Chapter 767 Finally At Work
“You’re finally at work, Ms. Winters! Have you thought about what I proposed yesterday?” asked Teddy anxiously as he rushed toward her. However, Jolin quickly blocked his path forward and glared at him as she demanded, “What do you think you’re doing?”
If it weren’t for the fact that they were currently in the office, she wouldn’t have hesitated to teach the lecherous Teddy a lesson there and then. She couldn’t believe that he was still so persistent in wanting Amelia to head overseas. It was clear to Jolin that the man was tired of living. Teddy merely eyed Jolin strangely and asked in confusion, “Who are you?”
As Jolin was currently dressed up as a man, it was only natural that Teddy had no idea who she was.
“I’m Mrs. Clinton’s bodyguard and also one of the staff working here. I can tell you straight up that she will definitely not be going overseas. If you insist on coming forward to harass her any further, I’ll teach you a lesson and land you in such a tragic state that even your parents won’t be able to recognize you,” warned Jolin fiercely.
However, Teddy didn’t seem to mind Jolin’s words. Instead, he directed his gaze toward Amelia and asked, “Ms. Winters, are you really not considering my suggestion for you to head overseas for further education?”
Amelia finally walked over to the pair. Jolin read the situation and instinctively stepped to the side. Teddy’s eyes twinkled hopefully at Amelia’s sudden movement and he exclaimed, “I take it that you’re agreeing to my suggestion, Ms. Winters?”
“Mr. Rice, I didn’t expect to be the recipient of your deep affections. However, I do regret to inform you that I have a husband and child here. Instead of making a name for myself in the design sphere, I simply value my family much more than that. I think it would be best if you were to offer this opportunity to someone else,” replied Amelia with a gentle smile.
Teddy was rather disappointed by her response, but he didn’t have the habit of forcing others to do things against their wishes.
As such, he accepted the situation and said, “That’s a pity, then. To think that I made the effort to find Mr. Clinton yesterday for his help in convincing you with regard to this matter. Who knew that he would be a difficult character to handle as well? Why don’t you continue to hold on to the name card I handed you previously? It might come in handy if you do decide to change your mind about this one day. When the time comes, feel free to give me a call and I’ll welcome you overseas with open arms. You really do have an innate talent for design. If you continue to mold and develop that talent further, I believe you’ll make great strides in the industry.”
Amelia chuckled softly. “If I had the chance, I believe I would surely choose to head overseas to pursue such development opportunities. However, I think I won’t be able to anymore. I really do have to thank you once again for recognizing and appreciating my talent. In a way, it’s a form of validation for my work.”
“As long as you hang on to my number, I truly believe that you’ll reach out to contact me one day. This is something I’m firmly confident in. Since we’ve cleared this up, I’ll proceed to take my leave first so I won’t inconvenience you any further,” stated Teddy before he turned sharply and left.
“How could you give up on such a great opportunity, Amelia?” asked everyone around her wistfully.
Amelia merely returned to her seat and smiled. “There’s nothing wasted or worth regretting about this. I have a husband and a child to consider. That’s why I’m unable to head overseas, and for such an extended period of time. Furthermore, even if I do want to pursue higher education in design, I believe I can come up with a way to have the best designer in the world come over to guide me. Did all of you happen to forget who my husband is and what he does for a living?”
Her response sent everyone into deep thought as they contemplated the situation.
Indeed, as she had mentioned, they had forgotten that Clinton Corporations was the behemoth of a company at the forefront of Tayhaven. With that context in mind, it became clear that Amelia didn’t really need the pittance being offered for this opportunity to study abroad. This reality was completely foreign to everyone, given how different their background was compared to Amelia’s.
Indeed, they recognized that it didn’t do much good to compare excessively with others.
It only birthed the realization that their design work was still mediocre despite all the hard work that they had invested in. In contrast, not only was Amelia blessed with being the daughter-in-law of a wealthy family, but she also had an innate talent for design. Without so much but a twitch of her finger, she had managed to gain the favor of a huge master and expert in the design industry. However, she had also impulsively rejected the man.
With all this reflection, everyone was only reminded bitterly that being wealthy did afford one the privilege of acting rashly.
Now that the show was over, they streamed back to their initial positions and continued with their work.
Likewise, Amelia resumed her work now that peace and quiet had descended upon the office. However, that didn’t last long when she suddenly received a call from Shane on the company’s internal phone line for her to head over to his office.
She hastily cleaned up her desk before she headed over to take the elevator up.
