Chapter 24
In the living room, Vanessa turned on a floor lamp.
She sat at the table, staring at the spaghetti with seafood, lost in thoughts.
After a while, she chuckled to herself.
She was in a bit of a bad mood because she met Jackson, but now, her depression had all gone.
In front of her was not just a bowl of spaghetti with seafood.
It was actually Shawn's love!
Of course, Vanessa would be happier if there were no onions in the spaghetti.
Vanessa's stomach rumbled, but she held back the hunger and picked out the onions first.
Then, she began to have the spaghetti. Suddenly, she realized something and stopped.
Vanessa put down the fork and picked up her phone to take a photo of the spaghetti.
She sent the photo to Shawn on Whatsapp. "Thanks! I can feel your love in the spaghetti!"
The next send, Vanessa suddenly thought of something and immediately withdrew the message. Then, she sent another message after reediting.
"Thanks for your kindness, boss!"
"I like it very much!"
It was late at night, and all was quiet. Time seemed to have stopped in the study.
The constant vibration of Shawn's phone broke the stillness at this moment.
Sitting at the desk, Shawn took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead.
Then, he checked his phone and saw messages from Vanessa.
Shawn picked up his phone and opened the photo.
In the dim light, there was a checked tablecloth under the spaghetti, and a bouquet of flowers was placed next to the spaghetti.
It looked like an ordinary girl's style.
Shawn texted Vanessa. "You don't like the onion?"
Vanessa paused for a moment, wondering why he knew that.
She checked the photo again. It turned out that she got the onions in when she took the photo.
Vanessa's eyes glowed with pleasure.
She didn't expect that Shawn would be so meticulous and notice that.
Vanessa then messaged him back. "Yeah, I hate the onion."
"I said that when I made the order. Didn't you hear that?"
Vanessa waited for a while. On the top of the chat interface, it showed that Shawn was typing, but in the end, Vanessa didn't receive Shawn's reply.
Vanessa's heart jumped. She suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Will Shawn suddenly be the same bossy as the presidents in the novels and force me to eat all the onions?"
Vanessa soon was amused by her imagination.
Looking at the message from Shawn, Vanessa smiled.
"You're so picky!"
Vanessa messaged him back. "Well, it doesn't break the law to be picky."
She thought for a moment and then sent a voice message.
"Even my parents don't mind that!"
Shawn didn't message her back, and Vanessa sent another message.
"Are your ex-girlfriends also picky?"
Shawn looked at the phone in his hand. His eyes reflected the lights of the neons and twinkled. There were mixed feelings in his heart.
He sent a voice message.
"Did your ex-boyfriend know that you're so picky?"
Shawn's voice was as calm as usual, with no emotion.
The smile on Vanessa's face disappeared. She suddenly felt the spaghetti was not that delicious.
Of course, Jackson knew that.
Actually, Jackson could remember everything about her, especially her hobbies. Otherwise, how could he gain Vanessa's love?
Thinking of Jackson really upset Vanessa. She suddenly was in no mood to send a voice message, so she just typed Shawn. "Why did you mention him now?"
Shawn sent a message. "Why couldn't I?"
Vanessa sneered and messaged back.
"Well, you should mention him when he is dead so that we can hold a memorial ceremony for him!"
After a while, Vanessa received Shawn's message.
"It's time to sleep."
The moon glimmered faintly through the mists. The trees projected shadows on the ground.
Vanessa lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling sleeplessly. She thought of Shawn again.
When she asked Shawn about his ex-girlfriends, Shawn made no direct answer.
And Vanessa thought it was actually an answer from him.
Suddenly, Vanessa felt a bit jealous.
"But why would I feel jealous?"
Vanessa asked herself.
"Maybe because Shawn also bought the food for his ex-girlfriends."
...
Vanessa didn't fall asleep until late at night. The next day morning, Vanessa was almost late for work.
