Chapter 150: Chapter 150

Chapter 150

When Don told Cindy that Brandon wanted to see her in his office, she was on pins and needles.

“Why does Mr. Crawley want to see me?”

She racked her brain but couldn’t for the life of her figure out why she had caught Brandon’s eye.

Don was also stumped, but he tried to reassure her with the mindset of a boss. “Probably work stuff. Chill out, Brandon is a tough cookie with a soft center. He won’t give you a hard time for no good reason.”

But Cindy wasn’t comforted by Don’s words.

She had never interacted with Brandon up close, but from a few times of watching from a distance, he seemed to have a daunting presence.

With that anxious feeling, she knocked on Brandon’s office door.

“Come in,” a deep voice followed from the office.

Cindy pushed the door open and immediately became more cautious upon seeing Brandon seated at his desk. “Mr. Crawley, you wanted to see me?”

“Mm.”

Brandon responded flatly, noticing her hand on the doorknob about to close the door, he quickly said, “Leave the door open.”

Cindy awkwardly withdrew her hand, feeling a bit awkward.

Brandon looked at Cindy. “How do you know Sophia?”

Cindy was taken aback. “Huh?”

She was puzzled by Brandon’s intentions. Thinking about Sophia’s stern instructions to keep their secret, she felt even more unsettled, wondering if there was an issue with Sophia.

“Is there a problem with Sophia?” she asked tentatively, not wanting to throw Sophia under the bus.

“No,” was Brandon’s reply.

Cindy was confused. Was he doing a more thorough background check?

“Just tell the truth. Don’t worry about anything else,” Brandon cut her off.

Cindy didn’t dare to spill the beans. She couldn’t get a read on Brandon’s intentions and didn’t know if he was in on something with Sophia or if he was digging for dirt on her. After all, she had just promised Sophia not to tell anyone, and if she blabbed to Brandon, it would look super shady.

And if it was the latter, if Sophia was in the clear and Brandon was just looking for an excuse to sack her, Cindy couldn’t bear the guilt of getting Sophia fired.

So she stuck to Sophia’s story. “I just met her when we were out for a meal. Her phone died and she couldn’t pay, so I just covered for her.”

After she finished, she saw Brandon frown.

She couldn’t decipher what his frown meant and her heart was in her throat, not expecting a simple chat to stir up such a storm.

Just when she thought Brandon was going to drop it, he asked, “Where did you eat?”

Cindy felt like crying.

She didn’t expect that one little lie would require a hundred more to cover up.

“I can’t remember,” she said, resorting to the universal excuse, her back drenched in cold sweat.

“Which day?” Brandon pressed.

“I really can’t remember,” Cindy was on the verge of tears, “It was such a small thing, I didn’t make a note of it, I just remembered when I saw the director today.”

But Brandon wasn’t letting it go. “No payment record on your phone?”

Cindy was speechless.

Brandon continued, “Your director was back in the West district from the 28th of last month to the 10th of this month. You can check the records for those days.”

1/3

08:41

“I paid in cash.”

But Brandon’s eyes were fixed on her unwaveringly. “What a coincidence.”

Cindy couldn’t withstand the interrogation-like pressure and burst into tears, sobbing out loud.

Brandon was speechless.

་ ཞ ཅ ཆ ཇ ཆ ༦ ༠༤

The other assistants busy in the outer office couldn’t help but peek over, each sticking their heads out from their cubicles.

Brandon glanced outside.

Everyone immediately withdrew their heads but couldn’t help but prick up their ears.

Cindy, already sobbing, blurted out, “Mr. Crawley, just tell me straight what you want to say. I really can’t handle this kind of questioning.”

Brandon, seeing her tear-streaked face, frowned with a headache. “Go back to your desk.”

Cindy’s meltdown made his actions seem absurd.

