Ashton grazed me gently on my nose. “Remember the last time he came to find you?”
I was reminded of the dinner I had with John at La Morera some time back. Not only did he get drunk, but he got Ashton drunk as well. I had assumed his moodiness was due to a couple’s fight with Hannah, so I did not probe any further.
Now that I thought about it, it was probably more than that. “Wait. Are you saying, John is not coming home not because he’s looking for help but he’s avoiding Hannah?”
“You’re heading in the right direction. Continue.”
“And since John and Hannah are not on the best of terms now, he probably wouldn’t have mentioned Uncle Louis’ news to her. This means that someone must have told Hannah about it. That person must have known she would call me for help. Naturally, I would…”
Ashton looked at me with admiration. “Looks like your brain does have some merit.”
I pursed my lips in annoyance. “That doesn’t sound like a compliment. Anyway, who exactly is going in such a roundabout manner to get us?”
He looked at me with his obsidian eyes.
“It’s the Murphys, isn’t it?”
“Smart girl!”
Knowing all this, I decided to give John a call. After that conversation with Hannah, I did not expect my call to go through. To my surprise, he answered.
“How rare is this? I thought you were having so much fun, you’ve forgotten about me.”
I chuckled at his childish remark. “I was busy with a few things. Hannah called. She told me about Uncle Louis. Are you all right?”
“Why’d she call you? There’s no need to meddle in Uncle Louis’ affair.” His voice was evidently annoyed.
“I understand. But did something happen between you and Hannah?” I could tell it was beyond a regular lovers’ quarrel.
“What else? It’s just the usual problem. Are you free tonight? Let’s go grab dinner together. I’ve been so bored by myself recently, I need someone to talk to.”
Beneath his playfulness, I could detect some weariness in his voice. “All right. Let’s have dinner together.”
“Great! I’ll text you the address.” With that, he hung up the call.
I turned to Ashton, smiling. “Shall we eat out tonight?”
“You promised him?”
I nodded.
He remained silent, which I presumed was a yes.
Right then, someone knocked on the office door. Ashton responded, “Come in!” Meanwhile, I went to his private restroom to pick a jacket for later.
“Mr. Fuller, we’ve just received some documents from Mr. Campbell. There are a few that require your endorsement. I’ll mail it back to him first thing tomorrow.”
“All right.”
After some moments of silence, I thought the secretary had left the room. To my surprise, she spoke again, “Mr. Fuller, here is an employee promotion name list compiled by the HR department. They need your approval for this. If there are any issues, you can leave a note on it.”
“Ok.” Like before, Ashton was curt with his reply.
I waited for her to leave before exiting the private restroom. While holding on to my jacket, I looked at Ashton working fast on his documents. “Do you have to finish all these by today?”
He nodded. “It’s not a lot. We’ll meet John for dinner once I’m done.”
Noticing how thick the folders were, I almost suggested going by myself, but I swallowed my words back. Then I went over to his side and picked up the name list on his desk. Seeing the few thousand over names left me speechless.
“So much for being the chairperson. How are you going to look through so many names?”
He took a glance at the list before saying, “Help me look through and circle those who have worked with us for less than three years. As for the rest, check and see whether they’ve met the promotion criteria.”
“Isn’t this a bit too careless? Although some of them haven’t worked long in Fuller Corporation, they’ve displayed exemplary performance. Shouldn’t we give those people special consideration?”
“I’ll leave it to you!”
“I…”
“After settling these, do you think I’ll still have energy left to go through every single name on the list?” It was obvious he was counting on me for this.
I pursed my lips, unable to deny his words. In the first place, I did agree to help him out. Now that he needed my assistance, there was no reason for me to reject.
