Without Ron, Aiden, and Caden around, there was a marked improvement in terms of work efficiency throughout the company. This improvement was not only seen in Sherry’s department but in other departments as well. Lisa and Carl rarely showed up over the next few days as they were busy dealing with the aftermath of the scandal. Sherry only saw Lisa once over the next two days and never saw Carl at all. Fortunately, the details of the two projects he signed on had been worked out. The departments were coordinating as they should and things were progressing smoothly. Sherry returned to her usual routine. She would go to work every day and return home on time where she would spend time with Caprice before they went to bed. She hardly paid any attention to John. This evening, Sherry left the office as usual after she finished up her work for the day. She drove past several junctions and swerved into the apartment compound where she lived. After she got out of the car, sh
Sherry flinched. John smirked. The old man commended Caprice with a pleasant smile, "What a thoughtful girl. Go ahead and choose a pair you like." Caprice climbed off Sherry’s arms. The counter was just a little too tall for her. She could barely look at the designs but clutched at them nonetheless, and she ended up taking nearly two dozen bracelets. She seemed very satisfied with her choice and announced, “I’ll be taking this!” Sherry remained silent the entire while. The old stall owner was enchanted by the child’s adorable and innocent demeanor. John stepped forward and thanked the old man with a smile, “We’ll have it in a bag, thank you.” The old man obliged. “Alright.” He took out a bag and tossed the brackets Caprice picked out into the bag. John’s hands were full at this point so Sherry ended up having to take the bag for him. She made sure to pay for it as well. After that, she took Caprice into her arms again. The child was beaming with prid
Caprice was sleeping soundly in her arms. She slung Caprice over her shoulders, leaving both of her hands free. She turned toward the trash cans and fumbled around in the dark. After a while, she was done. She stepped away and walked toward the lobby, making sure that Caprice was asleep the entire time. She stepped into the lobby that was illuminated with ceiling lights. John, who had been standing by his car the entire time, noticed that when Sherry approached the trash cans, her wrist was still filled with bracelets. However, her wrist was empty now. He took a deep breath and furrowed his brows. After Sherry had gone out of sight, he approached the trash cans. He opened them and inspected what was inside. There was scarcely any light, so he could see nothing but stinky piles of domestic waste. He furrowed his brows and stretched his hand out. With an exasperated sigh, he dug his hands into the garbage and began shoveling around. Soon, he tossed the co
Sherry was confused by these discussions. She scrolled up several pages before she saw the video at last. She tapped into the video to play it. The first person she recognized immediately was John. He was squatting in front of a pile of garbage and rummaging through it. She felt her fingers stiffening as she could not fathom what she was seeing. He was with two of his bodyguards, all three of them were digging through the garbage as if searching for treasure. She watched completely aghast as the trio turned over piles of rotten garbage with their naked hands without gloves. Despite it all, John still looked refined and handsome. His shirt was completely unstained the entire time. Still, Sherry could only wonder how much he must have stunk. She had only stood by the trash can for a while but she could still smell the nasty stench after she headed upstairs with Caprice. To think that John had been rummaging through the trash for an hour... What was he up to? Did h
"You have really heavy bags under your eyes. Did you not sleep well last night?" John repeated the question. Caprice grew wide-eyed and stared at her mother upon hearing the question. Sherry avoided John’s gaze and answered curtly, "I had some urgent work to deal with last night so I ended up sleeping late.” "What kind of urgent work?” he asked. This got him a sharp look from Sherry. "Why are you so talkative today?” John pursed his lips and changed the topic. "What do you want for breakfast?" Sherry pretended she did not hear him and ignored him. Caprice answered for her, “I want pancakes!” John looked at Sherry to see if she had other opinions. She did not provide any feedback at all. … The next few days were relatively uneventful. One afternoon, Sherry finally saw Carl. This was her first time meeting him since their last encounter at Ron’s. He was wearing a black suit and his hair was neatly combed. Although he still had a little air of playfu
Sherry congratulated Carl with a smile. "Congratulations." He made a show of stretching his back, then he walked up to her and sat on her desk. Sherry adjusted herself on the chair and tried to nudge herself a little farther from the table. He immediately grabbed the handle of her chair and leaned closer toward her. He smiled charmingly with an alluring glow in his eyes. “Sherry, even though I’m the president now, you’re still a close friend of mine. I’m going to be sad if you start keeping your distance from me.” Sherry rolled her eyes. When had she ever tried to wall him off anyway? She was only trying to keep some respectable distance between the two of them since this was a workplace! She was a fool to think that Carl had matured. Deep down, he was still a playful child. She responded dismissively, “Alright, I got it.” Carl let go of her chair and sat up straight. Sherry shot a look at him and asked, "Did you come here just to tell me this?" “Of cou
Sherry sat motionlessly in her office for some time. It was only when one of her staff knocked on her door to inform her that it was going to rain outside and wondered why she was not leaving yet that she was finally pulled out of her trance. She looked outside. It was dark. On any other day, it would still be relatively bright outside at this hour. She tried to shrug off her thoughts and got up. It began raining very soon after. It was nowhere near a downpour but it was enough to affect the traffic condition. Although her place was only several junctions away, she was held up in traffic for almost an hour before finally reaching home. She swerved into her parking space in the parking lot. She did not have an umbrella in her car. She braced herself for a sprint into the building. Moments before she threw the door open, she spotted two familiar figures approaching her car. One was a tall figure and the other was a child. It was John and Caprice. John held Capr
Sherry hid outside the door, gulping as she watched the girl munching on her food. It was then she sensed a gaze on her. She looked up and met John’s gaze. The man was looking at her with a smile. Embarrassed, Sherry quickly turned away and sat back on the couch. She picked up the tablet and played a cartoon on it, pretending that she was watching. It was raining like cats and dogs outside, which formed a contrast to the quiet environment indoors. The smell of food from the tablet stimulated her saliva. She had lost count of how many times she gulped because of the temptation. Then, Caprice’s chubby figure waddled towards her from the kitchen. She was holding two pieces of meatloaf in each hand, one bitten into and one still fresh. She handed the fresh one to Sherry. “Mommy, Daddy made this for you. It’s delicious!” Sherry was surprised. Caprice pushed the meatloaf closer to tempt her. Since the girl had taken the effort to deliver it, she might as well accept it. S