Chapter 52 Sweet Gossip
In a few days, Lilac was well again to move around. She did her work from home, but after a while, she needed to physically join meetings.
Eric was more present at home than usual. This bothered her, but she tried to avoid him as much as possible. But the more effort she put in to stay away from Eric, the more he seemed to be always around her. Lilac was uncomfortable but kept to herself.
Eric was actually finding her actions maddening. He would bring up conversations, but she would stray to her suspicions about Micheal and stay there. Eric was still gathering evidence and did not want to talk about it. But the more he did this, the more Lilac felt irritated inside. She felt annoyed that as his wife and had to spend so long trying to defend herself, prove her innocence, but with someone he holds important to him, he would be trying to prove their innocence. The sharp contrast was hard for her to accept no matter how much she had given up on him.
Lilac had dressed and was ready to leave for a meeting when she met Eric by the door and paused. She nodded to him and walked right past him. Sheet up with the Vice president and Marketing director from Stonewell Corporation, Cindy and Ethel, who her company was collaborating with at the moment.
As she walked into the restaurant, the two women waved to her and Lilac walked over.
"You would not believe the Holy boss appeared in the office today!" Cindy said as Lilac sat. The first times she had met these two, they were very professional but it soon became clear that they were very good friends.
Lilac had kept things cordial at first, but they were bothe very chatty the moment the meetings ended. Talking with friends is something Lilac found hard as all of her previous friends had betrayed her. But these two knew how to carry a conversation. Most times, Lilac just listened, the other times, she offered a few words. The two girls never minded. She had no memory of interacting with them in her past life, so she felt somewhat safe.
"Holy boss?" Lilac asked.
"You know, the big boss who owns more than half our shares and walks around with severe security like a celebrity or something," Ethel explained.
Lilac knew of this boss. In just a few days, they had shared enough gossips about him to her. Lilac had to admit it was kind to talk about someone she did not know.
"He seems to be coming around more frequently. The president would not even let me know their conversations," Ethel said. She was the Vice president and it was normal for her to feel left out.
"There is this Lawyer though that is stuck to his side. You woul think she wants to melt into him..." Cindy begun to share the latest gossip.
The meet up was more gossip than meeting. Lilac was glad that they had already harshed out the important details and could just joke around.
"We are having a company camping trip for our upper management. You should come!" Ethel suddenly said.
"Ignore her. The president has been trying to take over handling your company's deal from her. He wants to be the lead on this. She wants to take you so she can make things difficult for him," Cindy said.
"How would I make things difficult for him?" Lilac scoffed down a chuckle.
"With your sharp retort, of course. When you open your mouth, anger will kill him," Ethel said.
"I have a sharp tongue? Why didn't anger kill you two?" Lilac asked incredulously. This was the first time anyone had said she and a sharp tongue.
"You only do it when you see disgust. You can't seem to stand fake people. And there is nothing more fake and disgusting as our president. When you see him or those bitches from the secretarial department, your mouth will love on their own," Ethel said.
"You have a point. You know, there is this secretary, Lilac, she has everyone convinced the Holy boss likes her. Apparently she came from headquarters of a company the president is having a deal with and was very liked there. There is rumor she is dating the Chairman' son of our company," Cindy said.
"Rumor? She is planning to create some trap for the Holy boss. I heard her in the bathroom with her cronies. She is convinced the Holy boss is some representative from Black Group," Ethel said.
"Black Group?" Lilac asked. What were the odds of that name coming up?
"Ethel and I have seen the holy boss at a few conferences and businesses with a crowd of body guards, but I guess a secretary would not have. She is convinced he is a representative sent from Black Group, who own more than half our shares. But that is Eric Black himself, I know it," Cindy said and Lilac became uncomfortable.
She had been listening to gossip surrounding this illustrious boss for days and it was Eric Black?
"She set a trap for him?" Lilac asked.
"Her cronies say he is renting out some house on the coast for her birthday, but she plans to have the chairman's son propose there. Oh, I wish I could be there," Ethel said with a giggle.
"But isn't Eric Black married?" Lilac asked.
"That's the point. And I don't believe the chairman's son would not recognize Eric Black, right? The drama will be epic," Cindy laughed.
Lilac also found it funny and could not resist the smile on her face. Even Eric who seemed so unreachable would have such a dramatic life, huh? But when she thought back to Eric waiting back home, her smile fell. She did not like seeing himself so often.
"I'll join your upper management trip," Lilac found herself saying. At least Eric will not be there, and it will be out of the city. The city was too dangerous for her these days.
"Really? Let me save you seats!" Ethel excitedly begun to plan.
On her way home, lilac stared out the window of the car as they cityscape passed by. Her mind wandered to many things. These days she went around with strict security. She was not sure Eric would let her go for the trip. She started to consider what excuses to give Eric so he would not make a big deal out of it.
But as she thought, the car came to a stop at a red light. Lilac found herself looking at the car window beside her. Just then, the lights inside the next car came on and she froze. In the back seat, she could clearly see a heavily pregnant woman and her uncle in law. This was her aunt In law, Regina Black's Husband. Regina was her father in laws' only sister. Lilac sat up straight and took in the woman's features. She was definitely someone she knew. In her past life, this professor became famous, won a lot of awards and so on.
Just as Lilac wanted to convince herself that it was probably nothing that her uncle in law was in the back seat as him, the woman leaned into the man and he dropped a kiss on her forehead before the lights went off.
When Lilac got home, she found that Eric was home. She wanted to tell him but was not sure he would believe her. But was this even her business? Lilac paced right outside Eric's office, unsure if to step inside.
Inside the office, Eric looked at her pacing on the security footage. For some reason, he became anxious for when's eh would step inside. When he could no longer hold it in, he got up and walked over. He opened the door and stepped outside.
"What is it?" He asked.
"I need to go a work trip. A staff trip tomorrow," she said and Eric frowned.
"It is out of the city. I need to go," she said.
"Where? The guards can..." Eric begun to say.
"No more than two guards. I know it is dangerous but no more than two," Lilac insisted. Eric stared at her. She looked frustrated. He almost felt she was going on the trip to avoid him. It irritated him.
Seeing him frown, Lilac quickly added.
"If you don't reject, I will tell you what I just found out," she bargained. Eric raised a brow in a slight amusement.
"What could possibly be worthy of being used in exchange to let you go?" Lilac asked.
"The name of your Aunt Regina's husband's pregnant
mistress," Lilac said and Eric's face fell.