âI donât care if you donât refer to me as your sibling or not. Iâm the daughter of dadâs original wife, and youâre just a bastard daughter. If youâre here for business matters, then let me give you a piece of advice. Donât let people find out that youâre a mistressâ child. Our boss absolutely detests extramarital affairs.â
I was trying to scare her on purpose. If Crystal was around, I would have watched my mouth, but Yvette was on a completely different and lower level of intelligence compared to Crystal.
As Iâd expected, her face grew green. When she opened her mouth to speak, I interrupted, âYouâre here as a representative of the Tanner Corporation, no? Are you sure such a high-ranking secretary like yourself should be here arguing with an employee instead of, I donât know, actually going to your meeting?â
Yvette raised her hand to hit me in a fit of rage, but the sound of the elevator doors opening startled her, her documents all falling to the floor. She quickly stepped back and bent down, waving me off before I could do anything. âItâs fine.â
âYou are very punctual, Ms. Tanner. Our meeting is at four in the afternoon, but youâre already here at half-past three.â Richard stepped out of the elevator, smiling when he saw her standing close to me. âDo you know my employee, Ms. Tanner?â
âGetting to work with you is my honor, Mr. Whitrow; of course, the very least I could do is show up early. As for this employeeâ¦â Yvetteâs face scrunched up in confusion. âI feel like Iâve seen her somewhere before, but I just canât put my finger on itâ¦â
She tapped her head lightly, seemingly deep in thought before suddenly recalling something, her mouth falling open in fake shock. âOh! Arenât you that little thief from the mall? I meanââ
Slapping her hand over her mouth as if she hadnât meant to say that, she glanced at me apologetically. âSorry, sorry. Itâs just a joke.â
Public humiliation like this was what Yvette and Crystal were both good at. I could already feel the curious gazes of the higher-ups standing behind Richard burning into the back of my head. Is there a hole somewhere for me to hide in? Anywhere?
âYou watch your mouth! You know very well why those diamonds ended up in my bag! How dare you act all clueless as if you didnât frame me and go and cry to Dad, causing him to throw away my birthday gift!â I blew up at her. I knew that this was not the time or place to be arguing with Yvette, but I couldnât take her nonsense any longer.
âWhat are you talking about?â Yvette snickered. âWe may both share the same surname, but we arenât related in any way.â
âUm⦠Vonnie, you should leave,â one of the managers spoke up, stealing nervous looks at Richardâs slowly darkening expression. âWe have an important meeting to get to.â
Hugging my documents to my chest, I silently retreated from the scene, the sounds of Yvette talking badly about me slowly growing faint.
âThe employees here should be valued by way of their morals and ethics more than they should be for their work efficiency. You canât have a thief working amongst your company; itâll be bad for the companyâs reputation! If anything happens at any sort of corporate banquet because of her, the company will be blamed for itâ¦â
âYes, of course, Ms. Tannerâ¦â
I wasnât sure how I made it through the rest of the day. On the way back home from work, I paid a visit to the supermarket and bought a ton of groceries, immediately heading for the kitchen as soon as I got back.
About an hour later, I stood in front of a table full of multiple dishes, finally having burnt through all of my leftover anger from that morning. It was only then that I remembered Christopher saying he wouldnât be coming back for a few days.
The entire house was silent except for the sound of my heartbeat echoing in my ears. Loneliness slowly crept up upon me, threatening to overwhelm me and pull me back into the depths of despair.
Picking up my cutlery, I cut off a small piece of the caramelized pork Iâd made and put it in my mouth. It tasted the same as always, but for some reason, I found it hard to swallow and ended up throwing all of the food away.
It was hard for humans to get used to loneliness after having enjoyed the company of another person, after all.
I used to wait excitedly for Lyle to come home like this, only to find out that he didnât care whether or not I would be waiting up for him. Thus, I resolved to never do such a thing again, and yet, here I was â anticipating someone who wasnât coming back.