When I saw the state of my office, I told Atticus, "I'll call you back later."
"Sure," Atticus said, and he hung up the phone.
I looked at Carol, who seemed furious, and asked, "What's going on?"
Adelaide immediately jumped in. "Ms. Chloe, it's all my fault. When you and Ms. Carol weren't in the office, I was so busy that I forgot to tidy up your office."
Her explanation sounded reasonable, but the current situation told a different story. Was my office really in such a mess just because I wasn't around?
She was eloquent, but I wasn't buying it. It was evident that someone had messed with my office while I was away.
Carol looked at me, intending to explain, "Ms. Chloe—"
"Ms. Chloe, don't blame Ms. Carol. It's my fault. Ms. Carol wasn't here, and I should have taken more responsibility. It's all my negligence."
Adelaide humbly apologized and glanced at Carol, speaking cautiously, "Ms. Carol, I'm not trying to complain. I understand that you might have had something to attend to. I'm just explaining."
Then, she turned to me again. "Ms. Chloe, please wait a moment. I'll fix it right away!"
After saying that, she swiftly started cleaning up. My gaze met Carol's, and I calmly said, "You can leave."
Carol, taken aback by my attitude, stared at me for a moment. I remained composed. She turned and walked out of the office.
I walked back to my desk and noticed some grease stains on it. It seemed someone had been eating or doing something messy here.
The cushion on the chair, originally a clean white linen, was now wrinkled and disheveled.
I picked it up and tossed it across the desk, then reached for a few alcohol wipes. I wiped down the desk, removing any traces, before finally taking a seat.
I kept a steady gaze on Adelaide, who efficiently cleaned up my office.
She picked up the cushion I had thrown away and looked at me with a questioning expression.
I coldly remarked, "I don't want something others have sat on. I'm a germaphobe."
After all, she had never kept everyone waiting before, especially not in front of all the executives.
Grayson just stared at her blankly.
Carol looked a bit uneasy and glanced at Adelaide, who remained calm and neatly organized the documents.
She handed them to Carol again, adding, "Ms. Carol, if there's any issue, please tell me in private. We shouldn't waste people's time."
This statement immediately raised questions from everyone present. They all looked at Carol, somewhat puzzled. Clearly, there was an underlying meaning in her words.
I observed everything silently, not making much of a reaction.
Then, I spoke up. "Alright, let's proceed with the meeting."
Everyone shifted their focus away from Carol, but I knew she must be feeling quite frustrated, given my ambiguous attitude.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Beyond the Divorce by Third Blossom
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This story would be interesting if there weren't so many garbled paragraphs. Half sentences and missed paragraphs. It's too much, give us a proper story. I'm done reading...
Atlas literally took Chloe away from Ryan Ryan needs to go back and reinforce to be able to be head-on Caz that's the only place he's lacking...