Chapter 281
Chapter 281
Catherine's POV
Soon, I returned to work.
But I could sense a shift in the attitude of my colleagues towards me.
In the morning meeting, Mark, the deputy director, had a big fight with Melinda over a contract.
Melinda said angrily, "He did it on purpose because everyone in the company is gossiping about you and King Blake's breakup."
"I'm sorry, Melinda. I got you into this mess. If it weren't for me, they wouldn't have made it difficult for you." I felt guilty.
"Catherine, don't say that. Mark has a beef with me anyway," Melinda comforted me.
The incident with Melinda occurred only a few days before the project in my hands was snatched away.
I won the project from Leo's company. I asked Lucy to take care of the project while I was on leave. When I came back to work, she said that she wanted to sort out some files before giving the project back to me. I agreed. However, she kept stalling every time I asked her. She was unwilling to hand over the project back to me, and she even quarreled with me.
"Catherine, you are going to leave the company, right? Will you take away all your clients as well? Stop messing around. This project belongs to the company. You can't take it with you!" Lucy said sarcastically.
I retorted, "Who told you that I'm leaving?"
"It goes without saying, OK? You know better than anyone else. You and King Blake have broken up. As his ex, how do you have the nerve to stay here? You'd better leave before King Blake kicks you out. You don't want to embarrass yourself in front of everyone," Lucy mocked.
I was so pissed off, but I had to keep my head.
"Our breakup won't affect my work. If you don't give my project back today, you'll see the consequences." I didn't want to quarrel. I just wanted to do my job.
"Well, well. Do you still think you are the Lycan Luna? How dare you talk to me like this? I am not afraid of you, and it's my project now. There's no way I'll give it back to you," Lucy said.
The workplace was such a cruel place. Though I had heard Melinda talk about how brutal the workplace was before I joined the company, I had never encountered anything like this before.
Now that Lucy had the project in her hand and refused to give it back, I felt helpless.
Then Melinda came over and blamed Lucy. She told her to give the project back to me.
Lucy threw the file in front of me. "Take it, since you want it so badly!"
Melinda said with a cold face, "Go get your resignation letter from the Personnel Department. I don't want to see you tomorrow!"
Lucy was stunned. Then she pleaded, "Melinda, I'm sorry. Please don't fire me."
Melinda said seriously, "I bet you think Catherine and I have no place in the company anymore, right? Why are you begging me?"
"Melinda, I was wrong. I was doing a good job on this project, so I didn't want to give it to Catherine. That was why I quarreled with her. It won't happen again!" Lucy began to cry.
"The decision is made. We don't need dishonest people like you. You should leave." Melinda picked up the file and handed it to me. Melinda and I then walked away.
"'Melinda, don't be so smug! I quit! I don't want to work here anyway. Everyone knows you got promoted because of Catherine! You have connections, so what?" Lucy cursed.
We were surprised to hear that and turned to look at Lucy.
"Melinda, Catherine slept with the boss to get you promoted, and in return, you defended her by all means. You would fire anyone in the company who had a problem with Catherine. I hope you will end up the same soon!" Lucy roared.
"Melinda, forget it. Just ignore her!" I held Melinda's arm. She looked like she wanted to beat Lucy up.
Despite Melinda's efforts, Lucy managed to wipe out her contribution to the Chavez Group with a few words. No one could stand it.
After Lucy finished venting, she glared at me and Melinda and left.
When we returned to the office, Melinda said to me, "These people are too much!"
I was a little frustrated and said, "I didn't know that in their eyes, all the work we've done over the past few months was just because of my relationship with Blake."
"Cathy, don't be angry. They are jealous of you, that's all," Melinda comforted me.
"Forget it. I don't want to quarrel with them. Anyway, my relationship with Blake is not as bad as they thought." I shrugged.
After talking to Melinda, I returned to the office.
As I entered, I heard the phone on my desk ringing.
I thought it was from a colleague. I picked up the phone and heard Blake's voice. "Did someone give you a hard time?"
To my surprise, it was Blake who called me through the internal line.
"How did you know?" I asked curiously.
"I know everything you do in the company," Blake said proudly.
I couldn't help but smile.
"Are you trying to comfort me or discourage me? So, I don't have any privacy in the company, do I?" I rolled my eyes.
"I am comforting you. Don't worry. I'll deal with anyone who goes against you. I'll let them know that you are the one in charge of the Design Department," Blake promised.
I chuckled. To be honest, it felt great to have someone backing me up.
"Will that make me look overbearing? People may gossip more about me, right?" I wondered what Blake would say.
"Then I will replace the entire Design Department!" Blake said overbearingly. Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
I knew Blake didn't care about the profits of the Design Department. He cared more about me, which was so touching.
"There is no need. I can't turn to you for help with everything. I have to learn to deal with troubles myself." I decided that I couldn't let Blake help me with everything.
I knew. People would only stop judging me if I could bring more value to the company.
"You got me," Blake said gently.
I smiled, "I can't always hide behind you and let you handle things for me. After the breakup, I realized that independence makes me feel the most secure."
Blake said with self-blame, "Sorry. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have lied to you about your past. I will discuss anything with you from now on. I won't make decisions alone anymore."
"I knew you meant well. You didn't want me to know, and you wanted to hide it from everyone. I was stupid and ruined everything you worked so hard for." Speaking of this, I was very regretful.
"Well, let's leave it there. Can we have lunch together?" Blake said.
I was surprised. "Lunch? Aren't you afraid that Patricia will know?"
"Don't worry. I will make sure she won't find out," Blake said.
"There is no perfect secret in the world. We shouldn't risk it." I felt the need to be more cautious.
"But I want to see you." Blake was a little aggrieved.
"Well, we are talking on the phone now."
"You know what I want." Blake's voice became low.
"We shouldn't think too much of that." I was shy.
"You are so cruel to me." Blake was angry.