Sss! Maybe because the atmosphere was a little tense, the secretary who was serving tea accidentally scalded her hand. Due to the pin-drop silence, this little hiss sounded especially loud.
Armond’s brows furrowed for a brief moment. He went on and said, “Mr. Featherstone, let us continue with our discussions regarding the Lavelian Village project.”
Anthony grunted in reply but did not speak. He looked at the secretary who got scalded, and said, “Just go get some rest if you are hurt.”
His comment was baffling, but that was not all. After a slight pause, he said, “Ms. Stanhope, you wouldn’t mind pouring us some tea, would you?”
I did not manage to say anything before Linda spoke up. “Mr. Featherstone, we are sorry. We hope you understand that even though Sienna is Mr. Murphy’s secretary, she is in charge of this project right now. She needs to present and explain the proposal in a while more.”
Anthony raised an eyebrow. “It’s merely pouring some tea. It wouldn’t affect anyone’s job. If you think that my request is unreasonable, then it is fine.”
He looked toward Rachel, who was seated beside him, and said, “Ms. Zimmer, I will have to burden you with this task.”
Rachel nodded. She accepted the request with a warm smile, accentuating a classy demeanor.
As this series of events unfolded, it made Murphy Corporation look petty and calculative. Linda’s expression turned sour.
Armond spoke up, his distant gaze directed at me. “You should do it, Ms. Stanhope. It would be rude for us to let our guests do the serving instead.”
I nodded, stood up, and took the teapot from the secretary.
Rachel had already got up from her seat. Seeing this, she smiled faintly and said, “It’s just a small matter, Mr. Murphy. Now that we are all seated in this conference room, we will definitely be working together in the future. There’s no need for us to be so particular about minor details since we’re a team now.”
Armond smiled in return and replied, “That is true. But if it’s something that we should do, we must do it properly.”
Anthony looked at Rachel. With a caring look on his face, he said to her, “Alright, that would do. Since Ms. Stanhope will be servicing us, don’t tire yourself. Your ankle is still sprained. Sit down and rest.”
If these words were said in a daily context, or said personally when there was no one else around, or even said by somebody else – it would not be weird. This time, however, the words came from the mouth of a walking glacier also known as Anthony Featherstone.
The intimacy demonstrated instantly permeated the room. Everyone looked at each other. The implication behind those words was loud and clear. More so for the staff at Featherstone Corporation who had never seen me before.
Naturally, everyone thought that Anthony and Rachel were an item.
Rachel was stunned too. A blush appeared on her porcelain and flawless face. She looked demure and bashful.
Armond only looked at me briefly. In the next moment, he resumed his discussion with Anthony.
Lavelian Village was a recreational project by Murphy Corporation. They planned to attract tourists from local and afar by promoting the various expensive jade items found there. They needed Featherstone Corporation’s AI technology because they intended to use AI to develop a hundred-acre paradise that would attract even more visitors.
At the same time, Featherstone Corporation’s AI technology would also get mass publicity. On top of that, Featherstone Corporation would build an AI technology museum in Lavelian Village to further advertise this project.
As the two bosses were discussing the project, the rest of us listened quietly.
Featherstone Corporation did not arrange for many people to attend this meeting. Besides Rachel, Joseph, and Anthony, there was two other staff. They were most probably in charge of operations in A City.
It was not the first time I had served tea. Never in a million years did I foresee that I would trip when I passed by Rachel. I fell face-first on the floor with great embarrassment.
Sss! The water in the teapot was hot, and it inadvertently got thrown onto me. Linda quickly helped me up. She said worriedly, “Come on. I’ll take you to the washroom to clean off.”
We were about to exit the room when Rachel called out to us. “We are going to start the meeting for the project any time now. Aren’t you presenting, Ms. Stanhope? How long would this take? Mr. Featherstone is busy with other things in the afternoon.”
Linda frowned and countered, “She has been scalded. This won’t take long.”
Rachel nodded with empathy and explained herself with concern. “I know. I do not mean anything else. I just wanted to remind you that there is not much time left. Please go ahead. I hope Ms. Stanhope isn’t seriously hurt.”
Anthony and Armond’s attentions were both naturally drawn to the sudden commotion. Armond snuck a glance at Anthony before asking me, “Are you okay?”
I nodded in response. “The water wasn’t that hot. I’ll go change my clothes and come back.”
“The private restroom in my office has a spare change of clothes,” he helpfully offered. “Feel free to use those.”
I nodded in a daze and gestured for Linda to remain where she was. “I’m fine.”
I exited the conference room and made a beeline for Armond’s office. I had no other choice; I wouldn’t be able to buy a new change of clothes in the shop now.
His private restroom was equipped with a bathroom, a bed, and other amenities. The minimalistic interior perfectly reflected his cold personality.
Inside the closet, there were several suits and ties as well as neatly folded-up shirts. Just as he had told me, there was one set of women’s clothing placed in the corner of the closet. The clothes looked familiar to me, yet I couldn’t recall exactly where I’d seen them before.
I decided to take a cold shower before changing into the clothes. The clothes fitted perfectly. However, the scalded skin stuck out like a sore thumb.
I paid no heed to it and rushed back to the conference room to resume the meeting.
When I got there, Linda was in the middle of presenting the project details and our concerns. After that, a representative of the Featherstone Corporation described the level of cooperation needed from us during the implementation process.
As the person in charge, I was responsible for taking every detail and possible setback into consideration. That included smoothing over any troubles that might arise during our collaboration.
Having both companies’ objectives aligned, we proceeded to finalize the collaboration. The person in charge from both companies would have to be on-site to supervise the progress once the project commenced.
After signing the contracts and exchanging handshakes and greetings with each other, Linda came to me to ask, “You didn’t treat your burns?”
I shook my head. “I’ll do it later. There’s no ointment in here.”
“You’re a woman, Sienna. You have to treat your skin better. It’ll be hard to remove any scars the wounds might leave in the future.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I laughed lightly, hugging the contract documents to my chest. “Does this skirt I’m wearing belong to you? It looked familiar to me.”
She scanned my appearance from head to toe. “Isn’t this the outfit you wore when you came back from Venria?”
I blinked owlishly, realizing that Anthony and Armond were both staring at me from afar. Furrowing my eyebrows, I glanced down at my clothes again.
Something was amiss. Armond had never bought clothes for a girl before. Hence, when he had to buy clothes for us in Western Europe, he chose four similar designs. Although they were similar, they were each different and individual pieces.
I distinctly remembered what he’d bought for me; these were not those clothes. Amongst the four of us, only Nora shared the same body shape and height as me.
Thus, these clothes had to be Nora’s. I couldn’t help but look over at Armond curiously. Why does he have Nora’s clothes?
Feeling my gaze on him, he cleared his throat and declared loudly, “It’s noontime. Let’s have lunch together.”
It seemed that things between him and Nora were progressing much more rapidly than we’d thought.
“Mr. Murphy has some interesting kinks,” Rachel giggled.
She’d said that on purpose for Anthony to hear.
Anthony’s face instantly darkened, turning his attention to me. I knew all too well just by his expression that he was suppressing his anger.
As we exited the conference room, Linda leaned in and whispered confusedly, “What’s going on?”
“These are Nora’s clothes,” I sighed, exasperated.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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