Inside the CEO’s office…
Annie stared at the man who sat across his desk. The office was silent and Assistant Jiang stood in a corner.
“Mr. Lim, you summoned me,” Annie finally spoke up. It was as if the man intended to leave her standing there.
He relaxed on his swivel chair, watching her intently. His mad expression was gone and he had on a calm look. “You don’t know your offense?”
Assistant Jiang looked between the couple, sighing inside. On the outside, one would assume they were mortal enemies. Even he would question sometimes if they were actually married.
Was there no progress till now?
“If it is for being distracted during work, I apologize to Mr. Lim. I assure you such a thing will not repeat itself.” Her voice was light and calm without any hint of frustration.
This man who was always mad at her. Why would she be surprised if he called her out for this tiny offense?
Obviously, he was doing it intentionally.
“Assistant Jiang.” Without addressing her words, the man glanced sideways at the assistant. “Where are those reports from the Arts Department?”
“You mean the reports from the time the company was established?”
“That’s right.” Andrew nodded. “Ms. Lin seems to have a lot of time on her hands. How about you give them all to her to sort out?”
Annie frowned at his words. She looked between the man and the assistant. “Mr. Lim, as my first offense, I expected you to accept my apology.”
“Don’t you know how things work here?” The man stared at her, his eyes twinkling. “Assistant Jiang, tell her.” He nodded towards the assistant.
“Erm…” Assistant Jiang was lost at what to say for a few seconds. Even he didn’t see the punishment coming.
“Actually, Mrs. Lim- I mean Ms. Lin.” Assistant Jiang knew better not to address her as his Boss’s wife in the workplace.
“It is true that in the CEO’s area, there’s nothing like sorry. Once an employee makes a mistake, they will be punished for it even if the mistake is small.”
“That is ridiculous.” Annie spelled out her thoughts. “If that’s the case, I expect all the secretaries in the CEO’s area to be punished along with me. After all, we were all distracted.”
“You’re right- I mean, you’re wrong.” Assistant Jiang was left in a tight spot. He couldn’t agree more with her words, but he was also cautious not to offend his Boss.
“Among all the secretaries, Mrs. Lim, you were the last to stand up. So Mr. Lim’s punishment-“
“Mr. Lim’s punishment should be vetted on all of us.” Annie folded her hands, staring between the assistant and the CEO. “Mr. Lim is known to be a very just man. I didn’t know you observe injustice among your employees.”
“What did you say?” The man narrowed his eyes. Instantly, tension hung in the air and Assistant Jiang could feel the suppressing atmosphere suffocating him.
“M-Mr. Lim, I- I don’t think that’s what she means. Of course, you observe justice. Mrs. Lim, you’re wrong. I think Mr. Lim is being very lenient by only asking you to look through those reports.”
“The reports from the Arts Department from three years ago up to today. Assistant Jiang, isn’t that a ridiculous punishment?”
Assistant Jiang had gone through that kind of punishment before because he was once asked to go through the reports from the finance department. It wasn’t only ridiculous. It was traumatizing.
“Y-You’re wrong, Mrs. – Ms. Lin.” Assistant Jiang cleared his throat again. “The punishment is not ridiculous. While Mr. Lim is being lenient, I’ll give you the reports to start immediately.”
Assistant Jiang didn’t wait for her to speak. He hurried to one of the bookshelves and started taking down piles and piles of documents.
In a few minutes, Assistant Jiang had managed to pile them up to a height taller than his own.
“This is not all, Ms. Lin.” Assistant Jiang wiped off his sweat. “There’s more in the store room. When you’re done working on this one, I’ll give you the rest.”
Annie didn’t look at the assistant. Her eyes were on the man who looked at her impassively, without blinking.
“Mr. Lim, are you serious about punishing me with these?”
“Mrs. Lim, do you have any objections?”
“If I said yes, what would Mr. Lim do?”
“I’ll add more to your punishment.” He stood up and stopped in front of her. “I have told you, Annie. The CEO’s area is not a child’s play.”
If the girl was mad at him, she didn’t show it. Annie still found his words ridiculous, however, she no longer refuted.
“Mr. Lim.” Her lips curled into a smile. “No problem. I will carry out the task.”
“Good.” The man turned around and went back to his desk.
Annie walked to the corner and picked up half of the document. “Assistant Jiang, could you give me a hand?”
“Sure. Sure, Mrs. – I mean, Ms. Lin.” Assistant Jiang bobbed his head and picked up the remaining documents.
The assistant sighed heavily as he returned after dropping the documents at her cubicle. He looked at his Boss who had his eyes closed and was pretending to be sleeping.
Assistant Jiang didn’t make a sound and he quietly sat on the couch, hoping the man wouldn’t open his eyes soon until he got to entertain himself. He hadn’t logged into the company’s forum that morning and the assistant was dying for some gossip.
“Assistant Jiang.”
As the assistant read through the latest gossip on the forum, the man’s voice reached his ears.
“M-Mr. Lim…” The assistant’s eyes were wide. He was in so much shock that he was unable to speak.
The man found his behavior strange, but he went on with what he wanted to say. “You kept saying she was wrong. How did you arrive at that conclusion?”
Was he asking about Mrs. Lim?
A lot of things were going on in the Assistant’s head and he ransacked his brain to understand what his Boss meant.
Then he remembered Mrs. Lim’s disapproval minutes ago. “Ah! Boss- Mr. Lim. I was only backing you up.”
“By saying I am wrong?”
“No, I mean Mrs. Lim.” Assistant Jiang wondered why the man was twisting his words.
However, staring at his irritated look, Assistant Jiang was thrown into shock. “Ah! I’m so sorry. Boss- Mr. Lim… I shouldn’t have spoken to Mrs. Lim like that.”
Assistant Jiang bowed rapidly and slapped his mouth. “I am a blabbermouth, Mr. Lim. Please don’t punish me.”
And before the man would think of punishing him, Assistant Jiang hurried forward with the tablet and showed him the scandal.
“Can you believe it, Mr. Lim? This is Mr. Yang with his assistant. Everyone in this company is talking about their relationship.”