Chapter 71
71 18 hours
“I’m home...”
Elena’s words lingered in the air when she met eyes as clear as the sky, who was sitting on the sofa with her parents. Jason, who had stopped behind Elena, also instantly froze when he saw the figure of Elena’s former boss sitting leisurely with Elena’s parents.
“You’re home, honey.” Mrs. Camila Wilson went straight to Elena with a smiling face.
Elena, who looks very annoyed at Christian, immediately grabs her mother’s hand, which almost touches her. “What the hell, why is he in our house, mom?”
“Mother should have asked you, why didn’t you tell me from the start that you were bullied in the office by your senior, Elena? You know, Mr. Christian Clarke even came to our house to apologize for what happened. He immediately took responsibility for the actions of his staff. that’s for you, Elena.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed, her gaze directly on Christian who was still smiling innocently. Elena really wanted to throw the bottle of drink in her hand at Christian right now.
“Let Elena come in and sit down first, honey.” From his seat Mr Wilson spoke, begging his wife not to talk to their daughter at the door.
Understanding the implied code given by her husband, Mrs. Wilson then invited Elena and Jason to enter. Jason placed Elena’s bag carefully on the small table near the sofa without breaking his eye contact with Christian, Jason knew that Christian had been staring at him for a long time.
“Have you had enough of your vacation Elena?” Christian asks quietly without a preamble.
.....
“Vacation, who’s on vacation? An unemployed person like me can’t possibly take a vacation,” replied Elena sarcastically.
Christian smiles. “You’ve been out of work for four days, Elena. I hope you can come early tomorrow morning because we have a meeting with some vendors.”
“Sir...”
“Since you’ve just come home you better rest, I’ve also taken up too long Mr and Mrs Wilson who are busy,” said Christian quietly interrupting Elena’s words.
“You want to go home, sir?”
Christian smiles at Mr. Wilson who is also standing with him. “Yes sir, I still have some business to finish at the office.”
Jody Wilson chuckled. “Of course, someone like you must be busy. I won’t hold you back any longer.”
“Then I’ll excuse myself and Elena remember not to be late tomorrow morning.” After saying that Christian actually stepped into the door that Elena and Jason had just a moment ago passed.
Filled with mixed feelings, Elena immediately runs outside to find Christian. She wants to work things out with Christian. Jason, who knew the real crux of the problem from Elena, tried to chase after her, but Mrs. Wilson’s grip on her hand prevented Jason from doing what he wanted.
Since the blisters on her feet have healed, Elena easily catches up to Christian and manages to resist the annoying boss’s urge to open the car door.
“Elena...”
“What do you mean? What is your aim this time, sir? Don’t you remember that you fired me yesterday?” Elena immediately bombarded Christian with a question that had been scrambling to leave her lips for a long time. “You’re still sane, aren’t you?”
Christian takes a deep breath, giving Elena a cornering look. It was as if Elena was the bad boy who was causing trouble and he was a teacher who was overwhelmed by Elena’s misbehavior.
“Tomorrow morning at eight in the morning.”
“Sir, I’m serious!!” snapped Elena loudly.
“Elena.” Christian takes his glasses off his pointy nose. “I don’t have to repeat myself again, do I?”
“But you fired me, sir!”
Christian tilts his head. “When? Can you show me the letter of dismissal?”
“Sir...”
“Don’t forget eight o’clock in the morning, I think you must be back, right. On a four day vacation in Paris with a man who...”
“Jason is my best friend!”
“Oh so his name is Jason.. hmm not bad.”
Elena, who had run out of patience, grabbed Christian’s collar suddenly. “Don’t mess with him, Jason is the backbone of his family and I reiterate once again I won’t be coming. You fired me so harshly yesterday, do I need to show you the wounds on my feet and hands to show how lacking self-control you are, sir? ?”
“Elena...”
“So you better find a new secretary and don’t ever come to my house again,” said Elena curtly, after being satisfied, Elena let go of her heart and then removed her hand from Christian’s shirt and walked quickly to her house.
Christian, who is tidying up his clothes that are wrinkled by Elena’s actions, smiles a little, there is a different glint in Christian’s eyes at this time. Since today he has quite a busy schedule at the office with several managers, Christian finally gets into his car and rushes off to leave his place of waiting for Elena for the past four days.
“When did he come?” asked Elena who had just entered the house.
“About two hours ago.”
“Two hours ago.” Elena repeated her father’s words. “What did he say during the two hours sitting with you guys?”
Mrs. Wilson smiled, with her wrinkled hands gently patting the sofa to her left, signaling Elena to sit down. Elena, who couldn’t argue with her mom stepped onto the sofa and sat back down next to her mother who immediately patted her on the back.
