Chapter 22
No one in the company would question Vanessa's confidence.
After all, since Vanessa had worked at the magazine office, many colleagues had seen that some senior executives of financial companies had shown their affection to her undisguised after work.
Once upon a time, someone sent a bunch of roses to the company every day for two months. It could be told how hospitable he was in private.
Even after the news that she broke up faintly spread, some male colleagues in the company had taken the opportunity to take action, waiting for a suitable time.
Lily knew it as well, so she couldn't say anything to refute it. Her face turned pale.
There were four or five people around. Although they looked away to avoid eye contact with Lily, they kept listening, but none of them came out to mediate.
The atmosphere became extremely stiff at this moment. Lily was awfully embarrassed.
Until a "crack" broke the silence.
Holding the chocolate in her hand, Sophia looked at Lily with a faint smile and said, "How about eating some chocolate to cool down? It's sweet."
Lily glared at Sophia, her long eyelashes wide open as if they were about to fall the next second.
Suddenly, Zoie came out of her office and looked over.
Zoie was annoyed by Lily's words just now and shouted angrily, "What are you guys doing? The MEETING is going on."
After the crowd dispersed, Vanessa walked out first. She stepped rhythmically on the ground with her high heels, which made Lily's temples throb.
The regular meeting on Monday was mainly for work arrangement and reporting, and the main speakers were the editors in chief of each department.
In this meeting room, Zoie had a straight face, Lily looked fierce, and Vanessa looked depressed, making people in a low mood.
People suffered at the meeting. No one dared to make a joke.
After the meeting, everyone quickly left with their computers.
Lily was the last one to come out. As soon as she looked up, she saw Vanessa's back. She stopped and felt angry.
At this moment, two people who were on good terms with Lily finally came up to comfort her.
"Don't be angry with Vanessa. You know that Zoie favors her. We just need to finish our work well."
"Yes, it's right. Why are you angry? Anger hurts your body."
"She just broke up. She is in a bad mood and speaks unkindly. Don't take it seriously."
Lily took a deep breath and looked at Vanessa's back. Suddenly, she thought of something and smiled with relief.
"No matter how beautiful she is, she is dumped by a man."
...
The whole afternoon passed quickly. There were still more than ten minutes left before people got off work. The atmosphere in the office area had been relaxed.
Vanessa had written her manuscript for a whole day. She raised her head and rubbed her neck. Looking at the sunset outside the window, she stood up and stretched her limbs.
When she sat down again, she didn't look at the computer. Instead, she picked up her phone and watched the dialog box with Shawn.
At the same time, people around her walked one after another. Vanessa rested her face on her hand, staring at the mobile phone screen, and was about to type.
After thinking for a long time, she sent several meaningless emojis.
Vanessa: (What are you doing?)
Vanessa: (So boring.)
Vanessa: (Wallow.)
Then, she waited idly for her phone to vibrate.
Unfortunately, the phone was always quiet.
More than ten minutes later, Vanessa's colleagues packed up and were about to get off work. Vanessa finally received a reply.
Just one word.
Shawn: Busy.
Vanessa was suddenly discouraged. She bent over the table.
Fine.
It seemed that she had really gone too far.
At this time, Sophia stood up and said, "I'm off duty."
Without looking at Sophia, Vanessa raised her hand and waved it weakly.
Sophia asked, "Why don't you leave after work?"
"Anyway, I have nothing to do." Vanessa said, "Stay to write the manuscript."
"OK."
Sophia nodded, picked up her handbag, and left the company.
Today was originally not important. Among the Yeats family, except for Sophia, the others were usually busy. The whole family seldom gathered together. Therefore, they decided to go back to the house of William, Sophia's grandfather, for dinner on this day every month. It had been a ceremony for many years.
But today, Edward was absent for something, and William was still busy in the study, leaving only three people at the table, namely, Sophia, Rachel, and Shawn.
Sitting face to face with Sophia, Shawn looked at his phone in silence with an indifferent expression on his face. It seemed that he was not in a very good mood.
At the same time, Sophia didn't know what to do, but she didn't dare to act rashly. Just at that moment, when Rachel asked Sophia how was her work recently, she began to talk about this topic.
"My work is fine. I'm a little tired and have a lot of things to do every day."