He didn’t even know what he was suspecting. It was just a fleeting look of panic in Sophia’s eyes when she saw Cindy that puzzled him. But afterward, Sophia explained how she and Cindy met, and there was nothing unusual about it. Cindy’s story had no holes, and paying in cash wasn’t that far-fetched..

Her nervous reaction in front of him was also understandable.

There were hardly a few people in the company who weren’t cautious around him.

People as brazen as Kent were almost non-existent.

Cindy, feeling like she’s been pardoned, didn’t dare to linger a moment longer. She sniffled a “thank you, Mr. Crawley” and turned to dash out when Brandon suddenly called out to her. “Wait.”

Cindy’s legs went weak, and she turned back to face Brandon with tears still in her eyes. “Is there anything else, Mr. Crawley?” Brandon looked at her. “Could I take a look at your WhatsApp?”

Cindy’s eyes immediately filled with hesitation. WhatsApp was a private matter, and she didn’t want to show it to her boss.

Brandon read the hesitation in her eyes. “I only want to see your chat history with Sophia.”

Cindy didn’t understand but reluctantly rotated her WhatsApp chat with Sophia towards Brandon.

She had already deleted Sophia’s messages as promised, so the chat was spotless, not a single message left.

After a glance, Brandon looked at her. “Hasn’t Sophia contacted you?”

Cindy felt like crying again. She never expected her well-intentioned lie to lead to a string of baffling interrogations from Brandon. Now, if she replied with a “yes,” it would lead to more questions about what was discussed and why the records were deleted, digging back into the first lie.

She had no choice but to assert “no,” and after that, she saw Brandon give her a look.

The sight of her quickly set her already unsteady nerves skyrocketing, and her eyes started to redden with the pressure.

Just as Don rocked up, he caught sight of Cindy’s pitiful little figure and shot Brandon a questioning look, “What’s going on here?”

Brandon glanced at him and simply said, “Nothing.”

Then, turning to Cindy, he said, “You can go back now.”

Cindy bolted like she was running for her life, totally spacing out on even saying thanks.

Don watched Cindy’s hasty retreat and couldn’t help but give Brandon the side-eye, “What did you do to her?”

“What could I possibly do to her?” Brandon’s expression was indifferent as he gave Don a quick look, “You, on the other hand, might want to vet your hires better. Can’t handle a little heat without crying. What’s she gonna do when the client turns up the pressure, cry her way out?”

“The clients aren’t as scary as you, man,” Don said, heading into the office, “You pulling Cindy aside – it wouldn’t have anything to do with Sophia, would it?”

That was the only reason Don could think of.

Brandon didn’t answer him directly, “Are all the guests gone?”

Don nodded, “Yeah, all cleared out.”

08:41

Brandon gave a nod and left it at that.

Don handed over the resort proposal to Brandon, “So, we’re moving forward with this, right? Are you handling it, or is it going back to your folks? They’ve been on my case, asking about the progress.”

Brandon looked at him, “What’s Patricia’s take?”

Don replied, “She’s over the moon, can’t wait to get the collaboration rolling.”

Brandon asked, “Does she know who the designer is?”

Mentioning this made Don slap his forehead, “Oh shoot, I totally spaced on telling her about the designer.”

Daniel and Patricia had been tied up with new company stuff and weren’t around the office.

They hadn’t received any special notice about the subsidiary’s opening today.

“No need to tell her,” Brandon cut him off, “What did you tell her when she was pushing you before?”

“What could I say? I just told her the proposal was stuck with you, and you wouldn’t sign off.”

Brandon nodded, “Then just leave it. She’ll come to me.”

Don, already hassled by Patricia, was more than happy to pass the buck, “Then it’s all yours.” He dropped the weight off his mind and raced back to his office to get busy.

After Kent had dropped Sophia back at the hotel, he too rushed back to the company.

“Did you drop her off at the hotel?” Brandon asked with a cool tone as soon as he saw him.

“Yeah, she’s back at the hotel,” Kent quickly nodded.

Brandon asked, “Which hotel?”