Upon arrival, she rapped her knuckles briskly on the office door before she entered and asked, “Are you looking for me, Mr. Franklin?”
“It’s just the two of us here. You don’t have to address me so formally,” remarked Shane as he gestured toward the seat before his desk. “Take a seat.”
Amelia accepted the invitation and settled in.
Soon after, Shane started to fiddle about with the golden pen in his hand as he stated, “Atlas Corporation has signed the contract with us. All credit for that goes to you, of course.”
“No, not at all. That’s the fruit of everyone’s efforts. I was merely fortunate enough to be the one leading the charge,” replied Amelia humbly.
Shane took in her response and merely smiled as he shook his head wryly.
He asked, “Are you really not considering Teddy’s proposal for you to study abroad?”
“If you’re able to persuade Oscar, perhaps I might give the matter further consideration,” replied Amelia.
A brief silence ensued before Shane shrugged his shoulders and said, “If that’s the case, then I think there’s really no way to go ahead with it.”
Amelia chuckled softly at his reply.
Shane fished out a cheque and handed it over to Amelia. “This is your reward for helping the company secure the contract with Atlas Corporation. Once the advertisement is finally launched and sees some degree of success, they’ll follow up with an additional monetary gift for you.”
Amelia took a closer look at what Shane had just handed her and saw that it amounted to more than three hundred thousand. Although this wasn’t much to her, it was a rather substantial sum to the other employees of the company. True enough, it would take each of them several years of arduous work before they would finally be able to save up this amount.
Almost as if he had read her mind, Shane declared, “Although this may not be much to you, I promise that your salary will only increase from here as long as you continue to keep at it. You might even have the chance to invest in the company and take up the role of one of our major shareholders.”
It was clear that he truly appreciated Amelia for her ability and was more than willing to offer her a substantial package to retain her services.
For her part, Amelia didn’t bother being pretentious about it either. She kept the cheque and said, “In a way, this is the first time I’ve earned such a huge amount of money ever since I started work. From the moment I got married, I’ve always been spending the Clinton family’s money without earning a single cent to my name. At one point, I even thought that I would be fated to be a parasite for the rest of my life.”
“With your talent, it wouldn’t be too difficult for you to find a job to keep yourself afloat at a minimum. I believe you would be able to lead a luxurious life nonetheless even if you didn’t have the Clinton family to support you,” stated Shane in his highest form of praise for her.
“You’re the only one who thinks that highly of me,” remarked Amelia. She clearly didn’t think she was as talented or incredible as Shane was leading her to believe. Otherwise, there was no way she would have almost landed in prison after she fell into Faye’s trap. “If there’s nothing else for me, I’ll head down to continue with my work.”
Shane nodded in approval and Amelia proceeded to leave his office and headed back to continue her work in the design department.
She continued to toil at work until just after six o’clock in the evening when she suddenly received a call from Oscar to inform her that he still had a meeting to attend to. As such, he had arranged for Jolin to send her back.
Throughout their conversation, Amelia only reminded him not to allow the meeting to drag on for too long. Following this, she allowed Jolin to drive her back home.
When they finally arrived back in their neighborhood, Amelia got out of the car. She was closely followed by Jolin, who said, “Let me escort you upstairs, Mrs. Clinton.”
However, Amelia gently shook her head and said, “It’s all right. You don’t have to. I’ll be fine heading up by myself.”
Although Jolin opened her mouth and moved to speak, Amelia quickly cut her off and interjected, “You can stay down here and wait for me to switch on the lights upstairs before you head off. The bodyguards that Oscar sent to protect Tony are still in the area. I’ll be fine.”
With that, Jolin had no choice but to acquiesce.
Amelia headed into the lobby, where she stood to wait for the elevator to arrive. Just when it did, she received a message on her phone and casually opened it. However, her eyes quickly widened in shock and her heart started pounding furiously in response to what she saw.
The message was focused on a set of male and female figures, both of which she recognized. In fact, it was precisely because she recognized them that she didn’t believe what she was looking at. She could hardly accept that the man who loudly proclaimed his love for her actually turned out to be seen kissing another woman.
As she gripped her phone tightly and took in the sight of Oscar kissing Isabella passionately while holding her by the waist, her head started throbbing furiously. She felt as if she was in the middle of a terrible dream, and she refused to accept that Oscar had truly done something to betray her trust like this.
Yes, this has to be a misunderstanding. It has to be a misunderstanding!
