“Mia, from the day you joined us until now…” The chubby man in black-rimmed glasses fixed his eyes on the girl standing in front of him. “As your boss, haven’t I treated you pretty well?”
“Yes, Chief. You’ve always been really good to me. You’ve taken great care of me.”
The girl by the desk was around five foot six, maybe a little over. A plain T-shirt, ripped jeans, nothing fancy. Her thick wavy hair was tied behind her head, a few natural curls hanging loose by her cheeks. At first glance, she looked weirdly like a doll—soft, harmless, almost innocent.
“If that’s true, then listen to me for once.” Howard Mercer leaned back, trying hard to keep his tone steady. “Stop wasting your time on Ethan Caldwell, okay?”
The girl’s eyes went wide in shock. She clearly hadn’t expected that the reason he called her in this early was this.
“Chief, I was this close yesterday. I almost got photos of him fooling around with a female star. If it hadn’t been for—”
Howard Mercer had originally planned to talk it through calmly, but the second he heard that, his temper shot through the roof.
“Stop wasting time, stop wasting time—how many times do I have to say it before it gets into your head?” He slapped the desk, his face turning red. “Yesterday you rode an e-bike onto the highway and got stopped by traffic police. I already took the blame for that mess. What else do you want from me?”
“If I don’t get Ethan Caldwell’s scoop, I’m not quitting.” The girl lifted her chin. There was a stubborn fire between her brows, something fierce and solid that didn’t really match her usual look.
“Every entertainment reporter on the planet wants to catch him. Who do you think you are?” The heavyset editor jabbed a finger at the certificates hanging on the wall. “The head of Team One started the same time you did. That guy already bought a house. And you? What do you have?”
“Chief…” Mia Grayson said weakly, shrinking a little. “I’ve already saved enough for the down payment.” Sure, she didn’t make as much as Team One, but every dollar she had was earned bit by bit, one grind at a time.
“Zip it!” Howard Mercer cut her off without mercy. “Head office is already extremely unhappy with you. If you keep being this obsessed, even I won’t be able to save you.”
That seemed to hit a nerve. The girl’s expression tightened, and she snapped back without backing down. “And who was the one who said, ‘It’s fine, go all out, do your thing’? Now suddenly you’re saying this? Come on, Chief, at least have some conscience.”
“Conscience?” Howard Mercer nearly laughed from anger. “You’ve got the nerve to talk to me about conscience? Ever since I became your boss, I’ve gone through more than a dozen bottles of heart pills. You’re suspended. Go home and cool off.”
……
Without her little scooter, Mia Grayson had no choice but to take the bus home.
The ride was long and boring. She turned her face toward the window, staring blankly outside. All kinds of people drifted past her view. Traffic rolled by in thick streams. At the crosswalk, where people were waiting for the light to change, a couple stood close together, fingers tightly linked. The girl leaned her head on the man’s shoulder, holding up a milk tea for him to sip from, all sweet and clingy.
Was she seeing things?
Just a few days ago, that man had told her he needed to work overtime every day to save money for a house, said he was too busy to spend time with her. So why was he out shopping now with another woman like everything was totally fine?
Mia Grayson pulled out her phone and called her boyfriend. It rang for a long time before he finally picked up.
"I’m busy right now. Not a good time..."
Before he could hang up, Mia Grayson snapped, "I saw you drinking milk tea."
The line went dead silent.
In that split second, she wanted nothing more than for him to deny it flat-out, to tell her with absolute certainty, "You got it wrong. You were seeing things."
But what he said was... "So you saw it?"
"Why? Why would you do this?" Mia didn’t care about the strange looks people around her were giving her. She practically shouted the words out.
"Why? Fine, I’ll tell you why. Because I’m done. I’m sick of it. Every single day it’s Ethan Caldwell, Ethan Caldwell. Who is he to you? Your man? Do you two have something going on? I told you ages ago to change jobs. I’m a senior executive, and my girlfriend’s a paparazzi reporter. You really think that looks like a match? Forget it. Let’s end it here."
