When I woke up at night, Natalie had already come back. Her eyes widened in shock upon seeing me walk out of my room.
“Why are you back so early today? Don’t you have to work overtime?”
I stretched and yawned while answering her. “I took the day off today.”
“You took the day off? Holy sh*t. Is the sun rising from the west or something?”
Natalie gaped at me in utter disbelief.
I hummed in confirmation but remained otherwise silent. Noticing the gloomy look on my face, Natalie started eyeing me suspiciously.
“You didn’t come home last night. Where’d you go?”
My expression stiffened upon hearing Natalie’s question, and I replied somewhat guiltily, “I was working overtime.”
“Working overtime? Why are you lying? Who the hell works overtime for the entire night? Tell me the truth. Did you…” Natalie trailed off and raised her brows meaningfully.
Although she didn’t finish her sentence, her question was very obvious.
My face instantly flushed red when Natalie figured out what I had done the previous night. I began fidgeting on the spot, unable to meet Natalie’s eyes because of the guilt that I was feeling.
“What on earth are you thinking about? I really was working overtime. I’m hungry. Let’s eat now.”
The guilt in my voice couldn’t be mistaken. With that, I ignored Natalie and quickly went to set up the table.
Sometimes, Natalie was too smart for her own good. If Michael started looking for me too frequently, I wouldn’t be able to keep our relationship a secret from Natalie anymore. I couldn’t help but worry if she would look down on me if she found out about our deal.
Halfway through our meal, Natalie whipped her head up and looked me in the eye, asking me with a solemn expression, “Anna, why do I have the feeling you’ve been hiding something from me recently? Are you facing some kind of trouble?”
Guilt flickered in my eyes at her question.
“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?”
“You seem dispirited lately, and you’re working overtime every night. You’re acting weird, Anna. Besides, it doesn’t make sense that such a large company like Joyful Success would need their employees to work until so late at night.”
Natalie put down her cutlery and peered at me with a probing gaze.
Indeed, I had been working overtime for more than a week, and it was rare for any company to have its employees work overtime for so many days in a row. Hence, it was only normal that Natalie grew suspicious.
However, I didn’t want others to know that I was being taken advantage of by Conrad. Knowing Natalie’s temper, if she knew that I was being harassed and exploited by my superior, she would probably go to my office with a kitchen knife in hand.
“You’re overthinking things. Work has been busier than usual lately, so I’ve been working overtime to meet deadlines,” I said against my conscience, then quickly bowed my head to continue eating.
“Is that really what’s going on?”
Natalie continued scrutinizing me, as though she didn’t believe me.
“Of course. Alright, stop worrying about me. Anyways, I’m done eating, so I’m going back to my room now. I have to wake up early for work tomorrow.”
Afraid that Natalie would insist on getting to the bottom of this, I darted toward my room right after saying this.
Once back in my room, I breathed a long sigh of relief. As I lay in bed, I began stewing over what would happen at the office the next day. I won’t really get fired, would I?
Worry began gnawing on my chest at the thought of this. I should never have said those things to Conrad on the spur of the moment. I must’ve well and truly offended him.
Even if he didn’t fire me, he’d make sure my life in the office was a living hell. Conrad was a very spiteful person. Now that I offended him, he was undoubtedly going to make it his mission to pick on me at every turn.
Sighing in resignation, I shut my eyes and told myself to stop fretting over this matter as it would only make me more frustrated. I’ll find out the exact situation when I go to the office tomorrow.
When I arrived at the office the next day, my colleagues looked at me with gleeful looks on their faces. I had no idea why they always singled me out like that when I didn’t do anything to offend them. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because two of my colleagues saw me being forcefully hugged by Conrad, and that was why all of them were looking down on me.
Although their sarcastic remarks and contemptuous gazes during this period of time made me very uncomfortable, I refused to let them get to me. Ignoring all of them, I settled down directly behind my desk and threw myself into work.
Everyone around me began whispering among themselves. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but seeing as they would peek at me from time to time, I could guess that their topic of discussion was probably related to me.
“Anna, you’re here.”
Millie Scott, the only person here whom I was on good terms with, greeted me.
“Mm-hmm.”
I nodded at her with a smile. Millie was the only colleague I could get along with in the office, and she was also the only one who didn’t mock me as the others does. Apart from that, she would sometimes help me out with some of my work.
“I thought you weren’t coming here for work anymore.”
Millie’s desk was opposite mine. At that moment, she was craning her neck to look at me over the divider as she asked in a hushed tone.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
My brows furrowed in confusion as I asked back in a similarly soft voice.
“Don’t you know? Mr. Skeete was furious when you didn’t come in for work yesterday. He said you broke the company’s regulations because you were absent without applying for leave. He announced on the spot that he was going to fire you. That’s why everyone thought you weren’t coming here for work anymore.”
Millie looked at me with pity in her eyes, but I also detected a hint of helplessness in her voice.
Upon hearing what she said, anger surged within me. I obviously already called Conrad to apply for leave yesterday. How dare he accuse me of skipping work? He’s clearly telling lies about me just so he has an excuse to fire me.
I suppressed my rage and calmly explained to Millie, “I already called him yesterday morning.”
Although it was useless explaining to her alone, I still didn’t want to be misunderstood like that.
“Anna, I think Mr. Skeete is intentionally targeting you recently. I also heard the others saying that you tried to seduce Mr. Skeete, but failed and angered him instead. That’s why…”
Millie left the rest of her words unsaid, but I understood her meaning perfectly well.
A sneer formed on my lips. These people sure have a knack for jumping to conclusions. Did they personally see me seducing Conrad? I mean, I feel sick just by looking at that old and ugly man. Why would I seduce him? How absurd!
“Millie, do you believe what they said? Do you believe that I tried to seduce Mr. Skeete?” I asked Millie with a grave expression.
