Chapter 430 We’re About to File for Divorce
The matter with Angie wasn’t a difficult one. After all, it was Courtney’s original intention to adopt Angie, so it wouldn’t seem right for her to continue living with Elijah. Since Lilian had already voiced her thoughts on it, it would seem rather awkward to send Angie back there.
Once the two girls had gone to bed, Courtney walked to the balcony to give Elijah a call.
“I owe you a huge favor for taking care of Angie. Reasonably speaking, I should have been the one taking care of her all these years. You’ve done me a huge favor of having custody of her for so long, which I think it’s time for me to repay the favor. From now on, I think it would be more appropriate for her to live with me.”
Courtney didn’t reveal the things that Lilian had done mainly because she had considered the relationship Elijah had with Lilian. On the other hand, she felt that Lilian’s actions were justifiable after all.
At this moment, Elijah suddenly stopped talking on the phone. “I’ve clarified about this matter, so you don’t have to worry about it. I’ll head to Melrose City and pick Angie up before the summer break ends. We’ll stick to the same plan as before; there’s no need for any change.”
“You don’t have to feel troubled. I’ve already planned everything.”
“You haven’t,” Elijah interrupted Courtney. “You can’t leave Melrose City this year, which means you can’t take care of Angie. I promised to take care of her back then and it’s not just a promise to you but to Angie too. I’ll definitely take good care of her and be a father figure to her until she reaches adulthood.”
Somehow, Courtney sensed that he was insinuating something with his words and felt that something was amiss, but couldn’t quite put her finger on it. So, she had no choice but to ask, “What about Lilian then? Don’t tell me that you fought with her?”
“We’re about to file for divorce.”
“What?!” Courtney’s tone changed. “Divorce?!”
Although she was aware that Lilian’s action of kicking Angie out behind Elijah’s back would definitely trigger the ensuing conflict between the couple if he ever found out, Courtney didn’t expect the outcome to be so serious.
While on the phone, Elijah sounded rather moody and he quickly hung up the phone without saying much, which in turn left her perplexed about the entire situation.
As Courtney had never seen this side of Elijah before, she remained standing at the balcony with mixed feelings. After waiting some time for something but realizing that the outcome wasn’t what one had expected, the past efforts thrown in could easily become an obsession and render the person unable to let go. Economically speaking, this was known as sunk cost effect. In a relationship, behaviors like this could be described as an unwillingness to accept the situation.
…
Meanwhile, at the president’s office of Sunhill Enterprise, someone commented, “It’s Clover Media’s anniversary celebration this month and we’ve received their invitation for quite some time now. You haven’t been able to confirm your schedule, so we haven’t confirmed with them on your behalf. What do you think about the event? How should we respond to that?”
Alexander was seated behind his work desk and he was currently wearing a black shirt. His attire had blended well with the mahogany wooden furniture in the room, but it created an exceptionally somber aura wherein someone would find it arduous to freely communicate.
Eric had mentioned this event together with his routine report on the current month’s schedule. Then, he asked for Alexander’s opinion when he stumbled upon the event in the schedule.
“I’m not attending it,” Alexander responded without any hesitation.
Generally speaking, a media company’s anniversary event would involve socializing with women and to him, the benefits obtained from such socializing were completely not worth the effort that he had to exercise.
Eric was Josh’s younger brother; he had taken over the role as Alexander’s chief personal assistant when Josh was transferred to their subsidiary abroad two years ago. Eric had also taken over Josh’s job of handling all the trivial matters that ensued in Alexander’s job.
Now that he was faced with such a permanently cold and standoffish boss, Eric had maintained a reverent attitude and practically worshiped the ground that Alexander walked on. As such, every single instruction that Alexander gave would always be firmly upheld by Eric.
It was after perusing the several memos that Eric recalled something and he looked up. “By the way, President Duncan, the legal team has informed us that the result for the lawsuit on the shares of Holt Enterprise is out.”
