Love My Friends with Benefits novel Chapter 35

It was already nine-thirty when I woke up the next morning.

In other words, I was late.

I staggered to the bathroom with a splitting headache. I looked at myself in the mirror and found two huge dark eye circles dominating my face.

"Oh, my God..."

There was no way I could go to work like this.

I sighed and took out my phone to call Mr. Chow and ask for the day off.

Once the call was connected, Mr. Chow beat me to the chase and said, "Queena, why aren't you at the office yet?"

"Something cropped up yesterday," I explained. "I want to take another day off."

Unexpectedly, Mr. Chow rejected me without hesitation. "That won't do."

My head hurt even more. "Why?"

"Austin called me and said that he was going to bring some documents over for you to go through again." Mr. Chow was obviously in a tough spot. "You know how he specifically asked for you to handle this... anyway, this is a huge deal..."

Mr. Chow trailed off. I knew what he was thinking, though.

I wanted this deal with Austin too. The commission that I'd get from this one deal would be enough for me to live comfortably for a whole year. Moreover, I was on the brink of promotion. I'd probably be able to go one step further if this deal were to go through...

I gave it some thought and agreed. "I'll head over right now."

...

It was already ten-thirty when I arrived at the company.

Mr. Chow led me to the conference room. Through the glass, I saw Austin sitting by the window, looking at something.

I knocked on the door and walked into the room.

Austin smiled visibly when he saw me. "Miss. Jones."

"Hello." I nodded and sat down across from him. "Hand me the documents, please."

Austin shook his head and asked, "How about we just forget about it for today?"

I wasn't in the best of moods because of my lack of sleep. Austin's words made me feel like he'd just pulled a fast one on me and my tone became a little unpleasant. "This is what you called me over for, isn't it?"

Austin averted his gaze and passed the documents to me.

I started flipping through them, feeling conflicted.

"I'm sorry," Austin said softly and gently. "I wasn't trying to pull a prank on you or anything. I just felt that... you don't seem to be in the best condition today. It might not be appropriate for you to handle all of this right now."

I traced a finger over a line of words, feeling a little guilty. "I wasn't in the best condition yesterday, but it doesn't mean I'm like that today as well."

Austin smiled, not saying anything else.

He was such a gentleman that I felt even more embarrassed.

I knew that I looked bad. It was only normal for Austin to think that I wasn't in good condition. What's more, he'd helped me out just the day before, yet I was being so rude to him...

"I should be the one apologising." I put the documents down and said to Austin, "I'm sorry, I was in a bit of a bad mood earlier."

He forgave me magnanimously. "It's fine, really. Everyone has their moments."

I heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"I have something personal to ask you, though." Austin suddenly changed the topic. "Do you know that man from yesterday?"

The man from yesterday?

Was he talking about Leonard?

I felt a little smothered at the thought of him. "Yes, I do."

Austin smiled. "I feel like I've seen him somewhere before."

"Yeah, it's normal." News about Leonard's scandalous affairs had been splattered all over the news just a few days ago. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Austin to have seen him.