“Let’s move out of here.”
Annie didn’t see the man’s question coming. “What did you say, Mr. Lim?”
“You’ll move into my house. This way, you won’t have to call yourself the breadwinner.” He stared at her blankly.
Somehow, what she said was hurting the man’s pride. Who would ever think he would live under a woman? Wasn’t it ridiculous?
“Mr. Lim, I’m not complaining.” Annie shook her head. “Is it wrong for a wife to take care of her own husband?”
“It is also not wrong for a husband to take care of his wife.”
Annie looked at him and smiled. “If Mr. Lim isn’t comfortable with my lifestyle, I don’t force you to be with me. Besides, It is also not wrong for a couple to live apart.”
Andrew dropped the case. The girl was too stubborn, he wouldn’t waste his time to convince her. Obviously, she was only after whatever displeased him.
Annie looked at him silently and sighed inside. Moving in with him was impossible. There were so many complications around their marriage that sometimes she would think if what she was doing was right.
The couple ate silently and after finishing the food, Andrew left for the living room without glancing at her.
Annie packed the plates away and also joined him moments later.
While the man watched news on the TV, she picked up her tablet and resumed working on her unfinished projects.
Now and then, Andrew would glance at her. Her head was down, so she didn’t know that the man’s attention was on her.
Moments later, as if he couldn’t take the silence anymore, the man opened his mouth. “Mrs. Lim, I thought working overtime was prohibited. Aren’t you gutsy by doing it in front of me?”
Annie lifted her head and wanted to laugh. “Mr. Lim, of course, you are the CEO and you call the shots. But remember, this is not MystiArt Productions and I’m free to do whatever I like in my apartment.”
“If you work overtime, Annie, and call in sick, your actions won’t be pardoned.” The man narrowed his eyes at her.
“I observe a pretty good lifestyle, Don’t worry. My immunity is strong against minor illnesses. Besides, Mr. Lim, I need to work hard. If I don’t work hard, how can I be qualified to work in your office? I heard the salary is good. If I work hard enough, I might be able to bring more food to the table.”
“Ridiculous.” The man scoffed at her words and thought it better to return his attention to the news.
The easiest way to live in luxury was moving in with him. Did their three years apart not only changed this girl but also her logic?
…
At MystiArt Productions the next day…
It was total chaos in the IT Department as every employee worked vigorously. The Employees’ applications for the secretaries’ position kept flooding in, sending the IT Team into a frantic state.
Clearly, there were hundreds of employees who had applied through the portal, and the IT Department was finding it difficult to keep up with each application.
Apart from assessing the employees’ performance, there were also other things like the employees’ backgrounds and how long they had been in the company to be taken into consideration.
Everything about the employees needed to be accessed including their health status.
They would only select a few employees, yet, they had to go through each application to do justice to every employee.
“We should have set up everything through the web. It would have been easier.” The IT Manager was having a mental breakdown.
“Mr. Yang, with this number of employees, wouldn’t the web portal explode? Doing it manually was the only option, have you forgotten?” His assistant reminded him.
Mr. Yang looked up. His eyes were deep inside their sockets and narrowing them did nothing to intimidate his flimsy assistant.
“Do you think I didn’t know what I was saying? This phase is like a battle, the battle we didn’t prepare for before diving our heads into it. If the IT Team does their job accurately, it means an accolade from the CEO. But how sure are we that we can’t make a mistake with this number of employees?”
“I understand your frustration, Mr. Yang. Which is why I suggest that we should just pick the employees based on their hierarchy in their respective departments.”
“Haven’t you heard that some employees even work harder than their managers? Let’s not speak about hierarchies, all the employees deserve to be treated justly.”
“By treating them justly, it means we have to go through each application… Mr. Yang-“
“I know, I know.” Mr. Yang breathed out heavily. “What choice do we have by the way? This is a time for the IT Department to prove itself. If we slack off, we will become the laughingstock of this company and no employee will hold us in high regard. The best thing we should do is do everything justly and accordingly.”
Even if it meant working their ass off.
“Now, tell the employees to forget whatever they are doing and focus on the applications. We can’t leave the portal open too. We must close it immediately.”
By this time, he was sure ninety percent of the employees had already seen the news, and all that wanted the position had already applied.
Keeping the portal open also meant more work.
The IT Manager was still giving orders to his assistant when he was interrupted by the ringing sound of his phone.
A small frown made its way to his face after seeing the contact display name.
“Isn’t that Mr. Wu?” His assistant voiced out his confusion. “Why is that man calling you?”
“Who knows?” Mr. Yang said before answering the call. He placed it on his ear and the middle-aged man’s voice came from the other end.
“Mr. Yang, let’s cut to the chase. I need something from you.”
“Someone like me is not powerful enough to carry out Mr. Wu’s enormous orders. Mr. Wu, please think again before sending me on any errand.”
“It is not an errand, it is a simple request.” Mr. Wu laughed softly. “Mr. Yang, I know we haven’t been friends in the past, but that can be overlooked. Just do this small thing for me and this Old Man will pay you handsomely.”
“If it’s a favor Mr. Wu wants from me, I’ll do it if it is in my power. You don’t need to give me anything in return.”
“There’s an employee in the Arts Department. Old Wang will send you her name and ID. Make sure she doesn’t get that position.”