At The Secretaries’ Area…
The girls all gathered around Annie’s cubicle, marveling at the pile of documents standing behind her chair.
“Ms. Lin, you are so unlucky.”
“This is your official first day as one of the CEO’s secretaries, yet you managed to anger that man.”
“Aren’t you troublesome, Ms. Lin? The CEO punishes us sometimes, but the punishment is not as enormous as this.”
“Did Ms. Lin say something to anger the CEO more?”
“It seems the CEO especially dislikes her. Giving someone this kind of task is like planning to end them up in the hospital.”
“Tsk tsk tsk… Ms. Lin, you’re also pitiful. At first, we thought you would be an obstacle to us. The game hasn’t even started yet and you’ve managed to get yourself kicked out.”
“Everyone can be rest assured now that Ms. Lin is out of the list. We girls can chase after the CEO with a peaceful mind.”
“Hmmm… How pathetic. If Ms. Lin hadn’t gotten herself in trouble, she might have the chance to be lucky.”
The girls spoke nonstop, saying heartbreaking words. They expected the girl to break down in tears and lament about her punishment.
What they didn’t know was that this girl was so thick-skinned, that none of their words got through her.
Annie simply ignored them and went on with her work. That surprised the secretaries, yet, they didn’t stop gossiping.
It was true that they were intimidated when Annie started working with them. Because they could remember that when the CEO newly assumed his position, there had been a scandal between him and this girl.
Some of the secretaries even claimed that they had seen her once or twice before in the CEO’s area.
So the girls felt insecure that this beautiful girl might catch their CEO’s attention without even trying.
Imagine their happiness when the CEO called her out. At least, one of their competitors was down.
It turned out that the girl didn’t have any connection with the CEO after all. Otherwise, why would he punish her?
“Don’t listen to them, Annie.” Layla gave them an annoyed look. “Won’t you go back to your work for goodness sake? You’re here blaming her when it was all our fault. Do you even know if she took the blame for us? If not, why would the CEO punish her alone?”
“Ms. Lin is on her own.”
“Ms. Ju’an, don’t get yourself worked up. I don’t think someone like Ms. Lin will take any blame for us.”
“You-“
“They’re right, Layla.” Annie looked up from her work. “If I take the blame for them, won’t you question my sanity?”
The girls were confused about whether Annie was talking back at them or not. On her face was a small smile, yet, they felt offended by her words.
“Ah, you’re right.” Layla’s eyes lightened up. “Even if you’ll take someone’s blame, won’t it be mine, goddess? You don’t even know them, so it’s insane to take up their punishment.”
“So the rumors are true that Ms. Lin is arrogant.” One secretary spoke.
“Ms. Lin, you must be careful. If you don’t want any trouble with us, you have to watch what you say.”
“As you know, we were here before you.”
“And the fact that our CEO doesn’t seem to like you only gives us a free ticket to bully you.”
“Oh?” Annie raised a brow, her eyes lighting up. “You’re openly declaring that you’ll bully a fellow employee?”
“So what?”
“Ms. Liang or whatever you’re called,” Layla chipped in. “I don’t think that is a good idea. Look behind you.”
The girl frowned and looked behind her. One of the older secretaries was holding a phone and recording her.
“I can’t wait to send this to the HR Department.” The girl smirked. “Girl, you just earned yourself a demotion or even a sack.”
The other girls all laughed at once. Because this girl was pretty new, she didn’t know how things worked in the CEO’s area.
All the secretaries were competitive. Although they could unite to badmouth someone, each of them was also waiting for the other person to make a tiny mistake that could get them kicked out of the area.
In that way, they would reduce in number every day and the high chance of only a few remaining in the CEO’s area would increase.
The former secretaries knew well about this, so no matter what they said, they were careful not to say such kinds of words that could get them implicated.
“Wait, Gina… No!” The girl didn’t get to plead. Instantly, the other secretary sent the recording to the HR Department’s email and showed it to everyone.
The girl was downcast and she sank onto her cubicle chair, looking lifeless.
“Tsk tsk tsk, these girls are so evil and dangerous, Annie.” Layla shook her head and looked at her friend. “We must be careful around them.”
Layla could see that in the CEO’s area, there were no friends and there were no enemies. In short, the girls’ relationship could be termed as frenemies.
They were even worse than the employees in the Arts Department. These girls were heartless. They even laughed at the same time when the new employee stared at her phone, probably looking at an email she just got from the HR Department.
She stood up with her head down. It was apparent that the girl was trying to hold back her tears. And without looking at anyone, she headed to the elevator with slumped shoulders.
“Ha! Another one down.” One of the older secretaries laughed.
The new ones who weren’t used to this kind of thing remained silent in their cubicles, watching the retreating girl in bewilderment.
“Urgh! Aren’t you shameless for doing this?” Layla didn’t like the other girl, but she thought it was childish of the older employee to try to make her lose her job.
“Ms. Ju’an, I heard that you’re aggressive. Please don’t hide that side of yours. I can’t wait to record you too.” Gina smirked evilly.
“You-“ Layla wanted to approach her but Annie held her back.
“Don’t mind her,” Annie said softly. “Layla, just focus on your work-“
She hadn’t finished speaking when a deafening silence fell on the place. Literally, the CEO had appeared again and he looked angry.
“Assistant Jiang.” The man spoke to the assistant who was behind him. “Stay back. Ms. Lin will come with me.”
The assistant was supposed to escort the man to the emergency meeting. He looked at the girl whom his boss just caught speaking instead of working.
Assistant Jiang looked crestfallen and he nodded. “Yes, Mr. Lim. Ms. Lin, please leave your work and escort the CEO to the meeting.”
He wondered if the heavens were against Ms. Lin this morning. No one could deny that the girl was making noise.