Back at De Clarion Empire, Belle receives a text message from Nathalie. Her friend is asking her to drop by the club tonight.
Belle automatically smiled after reading the message, putting her phone back inside her bag. Jacob does not have any tasks for her at the moment, and she is starting to feel bored.
She is about to stand up and go to the restroom when the white phone rings, "Get me coffee downstairs," Tristan orders. Belle was about to answer when the call ended. She sticks her tongue out before rolling her eyes.
"Make sure he doesn't see you doing that…" Jacob warned her. Belle's face turns tomato red. She feels embarrassed after Jacob saw what she did. She can only go out of the office with her head bowed down.
Jacob, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh as soon as their office door closed. He can't believe that this is the same girl who ran away from her marriage with Tristan. His laugh grows louder when he starts imagining Tristan's reaction if he sees Belle doing that.
He is startled when his phone rings. He then turns to the printer after receiving the call and takes the paper from it. Running his eyes thru the document, he can't help but be surprised and confused at the same time.
The document contains a detailed report on the Williams family. He then steps out and heads to the CEO’s office, handing the document to his boss.
The expression on Tristan’s face changed several times. While looking at the document, Tristan looked surprised, confused, and angry, but Jacob expected this.
In the document sent to them, it was stated that Lawrence Williams had been married. This happened before his marriage to the current Mrs. Williams, Esme.
His first wife, however, died from suicide. Before that, they also had a daughter, who they lost when she was only seven years old. It was a kidnapping incident.
"Does that mean I was supposed to marry this Yssabelle and not Vernice?" Tristan asked without looking at his assistant.
Before Jacob can answer, however, they hear someone knocking on the door of the CEO's office. Jacob takes the initiative to open the door and sees Belle standing there with a coffee cup in one hand and a saucer with a slice of chocolate cake in the other hand.
Jacob looks at Belle before turning his head to Tristan. 'What is going on? He's never asked for cake before?'
Tristan noticed the open door with Jacob standing there when he looked up. "Who's there?" he asked. It was only then that Jacob realizes he has to let Belle in.
"I brought your coffee, Mr. De Clarion," Belle tells him cheerfully, as she puts down the coffee on his table. "And here's a thank-you gift for the job," she adds.
Jacob can't help but smile, but he bows down before doing so. He is looking forward to their first argument after seeing Belle's childish actions.
He can't help but wonder who will win, regardless of Tristan's position as the company's CEO. Both of them are childish. They are both short-tempered at times too.
"I didn't ask for this, take it away," referring to the slice of cake placed on his table. He even pushes it away, as if he was disgusted.
Belle frowns for a second before smiling again. She is trying her best not to snap at her boss who is being ungrateful for her gift.
"I'm giving this to you because I want to thank you for accepting me to the company," she explains. "I looked into an interview of yours and you mentioned you're not fond of sweets. I swear this isn't annoyingly sweet!" she added before pushing the saucer closer to him.
Jacob knows the CEO is about to lose his patience. Tristan's brows are already knitted and it will only take a few seconds before… Smash!
Both the cake and saucer went flying across the room. Fortunately, Belle was quick enough to dodge it so she wasn't hit.
"Hey! What do you think you just did?" Belle spats him.
Jacob massages his temple, keeping his head bowed down. Although he wants to meddle, he forces himself not to give in to the urge.
Tristan looks at Belle with his brows still knitted. "Are you sure you're questioning me? Do you want to go there, Miss Roberts?"
Belle is taken aback. He is right. Who is she to question him? So, instead of answering Tristan, Belle bows down as a sign of apology.
She starts picking up the cake that landed on the couch along with the pieces of glass on the carpet from the broken saucer. 'This asshole!' she whispers to herself as she does so.
While busy cleaning up, she cuts her hand from the broken glass but pays no attention to it. After picking up large shards of glass, she stands straight to face Tristan.
"I'll clean up the rest after throwing these out," she turns around, but her feet won't move.
