“Well, just come in…”
Tina quickly shook her head, and seeing that she had her concerns, Abigail asked, “Is there somewhere quiet?”
She was not that familiar with this place, after all.
“The stairs are usually quiet,” Tina suggested, and Abigail followed her there.
After closing the doors behind them, Tina said, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Althoff. I messed up.”
“You should tell the person in charge if you messed up at work,” Abigail told Tina. “Not me. I won’t meddle in this company’s affairs.”
Tina shook her head. “It’s not about work.”
“Then what is it?” Abigail asked.
“I took a video of you receiving that scroll outside,” Tina explained. “But when I sent it to the chat group among colleagues, they all said that it was just for show. I felt like I messed up, so I came to apologize.”
Abigail appeared speechless for a moment, though she quickly got over it.
Still, she soon understood and asked, “What did they say?”
Tina quickly threw her hands up. “N-Nothing.”
“No way,” Abigail said. “They must have said something else, right?”
Tina hung her head, while Abigail leaned against the wall and continued, “I rarely come here, so I would understand that people would talk about me.”
Tina looked up right then. “You knew?”
“Yeah. I guess they must be talking about what Mrs. Althoff is like, and why she managed to marry Mr. Althoff?”
Tina stayed silent, but she might have admitted it.
Abigail certainly understood why people would talk.
If she was someone of equal wealth and influence, she and Diarmuid would have held a grand wedding when they got married, and people would not speculate so much.
“I understand. You can get back to work.”
“But…” Tina murmured. “I brought you a lot of trouble.”
“It’s nothing. They’ll only talk behind my back—none of them dare do it to my face,” Abigail said, giving Tina a clap on the shoulder. “Now go back to work, and try to keep your distance from me too. The others might ostracize you, calling you a sycophant or whatnot.”
“Oh, you seem to know a lot of workplace politics!” Tina exclaimed. “May I ask what your profession is?”
“I was a doctor,” Abigail flatly replied.
Tina’s phone jingled just then, and she whipped it out to check what it was.
Another friend just sent a screenshot of the text group, with the highlight being a text that read: [Mrs. Althoff is a doctor. Don’t spout nonsense if you don’t know! It’s normal for patients and their families to bring doctors gifts too, so don’t speculate as you like.]
Tina quickly showed it to Abigail. “Someone knows that too!”
Abigail smiled. “Maybe!”
Her job was no secret anyway, and anyone more well-informed could find out.
Abigail herself would not hide it either.
Moreover, this was a huge enterprise. The employees in the chat group were probably low-ranked too, so it would not be a surprise if they were not that well informed.
“Alright, you should get back to work now,” Abigail told Tina—she had to make Diarmuid his coffee too. “Don’t mind what happened too much.”
“Okay,” Tina said and left.
As for Abigail, she quickly made Diarmuid’s coffee, though he looked up at her when she returned. “What took you so long?”
Abigail put his coffee where he could easily reach. “Was gossiping a little, so I was delayed.”
“Who about?” he asked, staring fixedly at her.
“You.” Abigail smiled.
Then, Diarmuid smiled too.
“Wait, why are you smiling?” Abigail asked.
“If it’s gossiping about me, it’s probably going to be why I’d marry you,” he replied.
“Because I seduced you?” Abigail asked.
Diarmuid leaned closer, his eyes fixed on hers. “Don’t you agree?”
As their eyes met, Abigail pretended to be pensive. “Well, yeah. I’m too beautiful I bewitched you, making me fall so deeply in love with me…”
Diarmuid was speechless—when did she become so thick-skinned?
Abigail sighed then and cupped his face with her hands. “I’m now the subject of gossip no thanks to you.”
Diarmuid smiled and put a hand on the back of her head, before leaning in to give her a light kiss. “Being gossiped about means you have their attention.”
Abigail pouted. “I don’t want that. Who knows what they are saying behind my back even though they keep smiling in front of me.”
Diarmuid rose to his feet, making an angry look. “I’ll go warn them right now.”
“Stop,” Abigail exclaimed as she caught his wrist. “They’d say that I bewitched you if you really did.”
“Right,” Diarmuid said, giving her a meaningful look. “You only warm my bed, after all.”
Abigail was speechless for a moment and gave him a shove. “You’re despicable.”
Diarmuid chuckled and caught her hand. “Get over here.”
Abigail walked around his desk, and followed his pull to naturally fall in his lap.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned her head over her shoulder and purred playfully, “From now on, don’t you take notice or get upset if you hear gossip about me.”
“Yeah,” Diarmuid replied lovingly.
Bzzt…
Abigail’s phone was vibrating, and she took it out to answer.
It was Finn, telling her that Dennis’s funeral was arranged for the day after tomorrow, and that everyone from Hotmesh Research would attend.
Abigail was being informed since she was being invited too.
“Okay,” she said, hung up, and pocketed her phone.
Turning to Diarmuid, she said, “They are probably done investigating Dennis’s death. They are arranging for the funeral already.”
They would not have proceeded so quickly if there was still an issue.
Looking deep into Diarmuid’s eyes just then, she said, “Thank you.”
Dennis’s case would not have been resolved so easily if not for Diarmuid, and she leaned on Diarmuid, brushing her cheeks against his chest before rearing her head to kiss him. “You’re so good to me.”
Diarmuid leaned downward to meet her lips, and they were at it for a while as he replied vaguely, “Yeah… Who would I be good to, if not you?”
She smiled and poured more passion into their kiss, the air in the room becoming rife with hormones as they tangled.
Diarmuid was panting slightly, and he reached under her blouse to caress the fair skin on her waist. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
She was tempting him just because he could not go over the line just yet.
Why else would she do this right now?
Still, she pulled away just then and wiped the wetness over his mouth, her finger brushing over his soft, damp lips. “Nope.”
She was not doing this on purpose—she simply loved him and wanted to kiss him.
She would convey her feelings, because words were not vivid enough.
“Is my presence interfering with your focus at work?” she asked softly.
Diarmuid tightened his arms around her waist. “No.”
“Then do your job,” Abigail said, getting off him just then. “Hurry up and finish up, so that we can go home sooner.”
“Okay,” Diarmuid replied.
Abigail had nothing to do and idling was boring.
Remembering that she would soon be resigning and staying home, she would first have to improve her culinary skills to take care of her home. That meant learning a few specialized dishes first.
“Is there a bookstore nearby?” she asked.
Diarmuid was putting away a stack of documents, and paused to look up at her. “What, you want to check out some books? I’ll ask Elliot to buy them for you.”
“I’d like to check it out myself,” Abigail insisted.
Diarmuid said, “Well, it’s not far.”
Abigail held out a palm. “Car keys.”
Diarmuid opened a drawer and took it out for her. “Use the GPS if you don’t know the way. And drive slowly.”
“Yeah,” she murmured sweetly and left his office with the keys.
Everyone greeted her with warm smiles when they saw her, and she smiled in return.
Once she entered the elevator and was alone, her smile gradually faded.
Abigail was not the two-faced type who could behave in one way in front of others while keeping another personality aside.
In fact, she was not used to socializing in the first place, but she could not ignore everyone’s greeting given her status.
She was heaving a sigh of relief even as she stopped smiling, having been spared the need to be cordial.
The elevator brought her straight to the basement parking lot and she pressed on the button on the car key. The headlights of Diarmuid’s car flashed and beeped loudly right then, and she strode over to it when she found its location.
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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