Chapter 10 - Snack Battle with the President

Eric once again displayed that signature smile and looked down at my neck. I raised my hand to touch it and realized I still had the communication earpiece hanging there! Back on the plane, I found it too heavy, causing my scalp to ache, so I pushed it down and wore it around my neck. The problem was that Eric had noticed I hadn't taken off the earpiece, but he didn't remind me; instead, he eavesdropped on my conversations! What? Cute? This kind of person is irritating!!!

Angrily, I glared at him. He smirked and said, "I just found it amusing to see when you would notice."

"Oh, it's so amusing!" I retorted, slamming the earpiece into his hand, mimicking his smug tone, "I'll make sure to tell the President exactly what happened!"

Ignoring his plea, I walked straight back to my office building. As expected, my first action upon returning was... getting scolded. My boss, Blake, summoned me to his office and unleashed his wrath.

"You've been absent for an entire month, and you dare ask me to let you stay? You're delusional!"

Blake, in his fifties, was short and stout, and when he scolded, he often got out of breath. I seized the moment when he paused for air and continued to plead, "Just give me a job; I can do without anything else."

"You can forget about it!"

"Even the salary... I don't need it."

"What? You don't need the salary?"

"Yes," I quickly replied, "but I have one condition. I can only work until 4 pm in the afternoon."

"Deal, my child!" Blake came over, laughing heartily, and hugged me. "Our Nightingale needs dedicated employees like you! Work well, and next month's bonus will be yours!"

"Can I receive the bonus?" I asked in surprise.

"Of course not! My child, the bonus is considered part of your salary, so we'll withhold it and consider it a subsidy for the company. But work hard! If you qualify, you'll get a year-end bonus."

"Alright."

I knew it. Anyway, my salary from Antoninus was more than enough. Now, I needed to focus on photography, writing articles, and accumulating fame and experience by having my name appear in more news reports. That way, even if Antoninus kicked me out, I could find a job I liked immediately with my impressive resume.

I was satisfied with my plan.

Taking advantage of the time available, I hurried back to my long-neglected office. My good friend and colleague, Amber, rushed to embrace me upon seeing me.

"Lily! Where have you been this past month? I thought you disappeared! I even went to the police station to file a report, but those damn jerks refused to take it seriously!"

I embraced her, feeling touched. "Thank you, Amber, thank you."

It felt good to know that someone cared when I left.

Amber and I chatted for a while. Our boss, Blake, clapped his hands and walked into the office, silencing everyone. "Quiet! You damn little birds! Now, let's start assigning tasks for the new week!"

"Sawyer! The bike race is about to start! Get a good position! The photos you took last time were like they came from a worm's hole!"

"Evan! Continue taking pictures of flowers, but if you dare to break another camera, I'll throw you off the mountain!"

"Herry! Keep photographing Haar's amusement park, but make it more appealing! They paid a hefty advertising fee for that!"

Blake assigned tasks to everyone except me. Confused, I raised my hand, "What about me?"

"Oh, right, there's you, our recently returned Nightingale."

Blake's grin looked cunning and crafty, "You'll interview our new councilman, Ben."

I was taken aback, "Which Ben?"

"Of course, our city government's Ben!"

Blake laughed, "I heard you had a romantic history with him in college. There shouldn't be a problem with this task, right?"

"But... aren't we not supposed to cover political news?"

"Things have to change sometimes. My child, to survive, you sometimes have to do unpleasant things."

I wanted to say something, but Blake didn't give me the chance. He turned and went back to his office.

So, I spent the entire afternoon feeling unenthusiastic. Interview Ben... How am I supposed to do that?

Until Eric brought me back to the mansion, I still felt quite down.

During dinner, Antoninus, who had reappeared at the table, kept frowning as he looked at me. "Food is for eating, not for poking."

"Ah, sorry."

I looked at the pastries on the plate that I had poked full of holes, and I lost my appetite.

Chris handed me his steak, "Mom, you can have this."

"Thank you, dear." I patted Chris's head and forced a smile.

But even with the steak in my mouth, it still tasted like wax.

However, not eating a proper dinner meant I would suddenly get extremely hungry at midnight.

If I were at my home, it wouldn't be a problem since I had plenty of snacks in the cupboards and the refrigerator.

But now... I could only go to the kitchen.

Thanks to my recent boredom-induced wanderi

Thanks to my recent boredom-induced wanderings, I was already familiar with the layout of the castle. I rummaged through the cupboards and found some eggs, flour, milk, red dates, and bananas. Then, I spent half my time baking a steaming red date cake for myself. It wasn't the most attractive sight, as I made it entirely by hand, but the aroma was enticing, and the taste should be good enough.

I was delighted and wearing oven gloves, carefully taking the cake out. However, as I turned around, I caught sight of a figure at the door. I got a fright and accidentally shook the tray, causing the hot cake to fly off! The steaming cake landed all over me, scalding my arm red.

It was him! Again! Antoninus! I was furious! I had worked so hard, waiting in front of the oven for half an hour! My bare legs were bitten by countless mosquitoes, and yet, I hadn't even taken a bite of the cake! I yelled at him, "Are you a cat? Why do you walk without making any sound?!"

"Sorry," he frowned.

"... Fine, I accept it." But actually, I couldn't fully blame him. It was because I was too serious! However, I was curious why he came to the kitchen too.

He replied straightforwardly, "I'm hungry."

"But the food is gone." I looked at the aromatic and still steaming cake on the floor, feeling pained. But then, when I wanted to close the oven door, I glanced inside and found another cake! I must have accidentally shaken it in earlier due to my fright. I quickly took out the cake, slightly messy but at least not dirty!

However, there was still a problem: one cake and two people. Could it be that the great President would stoop so low as to compete with me? After hesitating for a while, I offered the cake to him politely, "Mr. President, would you like to have some?"

"Thank you."

Me: ????!