Chapter 67
My Mute Bride
Chapter 67 Are These Your Professional Qualities?
While Rachel was in the midst of her conversation with Hans, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket.
Upon reading the message that she had received, she looked stunned.
âWhatâs wrong?â
Nothing. Itâs just a spam message. Donât you still need to provide legal aid? Go on with it, then.
Hans took a look at his watch. âAright. We shall leave it at that for now. Iâll talk to Janice if you want to continue with your plan so that she can get someone in the system to help you out.â
After he left, she unlocked her phone again and frowned as she stared at the text.
It was a message from Justin.
âDonât go anywhere after work. Iâll come and pick you up.â
If it werenât for his saved caller ID, Rachel would have had a hard time believing that this was something Justin would say.
âI have a meeting at noon, which means Iâll get off later than usual today. So, I donât want to bother you.â
Still, she didnât receive any reply after sending him that text.
As Rachel was still busy with her work, she didnât think much about it and kept her phone in her pocket.
At noon, Sandy, the libraryâs director, went to Rachelâs department to get a few helping hands.
âWe do not have enough manpower, so Iâll need one person from your department to help attend to the guests during the meeting for these two days.â
Upon hearing that, everyone in the office looked down. It seemed like none of them wanted to do something that wasnât beneficial to them.
Why would someone want to attend to guests when they could just stay at the back and scroll their phone?
âRachel should be the one.â Suddenly, an ill-intentioned voice rang out from the corner.
A stunned Rachel looked up from her laptop.
âWe are all super tired from rearranging the archives, but Rachel took a two month holiday and probably had rested well, so I think that it would be fair to get her to do it. Donât you think so as well, Rachel?â
However, Sandy frowned and interrupted before Rachel could say anything, âAdelyn, if you donât want to take the job, you donât have to make others your sacrificial lamb.â
The woman who was by the corner answered with a voice that wavered, âI was just kidding.â
Sandy glared at her before deciding, âIs this a suitable time to crack a joke? Iâve decidedâyouâll be the one then. Follow me.â
Upon hearing that, Adelynâs expression changed.
Moments after Sandy left with Adelyn, everyone in the office looked at each other before they started to gossip.
âDidnât I mention before that Rachel has someone backing her up? Look at Miss Pattersonâs attitude earlier. She was obviously shielding Rachel.â
âNah. I feel like Adelyn asked for it since she shouldnât have assigned someone else to do the job that she didnât want.â
âI mean, Rachel took so many days off this month and she even took sick leave for a few days after returning from her wedding leave. I heard that her husband actually contacted the manager and personally informed him about it.â
âSeriously?â
âWhy would I lie to you?â
Some of their gossip had reached Rachelâs ears, which caused her to frown instinctively. Still, she maintained her composure and continued her work to bookmark the overdue books that hadnât been returned on her laptop.
Nonetheless, just because she avoided trouble didnât mean that it wouldnât look for her.
âRachel.â Olivia, who was sitting right in front of Rachel, knocked at the partition between them. âItâs been a while since you got married, but we still havenât met your husband. What does he look like?
Who is he? When are you letting us meet him?â
When she recalled Justinâs face, Rachel felt her heart tightening.
Heâs just an ordinary man. Thereâs not much about him.
âThatâs impossible. Your husband has sent his secretary over to provide us with your wedding sweets after your return from your wedding leave. He even contacted the manager for your sick leave and the manager immediately gave you a month off.â
As she was aware about this, Rachel looked shocked when she heard Oliviaâs words. Did Justin contact the manager to take a month of sick leave for me?
Well, he overreacted. Iâm fine anyway. Arenât I at work now?
âStill, we all want to meet him, Rachel.â
Nevertheless, Rachel knew that none of these people cared about her wellbeing after her marriage.
Instead, most of them just wanted to see her making a fool out of herself.
Still, this conversation would never end if she refused to let them meet Justin.
Heâs coming over to pick me up from work later tonight.
âIs that so? Thatâs so sweet!â Everyone in the office sounded jealous.
âHe even picks you up from work!â
Rachel lightly added, You guys can meet him by then.
âSure! We will just observe him from afar to satisfy our curiosity.â
Still, her facial expression was nonchalant and devoid of any emotions.
While the others were still gossiping, the landline on Rachelâs table rang.
âHello? This is the file management department.â
âRachel, I need you to come and help at the meeting room. We donât have enough manpower right now.â
It was an internal call from the vice manager of the library.
âMiss Patterson has asked someone else to help out, though. Do you guys still need more help?â
âOh, thatâs being responsible for giving out drinks for the guests. We still need someone to serve the executives at the front row, which youâre most suited for.â
A slightly confused Rachel still agreed in the end.
It had been a while since the meeting had started and when she entered the room with a jug of water, Mr. Ronin, who was the manager, only informed that the person whom Rachel would serve was seated in the first row.
Among the midst of men in suits in the meeting room, there was a woman in a royal blue working suit who was on her feet. She had a slender body with perfect makeup and she was now currently seated in the first row of the room.
Miss Patterson pointed at that woman. âThatâs the person in charge of the charity donation by the company this time.â
As the man sitting next to that woman was extremely tall, most of her figure had been blocked by him.
So, Rachel was unable to see the woman well even after looking in the direction that Sandy pointed at.
âJust serve them water as you go along.â
Alright.
Rachel quickly went over with a jug of water.
As the attendees were having a short break from the meeting, the entire area was noisy as everyone discussed the new building expansion.
At the same time, she had bent down to refill the glasses of everyone in the first row before she finally reached the woman in the royal blue suit. Right when Rachel was about to refill the womanâs drink, her familiar voice rang, âWhat a coincidence. We ran into each other again.â
Rachel was shocked as she looked up to meet the womanâs gaze.
It was at that moment when the atmosphere became tense.
Who else could act so obnoxious if it wasnât for Tina?
Why is she here?
Rachel felt pity toward Tina after learning from Justin that Henry had passed away. She couldnât help but wonder whether Tina was aware of the news yet.
âIs it that hard to refill my drink? Do I have to do it myself?â
Tinaâs voice caused Rachel to return to her senses.
Iâll do it.
Rachel refilled Tinaâs drink before giving Tina a look that indicated that she was leaving.
However, Tina suddenly smirked and pushed the glass of beverage that Rachel had just refilled right in front of her while no one noticed.
âHey!â
The document on the table was immediately almost drenched, which caused the planning departmentâs executive to gasp as he stood up abruptly. âHey, what are you doing?!â
Rachel couldnât believe that Tina would frame her blatantly right in front of everyone.
âDid you do that on purpose?â She glared at Rachel coldly with hatred in her eyes. âI canât believe that the professional qualities of an employee in City Council Library would be worse than that of the workers in our frozen warehouse!â
Rachelâs expression froze.