Chapter 4:

The atmosphere fell silent.

Ethan's eyes were cold as he stared at Lena, who was nervously clutching at her clothes. He seemed to be evaluating the truthfulness of her words.

A formless pressure enveloped Lena, making her grip tighten even more.

"Please, God, I'm begging you, don't let Aria send any more messages," she silently prayed.

She regretted not setting her notifications to be hidden.

She regretted it dearly!

Just when she was about to shatter under the stress, Ethan asked, "What's the part-time job?"

Lena replied hesitantly, "A sculpture painter."

Ethan questioned, "What?" The sudden "professional occupation" left Ethan a little taken aback.

After a moment, Lena added, "A three-dimensional artist."

Indeed, this had no connection whatsoever with her current role as Ethan's assistant.

She carefully observed Ethan's expression and noticed his placid eyes darken slightly. She felt a bit of apprehension, not knowing what Ethan was thinking.

Ethan flicked his eyelashes, took a drag from the cigarette in his hand, and casually exhaled a puff of smoke. "What? Isn't your salary enough?"

"No, that's not it." Lena quickly waved her hands and clarified, "It's a hobby of mine, simply for killing time."

"Killing time?" Ethan narrowed his eyes.

Lena wished she could bite her tongue off. "That's not what I meant. What I'm trying to say is that it's nice to do something I enjoy when I'm free."

“So, you don't enjoy your usual work?"

What did that even mean? For the first time, Lena realized that Ethan could be quite unreasonable.

Feeling the cold aura he was emitting, she helplessly lowered her head and sniffled in grievance.

In a soft voice, she muttered, "I know the company doesn't allow it. I won't make the same mistake again."

She knew that she was in the wrong regarding this matter. The company's human resources team had made it clear when she first joined that employees were not allowed to have side jobs.

Perhaps they were worried about competitors swooping in or it could be a distraction from work.

She had not originally planned to bring this matter to light.

Compared to the incident that night, having a side job was such a trivial mistake.

The incident that night could have implications for Aria's family and their standings in Lenora City, while working a second job would at most result in punishment for her.

Lena initially thought that Ethan would deduct a large amount from her salary. Instead, Ethan did not say anything else and simply ordered in a deep voice, "Get out."

Get out?

Had she misheard him?

Lena lifted her eyes in confusion, only to see Ethan's long fingers tapping on the keyboard as if completely treating her like air.

It seemed that he really did mean for her to leave.

"Alright!"

Lena did not dare to linger any longer, fleeing from Ethan's office. It was not until she stepped into the elevator that she finally exhaled.

She was truly terrified a moment ago.

If Ethan had asked one more question about that night, she might not have been able to bluff her way out.

By the time she met Aria, her face was still pale.

"Why are you only here now?"

Aria grabbed Lena to hail a taxi from the street, complaining as they walked. "You promised that you would only take half an hour, but look at the time. You didn't even respond to my messages..."

Being reminded of the message caused Lena to explode!

Seeing how she remained silent, Aria turned to look at her, only to find her face unusually pale. She asked with concern, "What happened? Did you see a ghost or something?"

"It's all because of you!"

The impatience on Aria's face from waiting too long was replaced by worry and surprise.

"What? What happened?"

Wasn't she just going to amend a contract?

How had she caused a disaster?

It only took a moment for Aria to realize something, and her face dramatically changed. "Could Mr. Walker have..."

Lena's eyes became teary instantly.

Seeing this, Aria became panic-stricken. "My god, did he really find out?"

Lena sighed heavily. "Not really. It's just that the message you sent me was seen by Mr. Walker!"

..." Aria's spirited speech instantly weakened.

The content of the messages she had sent to Lena emerged in her mind. Besides urgency, there were also several inquiries.

The atmosphere was solemn.

All she could hear was the whistling of the wind as vehicles passed by.

Aria rarely felt embarrassed. "I was quite cryptic in my message.

Mr. Walker... probably didn't notice anything, did he?"

Lena's eyes reddened a bit more.

She composed herself and said with a choked voice, "But he's still looking for the woman from that night."

Hearing this, Aria's nerves tensed up. Her lips moved, but no words came out.

Lena looked at her tearfully.

"From now on, can you please call me directly when I'm at work?"

There could not be a similar situation where a sent message led to something problematic again. The content of the messages left too much room for speculation.

If this were to happen a few more times, she would perish on the spot!

Aria nodded. "Fine... but you can change the display settings of your text messages..."

What if she absentmindedly sent a text again one day?

But what she was curious about was if Ethan did notice something!

Their planned shopping trip had been disrupted by Ethan's intervention, resulting in a spoiled mood. The words "he's looking for that woman" kept buzzing in Lena's mind.

Upon returning to their dorm, neither of them looked cheerful.

Aria slumped on the couch.

"Lena, let's resign together!"

Lena looked at Aria with furrowed brows. "I can't. I have a monthly mortgage of twenty thousand to pay. How could I dare to resign..."

Aria frowned.

She hugged her cushion and rubbed it a few times, feeling extremely unsettled.

Not long after, she looked at Lena with hope. "Or... You could sell the house?"

If the house was sold, the mortgage pressure would be lifted, and she could safely resign.

As long as Lena resigned, she would not be implicated.

Sure, the idea seemed a bit selfish, but it was for their mutual safety. Nothing mattered more than their lives!

Lena responded, "It hasn't even been a year. I can't sell it."

There was always a way out?

That was bullsh*t.

Community regulations required a minimum of two years of property possession before resale, which made Aria feel like hitting her head against the wall!

She was originally quite a trust fund baby with her father controlling the entire corporation.

However, in an effort to toughen her up, he had confiscated all her bank cards!

He had declared that if she did not learn anything at the Walker Group, she would not be allowed back!

Of course, Lena was not doing much better either as she was utterly impoverished. Both being misfortunate individuals lost in this world, they shared an understanding look. Fine, quitting the job would not work. There was simply no other choice.

After thinking it over, the safest method seemed to be hiding the entire thing from Ethan.

"Just be careful in what you do then," Aria added, her tone resolute.

"Sure. But-" Lena paused.

"I could try applying to a different department."

Aria cringed slightly. "Have you forgotten how you ended up in Ethan's office?"

Lena used to be an assistant in the business department.

Once, during an inspection, Ethan spotted her and immediately moved her to his office to serve as his assistant.

At the time, almost everyone assumed that Ethan had taken a liking to Lena.

It was not until they saw that Lena did not receive any special treatment and worked nervously every day that the rumors finally died down.

That did not mean, however, that people stopped talking behind their backs. After all, her being personally moved around by Ethan himself was enough to stir speculation.