Chapter 27
William's face instantly darkened. He put down his utensils, having lost his appetite, and said out of spite,
"Yes, I'm hiding a woman here."
Ava stood up and straightened her clothes, her tone casual as if she didn't care at all,
"Then I won't disturb your fun, Mr. Morgan. You carry on, just watch the time so you're not late for work this afternoon."
After saying this, she pushed the door open and left, thinking to herself, "I know you too well. With your ridiculously picky taste, who could catch your eye except someone like Sarah, that top-tier angelic bitch?"
He only loved Sarah—she knew that better than anyone.
Ava thought about her own face, which was seventy percent similar to Sarah's, and felt bitter inside.
Three years of marriage. She used to think he had developed some feelings for her, at least in bed. When he was turned on, his eyes were full of her. He would press against her ear and call her name over and over. Each "Ava" was like poison wrapped in sugar, coaxing her into leaving herself no way out, making her want to cut open her heart and show it to him.
But all that tenderness couldn't compare to Sarah returning to the country.
In the end, it was all a dream. Her most precious three years were nothing more than being a substitute for his first love.
With his personality, who could force him to do anything? If it weren't for this face, he probably wouldn't even bother pretending, let alone marry her.
William paced around with his hands on his hips, then called Jeremy to come up and clean up the mess, taking the opportunity to vent his frustration. Jeremy didn't dare say much. After cleaning up, he left as fast as he could, not daring to provoke him.
Ava had eaten too much and felt sick. Her morning sickness came back to torture her, and she ran to the bathroom several times in the afternoon to throw up.
When she went to the break room for water, Sarah was there too, along with a female colleague from the design department. The two were casually sitting on high stools, drinking tea.
What bad luck running into her.
Ava had no reason to avoid her. The water dispenser hadn't finished heating, so she had to wait. She put her cup in place and waited for the water to heat up.
"Sarah, did you hear someone throwing up in the bathroom this afternoon?"
The speaker was Ella Garcia, who always followed Sarah around. The two were inseparable.
Ava suddenly gripped her cup tighter, feeling nervous. She thought hiding her pregnancy would be easy—after all, her belly wasn't showing yet, and as long as she didn't say anything, no one would find out. She never expected these people to be so gossipy, even chatting about bathroom matters.
Sarah put down her cup and rolled her eyes in disgust,
"We're drinking tea here. Why bring up something so gross?"
Ella paused,
"I really didn't want to mention it, but I heard it several times in the bathroom this afternoon. Someone must be pregnant. The bathroom on this floor should only be used by our design department. Who do you think it could be?"
She turned to Ava and asked,
"Ava, it's not you, is it?"
Ava made a sound of surprise, then quickly composed herself and replied flatly, "No, it's not." The water dispenser's heating light finally turned on. With a calm expression, she turned on the tap and watched the water slowly fill her cup.
Ella asked curiously,
"You just got here today, and I heard someone throwing up in the bathroom. I'm pretty sure it was you. Most of the girls in our design department are unmarried, and the married ones have already had kids. Who else could it be? You're the most likely suspect."
"It's not me."
Ava finished getting her water and quickly left this troublesome place to avoid saying something wrong and causing problems. Before the press conference, it was best not to have any accidents. She couldn't afford to take that risk.
Sarah felt unsettled by Ella's words. If that woman was really pregnant and gave birth to a boy, then the position of Mrs. Morgan would be secure, and there would be nothing left for her.
William indulged her in everything, spoiled her, but after all, he wasn't divorced yet. Everything could still change. At this thought, a chill rose from the bottom of her heart, instantly numbing her whole body.
"Just because someone threw up a few times doesn't mean anything. Maybe someone ate something bad."
She said this purely to comfort herself.
Ella had given birth before and knew better,
"Ms. Brown, you're young and still too naive. When a woman throws up, it's usually pregnancy. That's morning sickness. If someone ate something bad, they'd throw up once or twice to empty their stomach and be fine. Why would they keep throwing up?"
Sarah got anxious and spoke more sharply,
"Stop making things up. Did you see an ultrasound report?"
Ella, as a senior employee, felt embarrassed being scolded by a girl in her early twenties, but didn't dare say anything since the entire design department had to work according to Sarah's mood.
"I was just chatting."
"Have you finished your work? You should worry about your design tasks for today first."
Ella left awkwardly after being told off.
Only Sarah remained in the break room. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became. Could that woman really be pregnant?
All afternoon, Ava felt a creepy gaze watching her from behind. After work, she received a message from Lucas,
[My old man set me up with a blind date. Save me!]
Ava had accompanied Lucas on blind dates more than once or twice, playing his girlfriend to ruin the dates. She was good at this.
[Send me the location. I'll arrive at the battlefield in an hour!]
After sending the message, Lucas quickly sent her a location.
Ava opened the map to check and found it wasn't far from the Morgan Group, just across the street. During rush hour at this time, walking there would actually be faster than driving.
She packed her bag, turned off her computer, grabbed her phone, and headed out.
Just as Ava stepped out, Ella rolled her chair over to Sarah's workstation to stir up trouble,
"Ms. Brown, this person has no sense of propriety. We haven't left yet, but she's the first one to leave."
Sarah had been extremely irritated all afternoon by the news that Ava might be pregnant. She wanted nothing more than to tie that woman up and throw her in the ocean so she'd never appear in front of William again.
She had one good quality—no matter how much she hated someone, she wouldn't deal with them directly. She would find someone else to do the dirty work.
Sarah curved her lips with a tone of righteous indignation,
"Ella, how many years have you been at the company?"
"Eight years."
"Then you're a veteran employee in our department. You should teach the newcomers a lesson. She's this arrogant on her first day—later on, she'll never respect you senior employees. Our design department needs to establish some rules."
Ella was fired up,
"Just watch the show. How hard can it be to deal with a newcomer? It's time to let her see how harsh society can be."
Just as they were chatting enthusiastically, Sarah's desk phone rang. When she saw it was an internal line from the CEO's office, she immediately perked up, her afternoon gloom instantly disappearing.
She picked up the phone, curved her red lips, and asked in a sweet voice, "Mr. Morgan, what can I do for you?"
After speaking, she lifted her eyelids and glanced at Ella, who wisely rolled her chair away.
William wouldn't let her call him anything else at the company. She'd tried acting cute, throwing tantrums, and pretending to be sick—she'd used every trick she had, but nothing worked. She could only obediently call him Mr. Morgan.
Compared to her voice, William's was much colder,
"I need to see you about something. Come over."
Sarah checked the time and said coquettishly,
"Well, it's almost time to get out of work anyway. I know a restaurant with a really nice atmosphere. We can talk while we eat."
After hanging up, she touched up her makeup in the mirror and spent a long time fixing her hair. Satisfied, she put on her eight-centimeter heels and walked gracefully out of the design department toward the CEO's private elevator.