"By the way, one more thing happened today." Sophia said to Rachel, "My leader, Vanessa. She and I went to the concert together last time."
"It seems that Vanessa went to interview Theo yesterday. The editor-in-chief was so happy that she immediately gave her the last key page of this year."
"I don't know how Vanessa got in touch with Theo. Maybe she is lucky."
When Shawn heard "Vanessa" several times, he remembered the poem Vanessa had said.
He frowned imperceptibly, put down his phone, and stood up to pour water.
When he came back, Sophia was still talking about Vanessa's story.
"As a result, Lily was extremely angry. She came to quarrel with Vanessa. In public, Lily said that Vanessa got the opportunity by her beauty. Don't you think it's ridiculous?"
Rachel smiled, "Luck is also a part of strength."
"It's not a big deal. Guess what Vanessa said."
Sophia vividly repeated Vanessa's words, imitating her expression, "If I work relying on my beauty, do you think you can still stand in front of me and talk?"
Then Sophia burst into laughter.
"It's so funny. Doesn't Lily know it? Many people chase after Vanessa every day. Is it worthwhile for Lily to act in this way?"
"I've just been to work for a short time. I've seen men's ingratiation for Vanessa several times."
"After lunch, I accompanied Vanessa to buy afternoon tea. The young man in the shop is tall and handsome, and he insisted on buying Vanessa a cup of coffee."
"Sophia."
When Sophia was saying excitedly, she was suddenly called by Shawn.
As soon as Sophia raised her head and looked into Shawn's eyes, she felt nervous and shut up with fear.
She didn't do anything bad or make trouble for him. She didn't know how she offended Shawn again.
Shawn said, "Have you said enough?"
Sophia said, "It ... It's enough..."
...
Vanessa worked overtime until late at night. She didn't even notice when it was dark and even forgot to have dinner.
She rubbed between her eyebrows. When she was about to turn off the computer, she looked around and found that many colleagues were still here.
So did Lily.
Vanessa drank up the water in the cup and took out her phone to call a taxi.
The software was stuck. When the screen popped up, Vanessa's expression froze.
"184 people are waiting in line at present. Wait for 90 minutes."
She raised her head and saw the big clock on the wall. It was just ten o'clock.
There were many Internet Co in this office center, so it was a rush hour from ten o'clock to midnight.
Vanessa thought, "Fine. I may stay here tonight."
She took back her hand and didn't turn off the computer. She was about to continue to modify the manuscript. After thinking for a while, she captured a screenshot from the taxi APP and posted it on her Whatsapp moments.
It was only visible to Shawn.
The text of Vanessa's moments: "Yep. I'm OK. I'm still fine. Can someone send me a bed to the company?"
The sound of the second hand swinging was particularly clear at night, again and again.
Vanessa checked her phone several times, but neither her Whatsapp moments nor the dialog box received a reply.
She bent over the table for a while and turned her face over. Then she took her phone and deleted the post.
Vanessa thought that Shawn was cruel.
The heating in the office was very warm. Vanessa was waiting for the taxi bending over the table. Someone covered her with a coat, which made her more sleepy, and fall asleep soon.
After a long time, a bell finally woke her up.
In a daze, Vanessa picked up the phone, glanced at the screen, and answered it.
"Hello, sir, have you arrived?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
Then.
"It's me."
It was a cold male voice in an impolite tone. Vanessa raised her head slowly and looked at the screen of her phone.
The name was Shawn.
Vanessa was still confused. "You..."
"Go downstairs."
At this moment, her consciousness was finally restored. Vanessa was stunned for a moment, and then immediately stood up with a smile on her face. She agreed, turned off the computer, picked up her handbag, and went downstairs.
It was not quiet around the office building at half-past ten. There were many taxis and many people who had just gotten off work.
She stood beside the green belt and looked around, but she didn't see Shawn or his car.
It was windy at night. Vanessa tightened her scarf. When she was about to make another phone call, someone patted her on the shoulder.
She turned around and saw a handsome guy standing next to her, wearing a peaked cap, smiling faintly. There were two dimples on his cheeks.
This pair of dimples were very familiar to Vanessa, so she remembered that he was the clerk in the nearby coffee shop. He even gave her an extra cup of coffee this noon.
"You just got off work?"
The boy asked with a smile.
Vanessa nodded, "Yes. I've worked overtime."
