Chapter 6

Chapter 6

This proposal was crucial for Aurelia, concerning her promotion and salary increase, and influencing her and her mother’s future.

Despite being married to Leslie, judging by his attitude, she had to plan for her future.

Hesitation aside, Aurelia didn’t care whether she was familiar with Leslie.

After all, clients went from being unfamiliar to familiar, right?

She opened Leslie’s WhatsApp.

“Mr. Leslie, are you busy?”

The message seemed to vanish into a black hole with no response in sight. Leslie might be occupied.

Half an hour later, Aurelia sent another message.

“Mr. Leslie, are you at One Technology?”

The message was accompanied by a picture of Leslie’s employee ID.

A minute later, Leslie’s reply appeared on the screen, still concise.

“What’s the matter?”

“Do you know your boss’s preferences? Like, what he likes and dislikes.”

Aurelia was straightforward to avoid wasting Leslie’s time.

“Are you interested in our boss?” Leslie’s reply came after another long minute.

“Yeah.”

Who wouldn’t be interested in the boss?

After waiting another lengthy minute, Leslie replied, “He doesn’t like someone like you.”

Huh? Aurelia stared at the chat, momentarily confused.

What did he mean by “someone like her“? Just as she was contemplating, she caught her reflection on the glass window.

Suddenly, she understood Leslie’s implication. Her most prominent feature was probably… being a woman.

“I got it.”

“Leslie replied with ellipses.

“Don’t worry. I won’t casually!

Leslie might not believe her.

your boss’s dislike for women,” Aurelia added, fearing

“Nowadays, things are quite open in the country. There’s no need to pay too much attention to such matters,” Aurelia’continued.

Leslie remained silent.”

Aurelia rolled her eyes. This man was truly indifferent. If he chose not to respond, he wouldn’t.

At his office in One Technology, Leslie put down his phone with a gloomy expression.

He couldn’t help wondering what on earth was on Aurelia’s mind and how she ended up thinking he liked men.

Daniel asked softly, “Mr. Synder? Will the meeting still proceed?”

Leslie’s thoughts returned.

He had wasted three minutes on Aurelia, of all people.

“Continue,” he said expressionlessly.

On his left, Jason said, “Mr. Synder, Young Advertising would like to collaborate with us. They said they would send over the proposal for the opening ceremony next week.”

“Young Advertising?” Leslie furrowed his brow, recalling his mother’s constant praise for Aurelia’s abilities, labeling her as Young Advertising’s ace planner, and so on.

He suddenly understood Aurelia’s subtle intention in approaching him.

She aimed to leverage his status as a One Technology employee to shortcut securing collaboration between Young Advertising and One Technology.

The gold–digging woman sure had her tricks. However, he was curious to see what kind of proposal someone like her could come up with.

“Mr. Synder, any issues?” Jason cautiously asked.

“None, continue reporting,” Leslie replied composedly, setting a serious atmosphere in the office.

An hour later, the meeting concluded, and Leslie waved his hand, prompting everyone to rise. As his gaze swept over the room, he noticed everyone in the group was men. For some reason, he recalled Aurelia’s misunderstanding about him liking men.

His slender fingers tapped his forehead twice as he glanced at Jason.

“Jason, come here.”

“Mr. Synder, what do you need?” Jason inquired.

“Hire a few female employees.”

Jason was taken aback. “Didn’t we specify in recruitment that we don’t want women?”

“I said hire,” Leslie said nonchalantly.

As others in the meeting room heard this, they all stopped, seemingly frozen.

It was as if the grumpy boss who hated women had suddenly seen the light.

They all spoke in unison, “Thank you, Mr. Synder!”

Aurelia stared at the screen with no new messages and sighed, putting down her phone.

Indeed, relying on others was less effective than relying on herself.

She began researching, but this was her first time delving into a tech–oriented proposal, and

Chapters

many specialized terms left her baffled.

The entire day passed, and she hadn’t written anything except for the two words, One Technology.

Not until Millie reminded her did she realize it was almost 5:00 pm.

Millie leaned on her desk, staring at Aurelia’s computer in astonishment. “Aurelia, have your not come up with a proposal yet?”

Aurelia sighed, “No.”

Millie immediately panicked. “Aurelia, you can’t lose to Kimberly! She has always been a bitch to you. If she becomes the vice director, she’ll make your life miserable.”

“Why the rush?” Aurelia stood up to pack her things.

“I heard from Kimberly’s follower that she has already obtained firsthand information about One Technology!”

“That quickly?” Aurelia exclaimed.

“Word is her uncle knows someone at One Technology. It’s just a matter of pulling some strings. Now, they’re all waiting in a restaurant to celebrate Kimberly’s promotion,” Millie whispered.

Hearing this, Aurelia frowned but worrying wouldn’t help. She wouldn’t admit defeat until the end.

“Don’t overthink it. We can worry about her after we submit the proposal.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Nonchalantly, Millie and Aurelia began talking about other things.

Just as Aurelia exited the elevator, her phone rang.

It was a call from Seth, waiting for her to regret her decision to break up.

Without answering, she swiftly blocked his number.

She was already married, and getting entangled with an ex–boyfriend was not something Linda would approve of.

After reaching the intersection, Aurelia bid farewell to Millie.

To save time, Aurelia opted for a taxi ride to the hospital, where she settled the outstanding fees, resulting in a remaining balance of three hundred thousand dollars. This amount proved to be sufficient for covering her mother’s surgery and the subsequent treatment.

This allowed her to catch her breath finally.

Later, in the hospital room, Aurelia met the caregiver she had arranged to interview. The caregiver was Karen Jones, approximately fifty years old. She spoke with a slight accent but greeted her with a warm smile and displayed efficiency in her mannerisms.

Aurelia negotiated the terms with her and decided to hire her, then proceeded to the doctor’s

office.

Aurelia’s mother had experienced an unexpected cerebral hemorrhage, causing her to become comatose. The examination revealed a tumor in a precarious position of her brain.

The only solution was a craniotomy, but the surgery was very risky, with only a thirty percent chance of success.

Yet, if they didn’t perform the surgery, her mother was certain to die.

Her mother was now her only family, and Aurelia was determined to try even with a ten percent chance.

“Ms. Simmons, the surgery carries significant risks, and we can’t predict when your mother will wake up after. Are you sure you want to proceed?” The doctor confirmed again.

“Yes, we must proceed.” Aurelia nodded with determination.

“Alright, I’ll arrange the surgery for you immediately.”

“Thank you.”

In the end, the surgery was scheduled for a week later.

This gave Aurelia a glimmer of hope.

Perhaps due to the relaxed mood, she could hear her stomach growling.

She had only eaten a piece of bread the entire day.

She took the remaining bread from her bag and took a bite, but she wrinkled her face and spat

it out.

“It’s gone bad!

She blamed herself for keeping the bread in her bag all day in this hot weather.

Aurelia sighed, throwing the bread into the trash bin.

Just as she was about to go to a nearby convenience store for food, her phone rang.

It was Linda.

“Miss…. Mom, what is it?”