Kent looked at the closed door in deep thought. Then he turned around and went back home. Janet
who had been busy preparing dinner because she was expecting a visitor, did a double take. When she
realized that he had come back alone, she peeped through the window checking if the girl was still in
the car.
"Where is she?"
After Janet confirmed that there was no one else except for Kent, she stared at him expectantly waiting
for an explanation from him. Although Charles looked very calm and disinterested in their discussion,
he had actually been looking forward to meeting his future daughter-in-law.
His son was no longer a little boy and it was time to start acting like an adult, since with adulthood
came certain expectations.
"Mom, please don't ever do that again, following me around as if I am a common criminal. I will
probably bring her home and introduce her to you in a few days. However, please take note that she is
not my girlfriend."
Kent felt that he needed to explain to his parents the nature of their relationship in case they build up
false hope. As soon as he stated that they were not in a relationship, his mother's mood made a 360
degree change as if she was a roller coaster.
She was relieved to hear that he was willing to bring her home. But as soon as he mentioned that she
was not his girlfriend, everything just didn't make sense for Janet.
"She's not your girlfriend? What do you mean? Then why do you treat her so well? Could it be that you
really are in a one-sided love affair?"
Janet looked at her son in disbelief. The minute she saw Melinda she thought she was an excellent
person and was a perfect fit for her son and they balanced each other out.
"Well, don't push him too hard. It's a good thing that the girl is willing to come home with him," said
Charles.
Charles came out to mediate the dispute between Janet and Kent since things just seemed to be
escalating. Janet reluctantly dropped the subject and Kent breathed a sigh of relief, as the family was
finally able to enjoy the wonderful dinner that his mother had slaved over.
The first thing Melinda did after she came back home was to close the windows and doors to keep off
the strong winds; then she began to prepare dinner. Although there was a lot of food in the fridge, she
prepared a simple dish of noodles for her dinner.
Meanwhile on the other side, the secretary was frightened again when he received the photos from the
person he had dispatched. He finally gained courage and knocked on the door.
Jonas was still working. Melinda always thought that he was a strange man and couldn't understand
his contradictory character. He was a workaholic, but strangely enough, he still had enough time on his
hands to spend much time with different women.
"Mr. Gu," the secretary said, as he gingerly stepped into the office cautiously.
Jonas looked up instantly. His blood shot eyes were as fiery and frightening as an eagle's. He had been
eagerly waiting for the news, like the masochist that he was, hurting himself day in, day out.
Although in his mind he didn't think that his behavior was self-abuse at all. He had managed to
convince himself that it was a necessary step towards pursuing the truth and convincing his
grandfather that Melinda was not as innocent as he assumed. This was the only way he could feel a bit
relieved from the pressure that always built up on his chest every time he saw his secretary.
But in many cases, he also didn't welcome the temporary release. It was a complicated feeling that he
didn't want to dwell on much. As soon as that thought crossed Jonas's mind, it only lasted for about
three seconds before he shoved it at the back of his mind.
"These are the photos that were taken today."
The secretary took out the photos which showed Melinda and Kent getting out of the car together, as
they went into the apartment building. There were also several photos of the two in the car not doing
anything of interest, although, because of the angle the photos were taken, they looked a little intimate.
"You can get off work now and you don't have to monitor them anymore," said Jonas.
His secretary nodded and left quickly breathing a sigh of relief. It was true that jobs that paid high
salaries also came with a higher level of risk. However, working for Mr. Gu involved a new level of risk
taking, and even the simple act of breathing was considered a precious commodity.
The photos were scattered all over his desk. Jonas took another swiping look at them and gave a cold
snort as he stared at them gloomily. He shook his head as if trying to clear his mind from the gloomy
topic, and then he went back to handling his work documents.
He had been receiving the photos for a while now, indicating that the relationship between Kent and
Melinda was unusual. It seemed Jonas had underestimated Melinda. He didn't expect that although
Melinda looked so innocent, she had already been with someone else.
Jonas had been signing on a document although distracted, when he heard a weird sound. He lowered
his head to find the source of the sound and realized that the document was forcefully scratched that
some pieces of paper were torn.
