It's been a few weeks since Chris left for Paris and Adeline still has received no news or even a message from him. She can't be the first to message him because she looks like she's looking for attention.
“I think you are waiting for each other to do the texting.” It took Adeline’s attention away from her phone when Shizuko approached her on her desk.
“Hey.”
Shizuko looked around for Sandra’s whereabouts, but she was nowhere to be found, “Where is your dear friend?”
She sat down on Sandra’s chair.
“I’m not sure. She’s been acting really strange lately, and she doesn’t come to the office early like usual.” Adeline explained.
Shizuko nodded at her and pouted.
“By the way, how’s your new promotion chance?” she asked.
Adeline remembered her task related to looking for a potential ambassador for the lined up advertisement shooting.
“I need to find an ambassador that would accept an advertising contract of three years under World Spectrum.” she said.
“That’s a death wish, darling. Looking for an ambassador won’t be as easy as they think!”
Adeline and Shizuko both sighed. Later, Jeremy arrived at their place while bringing an order of coffee.
“Hey, ladies. Grab some hot and delicious coffee.” he invited them.
Both the ladies happily grabbed a cup when a commotion from the rest of their co-workers happened and it caught everyone’s attention.
“Have everyone heard about one of the CEO’s latest issues?” Xiaoyu excitedly opened up.
“What is it?” Kim asked her.
“One of them was spotted having a date with an unfamiliar woman!” Xiaoyu exclaimed.
Everyone inside the office murmured while it left Adeline speechless since she was shocked to hear that someone might have seen her and Thomas.
She remembered her dinner with him last time and he eventually admitted to her he was her boss and one of the rumored CEOs of World Spectrum.
She can even still hear his voice from her mind.
“I need you to promise me you won’t tell anybody about my identity as one of the CEOs.”
She bit her lip just remembering it before Shizuko could even notice her silence.
“Hey, Adeline. Are you listening to them?” she asked her.
Adeline surprisingly glanced at her and nodded.
“Why don't they introduce the CEOs of this company? So that they won’t get in trouble for hiding something.” Jeremy commented.
“Even before you came here, Jerm, this company revealed nothing about the bosses. The employees’ way of communication with the boss was through the managers.” Jackson said.
Shizuko crossed her arms on her chest, “Did they have clues of who the CEO is with?”
“The woman’s information is still unclear and unnamed. The source did not even say who that CEO was.” Xiaoyu pouted in dismay.
Everyone was all shocked when Shirley arrived inside the office with Sandra again. Shizuko finally noticed it but not Adeline.
“What’s going on?” Shirley questioned them.
“Have you heard about the gossip about one of the CEOs?” Kim asked her.
Shirley just laughed at them and shook her head for finding their actions ridiculous. What a bunch of babble mouths.
“Stop eavesdropping with nonsense gossip and start working because the boss has a new project for us.” Shirley went to the bulletin board as she took the whiteboard marker from the pencil case.
She began writing on the board about the same idea of a project which Adeline had come up with a few days ago. Shirley looked at everyone after writing on the board about the project plan.
“Our team needs to look for an ambassador for the upcoming lingerie company advertisement.” Shirley explained.
“A lingerie commercial?” Shizuko asked.
“Yes. The company didn’t reject the offer from them since it was widely known for having one of the best lingerie signatures in the entire country and from a few other countries.”
“So, is it a sexy commercial?” Jackson asked.
“Exactly. We need to find one male and one female model that could also possibly become the company’s ambassador once the contract expires.” Shirley continued. “You need to divide yourselves into two groups, only with four members. No more, no less.”
Everyone looked at each other and randomly picked their co-members until they left Adeline out alone. Shirley looked at her.
“Since you are in for a promotion, think of it as a challenge. I know you can do it alone.” Shirley approached her before patting her back and left.
During breaktime, Adeline went out of the office to give Chris a call. They may be far from each other but she will never forget his special day.
Three more days and it's Chris's birthday, but she wasn't sure if he would come home and decide to celebrate it with her. Both of them undeniably have a very busy work schedule.
She took her phone and contacted Chris. It rang a few but after the last attempt, it was unreachable.
Overthinking. Adeline couldn't help but leave a voicemail for her friend.
"I might need your help for my project. I'm not so sure why I thought of contacting you about it but I think you should give it a try."
She doesn't have anything to tell him anymore. She couldn't tell him what she felt, the feeling of Chris suddenly left her hanging.
"Could you please call me back or just leave a message if you really can't talk? I will wait for your response." she gulped. "Bye."
After hanging up, she went back inside the office and overheard another gossip about the private lives of the company's two CEOs.
She went back to her desk and decided to just ignore them. However, their voices were too loud for Adeline not to eavesdrop.
"As far as some of my sources know, this company has two CEOs because they were the children of the company's owner from two different women!" Xiaoyu exclaimed.
"Are you being serious?" Kim asked with an intriguing giggle.
It concerned Adeline since the gossip was getting out of hand already. She was undecided if she would tell them to stop talking about other people or just remained quiet about it.
"Those women were legally sisters too."
"Do you mean by blood?" Kim asked Xiaoyu.
"Yes!"
"Oh my god…"
Adeline couldn't tolerate it anymore and she placed earphones on both her ears so that she won't hear anything from their filthy mouths anymore.
She may not be closely related with the CEOs, mostly to Thomas but she doesn't like it when people are being talked about on their backs.
After a few hours spent in the office with heavy workloads, Shirley called for Adeline to check up on her status as an employee who's promotion is still under review.
Adeline entered the manager's office quietly.
"Oh, you're here." Shirley closed the confidential folder where she's signing.
"Why did you call for me, ma'am?" Adeline asked her.
"I just would like to know updates from your latest promotional project. How many have you contacted today?" she asked her.
"I- uh..." Adeline wasn't able to focus since she was having a lot of things running in her mind, bothering her nonstop.
"Look, you may be working here for more than three months already but there's still no difference if I call you a newbie."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying no matter how intelligent you are, you remain acting as if you are a newbie. Inexperienced." Shirley emphasized.
"I'm trying my best despite all the insults and eyeing I am having from the rest of the staff in this department. And you do nothing about it-"
"-I don't handle what they think of you. You should be the one to do something to change what they think of you. On how they would treat you."
"Isn't that at least your job?" Adeline questioned her.
Shirley gets to stare at her before standing up from her seat.
"Don't question what I do here. You should know your place." she said.
The silence went in between them. Adeline couldn't figure out her manager. It made her feel like even Shirley, the one who hired her, couldn't accept her as one of the employees.
"I know my place. But I just couldn't tolerate it every time your employees talk about people behind their backs. And I can't help but overthink that they would do the same thing to me… or even you." Adeline explained.
Shirley laughed at her, "What are you talking about?"
"They've been talking a lot about the CEOs of this company. Spreading rumors even if it's not necessary."
Shirley's reaction completely changed.
"You have a lot of things to learn, Adeline." she told her.
"Like what?"
Shirley held Adeline's chin as they stared at each other before she completely told her off.
"I'm sure you wouldn't want to interfere with the higher authorities' business. And if you do, I'll make sure you will regret every second of it."