenly stopped.
It had been a long time since he had been upstairs.
He suddenly became curious about how the second floor had changed and how Alice was living.
He couldn’t bring himself to enter the room, but he wanted to see the living room and the small kitchen.
Thinking he’d just take a quick look and come back down, he made his way upstairs.
He remembered standing on the stairs, chatting with Alice.
Was it around here?
Ryan climbed the stairs one by one, following Alice’s footsteps. He thought about turning on the light but decided to just take a quick look and go back down since he didn’t know when Alice would return.
