Chapter 3

Today, I intentionally cooked early in the morning. After dropping Gillian off at school, I planned to meet Uncle Benny and some company shareholders.

Uncle Benny had scheduled the meeting at one of our branch offices, so thankfully, I wouldn't have to see Derrick or Kendall, who were at the head office.

"Hello!" a voice rang from outside. Who’s visiting this early? The voice sounded familiar.

Then I heard the noise of kids in the living room.

I walked to the front to see who had arrived.

My eyes widened seeing Lorraine and her husband, Jack, with their three kids already sitting at the dining table. They were shamelessly having breakfast with Derrick, Ruth, and Gillian.

The hell?! They were getting more and more brazen.

Luckily, I had already eaten breakfast in the kitchen. I stood there, stunned, watching these uninvited guests eat without a care. All the food I had cooked this morning was gone.

I knew Lorraine wouldn’t clean up after her kids.

"Gillian, let’s go. We’ll be late," I called to Gillian, who had finished breakfast.

"Derrick will take Gillian. You stay home and clean up!" Ruth ordered.

"Sorry, Mom. I have a meeting at Gillian's school. Maybe Lorraine can help clean the table before she goes to work," I suggested, glancing at Lorraine, who glared at me.

"As if! Don’t you see how dressed up I am? You want me to wash dishes and dirty my clothes?" Lorraine replied loudly.

Lorraine was really arrogant. I wondered what her new job was that required her to put on so much makeup.

I sighed heavily. I knew Lorraine wouldn’t help with the dishes. She only knew how to eat, not cook or clean.

"Fine. I’ll clean up when I get back from Gillian’s school. I’m leaving now."

I said goodbye to Ruth and Derrick, who were still sitting around. Derrick was supposed to be at work by eight, but it was already 7:30 and he hadn’t even showered. This happened almost every day. How could the company grow with employees like this? Uncle Benny should’ve given him a warning by now, but for some reason, he hadn't.

I arrived at Gillian’s school, talked to her teacher and made sure that starting today, Gillian would use the school’s shuttle service. I also arranged for a healthy lunch catering service for her.

I didn’t want Gillian to be neglected because of my increasing workload.

After everything was set at Gillian’s school, I headed to the branch office with an Uber. It wasn’t far.

Ten minutes later, I arrived. Bradley had prepared everything, and the shareholders were already waiting in the meeting room.

Uncle Benny greeted me as I entered the meeting room with a long table in the center. It was a spacious room. The meeting participants stood up to welcome me.

"Welcome, our new CEO, Ms. Sarah Joy Johnson."

I nodded respectfully and shook hands with each of them before introducing myself.

"Good morning. I’m Sarah Joy, the company's new CEO. My father Mr. Harry Robert Johnson was the founder of this company. I hope we can all work well together.’’

They were all very friendly. Even though it was my first time entering the business world, their kindness eased my nerves.

I needed to learn a lot about the company, and I would probably learn a lot from Bradley.

The meeting went smoothly. Uncle Benny asked me to start working at the head office next month.

That meant I would be working with Derrick and seeing Kendall every day. If Derrick was truly cheating on me, I’d find out. And if it were true, I would take action.

I started planning a surprise for them in secret.

By late afternoon, I was back home. Sure enough, when I arrived, the house was a mess. Lorraine’s kids were running around everywhere.

I was shocked to see the kitchen, with nearly all the dishes dirty and trash everywhere. It looked like they had made instant noodles since the lunch I had cooked was gone.

I went to Gillian, who was studying in her room.

"Gillian, have you eaten?"

"Yes, Mommy. I had the food at school," she replied.

"Did you like the food?"

Gillian nodded.

"Thank goodness. Now, let’s clean up the house," I said.

"Okay, Mommy."

I had taught Gillian to be independent from an early age. I didn’t want her to be like Lorraine’s kids, who only knew how to make a mess and never learned to clean up. Even though they were older than Gillian.

I immediately started tidying up the house before Ruth woke up from her nap.