Chapter 7

[Hannah]

The same bakery, the same scent of butter, yet today it felt so much better than before.

Why was that? Because today was her last day working there.

No, Hannah was not even working. Why would she, when her boss refused to pay the remainder of her salary just because Hannah resigned in the middle of the month?

That cheapskate even asked Hannah to come in and sign an agreement stating that she would not sue him for the unpaid wages from last month. Reluctantly, Hannah did it rather than risk him causing trouble at her new workplace.

Honestly, she felt robbed. But since the representative from the RQL group who contacted her insisted Hannah start working immediately, she had to sacrifice that pitiful paycheck. They had even offered a signing bonus worth more than her previous salary.

After signing the agreement, she slipped it into a folder. After this, she still had to meet with the RQL representative, then head to the office to sign the contract. She had deliberately arranged to meet her boss early in the morning before the bakery opened. A few employees were already there too, so Hannah took the chance to say goodbye to them.

“I’m jealous of you. I should’ve been the one to quit,” Liz said as she nudged Hannah’s shoulder with hers. “But I’m happy for you, though.”

“Thanks.” Hannah smiled shyly.

“So… you’re going to become the secretary of a handsome young executive? Does your job include serving him too?” Liz winked mischievously.

“Hey!” Hannah glared at her. “You’re crazy!”

Liz burst out laughing at Hannah’s reaction. “That’s how it is in the movies.”

“There’s nothing like that. I heard his wife was involved in the recruitment process too.”

“Then his wife must’ve been looking for someone who seemed safe for her husband. No wonder you got picked.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hannah frowned, placing her hands on her hips. “Are you saying I don’t have any sex appeal?”

Liz laughed again.

To be honest, Hannah had thought the same thing herself. She did not exactly have much sex appeal in the eyes of men. Hannah had never even dated before. She was far too clumsy to flirt with men. Not that she minded. Maybe that was one of the reasons she got accepted.

After saying her goodbyes to her coworkers, she headed to Bellmoire Café, where she was supposed to meet the RQL representative from the job listing site.

Judging from the name alone, it sounded like Hannah could blow her entire daily food budget just on a single glass of orange juice there. During her hour-and-a-half bus ride to the café, Hannah had already checked the menu, read every review, and decided she would order nothing but sparkling mineral water. That was it.

The scent of coffee mixed with vanilla and other expensive-smelling essences greeted her the moment she opened the door. Soft jazz music floated through the air. Dark wooden interiors and walls painted in muted tones. Expensive wine bottles decorated the shelves.

Unlike the employees at her bakery with their worn-out aprons, she was welcomed by a waiter dressed in a tailored black uniform with neatly styled hair. The waiter escorted her to a table adorned with fresh white lilies.

“I’m waiting for someone. I’ll order later,” she said politely as she handed back the menu.

“Of course. Please call me when you’re ready to order.”

Hannah smiled until the waiter had completely left.

Deep down, she felt too guilty to order sparkling mineral water after all this service. Hannah just hoped that person from RQL would arrive soon.

Ah, they had already exchanged personal phone numbers. So Hannah immediately contacted them to say she was already waiting at the café.

Not long after, someone’s footsteps stopped at her table.

“Hannah Barker?”

Hannah looked up and found Maria smiling at her.

“Can I sit down?”

“Oh, sure… please,” she replied awkwardly.

She had not expected to meet Maria here. Hannah thought she would be meeting someone from HR. Wasn’t Maria someone fairly high-ranking there? The others had called her “Ma’am” during the interview back then.

Maria called over a waiter and asked about the café’s signature latte and today’s dish recommendation. Without even looking at the menu or the price list, she ordered right away.

Hannah did the same, ordering without opening the menu.

Sparkling mineral water.

“We’ve met before during the interview, haven’t we?”

Hannah nodded. “That’s right.”

“Maybe I should reintroduce myself.” She held out her hand. “I’m Maria, Damian Lee’s wife.”

Huh.

What?

Why?

Hannah knew that her soon-to-be boss’s wife had been involved in the hiring process. But she had no idea she was this involved. The person who had contacted her from the start… was his wife?

So Liz had been right.

“I’m Hannah Barker,” she said, shaking Maria’s hand.

Maria chuckled. “I know.”

Right.

“You’ve already taken care of resigning from your current job, haven’t you?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Don’t call me that when we’re alone. Just call me Maria.” She reassured Hannah. “When it’s just the two of us, I don’t want you to see me as…” she made quotation marks with her fingers, “your boss’s wife.”

‘But you actually are his wife!’ Hannah thought to herself. ‘Then what are you to me? My friend?’

Maria seemed to notice the confusion in Hannah’s eyes. She reached for Hannah’s hand while staring at her intently.

“Think of me as your client.”

Hannah became even more confused.

“Outside your official job, I want you to do what I tell you without Damian or anyone else finding out. You’ll report directly to me.”

“Like a spy? A double agent?”

“Mm, yeah, something like that.”

So not only was Hannah seen as a woman without enough sex appeal to threaten someone’s husband, Maria was also turning her into a spy to report on her own husband’s activities. The kind of thing Hannah thought only existed in fiction apparently happened in real life too.

Hannah was not familiar with this kind of world. Everything confused her.

She was not even familiar with the waiter who just so elegantly placed their orders on the table, as if he’d spent four years studying how to arrange plates. Nothing like this ever happened in her bakery. Hannah even felt intimidated just by the way Maria’s meal was plated.

“Thank you,” Maria said to the waiter.

Hannah waited until the waiter walked away before asking.

“So you trust me? I mean, you believe I won’t flirt with your husband instead?”

Maria chuckled. “You will do as I say. That’s what I believe.”

Maria pulled out two brown envelopes. One was small and thick, while the other was thin and large.

She slid the thin envelope forward. “This is a contract with an NDA clause for you to sign.” Then the thick one. “And this one is your signing bonus.”

Hannah took out the contents of the thin envelope. Inside were several pages of documents filled with all kinds of terms and conditions. But Hannah could not focus on reading through them one by one. Her thoughts were fixed on the thick envelope in front of her.

Just from its thickness alone, Hannah knew there was a lot of money inside. Was spying on someone’s husband really worth this much?

Hesitantly, Hannah opened the envelope and glanced at its contents. She had never held that much money in her life.

“Do you want to count it first?”

Hannah quickly shook her head. “Is this real?”

“Yeah. And we don’t have much time. Aren’t you supposed to go to RQL after this to sign your contract?” Maria glanced at her watch. “You don’t want to be late, do you?”

Without thinking any further, Hannah took out a pen from her bag. Besides, she did not really have another choice. Hannah no longer had a job. And if she refused this extra assignment, Maria might cancel her recruitment entirely. After all, if Maria had been the reason Hannah was chosen in the first place, then surely she had enough authority to undo it too, right?

Maria sipped her drink in peace, while watching Hannah sign the documents.

“Besides your salary from the office, you’ll also receive money from me. So you don’t need to worry about that. I’ll compensate you.”

“Is this job dangerous? I mean, what happens if Mr. Damian Lee finds out?”

“I. Will. Compensate. You.”

Hannah took a deep breath and handed the documents back to Maria.

There was actually something bothering her in the back of her mind, but Hannah could not figure out what it was.

In the end, Hannah decided to trust Maria.

This was not a bad job… right? Besides, what was the worst that could happen?