“Actually, the sample was successful, but our product failed during the last test. The final result was just unpresentable. We'd lose if we used this as our competitive product.” He might as well tell Melanie the truth because he could not disguise it. “What do you mean by unpresentable? How could this be? This formula could not be wrong. I got it from…” She realized what she was saying as soon as the words left her mouth and promptly stopped talking. Nathaniel stared at her, “From where?” “F-From way back. I’ve had this formula for a long time, and I’ve done countless tests on it. I believe this formula has no problem at all!” Though she sounded determined, she was also unsure. Frank gave her the formula, and Melanie had no reason to doubt him, given his authority and expertise. She thought everything he gave her was perfect. However, her belief in him faltered after his formula failed lab testing. She could not let Nathaniel know, so she had to act confident in her f
Melanie had not thought of how to tell Nathaniel about the abortion even though she had decided she did not want the baby. This issue with the formula came at the right time. It allowed her to stage her abortion as a miscarriage and make Nathaniel feel sorry about it too. Before that, she needed to see Frank. She met him at a cafe as she felt safer meeting him in public. Frank was late and looked horrible, his eye bags were huge, but at least he made it. Since Melanie had somewhat of an idea what kind of person he was, he always looked like a man about to die from sickness. However, he could only die after she finished using him. “Didn’t you say you were busy?” He questioned as he dropped several sugar cubes into his coffee, stopping after the sixth cube and stirring with his teaspoon. “Miss me already?” Frank teased while taking a huge sip of coffee and heaving a sigh of satisfaction after. Melanie sat there staring at him until he was done talking. “Was there anything
“No! There are too many people at the lab, and they’ll see you. Even if the perfume is a success and I use it to enter the competition, the organizing committee might use our relationship as an excuse to disqualify me,” Melanie said as she frowned.She moaned in frustration and asked, “Can’t you just try to fix it without following me into the lab? Why don’t I bring those failed samples for you to look at?”Frank nodded, “Sure, I can do that. However, the results might not be optimal. Either I’ll be able to figure out what’s wrong in one go, or this might take longer, maybe more than ten tries.”This was going nowhere as if Melanie got caught in an endless loop. If she had rejected Frank’s offer to come with her to the lab, he might not be able to figure out what was wrong. Then the perfume would fail, and Melanie could not use it to participate in the competition.On the other hand, if she allowed Frank into the lab without caring about Nathaniel’s feelings, she might also get dis
Lily slept deeply. It was not because she had a tiring day in the lab but because…She was experimenting in a specific field when she discovered that men and women naturally had different endurance in certain areas. For example, Alexander had woken up early to go to the company for a meeting.Lily was not even sure what time he had left. Vaguely, she remembered that just before he left, he had placed a kiss on her forehead. She could not remember much before that.She fished around with her fingers and found her vibrating cell phone. She held it up to her ear. “Hello?”“Lily, it’s me.” It was Olivia’s voice, and she sounded energetic.“Huh, it’s still so early. Don’t you want more rest?” Lily said, half-awaked. She tossed around but did not feel like moving at all.“Early?” Olivia looked at the time. “It’s about to be six o’clock. How is that early?”“Six o’clock? Six o’clock isn’t early?” Lily’s brain was still exhausted. She was about to hang up the phone.“Lily, it’s six o’c
Lily thought of what had happened when they came home last night. What happened was R-rated!Discuss? What discussion? She certainly was not accessible enough for that. Where would they find time, let alone the chance?Lily looked at her reflection in the mirror and saw the apparent dark circles around her neck. She felt like all the bones in her body had been removed and put together again. It was as if there was a clear word on her face: exhausted.“Lily? Lily, are you still listening?” Lily did not respond, not even a grunt, so Olivia thought she had hung up the phone.“Uh, I’m here. Keep talking,” Lily answered after gurgling and spitting out the foam in her mouth.“I have nothing much to say. I just want to know if you guys know where we’re going. I know I have no right to ask, but I’m quite excited. It’s been a while since I’ve had some fun.”She had been stuck in the lab all day and wanted to go out for fun. Yet she did not have the time or money, so this was a rare oppor
“Cheers!” The atmosphere in the small room was grand, even if only three of them were there. They could hardly contain their excitement. “Never had I imagined that you could succeed in such a short period. I’m pleasantly surprised!” Jenny exclaimed. She had already seen the successful samples this morning. The girls gave her a sample to try yesterday, which smelled amazing. It was indeed a wonderful fragrance! “We’ve told you that the formula was a success. Honestly, this is nothing. Lily could develop a new fragrance and finish it within a month!” Olivia clarified while she ate. “Really? Within a month! This means you could come up with countless new perfumes in a year!” Just counting the number of products Lily could produce already excited Jenny. Besides, she had seen what Lily was capable of, so she was not worried about the quality at all. “Now, that’s not entirely true. Without inspiration and a clear vision, it would take me over three months to develop
Jenny had a lot she wanted to share. It was as if she had been trying to find an outlet to express everything she had suppressed. “Honestly, I think our department is not so bad. Even though our stress level could be sky-high, we could always look for new customers and deals. However, it’s a different story for perfumers. They’re…” Jenny shook her head and continued, “Lily’s abilities are unbelievable, and I don’t mean within Rebirth. Look at our country. We can’t find someone as outstanding as you, let alone those with a world ranking. Rebirth has never been short of perfumers, but a talented perfumer is hard to find! Lily, when I look at you, I can see hope!”Jenny lifted her hand and patted Lily’s shoulder. Her pat was firm, and it made Lily wobble to her side.“I’m confident we’ll be able to win the annual perfume event,” Lily promised after quietly listening to Jenny’s confession. Jenny was instantly sober when she heard what Lily said. Her eyes were wide open as she
On the way to the bathroom, Lily passed by other rooms. Coincidentally, someone walked out from one of the rooms. When the door closed behind her, she saw a familiar face. Even though it was just for a short while, she was sure it was him. She continued walking to the bathroom. After washing her hands and drying them, she came out. A tall figure was leaning against the wall in front of the bathroom, waiting for her.“I was right,” Justin exclaimed as he straightened up himself.“You’ve always had sharp eyesight,” Lily smiled, “Now, could you please excuse me?” Justin blocked the path with his body and asked, “Why are you here?” Lily smirked, “I’m here for the same reason you are. Why? Is this hotel one of your properties as well? Am I not welcome here?” “You still refuse to go back to the Lodge family?” Justin frowned. He was unhappy with the tone she was using. “The Lodge family, huh? I’ll return someday, but now’s not the right time,” she said. “When i