She didn't have time to buy the coffee, so after she sat at her desk, Vanessa scrabbled around for the instant coffee, but she didn't find it. Therefore, she asked Tracy, "Do you have instant coffee?"
"Nope!" Tracy said, "I haven't had it for a long time."
Vanessa yawned and said sleepily, "Alright! Forget it!"
Meanwhile, Lily was passing her, holding a cup of hot Americano in her hand.
Lily suddenly stopped.
Vanessa sensed Lily's gaze and looked up at her.
Lily looked a bit tired today, and Vanessa could still notice her dark circles even though Lily wore heavy makeup. Obviously, Lily had a bad sleep last night.
Vanessa looked away and didn't greet her. After all, they were already on bad terms with each other.
Vanessa reached out to turn on her computer.
At the same time, Lily put the hot Americano on Vanessa's desk.
Vanessa was a bit surprised. She looked up at Lily.
Lily raised her eyebrows and said, "I just bought it. You can drink it if you need."
Her voice sounded very calm, and she didn't even have the grace to look embarrassed, as if they were good friends all the time.
Then she left before Vanessa said something.
Vanessa was still sitting on her seat blankly. Tracy looked at the coffee and then glanced at Lily with confusion.
"What's wrong with her?"
Vanessa pointed at herself and said with a puzzled look, "I don't know either."
Tracy then picked up the coffee and stared at it carefully. She even sniffed it.
"Was it poisoned?"
Vanessa retorted, "Come on! We're not in a drama. It's a legal society, and she won't do that!"
They looked at each other, puzzled.
At this time, Sophia came.
She dragged her feet and yawned as if she would fall asleep at any time.
When she passed Vanessa, Sophia smelled the tantalizing aroma of fresh coffee. She stopped and asked, "Are there any coffee remaining?"
Vanessa and Tracy all looked up at Sophia.
Vanessa shook her head and said, "No, just this one!"
Sophia yawned, and Tracy suddenly gave the coffee to Sophia.
"You can have it! Just for a test!"
Vanessa was surprised.
However, Sophia directly took over the coffee and left.
After sitting down on her seat, Sophia took a sip of the coffee and frowned.
Tracy and Vanessa all looked at her with nervousness.
Sophia held the coffee and looked at it while saying, "Is this the instant coffee! It tasted really good!"
Vanessa made no reply.
And so did Tracy.
Vanessa thought about the change of Lily with confusion all morning.
When they were having the meeting in the afternoon, Lily was sitting across from Vanessa.
Lily just sat there sorting out the papers, looked nothing different.
"Good afternoon, everyone! Let's begin the meeting!"
Zoie walked into the meeting room and sat down. She found the meeting room was a bit dim, so she told Vanessa to turn on the light.
Vanessa stood up and was about to turn on the light, but Lily suddenly stood up.
"I'll do it!"
Then, she put down the papers and made her way around the table to turn on the light.
Now, everyone was puzzled by her wired movement, and even Zoie also looked at her.
But Lily was still very calm as if she didn't notice people's gazes.
...
The meeting continued, and Zoie began to make an assignment about the rest works this year.
"New Year's day is coming, and there are not many works that need to deal with this year. The most important work is the tracking reports about the Initial Public Offering of the Mondred Company."
Zoie glanced over the people in the room and hesitated for a moment.
Mondred Company, a wholly-owned fintech subsidiary of Mondred Bank, had been rated very highly by the most authoritative evaluation company. Moreover, due to Mondred Company's positive outlook, Mondred Bank's credit rating had also been upgraded.
Therefore, the Initial Public Offering of Mondred Company would definitely attract worldwide attention.
After all, any journalist would like to follow the high-profile events.
Therefore, all the people in the group looked at Zoie and itched to try.
Zoie scanned the people in the room while thinking. In the end, she looked at Lily.
No matter what Lily had done before, she was one of the core members of Financeweek, and Zoie didn't want to marginalize her.
"Lily, I want you to do it this time!"
The others also understood what Zoie thought, so no one raised an objection.
