Chapter 3

All Eugene did was scoff and reply indignantly, "Can you handle the consequences if I fought with Tina and it affected her work?"

This reply rendered me speechless. I had no idea what he was thinking. The way his brain worked was a complete mystery to me.

Before I could say another word, Eugene continued being pushy, "Turn on your camera right now! I want to see where you are and who is with you. Get a 360-degree angle of your surroundings clearly!"

Frustration filled me to the brim. I clenched my phone and tried to be as patient as possible. "I'm in a meeting, Mr. Larson. Can you stop making a scene? Please contact Miss Kayden if you need anything. I'm just a manager, not a messenger between lovers."

"Turn on your camera! Turn it on, and I'll believe you! Otherwise, whatever you tell me is a lie!"

I had nothing to hide, so I turned on my camera and aimed it at the door of the meeting room I had just walked out of. "See that? I told you I was in a mee…"

"Aaaarggghhh! Andrew Sanders, you b*stard! Are you trying to have an office affair with Tina? Don't even think about seducing her as long as I'm around!"

The last of my patience had been exhausted, and I hung up right away. I even deleted him from my contacts and all social media.

After this series of actions, I looked at my phone's clean homepage. Even the air suddenly felt fresher than usual.

Back inside the meeting room, Tina and Kent were chatting happily. It looked like they were about to move into the next phase of signing the contract.

Kent took the contract and said to Tina with a smile, "Plenty of major companies are eyeing this project. Some of their tenders are higher than yours, but we're old friends, and I trust working with old friends, especially Mr. Sanders here. He's quite a talent. He's professional and highly capable. It isn't easy to find a subordinate like him."

His high praise did not make me full of myself. It was an acknowledgement of my work capabilities. Tina was clearly relieved, and she started to quickly return compliments to Kent. When Kent was about to sign the contract, a loud bang was heard as the meeting room door was flung open.

Kent's secretary was trying to stop Eugene, who had barged in furiously. The secretary was apologetic as she tried to explain, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Charleston. This gentleman claims to be Miss Kayden's boyfriend and is insistent on 'supervising the meeting'. I couldn't stop him…"

Before she could finish, Eugene pushed the secretary to the side and came running toward me. He raised his hand and slapped me.

Slap!

The crisp sound echoed loudly in the silent meeting room. Everyone was shocked.

I put my hand to my burning cheek and looked coldly at Eugene, whose face was covered in tears, and his eyes were swollen like walnuts. He had been crying all the way here. However, he acted like he had suffered a great grievance, as if the person who was slapped was him.

Tina quickly went over to him. She sounded anxious, "What are you doing here, Eugene?"

Before Eugene replied, he looked at everyone around judgmentally and turned to look at Kent, who was in the middle of the meeting room. The screen was still displaying our PowerPoint presentation, and the table was covered with documents. Everything pointed to this meeting being a normal business meeting.

Eugene realized the trouble he had caused, and he immediately launched into 'gentle mode'. He held Tina's hand with a pitiful look on his face. "I… I send you messages, but you didn't reply them right away. I came over here because I was worried something had happened to you."

He looked at me timidly while speaking and insinuated, "Mr. Sanders deleted me from his contacts and didn't reply to my messages. He wasn't even particularly nice to me. I…"

The more he spoke, the more pitiful he sounded. Eugene's eyes turned red as he repeated the words 'I'm sorry' and 'It wasn't on purpose'.

I tried my best to suppress my anger. Before I could say anything, Tina suddenly grabbed me by the arm and insisted, "You! Apologize to Eugene!"