Janice felt as if she had been doused with a bucket of cold water. She went into a mild daze, slightly enraged. “What do you mean? My internship is almost over. I’ve been performing very well in my job. Why are you extending it? There has to be a reason, right?”The director calmly replied, “Yes, you’re right. You’ve done very well in all aspects of your job, far more outstanding than the batch of interns from this round, but your attitude is horrendous. You’ve already come to blows with your superior before the end of your internship, ending up battered and bloody. As your superior, allow me to give you a piece of advice. The working world isn’t as easy as it seems. Don’t get too cocky, or you’ll get into trouble. Try to tolerate small issues. There is no need to tolerate big issues; the higher-ups in this company aren’t blind. Aren’t you aware of these things? I heard that you’ve gotten close to Mr. Tremont, so I called him, afraid that you might not be satisfied with my decision. H
“Sir, it was on the way anyway. Why didn’t you drop her off? You embarrassed such a young girl,” Mary teased in the car.“She brought it onto herself,” Mark replied indifferently. “No one is allowed to flaunt special treatment in front of me. She’s old enough to know how to avoid awkward situations and how to avoid embarrassment. I am her boss, not her father. It is not my obligation to shelter her from rain.”Then, his attitude changed as he said, “Brian, stop by Ari’s office. It’s raining and she has probably forgotten to bring an umbrella. Pick her up and we’ll go home together.”Brian grunted in reply and steered the car into a different direction. Mary kept quiet, but she was actually elated. There was nothing concerning about a man being hit on by a bevy of girls outside his home. The most important thing of all was that he had the ability to remain in control. Mark wasn’t gallant enough, but he was certainly loyal to Arianne.Mark gave Arianne a call when he arrived at her o
Mark did not give an honest answer. “We usually wash it pretty often. Forget it. I’m going upstairs to shower.”Mary watched him quickly walk away before ratting on him to Arianne. “A young girl from the company sat in the front seat just as we left the office. It was raining and the entire seat got wet. Brian wiped it clean, but Mr. Tremont still found it unbearable. He has always been this way from a young age. He can never stand anything greasy, sticky, or damp. She got into the car and asked him to drop her off along the way. In the end, he chased out of the car and went off to pick you up. That’s what’s great about Mr. Tremont. He’s not a flirt.”The corners of Arianne’s lips lifted spontaneously. “Not bad… He’s really not much of a flirt. This girl—is her name Janice Bell? I know of her.”Mary nodded. “I think so. I saw that name on her staff card. She fought with her supervisor today too and ended up bleeding in the head. She ran to Mr. Tremont’s office to file a complaint, b
It was about an hour later when Smore finally fell asleep. Arianne returned to the bedroom to a scowling, silently-sulky Mark sitting on their bed, radiating a kind of aura only found in bitter housewives.She chuckled. “What?”“You,” he grumbled. “You work during the day, and when you come home, you focus only on that little fella over there. Then finally, you go to sleep! What, am I just an appendage?”Arianne climbed into the bed and underneath the sheet. She let out a satisfied, relaxed sigh before replying, “Well, are you saying I shouldn’t go to work, then? You agreed to this, though; no backsies. Besides, I think life is pretty good to us. I sleep with you every night rather than with Smore, you know, so honestly, I spend more time with you than with him. Now, you can’t possibly turn green over the attention I give to a child, can you? He’s your son.”He laid down next to her and pulled her into his embrace. “Oh, you’re sleeping with me, alright. You go straight to sleep aft
Jackson pressed the bell for a good long while but no one answered the door. He began to suspect that Tanya was avoiding the door, despite being at home, simply because she noticed it was him.He had just begun to brainstorm a workaround when Tanya’s voice suddenly rang from behind him. “What are you doing here?”Jackson turned. His sight landed on the food produce in her carrying bags and realized she had only gone to the market. “Got something to ask of you.”Tanya lowered her head a little, slightly nervous. “Um, o-okay… Let me open the door, and we can talk after we get in.”The first thing that Jackson did after stepping into the unit was to look around and say, “I thought you’d married that Jett guy. So, why is he still letting you stay in an apartment unit you rented?”Tanya had nothing to answer him. She didn’t know if Jett owned a house of his own or how much money he had in his bank account. All she knew about her supposed husband was that he, at the very least, owned a
Tanya clenched her jaw for a second, as though mustering her last ounce of courage before making an important decision. “I know very little of anything. All I know is that Alejandro pretends to be disabled and that he mentioned spending three years falling in love with Tiffany. All that he does is always for the same goal—he wants to break apart you and Tiffany. That’s it, that’s all I know. I’ve told you everything I know, so please keep this a secret from Tiffany. Please, because if she knows a single thing about this, I’ll be dead!”Three years?A name sprung into Jackson’s mind immediately: Ethan Connors.Ethan was the one person Tiffany had loved for three years. He was also the man who made Jackson jealous.Suddenly, it felt as though a hedge of brambles had grown all over his heart, stinging and prickling him with unease. If Alejandro was Ethan in disguise, then everything that had occurred finally made perfect sense.How ironic it was that while Tiffany had loved Ethan for
Jackson nodded and pulled her back to their table, beckoning her to finish her meal while he swept his troubles under his mental rug.He regretted mentioning Ethan’s name and frightening Tiffany like that. To be fair, he had not at all expected her to take it so badly—and now he wished he could tell her with absolute conviction that Ethan died in South Africa. But things always refused to go as smoothly as one hoped.The weekend came. Jackson sent Tiffany away to Lilian’s place for the day and promised to come back for her at night. Then, he went straight to the Tremont Estate.He recounted everything he knew up to this point to Mark, who, for his part, took some time to comb through the information before saying, “It’s not that hard to find out whether Alejandro Smith is or isn’t Ethan Connors—we just need to do a DNA analysis. He’s currently staying in a hospital, right? That makes it easier to get a hold of his blood sample.”“What if he is, without a doubt, Ethan?” Jackson demu
The Chief Nurse was just as helpless. “What can we do? Does anyone from the Smith family look like someone we can go up against? Urgh, just extract another blood sample from that patient.”Jett caught up with the nurse and bumped into her before swapping the blood sample in her pocket with the one he had swiped earlier. “Excuse me.”The nurse rummaged through her pocket out of habit before drawing out a sigh of relief at finding the sample intact.Jett stood still at his spot and waited until the nurse was farther away. He only resumed following her after she turned into another corner.He watched the nurse pass the sample to Jackson and quickly hurried back to Alajendro’s ward. “Mr. Smith, Jackson sent that nurse, who gave him the blood sample. I’ve switched out your blood with another sample before she could get it to him without the nurse noticing.”Alejandro’s mien turned icy, muttering, “Suspecting me already, huh? That’s sooner than I thought. What went wrong? They shouldn