Heaving a sigh, she turned to face the CEO once again. She needs to say something, she can't help it. "Don't you know it's bad to throw away food?" referring to the cake in her hand.
When she didn't get an answer, she walked closer to Tristan's table and grabbed the coffee cup, "I'm taking this too, since I bought this with my own money. I'll get one that will be paid by you," she turns on her heel and closes the door behind her, leaving both men dumbfounded.
"What just happened?" Tristan asked Jacob, still staring at the closed office door. He can't believe that Belle actually told him off.
"She just scolded you," the assistant answers in an amused tone. Tristan glared at him, Jacob then averted his eyes toward the window, pretending to be looking at the scenery outside. He is trying his best not to laugh at his boss.
Tristan let out a harsh sigh before massaging his nose bridge. "Get out," he said, without looking at the man standing next to his table.
He knows that Jacob is holding his laughter in. If he stays longer, Tristan might strangle him, thus he asked him to leave.
Minutes after Jacob left Tristan's office, someone is knocking again. "Come in," he says in a loud voice.
Waiting for the person to show up, he can't help but smile as soon as she sees her. This time, it was Joyce.
The door opens and her savior-slash-childhood friend-slash-ex-girlfriend, Joyce, comes in. She is smiling sweetly as she walks toward the man seated, like a king, on his chair. “Why are you in a bad mood?” she asks, still smiling, before giving him a peck on the cheek. Tristan just shakes his head, letting out a sigh to calm his nerves. "Nothing," he replies in a flat tone while rearranging the documents on his table. "Why are you here?" “I’ve no one to go with for lunch. Could you join me?” Tristan looks at Joyce and smiles. He nods in agreement, then he suddenly remembers Belle and what she did earlier. This woman, who looks exactly like Vernice, is already giving him a headache during her first month at the company. He can’t help but grit his teeth. He feels like he has to teach her a lesson, but he can’t think of a way to do it. Of course, this lesson should be one that will not make him petty in any way. Before he can go on thinking of an evil punishment for his secretary,
After eating lunch, Jacob cleans his area right away. He then picks up a folder from his table, gets out of their office, and goes straight for the CEO. He enters Tristan’s office as soon as he hears him respond to his knocks. “What happened to you? You almost broke the door!” Jacob tries to be funny but Tristan just glares at him. His boss let out a sigh before leaning on his chair. “Belle didn’t tell you anything?” he asked. Jacob shook his head, clueless. “He kissed Eric! Right in front of me and everyone else at the restaurant!” he narrates through gritted teeth. Jacob’s forehead creases, “What’s the matter then?” he asks Tristan, unsure what is making him angry. ‘So what if Belle kissed a man in front of him? It doesn’t have anything to do with him anyway.’ “I don’t know…” Tristan mumbles. He stands up to face the window and slips his hands into his pockets. “To be honest, I don’t know why I’m mad…” he confesses. "Her constant displays of guts annoy me, I don't understand why…
"Are the foods ready?" Tristan asked his assistant on their way to the conference room.Jacob glanced towards their office to see if Belle was already there. "Not yet, maybe there's a long line at the café," trying to make an excuse for the secretary."She's so slow!" the CEO clicks his tongue, irritated.Jacob let out a sigh before scratching the back of his head. "You know how most people eat their breakfast here. Maybe that's why she's taking a while."Tristan didn't respond to him. He just quickened his pace to reach the conference room immediately. As soon as they get there, Jacob opens the door for him and he immediately sits down after greeting the visitors. He opens the folder in front of him to get them started.They are already in the middle of a discussion when someone knocks. Jacob stands up to open the door, only to see Belle struggling with the food packs.He quickly put down the folder in his hand to help the secretary. Jacob takes some of the food packs from her.Both