"You worked hard." The boy suddenly thought of something and said, "Wait a minute!"
Before Vanessa could say anything, he ran to the coffee shop behind him quickly.
After a while, he came out with a small bag.
"Didn't you want to buy this egg tart this noon? It was sold out at that time. I found that you wanted to eat it very much. In the afternoon, when the pastry master came, I asked him to make two pieces. I wanted to see if you would come again in the afternoon."
He lifted the brim of his hat and glanced at Vanessa shyly. "I didn't expect to meet you after work."
Then he handed the small bag to her.
Seeing that Vanessa didn't want to take it, he said, "It's specially reserved for you. If you don't take it, it will be thrown away. I don't eat dessert."
In fact, this boy had been working in the coffee shop for more than half a year. Vanessa almost met him every time she went downstairs to buy afternoon tea. They knew each other and weren't strangers.
She hesitated for a moment and took the bag.
"Thank you. How much is it? I'll give it to you..."
"Are you waiting for the taxi?" The boy knew what she was going to say, so he quickly interrupted, "It's so late. It's not safe to be alone. How about I accompany you to wait for a while?"
"I..."
Just as she spoke, there was a sound of footsteps beside her.
The footsteps sounded familiar, and Vanessa immediately turned her head to look over.
The light of the office building was very bright and shone on the square in front of the gate. Shawn came at a brisk pace, neither in a hurry nor slowly. The light dot on his glasses was slightly shaking, but he stared at Vanessa.
Almost instinctively, Vanessa took a step back to keep a distance from the boy.
When Shawn was approaching, she said in a low voice, "I'm waiting for someone."
When Shawn heard what Vanessa said, he glanced between her and the boy.
Then Shawn grabbed Vanessa's wrist.
"We're leaving."
The boy paused and could say nothing. Seeing the two turn around, he said subconsciously, "I..."
Shawn stopped, looked back at him, and asked Vanessa, "Have you paid?"
Vanessa asked, "What?"
Shawn turned to look at her and said nothing. He pulled her to the car, opened the door, and took out the money from the driver's seat drawer.
At first, Vanessa didn't realize what he meant until she saw him walk back and give the money to the boy, saying nothing.
The boy stood there in a daze. At this moment, he finally understood something. His face flushed, and he walked in another direction under the brim of his hat.
Looking at this scene, Vanessa gradually felt happy. She wanted to laugh, but she tried her best to hold it back.
With egg tarts in her hands, she looked at Shawn walk towards her.
"Why are you here?"
She finally asked.
"I'm on the same way."
This time, Vanessa didn't act as before. She bowed her head and said, "OK." She didn't go too far anymore.
Shawn didn't seem to be in a hurry.
The wind under the light was mixed with a faint fragrance. He looked down at Vanessa and said in a low voice, "You are very popular, aren't you?"
"Just so so," said Vanessa modestly.
There was another moment of silence.
All of a sudden, Shawn reached out his hand and pulled the scarf on Vanessa's chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the thing in her hand and asked, "Are you hungry?"
Seeing that he was looking at the egg tarts, Vanessa shook the bag in front of him and asked, "Would you like to eat them?"
Shawn took the bag from her hand and threw it into the back seat of the car.
"How dare you eat the food from a stranger?"
Vanessa murmured, "He has met me more often than you."
As soon as she raised her head and looked into Shawn's eyes, Vanessa got into the car and quickly closed the door.
After a while, Shawn didn't get in the car.
He knocked on the window.
Vanessa didn't know how she had provoked Shawn. She rolled down the window, only showing a pair of eyes at him.
"What's wrong?"
Shawn said, "As you don't sit on the passenger seat, don't you take me as your driver?"
...
When Lily went downstairs, the driver of the taxi she had booked had been urging her on the phone. There were many cars on the road today and he could only park for three minutes. If she didn't come out, he would leave.
Lily felt annoyed and trotted after hanging up the phone.
As soon as she walked out of the gate, she saw Vanessa sitting in the passenger seat of a car.
She stopped.
She first looked at the logo of the car, and then looked at the man who opened the door and sat on the driver's seat.
Although Lily only saw his profile, it was clearly seen in the bright light.
Lily still didn't believe it. She found out the photos of the press conference of Mondred Bank a few days ago and confirmed it again and again.