“Just let it go, Gino. Let’s grab lunch. You can tell me more about Chairman White.” Miru was always tempted to take Kaze down a notch because he annoyed her, but she did not want to get him fired. She cut Gino off and walked straight to the private dining area of the cafeteria. “Kaze, was it? I’ll keep your name in mind and sort you out later.” Gino pointed at Kaze menacingly before going after Miru. Kaze carried on with his meal, unaffected by the clown’s threat. After lunch, he did not stay long at the office building and went straight home. “Taxi!” Kaze hailed a cab by the road. A woman in formal wear rushed out of the office building with a phone in hand. She looked anxiously around. Her eyes lit up at the sight of a taxi. However, Sophie stopped disappointedly when the cab pulled up in front of Kaze. “Do you have an emergency? You can go ahead and have this ride,” said a tender voice. Sophie looked up and saw Kaze talking. She hurried over. “I’m sorry.
“So you’re saying that Kaze was the psycho that James had been looking for?” Gino was surprised. “We’ll know once we check whether he was one of the patients at Lilyrose Mental Institution,” Megan said. Megan was James’ former assistant. James instructed her to locate Kaze. Once Kaze was pinpointed at Lilyrose Mental Institution, James then wanted her to contact the staff to see if Kaze could be removed from there. Megan could still remember everything like it was yesterday. At the time, James had unexpected visitors who threatened him to stay clear of Kaze. However, James would not listen and kicked them out. Later, James met with a car accident after a visit to the mental institution. That was the start of Shangrila Group’s fall. Megan spent the last two years hating James and Kaze. It was all Kaze’s fault. James was to be blamed for his stubbornness too. If not for them, Shangrila would not have fallen apart. Megan was once the assistant of the chairma
Gino sounded condescending as if he was giving out charity. He believed Kaze had to play nice with the former employees to survive at the company even if he managed to pull some strings to get the COO position. A loser like Kaze would not miss the chance to expand his network. “Alright. I’m in.” Kaze nodded in agreement with a smirk. Gino was not helping out of the goodness of his heart. He had something up his sleeves. Kaze only accepted the invitation because many former employees of Shangrila Group would be there. The re-establishment of Shangrila welcomed back many former employees. Most of them were loyal to the previous management and they were competent at their jobs, but a few with ill intentions might slip through the cracks of Snow’s hiring. Kaze could use the opportunity to check these people out.Soon, Gino sent a text with the address of the place they were meeting at. The venue for the party was Golden Key Lounge, a bar located adjacent to the office
Megan spotted the girl and assumed a commanding tone, her voice dripping with condescension. Sophie once worked at the former Shangrila Group too. She was hired back as one of the leaders in the HR department, working under Megan. “I’m sorry, Megan. My mother fell ill. I admitted her to the hospital before coming straight over.” Sophie knew Megan had a reputation for being harsh, so she would not miss the latter’s birthday party unnecessarily. She rushed over to the venue without getting home for a change of clothes. Still, it gave Megan a reason to rip into Sophie. Megan would not have any of it. She pulled a long face and gave Sophie a piece of her mind. Swallowing her discontent, Sophie avoided talking to the leaders and sought solace in a quiet corner, only to find Kaze there. “Hello, sir. Thank you for letting me catch the ride ahead of you.” Thinking Kaze belonged to higher management, Sophie expressed her sincere gratitude. “I’m Kaze. No need to call me ‘sir’.”
Megan got herself thinking the moment she decided to invite Kaze to her birthday celebration. She wanted to humiliate Kaze tonight to release the pent-up anger of the last two years. Now, she finally had her chance. Despite being ignored, Kaze managed to draw attention to himself like a walking target. It was only right that she did him the favor by putting him back in his place. “Who do you think you are? Megan is extending the courtesy by inviting you, but you have been rude to her. You should ask yourself whether you have the skills to match before jumping the gun.” “If the loser can afford any car at all, he wouldn’t have taken his wife’s family name. He has no dignity.” The senior executives around Megan commented in disdain. “Took his wife’s family name?” Sophie glanced at Kaze in surprise. She was skeptical. Kaze’s grace left a strong impact. Sophie could tell from the brief chat with him that he was a man of depth and taste. How could he possibly marry i
“What? A Ferrari 488? Did I hear that right?”“Um… Can the loser even afford a sports car? Are pigs flying?” “The server probably got the wrong guy.” Gasps erupted in the room. People looked at Kaze in surprise, distress, and envy. However, most of them were doubtful. They refused to believe that Kaze would drive a Ferrari 488 to the party. Kaze had outdone all of them. Megan stood there, utterly embarrassed. It took a while before she said curtly, “What’s great about a Ferrari 488? Sure, it’s a multimillion-dollar car, but it only costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to give any scratch a fresh coat of paint. I can still afford that.” That was the truth, but anybody could read the aggression in her tone. Put in the spot, the server could not say anything without risking offending either party. Kaze was not unreasonable like Megan. To end the server’s dilemma, he fished out the car key from his pocket and handed it over. The car key bearing the Ferrari log
Everybody in the room except Sophie taunted Kaze. Even when Kaze drove a Ferrari 488 to attend the party, the group interpreted it as Kaze showing off. It slipped their minds that Kaze made no mention of it the whole time. That was not their concern anyway. They wanted to humiliate him to ease their awkwardness. Faced with harsh criticisms, Kaze remained unfazed. He kept a smile on his face. Kaze watched them like they were clowns in a circus. They were oblivious that Kaze could not be bothered to stoop to their level. The group took Kaze’s silence as a sign that he was overwhelmed by the mockery and had nothing to say for himself. They believed he was a loser. “Don’t forget that we have gathered here today to celebrate Megan’s birthday. We got a cake for her. Come and enjoy it,” one senior executive said. Soon, he and another friend pushed a cart over with a candle-lit three-tier cake on it. Megan made a wish and blew out the candles as everybody watched on.
Kaze wiped the cream and cake bits off his face in silence. He was not the type to take the humiliation lying down. It had crossed Kaze’s mind to retaliate against Megan and the other executives. None of the close to twenty in the room would survive the blow. Nevertheless, he put down his hand when Megan explained the motivation behind the humiliation. Megan and the others were making him pay for ruining Shangrila Group. They were acting out on the anger and resentment that gnawed for two years. If that was the sole reason, Kaze could consider a lighter punishment for these people tomorrow. It would still be a consequence that Megan and others could not bear though.“You got your payback. I should get going.” Kaze walked out. “Hold it right there. Who said you could leave?” Gino and another male associate stood in his way, staring him down. Megan scoffed. “You’re naïve to think that this is over.” “What else do you want?” Kaze stopped in his tracks and tur