Connor stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at Rita on the ground floor through his gold glasses. A savage envy came on him at once.
He had spent ten years in the company. Over the years, he had been conscientious and dutiful. He considered himself a shoo-in for the vice-General Manager. But to his surprise, Rita, a girl of twenty, got the position.
Connor thought that was a big humiliation for him. He glared at Rita and his fists were clenched.
“You seemed so upset, Connor.” Suddenly, a familiar voice came suddenly from outside. Connor looked taken aback. He turned his head, and noticed Ralph Watts smiling at him.
Next second, Connor went very pale, and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I…”
Before Ralph could say another word, Connor interrupted, “Wait, wait!” He stepped out of his office to check that they were alone.
Ralph sneered. He settled himself comfortably in a chair and crossed his legs. “Don’t worry. No one took much notice of me. Everyone is talking about the new vice-General Manager.” Ralph’s voice was thick with disdain and contempt. “You failed me, Connor. The scandal between Nathan Murphy and Bella Colt didn’t ruin SF. Brown at all. Tell me now. What is up with Mutt’s words?” Ralph said with a smile, but his eye-expression was cold.
Connor panicked and explained quickly, “It has nothing to do with me. At first things were going smoothly as expected, but a girl stepped in and solved the crisis. And worse than that, she got the position of vice-General Manager!”
Ralph frowned and sneered, “That’s ridiculous, Connor. I did not expect that you might lose to a girl!”
“Oh, you can relax, Ralph. She is not going to be laughing for long. I will get the position back. Then, together we can take down the Brown Group,” said Connor.
“That’s great! I’ll be waiting for you. Once you have succeeded, you will become the president of P. Group,” Ralph said with satisfaction. Then he stood up and started for the door.
But it seemed something suddenly occurred to him. He stopped and turned to Connor, “I have sent someone to teach your new vice-General Manager a lesson. I think she may need to stay in hospital in the next few days. So, I recommend that you use this time to get the position.”
Almost at the same time, Liam appeared before Rita’s eyes.
Rita looked at him with surprise and asked, “What are you doing here, Liam?”
Liam smiled and raised the bag in his hand. “Look, I have gone food shopping. Mommy will make more delicious food for us. Come on. Let’s go home.”
Rita pursed her lips. It seemed her mother went to great lengths to fix her up with Liam. Very reluctantly, Rita walked out with him. For now, at least, Liam had no intention to move out from her house.
Soon, they walked on a sidewalk.
“Watch out! Rita!” came a shrill voice from nearby. Rita knew it was Oliver’s voice in no time.
Rita turned her head in time to see a truck rushing towards her at a terrific speed. It all happened so quickly that Rita had no time to react.
At that very moment, she was pushed away by Liam and stumbled backward. She missed the truck by inches! But for Liam, it was too late to avoid being hit. With a big bang, Liam bounced off and fell to the ground. The truck didn’t stop but drove off at a great speed.
Watching Liam lying utterly still, Rita’s face became very white. She stood frozen, her hands over her mouth.
Next second, she darted forward, but she was stopped by Oliver. Oliver held her arm and asked anxiously, “Are you hurt, Rita?” He seemed really freaked out.
After parting from Rita that night, Oliver couldn’t get her out of his mind. He didn’t see her at school. So, he had no choice but to follow her and watch from a distance. But the crazy truck screwed up his plan. He couldn’t recover from the shocked astonishment until now.
As expected, after an hour or so, Liam opened his eyes. “Rita!” he exclaimed. Then he looked around in surprise and saw Jacob standing nearby. “Where is Rita? Is she okay?” Liam asked anxiously.
Those words brought a bitter twist to Jacob’s mouth. Liam was deeply in love with Rita, but she didn’t deserve him. She left him when he needed her most.
“She…was already gone,” Jacon said, starting to feel quite angry.
But at that moment, the door opened and Rita came in. “Are you awake, Liam?” she said delightedly.
Jacob was too shocked to move when he caught sight of Rita. He had not expected to see her again.
Liam looked at his girl carefully. She was unharmed! Suddenly, his face broke into a radiant smile. He jumped to his feet and strode over to Rita. Then he took her into his arms. “Great! You’re fine. You’re fine!”
His voice was still vibrating with joy, which warmed Rita’s heart. She could feel his love. This love was sincere and unconditional. The love was so overwhelming, that it could knock down walls she had built to protect her hearts.
Rita put her head against his shoulder, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. “Don’t do that again, Liam. I am afraid of losing you.”
Liam froze to hear that, his eyes widening. His heart was filled with joy. “Rita, you…” said Liam incredulously.
Rita looked up, tears in her eyes. “I hate you! I hate you, Liam! I’ve loved you for so many years! But you were so cold to me. Whatever I did was in vain to your hardened heart. I’ve had my heart broken lots of times over the years. So, I gave up and decided to leave you.”
Tears streamed down her face and fell on Liam’s hospital gown. “I don’t want to love you anymore, Liam! It’s so painful! But why are you so nice to me now? You should get away from me. I am still afraid of getting my heart broken again!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Liam repeated. A wave of guilt washed over him. He hugged her tightly and said gently, “Rita, sorry about hurting your feelings. Give me a second chance and let’s start over again, OK?”
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