Nicole had a stern look but since the opponent was taking the soft approach, she could also feign innocence.
“Director Schmidt, this is not just an issue of whether I want to go after Sabrina or not. I’m sure you’ve heard of what Sabrina had said. It doesn’t only implicate me but President Yates from F&M Apparel as well. If I really accept the request, I would be indirectly admitting her remark, don’t you think?”
The moment that Joanna heard Nicole’s statement, her expression changed at once. Just as she was about to say something, Nicole interrupted, “Alternatively, you can bring Sabrina to personally apologize to President Yates. If President Yates forgives her, I’ll naturally let it slide too.”
Joanna lifted her head to glare at Nicole as her originally amiable look had disappeared and was now replaced with coldness. Pressing her lips, she continued to stare at Nicole for quite some time before she finally had a fake grin and commented, “It seems like I’ve lacked the consideration. Sorry for disturbing you today, Ms. Lisa.”
With that, she walked out of the office resolutely.
Nicole only went back to her seat after Joanna left. Looking at the draft in her hand, she suddenly lost the mood to continue.
Although Joanna did not adopt an aggressive approach, given today’s situation, Nicole reckoned her coming days in Gardner Corporation would be rather nasty.
She casually took a pen and placed it between her fingers to start spinning it. If she had known that there would be so many troubles in Gardner Corporation, she would not have come at the start. However, she was now already stuck in the midst of all the vexations.
Nicole spent the entire afternoon in her office. Due to Joanna’s return, the entire Design Department became much livelier and Nicole could even hear the noises from the outside as she sat in her office.
Soon, it was time to get off work. Nicole was not in a mood to work overtime, so she packed her stuff and was ready to leave.
Just as she was going to walk out from the office, a gentle voice emerged.
“Ms. Lisa.”
Nicole paused and turned to see Joanna standing at the entrance with a bright smile on her face. Joanna appeared to be quite enthusiastic as if the episode this morning had not happened.
She nodded at Joanna and did not strike an attitude. “Hey, Director Schmidt,” she acknowledged with a smile.
Joanna walked up to her steadily and stopped in front of her. “Ms. Lisa, thanks for leading our department during this time while I was away. The colleagues insisted on throwing a welcome dinner for me since I’ve returned. Please join us if you can.”
Nicole stared at Joanna for quite a while as she had no idea what the woman was up to. “I’d love to, but I have some family matters to attend to today, so I’m not available.”
Nicole came up with a random excuse. She did not go along with Joanna this morning in the office. As such, she did not know if Joanna would stir up more trouble, should she accept the invitation to the dinner.
The smile on Joanna’s face did not fade away when she perceived Nicole’s rejection. Instead, she lowered her head and drawled with downcast eyes, “I totally understand. After all, you’re occupied with myriad affairs as the Chief Designer of F&M Apparel, so of course you won’t have time to eat with people like us…”
Nicole was rendered speechless.
Now that Joanna had phrased it this way, if she continued insisting not to attend the dinner, she might offend all the staff in the Design Department.
Nicole exhaled slowly. At the thought of how Colton had done her a big favor, she knew she shouldn’t screw things up at the critical moment, so she bore with it.
“Not at all. I guess the dinner will happen at night. The timing would be just nice if that’s the case. I’ll drop by after finishing with my stuff.”
Joanna smiled upon Nicole’s agreement. “Sure. I’ll text you the location and time by then.”
“Thanks, Director Schmidt.” Nicole nodded and hummed before turning around to leave.
She had to admit that Joanna was a very sophisticated person, especially in front of others.
Nonetheless, Nicole thought it was just a welcome dinner and there would be many other staff around, so Joanna was unlikely to cause problems for her.
After Nicole had left, Joanna walked out of the office and went to the ground floor of the company. There, a woman dressed in bright-colored outfits walked toward Joanna – it was Queenie.
“Hi Director Schmidt, it has been a while,” Queenie wore a smile and said in a fawning manner.