Vernice keeps phasing back and forth in their living room. She is actually worried about their current situation.Earlier, she checked their joint bank account and saw that there were only a few dollars left. She can't help but think about how they will survive.She and Hans rented an apartment in Lys where they can stay in the meantime. It was their temporary solution, while they were waiting for the company to take off.However, she can't help but think about when they will be able to buy their own house. When can they afford it? Renting will cost them a lot and it's a waste of money.Hans just opened his company and it's only been a month. Although he managed to convince two people to invest, they did not have enough clients yet for their finance company to get going.No client means no income, and of course, they cannot use their capital on unnecessary spending. They have to save it for future business use.Vernice, on the other hand, is a huge spender. She is used to having a lav
Later that day, Jacob was called to the CEO's office again. This time, Tristan gave him a black card and was instructed to give it to Belle.Tristan's exact words were, "Give this to Belle, she can use it to purchase everything she needs for her job. Clothes, shoes, bags, or whatever it is she needs to function properly at work."Although he was confused, he could only follow his boss' instructions. 'Why was I not given a black card? I've been working for him for years!'He wanted to feel jealous of Belle, but thinking about it, he knows fairly well why he is doing this. He couldn’t help but smile at his friends.In the office, Belle's been staring at the card on her table for several minutes now. She still can't believe what she's seeing before her eyes.'Is this really a black card? And can I use it?' Her mind is in deep thought but she can't stop herself from smiling."I take back what I said before. He isn't stingy, sorry," she tells Jacob, chuckling. Jacob wants to respond to her
Belle smiled immediately at the man in front of her. “Hi!” she exclaimed.“I’ll walk you back,” Eric smiled. “Who are you with?” he asked, walking alongside Belle.“I’m with my friend!” Belle introduced Nathalie to him as soon as they reached their spot and her friend couldn’t take her eyes off of the gorgeous lad.Eric sat with them. They were talking about random things when a woman in a skimpy outfit, looking wasted, approached Eric and snaked her arm around his neck.“Hi babe, who are these bitches?” she asked, her words slurred.Belle’s brow immediately flicked after hearing what she said. She suppressed the urge to talk back though she wanted to do more than that.Eric saw her reaction. Scratching the back of his head, he smiled apologetically at Belle before removing the woman’s arm from his neck.“Behave, Lea, they are my friends,” lightly pushing the vulgar woman away from him.The woman called Lea snickers, “I’ve been waiting for you for hours. It was a different woman earli
Tristan entered the venue right after he stepped out of the car. He went in alone as Jacob still needed to pick up Belle and Agnes.He headed to the lounge and found his grandfather, sitting there with a wineglass in his hand. “You’re late,” the old man told him, Tristan chuckled.“No one’s even here yet,” he retorted.“The Williams called me yesterday, they told me they’re visiting next week,” he informed his grandson of the upcoming problem.Tristan’s forehead creased. He called a waiter to ask for a drink, “What do they want?”Frederick shrugged, “No idea, they just said they were visiting,” he chuckled. Implying he knows there is something else behind the visit.Tristan was about to say something when another waiter called for them. They were informed that the visitors were already arriving.The grandfather and grandson duo had no choice but to walk out of the lounge and welcome their guests. They were standing side by side facing the entrance, both looking like royalty.The first
Some of the visitors had already left when Tristan came back. A few more minutes later, everyone else started bidding him and his grandfather farewell too.The old De Clarion kept glancing at him inquisitively. “I’ll tell you about it later,” he told him, but Frederick just snorted in response.Seeing him with Agnes was really an eyesore. When Agnes left, Tristan disappeared as well. That is why the old man can’t help but imagine things.When he saw his grandson looking grumpy when he came back, he dismissed his undesirable thoughts. ‘It’s probably not what I was thinking.’ Once everyone had left, Tristan asked Frederick to go with him to the VIP suite. Along the way, he told his grandfather what had happened.Frederic was also furious at Agnes. “How can she do that when she’s not even a welcome guest?!” he spat.“How is she?” he asked Jacob as soon as they stepped inside the suite. Looking at the empty couch, he creased his forehead at his assistant.Jacob gestured towards the bedro