After five years of ups and downs, we opened the largest clothing company in Araya.
With an annual revenue of nearly 10 billion, she said we were not a match.
I was really reluctant to leave everything behind and return to Brimstone now.
A message from Louisa popped up on my mobile phone.
She said the sports car had been cancelled and sent back to the automotive dealership.
She and Marco would go back to the company to work overtime tonight and would not go home.
I laid in my bed and stayed up the whole night.
The next day, I came to the company with hungry stomach from the night.
But I did not expect, Louisa brought me breakfast on the table with the sticky note on the bag.
[Marco and I go to meet some clients and have lunch together.]
It was her handwriting.
The breakfast box she brought in the bag was my least favorite lamb sandwich.
It was obvious that it was not what she was prepared for me.
I handed the breakfast to my assistant and asked him to go out and sell me another one.
A relationship that had changed in quality was like an unappetizing breakfast. There was no need to force ourself to eat it.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, I finished dealing with all the documents, but there was no sign of Louisa.
My assistant suddenly pushed the door and casually said, "Sir, I saw Ms. Louisa and her assistant went to eat seafood. What do you want to eat? I'll order it for you."
I was stunned for a moment and frowned. "Where did you see them?"
My assistant shook the mobile phone in his hand with a look of surprise.
"On X, her assistant posted a message thanking Ms. Louisa for treating him to a delicious meal."
I lit a cigarette and blew a puff into the air.
The guilt I felt for impulsively agreeing to the blind date last night completely disappeared.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Louisa pushed the door to my office and stepped in with her high heels.
Followed Marco behind her.
"Lionel, sorry, I didn't get back from meeting with my business partners at noon. I just had a quick bite outside. Have you eaten yet?"
I picked up the documents she brought back and gave a faint response. "Hmm."
She pulled out a chair in front of the table and sat down, sighing.
"Lionel, I don't know how the news about the sports car spread in the company. The staffs are all talking about Marco behind his back. Can you come and help Marco explain it for the sake of signing big orders today?"
My hand, which was about to sign, paused and I raised my eyes.
"Didn't you give him the car and he accepted it? What's the point of having me, an outsider, wipe his ass?"
The girl's cold face showed some dissatisfaction.
"You're the boss, Lionel, this is a matter of words."
I leaned back in the recliner and sneered.
"Do you want me to use my authority to force the people below to shut their mouths up?"
Wasn't it normal for people to criticize a boss who gave his or her assistant a luxury car?
Not only did he dare to accept it, he also dared to post it openly on his X post and another social media to show off.
Shouldn't we have anticipated such a result?
She defended him.
She also wanted me to defend him with her despite feeling disgusted.
Louisa, after nine years of our relationship, did you have any feelings for me?
Marco behind her spoke up, "It's okay, Mr. Gilmore, a few rumors can't hurt me."
"Mr. Gilmore is already busy with work, so it's better not to trouble him with these small matters."
Louisa became anxious. She frowned and said in defense, "How can this be a small matter? You follow me on business trips every day and I don't want others to criticize you everywhere."
I threw the document on the table, interrupting the two people who were staring at each other.
"First of all, a person of integrity has nothing to fear. If you, Louisa, are doing your job impartially, rewarding him for bringing huge profits to the company and giving him a supercar is understandable."
"But the fact is, the value of these orders is far less than that of a supercar."
"I don't care if you misjudged his contribution to the company or you feel sorry for him for accompanying you on business trips and driving every day. The company has given him enough salary and if it's not enough, he can ask for more, instead of you secretly using my supercar to compensate him."
