Chapter 309 He Can’t Change His Picky Ways
Courtney stood outside by the office door for a while. At last, she picked up a blanket from the couch and draped it over Alexander.
“Courtney…” Alexander opened his eyes. They were only half-open, still hazy with sleep. Upon seeing Courtney though, he sat up and glanced at his watch. “Why are you so early? You didn’t sleep well last night?”
Courtney nodded. “Yeah, I had too much to eat and got a stomach ache.”
Alexander pulled her hand over and placed it within his palm, frowning. “Your hand is so cold. You haven’t dressed warmly enough,” he said.
“It’s fine; we have heaters at work.”
“But it’s cold outside.” Suddenly, Alexander thought of something, and he let go of Courtney’s hand, bending over to dig out a hot pack from the drawer of his desk. After pressing the button on the hot pack, he shoved it into Courtney’s arms.
“Here, hold this. It’ll heat up in a bit.”
The hot pack heated up gradually after Courtney held it for a while. She scrutinized the cartoon character on its exterior before she asked out of curiosity, “Did you buy this?”
Alexander looked composed. “It’s a gift from my secretary. She said that it’s a Christmas gift for Jordan.”
When Jordan and Tina came to their workplace to play some time ago, an intern was in charge of showing them around. She was a girl in her early twenties, just fresh out of university. She was later retained to work as Alexander’s secretary.
At that, Courtney’s expression turned meaningful. “Don’t tell me that you can’t tell why a young lady would do that?” A Christmas gift for Jordan? More like she’s trying to get in Alexander’s good books. The secretary could ask Alexander if Jordan liked the hot pack that she had gifted, and if Jordan did, she could also give the boy hats, scarves, or gloves.
Alexander’s forehead creased slightly. “Why would she do that?”
“Developing a romantic relationship with her superior and all that. Did she not ask you how Jordan liked the hot pack?”
“She did, actually.”
“That’s not good.”
“I told her I haven’t given the hot pack to Jordan because it said that it’s not suitable for children aged five or younger.”
When Courtney heard that, she could totally imagine how unamused he had looked then. Her expression froze for a bit, but her lips promptly curved up into a smile.
“It must be mentally tiring to be your secretary. You can consider giving her a raise.”
Ordinary people would typically say that they liked the gift they were given and call it a day, whether they liked the present or not. A present was a token of appreciation, after all. Alexander, though, was different; he couldn’t change his picky ways.
Courtney didn’t even need to make a guess. That secretary must’ve stopped giving him any presents after that.
“It’s almost time. I’m going to start working now.” Courtney glanced at her watch. “I have a meeting with the board of directors this morning.”
“Another board meeting?” Alexander frowned. “It’s already an amazing feat to gather everyone for the meeting when it’s normally only held every six months. Even though the Hunter Group has been plagued with a slew of problems recently, there’s no need to discuss everything with the board of directors.”
Courtney frowned as well at the mention of that topic. “Kelly was the one who called for the meeting this time.”
The young lady of the Yves Family was the kind of person to come whinging and grousing for no reason every few days or so. After returning from her studies overseas, she turned pompous and thought she was all that, constantly eyeing on the position of creative director of the Hunter Group’s advertising department.
Back when Lucian was still alive, he never arranged for her to work at the Hunter Group, probably because he knew Kelly would not go far. Lucian’s word had always carried weight; no one dared to go against his orders. But now that Courtney was in charge, Kelly’s ambitions started to rear its head again.
Just as Courtney had expected, the board meeting was about the contract for the second advertising campaign.
“KPIs have indeed risen after the first advertising campaign. I have to admit that it wasn’t a small rise across the board either. However, I think that there’s been too many articles about that guy Leon. The risks are too huge. So, I think there’s no need for us to keep signing him for the second campaign. We can get someone else instead. And besides, we can find an even better candidate for the same price.”
Somehow, Kelly’s rousing breakdown seemingly made sense.
Courtney sat in the chairman’s seat, waiting for Kelly to finish before she said, “Leon’s contract renewal is up to the advertising department. I’m not well-versed in this. I think that there is nothing wrong with what advertising has told me. As for what you just said, the risks are certainly great. The advertising department has also suggested another plan: if we don’t renew Leon’s contract, we can sign a new spokesperson.”
“A new spokesperson? Who is it?”
“Shay Spencer.”
Courtney had just said Shay’s name when Kelly burst into laughter. “President Hunter, or rather, Chairman Hunter, are you kidding me right now? Or are you taking everyone here for an idiot? Everyone knows that Shay is your younger brother.”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with our familial relationship, does it now?” Courtney said evenly. “The advertising department picked a suitable candidate. Shay’s reputation is clean, and those negative news articles you were talking about earlier? He has none.”
“Courtney, you really think that we don’t know your plans when you’ve been doing all you can to bring your cronies into the company to run the show?” Kelly stood up, her cold eyes staring at Courtney. “How many people have you fired or transferred since you became the acting chairman? You ended up sending my two cousins to work at another foreign branch. I know you’re planning to take control and dominate the company before my aunt’s return.”
It wasn’t hard to understand why restrictions were constantly placed on Kelly at work, since she was brave enough to have this attitude in front of the entire board of directors.
Courtney took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Then, she lifted her head to look at Kelly with a frigid gaze.
“So, you called everyone on the board of directors here today just to point your finger at me? Kelly Yves, did you think that you can do whatever you want just because you have some company stocks in hand? This isn’t your home. This is a workplace, and there are rules at a workplace. Did you actually think that I wasn’t aware how your two cousins misappropriated company funds for their private use?”
Kelly’s two cousins used to call the shots at the Hunter Group. They would embezzle the company’s funds for risky investments, and in the end, they racked up such huge losses that they could barely keep the clothes on their backs. When they couldn’t pay the staff who had been working on their projects, someone reported them to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
One could say that the source of all the Hunter Group’s financial troubles was Kelly’s cousins.
“That was just a momentary lapse of judgment on their part.” Kelly tried her best to justify her cousins. “What right do you have to discipline them? You’re just the acting chairman.”
“I am the chairman as long as I remain as acting chairman.”
“And what happens when my aunt comes back?” Kelly lifted her chin, her haughty expression already revealing her thoughts. “She’s the biggest stakeholder in the entire company. When she comes back, don’t you have to give up your position as chairman?”
Before Courtney could answer, the secretary opened the door at the side of the meeting room.
Susan was dressed in a mauve suit. An assistant by her side held her bag and jacket. When she walked over and caught sight of Courtney, rage and hatred filled her eyes. Then, her dark voice reverberated throughout the room.
“You’ve done a good job until now, Chairman Hunter. Now that I’m back, you no longer have to work yourself to the bone.”
