“Single? I doubt it. He’s probably just gotten good at hiding it.” Laney shrugged indifferently. It seemed Laney didn’t have any special feelings for Garrett. Natalie then decided not to say anything more.
Before Sebastian was discharged from the hospital, Beal and Johanna came to visit him several times. Their attitude towards him had changed a lot. Every time they came, they looked genuinely concerned about him.
After leaving the hospital, Sebastian went straight back to Seacisco. He had been in Barnes for too long, and work had piled up in the Larson Group.
Now that Sebastian had recovered and was back in Seacisco, Natalie’s life was back on track as, She went to w Marks Studio to work as she had promised Draco. Marks Studio as a three-story house located in Barnes’ high-tech zone. The house itself was nestled in a quaint garden surrounded by lush green plants. Beautiful flowers of all colors adorned the garden, making whoever passed it by feel at ease and happy. As soon as Natalie stepped foot in the yard, she heard merry laughter from inside.
“She’s here!”
“Oh, my God! She’s gorgeous!”
“I thought that all the talented designers were chubby women with glasses. But she’s slim and I don’t see any glasses!” Natalie made her way up the steps and pushed the door open nervously.
As soon as the door swung open, party crackers went off, followed by streamers falling like snowflakes.
“Welcome on board!” a chorus of voices sounded. There were more than twenty smiling faces in the room on the first floor. On the table were all kinds of snacks, flowers, and cakes.
Natalie was surprised and had no idea how to react. All of a sudden, a tall woman with shoulder-length curly hair and light makeup approached her.
The woman’s smile was very infectious, making the people around her feel welcome. It was also her most charming feature.
Despite wearing only a simple white dress, she looked authoritative yet warm.
“Mr. Wesley is busy drawing upstairs. He didn’t have the time to come down, so he asked me to receive you on his behalf. It’s nice to meet you, Natalie. I’m Rosa Pierce, one of Mr. Wesley’s assistants.” The smiling Rosa shook hands with Natalie and led her to meet everyone.
“From now on, Natalie will be our third design assistant. Let’s give her a warm welcome.”
“Hello, everyone. Pleasure to meet you all.”
After Natalie gave a brief self introduction, the office was filled with thunderous applause. Natalie surveyed the sea of smiling faces until somebody caught her eye.
The woman’s skin was pale, as though she rarely went out under the sun. What caught Natalie’s eye was the fact that the woman wasn’t smiling, unlike the rest of her peers. In fact, she seemed indifferent and alienated. Rosa followed Natalie’s gaze and led
Natalie to the woman.
“This is Elizabeth Perry, another design assistant of Mr. Wesley.” Elizabeth looked Natalie up and down and nodded without saying anything. Natalie managed to put on a faint smile.
However, she could tell that the arrogant-looking Elizabeth was going to be difficult to get along with. Rosa spent the whole morning showing Natalie around, explaining to her what everyone did in the studio. She was like a ray of sunshine, enthusiastic and friendly.
The people in the office clearly were fond of her, and they would tease her from time to time.
“The people in our studio are all very friendly, but we won’t sugar coat the fact that we’re no strangers to overtime.” Rosa winked at Natalie.
“Let me tell you a secret. Mr. Wesley likes to talk about work with us just when we’re about to leave from work.
Although he looks gentle and amiable, he’s a devil when it comes to the work. He is so harsh and strict that many colleagues have broken som behind closed doors.” Natalie was a bit taken aback.
“I had no idea. I was under the impression that Mr. Wesley doesn’t like talking that much.”
With a mysterious smile, Rosa patted Natalie’s shoulder and said knowingly, You’ll see it for yourself in the future.
Well, that’s the end of the tour. I have to get to work. I still have a lot of drawings to submit.”
After taking Natalie to her seat, Rosa turned around and briskly walked away. Natalie devoted herself to her new job. She soon realized that what Rosa said was true. Draco was very demanding. He immediately turned down
Natalie’s first design.
“Scratch it. The style and color are too vulgar.” Draco didn’t even look up at Natalie as he spoke. With a pale face,
Natalie took her drawing out of the office and began to revise it. She didn’t finish until midnight. Over the next few days, Natalie was too busy to even take a break.
In Seacisco, the Larson Group building. Sebastian had just finished his video conference. He glanced at the clock on his desk and dialed Natalie’s number. When the call connected, however, his face instantly darkened.
“Honey, can you tell me why I’m greeted by your palm instead of your pretty face? What’s going on? I’ve been dying to see you.”
“I’m right here, Honey, just a little busy. I’ll call you back in a while, okay? Mr. Wesley sent back my designs for further modifications.” Natalie pulled back and glanced at her phone once before focusing back on her computer screen. Sebastian’s tone grew somber.
“Honey, don’t you realize that you’ve been working on these designs for more than a week? You’re working every single time I
called you.”
As a matter of fact, Natalie had only been having four to five hours of sleep each day the past week. And it showed. Even the beauty filter of her camera couldn’t hide the dark circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted.
Natalie nodded lightly to acknowledge Sebastian’s words, but her hand didn’t stop moving, and her eyes never strayed from her computer, either. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought she had gone mad over her passion project. Sebastian sighed heavily.
“Well, since you’re so busy, I won’t be keeping you. Sorry to disturb you.” That seemed to jolt her back to her senses. Natalie dropped her digital pen and snatched her phone in a hurry.
“Oh, Honey. I’m so grateful you called. I wouldn’t have realized I was overworked if you hadn’t pointed it out. But you know what?
I’m always amazed by Mr. Wesley’s criticisms. They are surprisingly constructive, and he spots a lot of problematic details that I
wouldn’t even have thought about. I feel like a new world has opened up before me, and that I’m welcome to learn new things without fear of judgment.” Sebastian stared at her and saw how her eyes lit up with excitement as she talked. He could tell that she was having the time of her life at work.
“I would never stop you from pursuing your dreams,” he said sincerely.