Lily secretly glanced at Vanessa.
Shawn was the legal representative of Mondred Company.
After a while, Lily lowered her head and said calmly, "I just know a little about Mondred Company, so it's better to let Vanessa do the job this time."
Vanessa was so surprised.
She raised her head and looked at Lily with confusion.
Even Zoie was confused now. "Sorry, what did you say?"
Lily then said again, "I just think that Vanessa will do better than me!"
...
Even after they left the meeting room, Tracy was still in shock. She pulled Vanessa to the drinking room.
"Is she still Lily?"
While they walked to the drinking room, Tracy turned to look back repeatedly at Lily, trying to find a clue from Lily's expression. "It's Mondred Company! And she gave up the chance! Does she lose her mind?"
"Who knows?"
Vanessa was also very confused, but since she already got the assignment, she now really had no time to focus on what Lily thought.
This time, Vanessa needed to interview the finance director, Ben Wright, in Mondred Company. After coming back to her desk, Vanessa immediately sent an email to Mondred Company and determine the time and place. After that, Vanessa picked up her phone and thought for a moment. Then, she messaged Shawn.
"I'm going to Mondred Company for work the day after tomorrow. Will you be there?"
After a while, Vanessa received Shawn's message. "No."
Vanessa was a bit disappointed.
But soon, she recovered. After all, Shawn wouldn't be at the subsidiary corporation all the time.
In the afternoon, Vanessa headed to Mondred Company.
After explaining to the receptionist her purpose, Vanessa went to sit in the rest area waiting for a reply.
Meanwhile, the receptionist made a call.
"Hi, Bianca. The journalist of Financeweek came. She said that she had made an appointment with Mr. Wright this afternoon."
"Financeweek?"
Bianca suddenly thought of somebody when she heard that.
She looked out through the window and asked, "What's her name?"
The receptionist checked the visiting records and answered, "Vanessa Green."
"Okay, got it!"
After hanging up, Bianca glanced at the office of the finance director. The light in the office was still on, but Bianca didn't go to tell the finance director about that. Instead, she just took a note.
...
Vanessa waited for a long while, but no one came to her.
She sat there and drank a lot of coffee while waiting.
It was almost five o'clock, and Vanessa couldn't help but go to ask the receptionist again. The receptionist made another call.
"Sorry, Mr. Wright is very busy with many meetings, so I'm afraid that you need to wait for a moment."
Vanessa could only sit in the rest area and continued to wait.
After drinking the fifth cup of coffee, Vanessa looked at the setting sun through the window, raise the coffee, and took a photo.
Then, she sent the photo to Shawn as well as a message.
"The coffee here tastes good."
"But I have drunk five cups of coffee. I am close to vomiting!"
Shawn messaged Vanessa back with a question mark.
Vanessa continued to type him. "Do the people in your company all like to keep people waiting?"
"Don't misunderstand! I didn't mean you! I'm just too bored!"
Shawn didn't message her back.
Vanessa put down the coffee and stood up. She looked at the front desk, and still, there was no one coming to her.
"Could you please help me confirm it again? If Mr. Wright really doesn't have time today, I can come here tomorrow."
Vanessa went to the front desk and said to the receptionist.
The receptionist then made a call again.
A few seconds later, the receptionist looked at Vanessa and felt it hard to speak.
"Em... Mr. Wright has something to deal with, so he left half an hour ago."
Vanessa was speechless.
She sighed a breath and was about to leave while a woman walked out of the elevator and looked around. Then, she quickly walked over and asked, "Where is Ms. Green?"
Vanessa stopped and waved at her. "I'm Ms. Green."
The woman then walked to her and said, "Sorry to have you wait! This way, please. Mr. Wright will be here soon."
Vanessa was a bit confused and asked, "But I heard that he has left half an hour ago."
The woman nodded and gave Vanessa a meaningful look. She pressed her lips out of nervousness.
"Yeah, but he will be back in fifteen minutes."