The destroyed piece of paper was a testament of the powerful force and terrifying anger he was
harboring.
Jonas stared blankly at the document, then irritably picked it up and threw it into the trash can. Rubbing
his eyebrows, he gently tried to massage his temples to ease the pressure building up in his head. He
was inexplicably angry and in urgent need of an avenue to vent.
Although there wasn't any urgent matter that required his attention, to warrant his tendencies to work
late, he still didn't go home. Any time he went back home, he was sure to always see his grandfather
frowning and looking at him discontentedly, and always judging his choices.
It seemed that Melinda left because of his actions. When he looked at the photos, which showed how
happy the couple were, he wanted to show the photos to his grandfather. His intention was to wipe off
the discontented looks from his grandfather's face and show him what Melinda was really up to.
But another rational voice deep in his heart, stopped him from executing his plans. The restless Jonas
rationalized that he shouldn't stimulate his grandfather further since he had just recovered.
It was obviously not suitable for him to work in such a state. He picked up the car key from his desk
and left his office in a hurry. He did not go home to the family residence. Instead he went to his own
residence, which was not far from the company.
Queena, his mother, called him after ten o'clock wondering where he was at such a late hour, although
she didn't demand for him to go home.
"Son, are you okay? You don't sound like your usual self."
Mothers always know their children best. Jonas sounded absent minded and gave a flimsy answer
which wasn't even well thought out. Queena keenly felt that something was wrong although she was
sure that he wouldn't tell her if she pushed him further.
"There are a lot of things that have been happening in the company recently and need my attention.
You'd better stay at home and watch over Grandpa. I won't come back for the next few days," Jonas
said and rubbed his forehead in exhaustion. Although his claims were true, and there were always
issues to be expected at the company with the new season, the issues were never that big to affect him
this much.
The thought of Melinda brought a new wave of headache and a painful stab in his heart.
The last time when Holley pestered Jonas, she received a large sum of money from him. With great
excitement, she bought a lot of things and posted them in all her social media accounts including
wechat and her micro-blog. Many of her posts gave subtle hints that she had used Jonas's money to
buy everything which gained a lot attention and followers.
That was exactly what she wanted.
She was a spendthrift, although she didn't make as much she spent and basically couldn't afford the
life style she felt was suited for a person of her stature. Her reputation was not very good, so she didn't
get invited to occasions and events where she could make money so she was running low on cash.
Her agent had long given up on her and ditched her. Holley, was still not willing to give up although no
matter what she did she still couldn't attract enough fans. She finally realized that Jonas was her ticket
to fame. Whenever she was connected to him, things became better.
Although there were many malicious fans who just couldn't keep from griping about her business,
Holley didn't care. Any kind of publicity whether negative or positive was still good for her.
Thinking of the emergence and popularity of online dramas which had made a lot of obscure actors
famous, Holley had a lot of ideas in her mind. She dressed up making sure to accentuate all her good
qualities, and then went to the company to see Jonas.
The secretary had been running around the office trying to make sure everything was in place before
his sour-faced boss came in. He took a sip of his soybean milk and as soon as he turned around to
clean the desk, Jonas stepped into the office earlier than expected, the secretary instantly tensed trying
to control the milk which sprang out of his mouth like a volcanic spring, spraying the whole desk.
"Mr. Gu," stammered the secretary in greeting as he tried to clean the mess he had just made. The
secretary cleaned himself up hurriedly and then greeted him once again, but Jonas just looked at him
as if he had lost his mind, frowned, and then continued into his office without uttering a single world.
The secretary collapsed in the office chair, patting his chest which was still beating at the speed of a
race car, thinking of the scene that just happened. He was still contemplating how lucky he was, when
he looked down and noticed the broken soybean milk packet that he was still holding in his hand. It was
a wonder that he hadn't been thrown out by the collar of his shirt.
"Why did boss come in so early today?" the secretary muttered in a low voice.
Then he quickly discarded his nosy thoughts and cleaned his clothes, changing into another suit in
record time so that the boss wouldn't look at him with disgust.
