Despite her calm and relaxed facade, Natalie had been discreetly on high alert since she arrived. So when Charis tried to splash her with boiling water, she was able to dodge it in time. The hot water splashed onto the floor, and a few drops managed to splash onto Natalie’s skin, leaving red marks.
Perfect! Now was her chance to get rid of Charis once and for all! “Help! Someone, call security! Charis is crazy!” Natalie yelled at the top of her lungs and fled in horror from Charis’s office.
Charis liked to keep a close eye on employees, so her office was located on the floor where most of the ordinary employees worked. As soon as Natalie left Charis’s office, she caused a stir. Her words were like a fuse, igniting all the rancor of the employees against Charis. All the employees came up to Natalie and anxiously asked, “Mrs. Larson, what happened? Are you okay?”
When Natalie spoke, her lips trembled with fear mixed with adrenaline. She pointed in the direction of Charis’s office and said shakily, “Charis suddenly poured hot water on me and said she felt disgusted when she saw my face.”
“Oh my God! It’s getting more and more ridiculous!” the employees said horrified. Everyone started complaining about Charis, airing their grievances. “Miss Turner must have gone mad from the fire! She hasn’t been the same since she came back!”
“She has messed up a lot at work and caused countless losses to the company! Not to mention the fact that she’s hit a lot of people here! And now, she’s even trying to hurt Mrs. Larson! She is definitely doomed now!”
“I can’t take it anymore.”
“Her face is so scary! I can’t keep working at the Larson Group like this with her around!”
“It’s okay! Calm down, everyone.”
Seeing that everyone was getting more and more restless, Natalie spoke up loudly. “We need to focus on the matter at hand. I’m sure Mr. Larson will do us justice!”
After speaking, Natalie sent someone to call the security guards while she called Brandon.
Charis’s office floor was still wet. Curled up like a ball on the couch, Charis covered her face and wept bitterly. She was wearing a mask and a scarf, so no one could tell if she was really crying or not. They could only hear muffled sounds coming from her, which was a bit scary. As he surveyed the scene in front of him, Brandon’s expression darkened. noveloz.com
“Explain to me, Charis.”
Charis stopped crying immediately. “It was Natalie. She kept insulting me! That’s why I lost my mind and poured hot water on her!” Panic gripped Charis, and she couldn’t think straight. She had never been so reckless in her life, and what she had just done scared even herself. At that moment, she only felt pure rage and raw emotion. She wanted to disfigure Natalie’s face so that she, too, would know what it would be like to be an ugly monster. The consequences of doing so never occurred to her.
Brandon looked at Natalie, who was standing in the doorway to Charis’s office, and said nothing. Natalie looked at him with an innocent look and asked, “Do you think I would do something like that?”
“You know what you did! You provoked me on purpose to make a fool of myself!” Charis yelled, pointing a trembling finger at Natalie.
As things had come to this, she felt desperate. However, Natalie said nothing. The angrier Charis became, the calmer her opponent became.
“Why would Natalie want to do that? You have no enmity with her,” Brandon pointed to the water stains on the carpet and coldly added, “Unless you can give me a reasonable explanation for this.”
Charis was speechless. Brandon had lost two years of his memory, which meant that he had completely forgotten about the feud between her and Natalie.
“Because you say nothing?” Brandon frowned sadly. Charis met his eyes and clearly saw his disappointment unmasked.
“You already know the answer, don’t you?” A single tear rolled out of the corner of her eye and onto the mask. Brandon didn’t know why she kept crying so sadly. She rarely cried before. How is it that he chose to believe in Natalie instead of Charis, his friend and trusted confidante?
Because he had gotten to know Natalie over the last few weeks. After spending time with her, he understood what kind of woman Natalie was. She was kind, caring, and considerate. She wouldn’t hurt anyone for no reason.
Charis, on the other hand, had been extremely sensitive and irritable recently. She was always paranoid, feeling that someone was talking behind her back and laughing at her. It was not the first time she had lost her temper with someone in the company.
Many employees had approached him recently, complaining about her horrendous behavior. And every time an employee filed a complaint, Brandon didn’t do anything about it because he felt sorry for Charis.
This time, however, she crossed the line. He had to do something now. The Brandon of two years ago would have dealt with things in an even cooler manner.
He looked at Charis, his eyes devoid of warmth, and said, “You’ve gone too far this time. Even if Natalie had laughed at you, you shouldn’t have tried to hurt her like that. Do you know how badly she would have been hurt if the hot water had splashed on her?”
Charis snorted indignantly. Once again, he chose Natalie’s side. “Your state of mind is incredibly fragile right now. If you continue to work here, I would be putting my other employees at risk. You should seek therapy first and go back to work after receiving treatment.” Brandon’s words were cruel. “Otherwise, I’ll have to resort to firing you.”
Charis felt as if her soul had been sucked from her body. Her feet seemed to have been nailed to the ground, rendering her unable to move. She turned her head with difficulty and looked at Brandon, too hurt to say a word.
He had kicked her out of the Larson Group for Natalie once before, but she never expected to get kicked out again. And this time, he did it in front of so many people. Charis felt like she was going crazy. Her eyes swept the crowd, and all the employees were looking at her with disgust.
Finally, her gaze landed on Brandon. His face was cold, and he looked at her indifferently, as if he were looking at a complete stranger.
Suddenly, Charis threw her head back and burst into hysterical laughter. Everyone present was startled by her sudden hysteria and subconsciously backed away.
Then, as abruptly as she started to laugh, she stopped. Her eyes swept the crowd, her expression unusually calm and disconcerting.
“Well, get back to work, everyone,” Brandon said lightly.
“I’m going to see a psychologist.” She then picked up her bag and quietly left.
Brandon frowned. He watched Charis go, deep in thought. There was something wrong with her, but he couldn’t say what. However, he was grateful that she had finally agreed to seek professional help. The two had been friends for many years, after all. He didn’t enjoy seeing her like this.
Natalie also fixed her eyes on Charis as she left, wondering what she was doing. Still, she was relieved that she had finally driven this dangerous woman away.
Without Charis, The Larson Group had become much calmer. The gossiping employees talked about her from time to time, as a funny joke.
For the next few weeks, Natalie didn’t hear any news about Charis. Time passed quickly. Her name was not mentioned again. Autumn had long since come to an end.
