Chapter 29 Better than her

“Madam, please slow down." The servant next to her reached out to help her but was stopped by her. She finished breakfast quickly, changed clothes and rushed out of the door before realizing that Nicholas wasn't there. How was she going to get to the company?

"Beep beep." A black Mercedes pulled up in front of her.

"Just now, Mr. Nicholas had an early meeting at the company and asked me to pick you up," James explained from the driver's seat.

Caroline nodded and sat in the passenger seat, taking out documents to read. As a secretary who arrived later than the CEO, she was probably one of few.

After arranging Nicholas's schedule for the day, they arrived near the company building. Caroline looked around like a thief before entering since she didn't want anyone from work to see them together.

She took a direct elevator ride up to his office where she prepared documents for him and made coffee before knocking on his door.

"Come in," came his deep voice as soon as she raised her hand to knock.

Caroline hesitated briefly; how did he know it was her? She pushed open the door with coffee in hand and began reporting on Nicholas's daily schedule with complete professionalism.

Only after finishing did he speak: "How are you feeling today? Did last night help your shoulder?"

Although all he did last night was massage her shoulders, why did those words sound so caring coming from him? Caroline felt angry enough to hit someone but restrained herself since it was work hours. Instead, she walked over and drank all of his coffee in one gulp before slamming down the cup heavily on his desk without looking at him or waiting for any response then left immediately through another door without saying anything else.

Nicholas liked this side of hers though; however, he still had some paperwork left so he would deal with that first before dealing with the little woman outside.

Back at her own desk, Caroline cursed Nicholas in her heart before taking out some documents she had bought earlier. She knew that with her current qualifications, she couldn't be the CEO's secretary without his help.

She would work hard to make everyone in the company recognize and appreciate her abilities so as not to disappoint Nicholas.

Not long after, a call came through: "Ms. Eva said she has a project to discuss with the CEO but didn't make an appointment beforehand," said reception.

"Let her come up." Other than Eva, there was no one else who could talk about cooperation with their company. Although yesterday's incident was still fresh in Caroline's mind, she wasn't sure if Eva really wanted to discuss business or had other motives for coming today.

Within two minutes of receiving the call, Eva arrived and arrogantly ordered Caroline to pour water for her before heading towards Nicholas's office without waiting for any response from anyone else.

Caroline remained calm and replied: "Ms. Eva, if you want to talk about projects with Mr. Nicholas then please go directly to the conference room where I will have everything prepared for you."

Afterwards, Caroline walked straight into Nicholas's office and closed the door behind herself which blocked off all of Eva’s eager glances towards him while he worked diligently on his computer screen typing away with sharp eyesight and distinct finger movements.

Although initially annoyed by being interrupted again by someone else besides himself during work hours; upon seeing it was just Caroline this time around instead of feeling angry he softened immediately making it even more infuriating for Eva since those were supposed to be hers -the looks- given how good looking she is plus having a great family background along with confidence in both appearance & education level; many men pursued her but she only had eyes for Nicholas. She believed that no one else could match him and that the woman who looked like a country bumpkin was not worthy of him.

Feeling more and more dissatisfied, Eva slammed her hand on the table with a loud noise which attracted many people's attention.

"What are you looking at? Take me to the conference room," she said arrogantly while everyone around them felt unhappy but didn't dare say anything.

The sharp and slender high heels made a piercing sound as they stepped on the ground, causing many people to frown in annoyance. However, it did not affect the two individuals in the office.

Ignoring the gentle laughter of the person in front of her, Caroline continued to report with a formulaic tone, 'Eva is here. I asked her to go to the conference room.'

Nicholas put down his work and pulled her closer. 'What's wrong?'

Caroline glanced at him but didn't say anything. She didn't want to admit that she was feeling uncomfortable even though she had been angry with Eva before and had to admit that Eva was indeed better than her.

Knowing what she was thinking, Nicholas sighed. 'My silly girl, don't overthink things.' His deep voice instantly calmed Caroline's restlessness.

'Everything has a process. I'll give you an opportunity this time. How about letting you take charge of our project with David?' Nicholas petted her hair affectionately.

Caroline looked surprised at him since cooperation wasn't child's play and she had little experience yet he gave her such an important task. She knew that Nicholas wanted to give her an opportunity for growth but she really wasn't confident enough.

'I'm here for you; just let go and do your best,' he said reassuringly while rubbing his head against hers.

Leaving the office building, Caroline took a deep breath and walked towards the conference room holding some files in hand.

As soon as Eva heard someone opening the door, she immediately showed a gentle smile but when she saw it wasn't Nicholas who entered instead of Caroline, her expression changed immediately into disdainful eyes saying: “I came here to talk about cooperation with Mr. Nicholas; what are you doing here?”

Caroline put the documents on the table and sat down in front of her. 'I'm in charge of our project with your company this time.'

'What? Just you?' Eva was surprised.

In fact, her father had already talked to Nicholas about it before. She just took this opportunity to get closer to him because she believed that as long as she appeared frequently in front of him, he would be attracted by her charm.

Caroline didn't care about Eva's attitude towards her and finished discussing the details of their cooperation before standing up to leave. However, Eva didn't expect Caroline to ignore her and tried pulling at her arm.

Dodging easily, Caroline watched as Eva lost balance and fell onto the ground while exclaiming: 'Ah! It hurts so much!'

'Get away from me; I want Mr. Nicholas!' Eva pushed Caroline away when she tried helping but seeing how high she was wearing heels made Caroline hesitate for a moment.

After some hesitation, Caroline walked quickly back into the office building saying: “Eva fell down; please go check on her.”

“Okay." She followed along and watched as Eva was helped out of the company and into the hospital car. Only then did she return to her office, but found that Nicholas was already waiting for her.

Before he could ask, Caroline took the initiative to explain. Originally, she had intended to go find Nicholas herself, but later changed her mind. Fortunately, James happened to pass by so she sent him instead.