Tiffany quietly pushed open the door of the conference door, trying her best not to draw attention to herself. However, almost instantaneously, a talking Jackson’s attention drifted to her face the moment she stepped in. It lasted about two seconds before it casually left her.Tiffany’s mind had only one remark: that was it? That? Was it?She had not expected such a placid reaction. Had he really let her go or what?Amy was quick to remind her, “Miss Lane, despite being the Assistant Director, you’re late by a good whole twenty minutes.”An unnatural expression shadowed Jackson’s mien. He had been mildly surprised when he saw Tiffany coming into the room, but he remembered that all was per Summer’s arrangement and got over it. But now, it seemed that his dear mother appointed Tiffany as the Assistant Director, too.He should probably be glad that she was just the “assistant”…?He faked a cough before interjecting. “Take a seat, Miss Lane. Let’s resume this meeting—we’ll discuss y
Tiffany placed her notebook down on her desk before snapping pointedly, “And where am I supposed to sit?”Jackson replied without raising his eyes to hers, “Grab a chair yourself, duh. How the hell did you end up as ‘assistant director’ with that brain?”His retort chaffed Tiffany enough that she snickered, placing her hands on her hips. “It’s not that I wanted to be one, you know. I came here thinking I was going to be a mere supervisor! Anyway, you already know that I got my job through my connection, so why even bother asking, Einstein?”Perhaps a little worried about her tone, Amy quickly interjected with feigned coughs. “Er, Miss Lane? You could grab a chair and move to my desk.”Tiffany stormily yanked a chair to where Amy sat, took a seat, and glowered at Jackson. “Can’t keep your hands to yourself, huh? Don’t you dare kill my cactus with those poisonous fingers of yours!”Jackson immediately retracted his hand from the prickly plant and assumed a more serious, upright posi
Arianne was warmed to her core, but she remained unaffected on the surface. “Meh, it’s alright. You make way more of a mess out of me than Smore, a baby, ever could,” she intoned. “Come back soon, why won’t you?”Unfortunately, Arianne’s word choice invited misinterpretation. To Mark, the takeaway was that his wife was miffed by him neglecting her for half a month. Hence, when he saw that no one was around, he leaned close to her ears and breathed, “Hmm. That might just be what I’ll do tonight. We’ll kick Smore into his bedroom so that his Mommy and Daddy can have some privacy. Just you wait.”Arianne’s face turned as bright as a tomato. “Wait! T-That’s not what I meant!”He smirked. “Oh, that was exactly what you meant. Don’t play coy.”Arianne watched him hurriedly strutting away, the corner of her lips slightly quivering.Could this be what it felt like to have a happy, normal family? Just the three of them living in blithe serendipity, never fearing if any one of them would ab
The only reason behind Arianne’s wish to repair the Wynn Mansion was that it was her father’s childhood home. Hence, she could not possibly stand by and watch it slowly decay into ruin as the passing of time wrangled it. Yet, she was also hesitating because she worried that spending all of this money on the house would make her seem a little immature. The Tremonts’ money did not grow on trees.Neither was she willing to sell it away. From the way Henry described it, this antique mansion's price could rake up to about a few hundred million. Arianne was not terribly in need of that amount in her life, but the alternative—spending a similarly hefty sum on repairing and maintaining this house—also seemed like an obtuse move. Any entrepreneur would immediately recognize this as an investment with no returns.The dilemma stayed in Arianne’s mind on the way home. In the end, she decided to discuss it with Mark once he came home from work to see if he had better ideas.Several miles away fr
Tiffany was stunned. “Wait, but how did you—?”Amy turned to the mirror and tidied the locks of her hair. “Mr. West reacted to you falling off the chair with this superhuman-like reflex, man. The sort people only reserve for those that matter in their hearts. No one would have been so ready to save a damsel at the drop of a hat like that! That was including the fact that his back was facing you! Also, you’re the only person in this entire company who dares talk back at him this way.’Bitter melancholy rose to Tiffany’s chest. “What we have is all in the past, though. And to be frank, I honestly never wanted to get here through this ‘connection’. God, it’s so embarrassing. Anyway, I think I hid here long enough. I can’t stay here forever; it’s quite nauseating.”Amy patted her shoulder like an encouraging elder sister. “All in the past, huh? Then let it—not you—stay in the past. Now, you’re the assistant director of the branch company in South Park, and he’s your superior, your boss.
The two of them looked at each other and shook their heads. Obviously worried, neither dared walk into the office right then and there.It was only after the financial department was done being screamed at and had all come out of the room with defeated, pale faces that the two fearfully entered the office. They pretended to have heard nothing prior to their entry and focused on their work, pointedly ignoring Jackson out of fear.Unfortunately, sometimes a mine just did not need anything to detonate it. Even without prompt, Jackson took out the rest of his anger on Amy.“I’m under the impression that you’ve been working under us for many, many years, haven’t you, Miss Velasquez? Hmm? Do you know that, before our compartmentalization, this place used to be our company's headquarter, governed by my mother before she passed the baton to me? In other words, this is like our second HQ! So tell me, why the heck was my ‘second HQ’ bombing so hard last year, huh? And now, based on the perfor
Jackson returned to his seat behind his desk and hummed, “Mm.”Amy drew in a shaky breath and strolled back to her seat feebly. It was then that Jackson suddenly asked, “So, where are you two going for snacks? I think there’s catering in this building, no? Why skip dinner?”He seemed to be talking to Amy, but it was quite apparent that Tiffany was the real subject of the question.Amy mulled over her words for a bit before answering, “Well, Miss Lane had been working real hard lately, so she hadn’t gotten the time. As for snacks, there’s a nearby street filled with seafood vendors that just started their business, and I heard praises from our coworkers who’d been there. I was hoping to try ‘em out. Are you interested too, Mr. West?”Tiffany swore that Amy’s brain must have stopped working to think this was a good idea. They had waited for the entire day to leave the office behind and reward themselves with a relaxing session of good food, yet, here she was, inviting the source of t
His greatest saving grace? This was her first time seeing him display such immense guilt over all of his mistakes in the past. She felt compelled to hold him.She gazed at Aristotle, who was still full of energy, and suggested, “Maybe… We can try handing Aristotle over to Mary? He’s not sleepy yet, so he probably won’t fuss.”It took Mark a while before he understood what Arianne meant. Usually, he would have to force that little third wheel away. Today, it was a rare sight for her to take the initiative. Of course, he was happy. “Okay. Take him. I’ll wait for you in the bedroom.”Arianne blushed as she carried Aristotle away. She found Mary and tried her best to look as normal as possibly. She tried her best to regulate her breathing. “Mary, could you take care of Smore for now? I’ll take him to bed later.”Mary happily accepted Aristotle into her arms. “Sure. It’s fine. Come over for him later. He’s not sleepy yet, so I’ll take him for a walk around the garden. He’ll get sick too