This thought continued to run through Amelia’s mind as she valiantly tried to convince herself into believing this fabrication of her own making.
However, no matter how much she tried to convince and hypnotize herself, the image of the couple within the message was too compelling for Amelia to overcome just like that.
Oscar, didn’t you say that you were in a meeting? Why are you holding on to Isabella so passionately as both of you stand on the top floor? What’s your relationship with her?
Amelia’s mind ran amok with such thoughts and they swirled endlessly throughout her consciousness. At the same time, she felt a sharp pain in her heart and her legs had become so weak that she almost collapsed where she stood. It was only through sheer force of will that she managed to lean against the wall to prop her trembling body up.
“Are you all right, Mrs. Clinton?” asked Jolin.
Amelia jumped at the sudden question that broke her out of her reverie. She subconsciously kept her phone and recollected herself before she turned around and asked, “Jolin, why have you come in?”
However, Jolin only looked at Amelia closely and quickly picked up that something wasn’t right. Concerned, she asked, “You don’t seem to be feeling well, Mrs. Clinton. Did something happen?”
Amelia forced a tiny smile out as she stated, “Not at all.”
Jolin seemed to have come to conclusions of her own as she eyed Amelia’s bag cautiously before she deftly changed the subject and said, “I’m a little thirsty, Mrs. Clinton. Let me head up with you to get a drink.”
Amelia had no choice but to nod in agreement.
Just like that, the pair headed up in complete silence. When they finally entered the apartment, Amelia said, “Why don’t you help yourself to some water, Jolin? I’ll check on Tony.”
Conscious that she was crossing a line, Jolin reached out and grabbed hold of Amelia’s hand and boldly declared, “Mrs. Clinton, I suddenly feel like having some of your signature coffee. I think it tastes really great. Could you make me a cup?”
Amelia eyed her briefly before she agreed once again.
She placed her bag down on the couch before she headed into the kitchen. The second Amelia was out of sight, Jolin swiftly reached over and rifled through Amelia’s bag to glance at her phone. Through sheer coincidence, she caught sight of the message that Amelia had just received, and her eyes flashed the moment she took in its contents. Without pause, she quickly forwarded the message and its contents over to her own phone before she deftly restored Amelia’s belongings to their initial state and put on a show of nonchalance.
Just then, Amelia emerged from the kitchen and handed the drink over to Jolin.
Jolin received the cup and stated, “Thank you, Mrs. Clinton.”
“Jolin, we’re not bound by a mere employer and employee relationship. You’ve saved my life after all. You don’t have to be so cautious when you’re around me.”
“Understood, Mrs. Clinton,” replied Jolin in acknowledgment. “My apologies, Mrs. Clinton. I would like to get a pack of cigarettes. I’ll be heading down first.”
Amelia nodded.
Following this, Jolin left the apartment and headed down. The second she was out of earshot, she quickly placed a call to Oscar but to no avail.
A tinge of anxiety crept over her as she tried to reach him again. However, as per her earlier attempt, no one picked up the phone.
Faced with no other option, she reached out to the bodyguard responsible for watching over Oscar in secret. The bodyguard stated, “Jolin, we’re all keeping an eye on him from below. We haven’t seen him head down, so he should still be at the company.”
Concerned that something had happened to Oscar, Jolin had the bodyguards head in to take a look and also informed them that she wasn’t able to get through to him.
The team of bodyguards naturally rushed into the company upon hearing the context provided by Jolin.
Up on the highest floor of the building, Isabella passionately kissed Oscar, who had been temporarily hypnotized by her. She had arranged for one of the staff to take a photo of them in the act before she finally let go of Oscar and strode over to grab the phone from the staff. Upon seeing the photo captured, she stated, “Thanks so much for your help today! I promise I’ll transfer your reward over to your bank account. However, I don’t want to hear a single word in the office about what just happened here. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes,” replied the staff as he curiously shot Oscar a look. Aware and concerned that Oscar was clearly not in a good state, he asked, “Is Mr. Clinton all right? He seems a little too quiet.”
“He just doesn’t want to speak to someone at your level. Go on down now. It won’t be too good for you if he gets angry at you,” replied Isabella nonchalantly.
“All right, then. I’ll head on down first. I hope you and Mr. Clinton enjoy yourselves,” said the staff. He didn’t care too much about what was going on in the room or what was wrong with Oscar as long as he got his reward. It was of no concern to him whether Oscar was indeed having an affair or not.
