Chapter 207
"I don't know. Haven't heard anything about it." Preston had always gotten along well in the neighborhood and was friendly with all the neighbors. He was usually the first to hear about anything.
But he truly hadn't heard about demolition. "Where did you hear that? Why bring it up all of a sudden?"
Josephine saw confusion in both her parents' eyes. They really didn't know... Telling them now would only make them worry needlessly. She smiled. "I was just guessing. Doesn't our company deal with real estate? I've seen a lot of old plots being developed recently, and some buildings being demolished, so I thought of our place. But if there was going to be demolition, word would leak out. Since you haven't heard anything, I'm probably just overthinking it."
"There's nothing like that. Don't worry about it." Preston was very satisfied living here. This place held too many beautiful memories of him, his wife, and their daughter. "Even if there was demolition, they'd need the residents' consent, right? Well, I wouldn't agree to it."
Gemma glared at him. "If there really was demolition, what good would your disagreement do?"
"If I don't agree, no one can tear down my house!"
"You're already an old bag of bones. What can you do if you disagree? Are you planning to fight them?"
"What's wrong with fighting? Just because I'm older doesn't mean I'll let people push me around." Preston's face turned red. He felt his wife was looking down on him, but he didn't dare be harsh with her. He could only mutter under his breath.
Gemma shook her head and patted Josephine's hand. "Stay for dinner tonight. I'll make you something delicious."
"Okay."
But Josephine wasn't as optimistic inside. If it were legitimate demolition, they'd leak information early to gauge residents' opinions and make price negotiations easier later.
But there hadn't been any leaks at all. This meant the so-called demolition was probably a sudden decision—or perhaps the proposal hadn't even been approved yet.
It might even just be David's wishful thinking.
Of course, this was only speculation. Whether it was true would require more probing.
At Getty Group, besides David, there was only one other person who might give her answers.
The next day.
Josephine went to the office, arriving just as everyone was gathering for a meeting. She swallowed the question she'd wanted to ask. She barely made it through to the end of the meeting, and as colleagues gradually left the conference room, she followed in Cedric's footsteps.
There were always colleagues around. Josephine didn't know if she was overthinking it, but she felt inexplicably guilty—after all, she wasn't approaching Cedric about work this time.
She decided to wait until they reached his office to ask.
But just as they reached the office door, Cedric suddenly turned around. "How long are you planning to follow me?"
Josephine hadn't expected Cedric to stop suddenly. She nearly crashed into him, but managed to brake just in time. The crisp scent from the man enveloped her.
Josephine swallowed and quickly pulled back. "I'm not following you. I just have something I want to talk to you about..."
"Work-related?"
"Yes."
Cedric turned and pushed open the office door. He walked in but didn't tell her to come in.
However, Josephine noticed he hadn't closed the door, so she walked straight in and closed it behind her.
When she turned around, Cedric was sitting behind his desk. "Speak."
...He seemed particularly serious today.
Josephine grumbled internally but maintained a composed, serious expression. "It's like this—yesterday while organizing materials, I found a proposal for our company to develop some land."
"There is one."
Getting such an unhesitating answer, Josephine's heart sank. "But the proposal doesn't specify where."
Cedric's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Why are you asking about this?"
...This was the problem with dealing with smart people—they saw through you too easily. Since she couldn't hide it, Josephine decided to be honest. "My parents currently live in the old district. Those houses are quite old, and my father has deep emotional ties to that area, so I wanted to ask..."
"This shouldn't count as work business, should it?" Cedric questioned instead of answering.
Josephine scratched her cheek and admitted frankly, "Right. This is my personal matter. Of course, if Mr. Getty doesn't want to say, I can leave right now."
Cedric leaned back in his chair and said slowly, "At the office, we discuss work. Outside the office, we can discuss personal matters."
Josephine had expected this response. She'd known all along he wouldn't answer easily—after all, this was company confidential information. "Then I'll leave now."
Cedric watched her retreating figure, his lips pressed together slightly.
Only he remained in the office. He stared at the computer screen expressionlessly, lost in thought.
Until the door was knocked again.
Cedric looked up and imperceptibly straightened his spine. "Come in."
Noah pushed the door open. Meeting Cedric's gaze, his movements froze slightly. He couldn't help feeling... Mr. Getty seemed a bit displeased with him?
He had no time to think more. He placed the document he was holding on the desk. "Mr. Getty, this needs your signature."
Cedric glanced at him, signed it, then pulled out another document from his drawer and placed it on the desk. "Take this to Josephine. Have her organize it by tomorrow morning at eight."
Noah glanced down at the text on the document. Without asking questions, he turned and left.
But he couldn't help wondering—this old district development proposal should go to the relevant department. Why was Josephine, from the research department, being asked to organize it?
It had to be revenge!
Noah felt he'd figured it out. Josephine had regifted Gideon's chair to Cedric. When had Cedric ever accepted someone's secondhand gift?
This kind of document organization work didn't need to be done by Josephine from the research department at all. This was definitely revenge!
Josephine thought everyone was acting strange today, especially Noah. She'd been sitting in her office, contemplating how to obtain more accurate information, when Noah arrived.
And the moment he entered, he looked at her with sympathetic eyes.
It was utterly baffling.
"Mr. Getty asked me to give you this. He wants it organized by eight tomorrow morning." Noah placed the proposal on her desk and said earnestly, "Mr. Getty actually has a pretty good temper. He seems fierce, but he's easy to placate."
Josephine's hand, reaching for the document, paused. She looked at him somewhat incredulously. "Why are you telling me this?"
Even if he was easy to placate, it wasn't her place to do it, right?
How obtuse could she be!
Noah wanted to crack open her head to see what was inside. How could someone so brilliant in scientific research be so clueless about emotional matters!
"Never mind. I've said my piece."
He left.
Leaving Josephine with a head full of questions. She figured he must have taken the wrong medication, saying such inexplicable things. She casually opened the document.
And immediately saw the bold text at the top.
—Old District Renovation Plan.