To be honest, Jonas always looked at him with disgust every day but he didn't want to look shabby and
give Jonas more excuse to be mad at him.
It was just that the boss had come in way earlier than expected and the secretary had hoped that he
could cover a lot more work before Jonas came in. He whined in protest as he tried to work as fast as
possible.
The secretary was very efficient. He didn't rest until he had organized and entered the whole day's
schedule in his diary. Although after noticing the boss's new style of working, the secretary deeply felt
that it would be still useless to organize anything in advance in the future.
"William, what's today's schedule?" Jonas asked coldly as he opened the office door.
William secretly rejoiced since he had just finished working on it. He pulled the lapels of his suit coat
trying to readjust himself as he updated Jonas on the day's schedule.
"Is that all you have? That schedule is not tight enough, it's too scattered and spaced out," said Jonas
in a huff.
William looked at the schedule and didn't react for a long time. "I'll rearrange it and make it better, Mr.
Gu," said William while pouting.
He went back to his seat and began to make a new schedule. Since Jonas was very busy every day,
he had never dared to arrange his schedule too tight. In the past, Jonas hadn't said anything about it
except for now when it seemed he was coming up with a new style.
'It's so hard to predict the boss's mind,' William sighed and arranged a meeting for him, which was
presided over by the vice president instead of Jonas.
The meeting was originally scheduled to be hosted by Jonas.
Seeing the new schedule, Jonas was very satisfied. This was the kind of workload he needed to keep
his mind occupied.
The meeting was held at 9 o'clock in the morning. Nobody except for the vice president knew that it
was Jonas who was in charge of the meeting. They came into the meeting room lazily.
Jonas was a very punctual person. He showed up in the meeting room at exactly 9 o'clock in the
morning on time. Those who were just lounging suddenly froze in place.
They paused at the door for such a long time that those who were late for the meeting came barreling
through them as they all stumbled into the meeting room. The others were still in a hurry but they also
stopped when they saw the person sitting at the head of the desk, a thin line of sweat dripped from
their foreheads.
Jonas indifferently glanced at them, and they all tried to shrink their necks as if it would make them
invisible, lowering their heads in shame.
"One minute," Jonas said lightly.
Everyone scrambled to sit on their seats within one minute. Then the person in charge quickly handed
over the documents for the meeting, and a minute later, the meeting began.
Everyone could tell that Jonas was in a bad mood so they meekly sat through the meeting. The room
was tense with low energy levels.
It was fair to say that every meeting Jonas held was like this.
When Holley arrived at the company, and went directly to the CEO's office without anyone stopping her,
William happened to be out of the office, delivering documents elsewhere.
It was not her first time to come here, so no one at the security stopped her. The other secretaries
served and prepared a cup of coffee for her according to her preferences.
This was also the reason why Holley liked to come here. Every time she came to the office, she was
always treated like royalty
"Mr. Gu is currently in a meeting and it may take some time," a secretary respectfully informed her.
Sitting comfortable on the sofa in the office like she owned it, Holley nodded her head in a disinterested
manner. For one to qualify as a secretary to Jonas in such a prestigious company, they were naturally a
group of sensible people.
That meant they knew how to behave themselves.
Although they all knew Holley's identity and despised some things about her, none of them showed it or
spoke out.
Holley had been addicted to the online dramas and the more she watched them, she realized that most
of the heroines acted silly and sweet, and became more popular for that kind of character. Therefore,
she was going to take this approach to re-launch the new version of herself.
After the secretary left, Holley put down the cup she was holding and walked around the office. Jonas's
office gave off a cold aura; the style was made of cold, dull and stiff furniture with minimal decorations
and very little color injected in the whole space.
With a smile on her lips, Holley took a few photos in the office. Then she sat in front of Jonas's desk. All
of a sudden, her eyes were trained on the photo on the side.
The photo was definitely a new interest for her because she had never come to this side of the office
whenever she came to see Jonas, and had never seen the photo before.
It was a photo of a man and a woman, Jonas and Melinda. Melinda had a gentle smile on her lips, and
Jonas still had a sullen face, but they still looked well matched.
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