There was not much expression on Joanna’s face as she cast a side glance at the man beside Queenie, who had an average, honest look.
With her eyes flickering, she asked, “This is…”
“Please allow me to introduce Mr. Henry Cooper. He’s a staff of Gardner Corporation too,” Queenie said.
Narrowing her eyes, Joanna gazed at Queenie in confusion as she couldn’t understand what Queenie’s intention was.
Queenie walked up and lowered her voice. “Director Schmidt, Mr. Cooper is Nicole’s ex-boyfriend.”
There was still not much change in Joanna’s expression. Instead, she smiled and questioned in return, “And what does this have to do with me?”
“Director Schmidt, if there’s nothing to do with you, you wouldn’t come down when I asked you, would you?” Queenie smiled and continued in a low voice.
“Nicole chased Sabrina away from Gardner Corporation the moment she came. Everyone in the company knows Sabriana is close with you. Moreover, she was fired because she put in a word for you. Isn’t this as good as humiliating you?”
Joanna’s face darkened when she heard
Queenie’s words. The original reason why she went to see Nicole today was to negotiate for Sabrina’s return, but Nicole refused to let go of the incident.
“What’s your intention then?” Joanna stared at Queenie and asked. In fact, she had roughly heard about the affairs of the Anderson Family and knew the two sisters were not on good terms.
“Director Schmidt, didn’t you invite Nicole to join the welcome dinner? Bring him along and I’ll naturally have a way to embarrass her,” Queenie declared confidently.
Truth was, she had spent quite some effort to track down Nicole’s ex-boyfriend. Back then, Nicole broke up with Henry for the sake of money in order to save her mother, therefore Queenie was sure that Nicole felt guilty toward him.
On the other hand, Henry was actually a snob who was easily influenced by money, so of course Queenie would seize this perfect opportunity to use him.
Joanna cast a side glance at Henry and frowned slightly as she didn’t find this man attractive at all, and she wondered how Nicole even fell for him.
“You mean him?” Disdain flashed through Joanna’s eyes.
Queenie smirked. “Director Schmidt, you just have to bring him there and he’ll know what to do. Regardless of the outcome, it doesn’t cost you anything, isn’t it?”
Joanna looked back and forth between Queenie and Henry for a while. Indeed, she had disliked Nicole, so she agreed after pondering for a while. “Alright, I’ll trust you this time.”
Meanwhile, Queenie smiled even brighter upon hearing Joanna’s acceptance.
Nicole, it seems like you’re truly a nuisance. Everyone is against you!
The sky had turned completely dark by the time it was 8 at night, yet the city was brightly lit.
The weather was slightly chilly tonight. It was drizzling, yet one could still feel the cold although the rain wasn’t heavy.
Around 7 o’clock, Joanna sent Nicole the location. It was at a karaoke lounge in Goldwick. The room number was 888, so Nicole figured that it was a big private room.
Nicole stayed at home and waited until the time had passed 8 o’clock before she wore a jacket and headed out. Perhaps the sky seemed to be foggy due to the fine rain.
Nicole drove to the location and could hear a noisy atmosphere the moment she stepped into the lounge. She frowned uncomfortably as she never had any liking for bustling places.
After enquiring from a waiter the way to Room No.888, she headed to the room.
It was a huge private room. When she walked in, red and blue spot lights were flashing in the room, and she couldn’t recognize the other guests at all because the room was very dark.
“Hi, Ms. Lisa, welcome. I thought you couldn’t make it.” Joanna stood up the moment Nicole walked in.
“I rushed over after I finished settling my stuff, but I’m still late. Sorry about that,” Nicole replied politely.
Besides the staff from Design Department, there were a few other people in the room whom she had not met before.
“I’m glad you’re here. We have been waiting for you.” Thereafter, Joanna introduced a few individuals to Nicole. “This is Mr. Stanley Larry, the manager of Finance Department. This is Mr. Shaun Geller, the deputy manager of Human Resource Department. And this is Mr. Henry Cooper from Logistics Department. “
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