“You still have us, dear. If there is a problem you should tell us, even though we both can’t reply to those who have bullied you in the office but at least we can provide input for you,” said Mr. Wilson hoarsely. “Mr. Clarke has already told us everything, he even represented those who bullied you to apologize by coming in person to meet us both.” Perfect essay, 100 marks for Christian Clarke.
“Me, being bullied at the office?”
Mrs. Wilson took Elena’s hand and brought it up to her thighs. “Next time something like that happens, don’t hesitate to tell the two of us, don’t leave like yesterday. I know you need some time to calm down, but before that you should tell us, your parents, Elena. Don’t hold it in. yourself, you still have us, honey.”
Elena’s intention to speak was blocked because of her mother’s words, Elena was deep in thought at the moment. She was figuring out what lies the Night King had told her parents until finally her parents thought she had been bullied at the office.
“Now you better rest, tomorrow you have to go back to work. Don’t disappoint Mr. Clarke for coming to our messy house, Elena,” added Mrs. Wilson softly, continuing her words.
Realizing that his presence would hold back Elena who was about to rest, Jason suddenly got up from the sofa startling everyone. “Then I’d better...”
“Follow me to my room, Jason. I have something to talk to you about.” Elena cut off Jason’s words quickly, as fast as her hand grabbed Jason’s hand and dragged him up the second floor to his room.
Having known Jason for quite some time, Mr and Mrs Wilson didn’t mind at all when their daughter dragged him into her room. Jason’s good track record makes the husband and wife who are not young anymore give full trust to him.
“What is it?” Jason asked quietly, keeping his voice from reaching the first floor. “Tell me, what were you talking about with your arrogant boss just now?”
Instead of answering Jason’s question, Elena grabbed the mineral water bottle that was on the table beside her bed and drank it.
“Elena.”
“Just as he said before to my parents, he also asked me to come to the office on time tomorrow morning,” answered Elena quietly.
“What?”
Elena squeezed the old water bottle tightly. “He actually asked me to show him the letter of dismissal, even though he was clearly the one who fired me unilaterally that morning. Then how can I show a letter of termination like that, Christian Clarke is really out of his mind.”
“Don’t come then, it’s easy right!”
Elena shook her head. “No Jason, I can’t do that. He’s already come and told my parents a fake story, I can’t help but have to come to the office tomorrow morning. I’m even more cornered.”
“Then just tell me what really happened to...”
“No, my parents shouldn’t know about that, Jason. They’d be really sad if they found out I’ve been treated like that from a guy,” Elena said hoarsely. “You remember what happened thirteen months ago, don’t you?”
Jason nodded slowly, the memories of the past thirteen months swirling in Jason’s head. How angry Mr. Wilson was at the three young men who tried to seduce Elena who had just returned from looking for work made Jason realize that the man who was no longer young would do anything to protect his only daughter.
“So you’re still going back to that office even after getting such harsh treatment from your boss, Elena?”
Elena shrugged her shoulders up. “I guess so, I have no other choice, Jason. I really don’t want to see him come back to my house and write another free essay to win my parents sympathy.”
“Do you need my help, Elena? If you want I can come and do the math on that arrogant man.”
“No, don’t do that Jason. Christian Clarke isn’t just a man, he’s a man of great power. I don’t want to get you into this.” Elena quickly rejected the offer Jason made to her. “I can still take care of myself.”
“But Elena...”
“Trust me, I’ll be fine. This time I’ll make that arrogant person regret, he has to pay dearly for what he did to me yesterday.”
Jason smiled. “Okay, I trust you. But remember Elena, if you can’t fight it, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll definitely help you teach her a lesson right away.”
Elena nodded slowly. “Sure, I’ll definitely contact you if I can’t handle it.”
Clarke Enterprise, 2.00 PM.
Being in the middle of an important meeting didn’t stop Christian from smiling, even though he was currently among people who were seriously paying attention to the explanation given by the marketing director regarding the company’s new strategy, Christian’s mind was instead on Elena.
Christian didn’t expect his obedient secretary to get angry like that by daring to grip his clothes. Like a child remembering his new toy, at this moment all in Christian’s head is Elena. Pleasant plans for welcoming Elena back to the office are already in Christian’s head.
Kainer who was sitting next to Christian couldn’t do anything when he heard several managers whispering to each other, talking about Christian who was not focused on following the meeting. Even though he was Christian Clarke’s confidant, Kainer didn’t have that much courage to rebuke the master.
“Still eighteen hours to go,” Christian says absentmindedly.
Several people who heard Christian’s words immediately looked at each other in confusion, even the marketing director who was doing the presentation also stopped talking.
“What do you mean, sir?” Kainer finally got up the courage to ask.
Without taking his eyes off the watch wrapped in his left hand Christian said. “Eighteen hours to eight in the morning.”
“Eh...”