Chapter 14: Play As A Disciplinary Action
Chapter 14:Play As A Disciplinary Action
Tim had this huge smile on his face when he came out of the office. The secretaries were curious about what's with the bag that he is grinning now. It must be something, and it made the boss happy.
"Tim, what did you bring to the President? You look happy now. Did the boss feel good?"
Tim glanced at the three secretaries peeking at the entrance door of the partition. With a serious face, he replied, "You know that the President hates being asked about his personal life. How many times do I have to warn you? If you don't want your salary cut into half from this month, you better do your work and stop gossiping about the boss!"
"TSK! They need to threaten first before they stop nosing around." Shaking his head, Tim mumbled. He picks up his phone on the table, taps the Messenger App on the screen, and leaves a message to notify the company executives.
"Peps! Heads up! Free lunch from the boss! Let's work harder! 11:30 we're off..."
"Great!"
Bunch of replies all the way. But Tim didn't read them as he needed to call for a reservation and ordered ahead to make the room ready and food served the moment they arrived at the restaurant. After then, they need to go back to the office before one in the afternoon.
Exactly noon. Vince stops working on the long table: he stood straight, stretched his back while massaging his neck. He glanced at the blue lunch bag on the coffee table.
Honestly, he anxiously waited to finish sorting the blueprints of his current projects to check what's in that bag. However, it took him a while to finish sorting his work, to properly turn it over to a team. He had to assign it to others as he had a new project that needed his full attention. This project will be his biggest work soon. He has to impress this big client to get the project.
Now he could sit for lunch. Vince opens the lunch bag and takes out the five containers inside. One by one, he opened the lid of the boxes, an enticing aroma of dishes caught his nose.
One container is a pork steak. The other one is a vegetable salad. One is garlic fried rice and boiled ribs? No. It should have soup in here.
Vince took out the thermos and found out it was the ribs soup. Gladly, it's still hot. If he had known, he would eat lunch earlier than usual to enjoy the soup.
"Hmm... Is she trying to make a peace offering? So, she thinks I'm mad at her?" A playful smile tore across Vince's handsome face. He uttered, "Silly girl..."
She doesn't know that it helped him instead. Now he could get rid of Zenaida to keep coming to his office. It annoyed him that she always came to see him, even if he already assigned a Director to oversee the management of the Lan Enterprise. And if there are problems to occur, Zenaida could report it to that director who gives him weekly reports.
But Zenaida insists on reporting directly to him. And by the time he reminds the woman of their real setup, she tells his mother, and boom! His mother nagged him every single day.
"Women are annoying," he frowned while mumbling these words. "Well, that silly girl thinks I'm still mad at her, huh? Maybe it's a good idea to put it that way."
Pushing a smirk on the corner of his mouth, Vince rose from the sofa and went out to get a plate. Hailey already sent him a clean spoon, fork, and chopsticks. Great! He didn't need to use the utensil in his office which he needs to wash first. Tim isn't here to do that for him. Anyway, no other people use the utensils in his office, but him. And Tim knew he could not touch them.
Coming back, Vince slowly transferred the fried garlic rice on the plate. He opens the fifth container; the content is a fried noodle with lots of dumplings.
"Hmm." Vince stuffs his mouth with a slice of pork steak, followed by a spoonful of rice. He savored the food inside his mouth before he swallowed them and stuffed his mouth with quail eggs. He rolled lettuce, dipped it into the mayo.
'I will let her think I was mad about the issue. So it will play as a disciplinary action on her. If I showed that what she did is a nice job, she might act spoiled from now on.' He mused.
Meanwhile, in a restaurant near the University. Hailey keeps checking out his phone if Vince sends her a text. But nothing. She frowned. 'So he doesn't like the lunch I made for him? What else should I do, so he'll forget about that issue? Ugh! Why so hard to coax him?'
Hailey helplessly sighed. She's not good at persuading someone. Her dad and the boys always do the effort.
'And why am I fretting myself to please him? Ah! This isn't right!'
"Hey, what's your problem?"
Hailey came back to her senses when someone knocked her on the head, it was Hazel. Her classmate in Management class.
Hazel is pretty with her beautiful natural tan color. She has jet black long hair, big round brown eyes, and a proud nose paired with a heart-shaped lip.
Every man in that restaurant can't help glance at their table. Nadia and Liza; both are beautiful too. And she was blessed to meet these girls when she moved into the country.
She was still in a trance of her thought when Hazel repeated her question and added… "Is this about the gossip?"
Hailey nodded. She lowered her head to stuff her mouth with the dumplings she ordered for lunch.
"Jeez. You just did the right thing! I know the Lan family and Zenaida is the worst! She's arrogant, and everyone in High Society already knows that she has a thing for her brother-in-law, your boyfriend. So don't be bothered about what you said, honey." Hazel's litany.
Hailey almost choked with the food she ate when Hazel mentioned the word 'boyfriend'. Of course, it was what was in the eyes of the people who didn't know about the contract. Besides, according to Liza, Vince's marriage already dissolved because they never lived together or acted as a couple in these passing years.
But it left her confused with a question in her head. 'Is this the reason Eva has the guts to cheat on Vince? And yet, she is enjoying Shen's money. She is worse than her sister, Zenaida. And Vince… it could be the same reason he is less concerned about searching for Eva's whereabouts?' Hailey mused. 'No way! If they haven't had an official divorce, I will remain as Vince's mistress! How could I be free from the contract?! Now, this is a problem!'
Hailey suddenly in a great panic that her face didn't hide it. Nadia, who had watched her in silence, gathered the courage to ask her. "Are you in a fight with Mr. Shen?"
'Ah, this smart girl!' Hailey thought. She smiled at Nadia as she replied to the girl, "I wasn't thinking when I made that post." She paused and rolled her eyes like she remembered something. Biting her lower lip, she mouthed, "I didn't think it would drag Vince's name and reputation. I beat his mom in great rage right now and cursed me a thousand times."
Her friends froze from their seats and realized about that matter. They forgot Vince's mom...
'The Great Madam Hilda Shen!'