Alexander, who was previously focused on the document in front of him, suddenly paused at what he was doing and stopped scribbling. Then, he gradually raised his head and his pair of astute eyes coldly glimmered under the gold-rimmed glasses. “What’s the outcome?”
“We won the case. Mr. Menzie will be back tomorrow.”
“He’s excellent at this.” Alexander’s eyes sparkled. “Did the board of directors do anything once they knew that he’s coming back?”
A resigned Eric replied, “Your guess was correct. There are some signs to indicate Director Menzie’s plans to call for a board meeting.”
“Ever since Caleb joined the company half a year ago, there have been three board meetings. Director Menzie is quite protective of his son.”
Eric hesitated slightly before gingerly asking, “Is Director Menzie eyeing the position of chief executive in the legal department?”
“The case about Holt Enterprise’s shares was one that everyone tried to avoid taking up because of how intricate the matter was. Some of those involved are connected to important people with a messy trail of relationships. However, Caleb went ahead with it and was handsomely rewarded for it by being extremely efficient in his job. The entire legal department had dragged this matter for more than a year, but he managed to resolve it in merely two months. It would be unlike Director Menzie if he didn’t take this opportunity to make requests.”
It was enough to cause Eric’s expression to become complicated. “Then again, President Duncan, Mr. Menzie only joined the company about six months ago and he hasn’t met the criteria to be considered for a promotion.”
After all, it was important for a company to adhere to its standard operating procedures to maintain its regular day-to-day operations. It was pretty much unspoken that a decision shouldn’t be made purely on the whims of an upper management level employee. It was fine to promote someone based on their capabilities, but the company maintained a clear directive about not promoting a staff member within their first year of employment. They would be considered as being on probation for the time being because the company wanted to prevent the staff members from treating their positions as a stepping stone.
“Well, that depends on whether Director Menzie actually cares for his stepson or not.”
There was also another rule in Sunhill wherein their staff could be exempted from the probation period if they held a certain percentage of the company shares. Those who performed exceptionally could even be promoted earlier.
Director Menzie was Caleb’s stepfather; although they were not related by blood, they looked like they maintained a great father and son relationship. At this point in time, if Director Menzie truly intended to help Caleb to be the chief executive of Sunhill’s legal department, then the fastest way to achieve it was to transfer part of his shares in the company to Caleb.
“I have nothing scheduled this Saturday, right?”
Eric was still considering each party’s relevant interests when Alexander suddenly asked that question.
The man quickly flipped through the diary. “There is an officiating ceremony for a housing development project to attend.”
“Ask Jordan to attend it with you as his escort.”
With that, Eric nodded. Alexander had often sent the little prince to attend events that Alexander was not interested in, so Eric was rather used to it. As such, the man didn’t say anything further.
“By the way, keep my weekends free from now on.”
A surprised Eric turned to Alexander. “Oh? What sort of plans do you have?”
At that point, Alexander’s expression became slightly discernable and he seemed to recollect a sweet memory as the cold look in his eyes suddenly thawed significantly. His eyes had a warm spark as he smiled. “I’m going to meet someone.”
For a workaholic like Alexander to not work, Eric reckoned that the other party was someone extraordinary. Perhaps it was a potential major client and it was also possible that their encounter this weekend would uplift Sunhill Enterprise to an entire new level where they would be able to leave a legacy behind.
On the other hand, Courtney’s job of rounding the wards resumed and everything returned to its usual routine. She had felt uneasy for some time in the beginning, but shortly after that, she discovered that there were too many trainee doctors who shadowed the consultant doctor during each ward round. As a result of that, she tried to remain as far back as possible amidst the crowd. Three consecutive days had passed yet Scott was still unaware of her presence, which gave her a sense of relief.
Friday finally arrived and it was time for the weekends—something that Courtney had looked forward to as she could finally rest for two consecutive days after she got off work. However, Linda stopped Courtney at the entrance of the trainee doctors’ office.
“Dr. Hunter, I need your help with something.”
Courtney’s heart tightened and she secretly groaned.
