Nicole raised an eyebrow and that was when she saw Martin walking up to their table with a woman in tow."This is...," Nicole trailed off before eyeing Martin with a cheeky smile on her face."A collaboration partner at my R&D Center that we're working on to develop a new project. We're almost done with it too," Martin explained."I can see that you two make a great team.' Nicole smiled before turning to look at the woman beside Martin."Hi, I'm Nicole Riddle, Martin's friend. Nice to meet you," she introduced.Then, the woman returned the smile and introduced herself, "Hi, Nicole. I'm Cindy Rowe.""What brings you here for lunch? Isn't your office rather far from here?" Martin asked, as he was not expecting Nicole to grab her lunch here."I came to see Jared for work and we decided to drop by for lunch," Nicole replied."Ah, I see. Well, I'll leave you guys to it," Martin said, and nodded at the couple before bidding them goodbye."Okay, I'll see you around," Nicole waved.M
Cindy then shot Martin a smile. "I guess I do know quite a little bit about you. You must be lucky to have me as a friend."Martin understood that there were many factors in play that were beyond his control. Therefore, he truly was lucky to have a friend like Cindy."So, since you've now made peace with your feelings, will you not consider other women as potential partners?" Cindy questioned."No." Martin answered quickly.This was not something he could help either, for it had become near impossible for him to develop feelings for another woman.Understandably, Cindy smiled and decided to drop the subject, bringing up work-related topics instead.After lunch, Nicole and Jared left the restaurant and made their way back to their respective companies. He proceeded to send her back to Riddle Corporation. Then, he left for Johnston Group, whereupon Nicole turned around and entered her company building.As the car maneuvered through the afternoon traffic, Max said, "Sir, from our c
"Alright, I'll think about it." Nicole replied."I hope to see you then." Lawrence said, seemingly sincere in his intentions."Hopefully." Nicole shrugged her shoulders, not giving him any promises yet.The project was definitely suitable for the company. However, Nicole still had to discuss it with Sean and Steve to assess the company's present status and determine if they could participate or not. If they were not in the position to participate, perhaps Ellar could try it out.A few possible scenarios came to her mind at an instant, but she decided that there was no need to discuss them with Lawrence.Hearing Nicole's short response, Lawrence became silent and changed the subject of conversation, "How are Nolan and Lana doing?""They're doing fine." Nicole replied."I've come to notice that Nolan hasn't been active on social media these days. Has he found something more interesting to play with?" Lawrence casually asked.To that, Nicole responded with a question of her own. "
"Sure. Ask them to swing by whenever they're available." Nicole nodded.After all, it was not an urgent matter. They could settle it whenever they had the time for it."Alright." Lulu turned around and went on to exit the office.Unexpectedly, Sean and Steve were already standing by the door when Lulu was about to leave."We're quite free. Why don't we discuss it now?" Steve shrugged when he saw the look of surprise on her face.Nicole then passed the document to the boys and said, "You guys may take a look at this first."After they had read the document, the two men exchanged looks.Then, Steve said, "This does seem like a good project, but I have just taken on another project that's similar to this one.""At the moment, I'm quite busy with my own plans as well," Sean added."I'm also hesitant about this. Why don't we pass it to Ellar?" Nicole asked.She could tell that Sean and Steve were not really interested in this project. In fact, it would be better for them to let El
'This is definitely a good project. Nicole must have a lot of faith in me if she is handing it to me. She's trying to help me out too. But whether I can meet her expectations or not is another question altogether. What if I lose in the bidding...'All of a sudden, Ellar tensed up, and he began straining his eyes. Then, he picked his phone up, wanting to make a call.After thinking about it for a moment, however, he placed it down and composed himself.'Nicole did not call me to tell me about this at all. Instead, she has faxed the document over. I guess this shows that she places a lot of trust in me. Because of this, I think I should take care of this myself without bothering her,' Ellar thought.Gritting his teeth, Ellar made the decision to rely on nobody but himself in solving his conundrum.All this time, Nicole had been guiding and aiding him along the way, and now that she was showing some faith and trust in him, Ellar should not let her down.Having made his mind, he sift
After thinking about it for a moment, Nicole smiled. "He has grown up.""Huh? What do you mean?" Lulu asked in confusion."He's taking on the project. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he's also planning to take charge of everything on his own." Nicole explained.Ellar's intentions were probably aligned with Nicole's expectations for him; he wanted to succeed through his own efforts."Oh, so that is what has been going on. And there I was, wondering why he had been so quiet." Lulu finally understood the situation."If that's the case, we should just leave him to do what he needs to do. If he stumbles on a roadblock, he will contact us."And if Ellar did not contact them, it would be safe to assume that everything was smooth sailing."What about the threat? Are we just going to act as if nothing has happened?" Lulu asked.Though she felt that there were no issues concerning Ellar, she was still worried about Nicole."Patricia and Charlie will take care of it. Patricia has al
"None of you should let your guard down as far as Ellar is concerned."Even if her adversaries stayed their hands for extended periods of time, there was no guarantee that they would not do anything at all."Understood." Patricia replied, her eyes brimming with determination.If they were to make a move, she would bag them with no hope of escaping.Seeing that they were intentionally being secretive, Patricia wanted to dig even deeper and discover what kind of person they were."That's all. You may leave now." Nicole sighed and placed the letter aside.Then, she grabbed one of her documents and got to work.There were plenty of tasks left for Nicole to sort out, so she did not have the time to waste on threats or gusts of hot air.Patricia turned around and left. Then, she called Charlie up on the phone to liaise with him on the issue."I got it. Just be careful with everything," Charlie advised Patricia."Yeah, you too," Patricia replied before ending the call.Patricia fro
"For your own sake, it's better not to ask," Patricia reprimanded.She did not have answers to some of the questions he had posed, and even if she did, she did not reserve the right to tell him. The less he knew, the safer he would be.Ellar's face blanched once he had heard Patricia's reply. "Don't you trust me?""You won't be of much help if you knew, and on top of that, it might put you in even more danger," Patricia admitted frankly, as she was not withholding information from him out of distrust.In fact, she knew who Ellar truly was, and she trusted him because Nicole trusted him,However, Ellar was still unwilling to back down. He did not understand what was going on, and the more he thought about it, the more worried he was. Now that he had the opportunity to gain some clarity on the issue, he wanted to seize it.Patricia's eyes darkened as if she had read Ellar's thoughts. "If you don't have any other questions, you may stay and have lunch on your own."She did not wish