Chapter 120
At lunchtime, Nora still couldn't finish writing her self-criticism.
She didn't know what she was supposed to criticize herself for.
A three-thousand-word self-criticism, and she'd only written a hundred words.
And the entire thing expressed just one idea: "The boss says I'm wrong, so I must be wrong, but I don't know where I went wrong."
"Mr. Smith, aren't you going to eat?" Seeing Michael still busy with work, Nora carefully pushed open the office door and asked.
Michael put down the documents in his hand and raised an eyebrow.
Gia had actually written a 'self-criticism' that satisfied him greatly in record time.
In the encrypted mailbox was Gia's pledge of loyalty.
It was a list of people Luna had her plant in the company in advance.
Involving various departments.
Michael knew Gia was still keeping some cards close to her chest and wouldn't give him the complete personnel list.
But this was enough.
The rest, he didn't care about.
Given that Nora had sent him a gift on her first day, Michael decided to let her off this time and take her to the cafeteria for lunch.
But Nora's phone just had to ring at that moment.
Nora straightened up and ran to the side to answer the call.
"What do you want to eat for lunch?" Walter hadn't left Emerald City—he was planning to go to Shadow City with Nora.
Nora bit her lip and refused. "My company has a cafeteria."
"Three minutes. Come downstairs." Walter didn't give Nora a chance to refuse.
"I'm not going." Nora gathered her courage to refuse.
"Are you sure? The doctor said Samuel's treatment plan requires my cooperation." Walter spoke in a low voice.
Nora bit her lip harder, her lips turning pale.
He knew to threaten her with Samuel.
"You can't do this." Nora tried to reason with Walter.
But Walter wasn't someone who reasoned with people.
"Come down. Don't make me say it a third time." After speaking, Walter hung up.
Nora nervously looked back at Michael and stammered. "Mr. Smith... can I, can I go eat?"
Michael stood at the office door with a dark expression.
He didn't need to guess who had called Nora.
Walter wasn't returning to Silverlight City or going to Shadow City—he was staying to pester Nora.
"Have you finished your self-criticism?" Michael spoke in a low voice.
Nora sensed Michael's anger and didn't know if she'd done something wrong. "No."
"If you haven't finished, you can't leave work." Michael walked to Nora's small desk and glanced at it. The few scattered words on the A4 paper seemed to stubbornly tell him: I'm not wrong!
"Two hours, and you only wrote this much?" Michael frowned, clearly displeased, but his gaze was drawn to Nora's handwriting.
Her writing was elegant yet strong, beautiful enough to be stunning.
Nora nervously kept her head down, gripping her fingers tightly.
Had she made Michael unhappy again?
This Michael's temperament was a bit hard to figure out, not easy to guess.
"Nora, your work efficiency is way too low!" David on the side quickly stood up to help Michael criticize her.
How could she only write in two hours...
David glanced at the paper on the desk. Nora's handwritten self-criticism had several hundred words. Setting aside the content, the handwriting was truly beautiful. "Nora, your handwriting is really nice."
Nora didn't know how to respond.
"No wonder you were a genius back then. With handwriting like this, graders wouldn't bear to deduct points." David praised with a smile.
Nora froze for a moment, lowered her head, feeling a sharp pain in her chest.
She had once been a brilliant star standing at the top.
When she went to prison and was expelled from university, her high school teacher came to see her and said "what a pity" three times.
Nora was a rare genius. If her life hadn't been ruined, the heights she would have reached now would be beyond many people's reach.
Michael's eyes darkened slightly as he glared at David.
"Move her desk inside. I don't keep idle people around me!"
Michael was saying the coldest words while doing something that shocked David.
He'd been Michael's assistant for so many years and hadn't gotten into the CEO's office.
How was Nora's little desk getting promoted to the inner sanctum!
This was way too much preferential treatment.
"What do you want for lunch? Have David buy it for you. He lost a bet and said he'd be your errand boy for three months." Michael raised an eyebrow and spoke again. "No leaving work! Work overtime writing your self-criticism!"
Even David was intimidated by Michael. This was clearly exploiting employees.
Why write the self-criticism now when she could write it anytime? Besides, Nora hadn't done anything wrong. "Mr. Smith, let her write it after work. I'll take her to get some food."
David planned to compete with Michael for Nora.
"If you buy it and bring it back, it'll be cold. I'll just take her there directly. The chefs in the executive dining area are all five-star chefs, and we can enjoy your perks." David winked at Nora, ready to rescue her from Michael's clutches.
Nora felt a little excited, her eyes brightening as she nodded.
She'd heard before that Michael's employee meals were prepared by master chefs, and assistants could enjoy them too.
Michael's face darkened as he took a deep breath.
It was rare to see anticipation in Nora's eyes, so he didn't refuse.
Nora picked up her phone and followed David. After taking two steps, she turned back and asked carefully and timidly, "Mr. Smith, I have a friend. Can we eat together in the cafeteria?"
Michael couldn't suppress his anger anymore.
"Whatever you want!" Not wanting to seem too petty, Mr. Smith slammed his office door.
David scratched his head. "Mr. Smith had a rough day today. He didn't eat anything wrong but was made to throw up by the doctor, so naturally he's in a bad mood. Let's just go eat."
"Is Mr. Smith's personality always this unpredictable?" Nora asked quietly.
She needed to ask David more questions to understand Michael better.
"You haven't seen him truly angry. Don't let Mr. Smith's usual gentle and polite manner fool you—that's only when you haven't touched his sore spots. You'd better hope you never see that day, and if you do, stay away. He can devour people." David said quietly.
Nora made a sound of understanding and nodded, following David while sending Walter a message. "I need to eat the employee meal and work overtime. I'm at the company's second-floor cafeteria. Do you want to come eat together? I heard it's pretty good."
Nora didn't plan to give Walter a chance to meet alone.
Downstairs, in the car.
Seeing that threats didn't work, Walter gritted his teeth in anger.
Fine!
Working overtime again! What overtime does a CEO's personal assistant need to work every day?
Wasn't it just Michael deliberately making things difficult for Nora!
Making him, the CEO of Mountain Construction Group, go eat employee meals at Michael's cafeteria?
Nora really had some nerve! He absolutely wouldn't go, even if it killed him.
"Mr. Wood, isn't that James? Didn't you arrange for him to meet with Lyle? Weren't he and Luna supposed to go to Shadow City early?" Royce asked in confusion when he saw James entering the company.
Walter frowned and got out of the car with a dark expression.
"Mr. Wood, where are you going?" Royce asked nervously.
"To mooch off Michael's employee meal!" Walter said through gritted teeth.
James coming back at this time must mean he came straight from the airport to the company.
What could make him rush back so urgently, disregarding the Shadow City project cooperation?