CHAPTER 1: PINCHED

Mr. James stares intently at the document Daisy sends. He funnily knits his deep brows. But of course, Daisy does not dare to smile, she is aware of the severity of the coming storm, especially since he never hides his animosity towards her.

“I need to tell you something, Daisy!”

He looks at Daisy distastefully, pushes his glasses up in a condescending manner, and clears his throat.

“Mr. Van of New Generation company not only flatly rejected your plan but also said that he felt disrespected when he received such a sketchy plan. Do you know how important New Generation is to our company? Ms. Daisy, I'm not talking about the fact that you have more than 5 years of experience, just in terms of your working attitude, it's worse than a trainee. Do you have anything to explain?”

Daisy has always had her hands crossed in front of her stomach, keeping a proper attitude, listening attentively to her superiors reprimanding in front of so many new and old employees in public meetings. Although, he seems more happy than angry when she lost the great contract.

Daisy gently stands up and calmly says:

“Boss, I am very sorry for this incident. However, I think that Mr. Van is angry because the plan is different from the previous conversation. You need to ask Rita. Because she has been following this project from the beginning. Yesterday, when I received an urgent request from you, I also contacted Rita to get information before sending the plan to New Generation. Even when I sent the plan to Rita for checking first, she didn't say anything.”

Rita smiles sweetly:

“Boss, it is true that Daisy called me yesterday to ask for information about the plan with New Generation. I told her every detail very clearly, I even told her that all the information about New Generation I had made into a document on my table. Maybe she was too busy to remember clearly. I thought that the handover had been completed, and I believed in Daisy's ability. So when I was tired, I slept for a while, unable to check the completed plan she sent later.”

Rita sobs and glances at Daisy with her sparkling eyes.

“Boss, please don't blame Daisy. You should blame me, why I faint at such an urgent time of work like that.”

Rita's adorable face infuriated Daisy. In this company, who doesn't know that Rita is loved by many people thanks to her phony and lovely appearance. In the comparison with Daisy, who is always as straight as an arrow and speaks without respect for anyone, Daisy shows her half-smile:

“I'm afraid it's not because I'm too busy to remember clearly, but because Rita is not well, so she can't remember to hand it over properly. She is even confused about what she said to me.”

“I told you. That day, I…”

“Whether you told me or not, because of contact by phone, neither you nor I can prove it. But my working style has been verified over the past 5 years by the whole company, including employees and management. I've never made a mistake with client documentation. And in this important project, I’m sure I also didn’t.”

While Rita keeps silent because she can’t oppose Daisy, Mr. James bangs his hand on the table.

“Daisy, this is an internal meeting, not a place for you to brag with your colleagues. It seems that you are highly appreciated by the area manager, so you are so arrogant.”

Daisy takes a deep breath and lowers her voice:

“Boss, I dare not.”

“You don't dare? What else do you dare not do, the Future Deputy Regional Manager?”

The way he stretches each word gives Daisy a shiver, and she shivers involuntarily.

“In short, this plan was sent by you, so you need to take responsibility, don't try to transfer it to others. If you can not calm Mr. Van's anger and persuade him of signing a contract, you let our company lose a major partner. I am afraid that even if the General Director wants to promote you, it will be very difficult.”

He looks at Daisy with a sinister grin before getting up to dismiss the meeting and walking out of the room. Colleagues have all been silent since then. Some people are indifferent, some feel unfair on behalf of Daisy, and some are gloating. Daisy, of course, knows this, she also doesn’t want everyone loves her.

Rita shows no reaction to the difficult situation she caused Daisy. She still maintains her usual innocent and holy appearance. But Rita's overpowering and sweet scent makes Daisy feel nauseous as she comes near her.

“Ms. Daisy, here is the entire document about this project with New Generation that I already told you about.”

Daisy smirks. Is it too late for her to offer it now?

“Thank you, but leave the word "already", you just told me today.”

“It's true that Ms. Daisy is too busy to remember everything. I think…-Rita whispers- With your goldfish brain, how can you handle the position of Deputy Regional Manager? You should leave it to the other person.”

Daisy smiles:

“Is the other person you're talking about yourself? I'm not very talented, but if I let someone who is both untalented and unvirtuous like Ms. Rita that position, it's really bad for the company.”

Daisy thinks that Rita will answer, but she doesn’t expect Rita to just smile and gently leave. Daisy mutters to herself:

“Just keep your satisfied face, and one day I'll take off your mask.”

After a few hours of researching and comparing information, Daisy finds out a way to convince Mr. Van to accept the "error" plan. However, it was still important to calm his anger first.

Daisy repeatedly contacts New Generation, urgently asks to meet to talk about the plan once, and finally, they reluctantly arrange a meeting for tomorrow afternoon.

Daisy relaxes on the bed, wears a mask and listens to her favorite music. New Generation is located as far away as city B, tomorrow she has to take a long trip to meet them. Although she has worked with many difficult clients, for some reason, this time Daisy especially feels unconfident. Perhaps the reason is that she is wrong in the first step, even though the root of the problem is that she is trapped by Rita.

Unable to calm the waves in her heart on the melodious background of music, Daisy reaches out to turn off the music and calls David.