Chapter 394 An Old Friend
Coral Bay.
Aurelia applied professional makeup, wore a white silk blouse paired with a business skirt, embodying the style of a mature career woman from head to toe.
She drove her car to the company, and on the way, her assistant Aurora called, "Anna, are you sure you're coming back today?"
Aurelia, with an earphone in one ear, lightly parted her red lips, "I'm already on my way to the company."
Aurora's voice on the other end was excited, "Anna, you're finally back. This afternoon, we have an interview scheduled with a designer who has experience at a big company. You should meet them in person."
As the red light ended, Aurelia gently pressed the gas pedal, "Let's talk later, I'm almost there."
The company had been recruiting new talent recently, and many newcomers had joined. The final interviews were conducted remotely by Aurelia.
During this period, Aurora had been arranging schedules and balancing Aurelia's work at Imperick, making her assistant job much more challenging.
Hearing that Aurelia was almost at the company made her happier than a pay raise, "Okay, Anna, I'll have coffee ready for you."
Aurelia parked her car in the office park and walked upstairs in high heels.
As soon as she entered the company, she was greeted with cheers from both new and familiar faces. The team had expanded significantly, and the previously empty workstations in the lobby were now equipped with computers.
Aurelia glanced around, "Everyone's here early. Let's have a lunch gathering to welcome the new colleagues!"
Aurora grinned beside her, "Okay, Anna, I'll arrange it."
Aurelia had a lot of work piled up, and she buried herself in her office all morning. Near noon, Aurora sent the lunch address, and Aurelia glanced at the restaurant name, The Velvet Palate.
It sounded familiar. Upon recalling, it was the same restaurant Nathaniel had taken the office to before she left.
At the restaurant, Aurelia felt a sense of familiarity everywhere, not just with the dishes but also with the decor.
She couldn't help but think of Nathaniel. The restaurant's elegant environment, cleanliness, and even the high-end brand of tableware were exactly what Nathaniel liked.
Aurelia couldn't resist taking a short video and sending it to him, "Look, I found your dream restaurant. The tableware is your favorite brand."
At that moment, Nathaniel was having lunch with Chris. Seeing Aurelia's video, he smiled silently.
Chris, halfway through his glass of red wine, asked, "What's making you smile so slyly?"
Nathaniel put down his phone, crossed his arms, and leaned back, "How can you call it sly when you're courting someone?"
Chris scoffed, disdainfully asking, "Did you succeed?"
"If I hadn't, would she be sending me Facebook messages? Which woman would send a video of her lunch to an unrelated man? Even your wife doesn't pay attention to you, right?"
Chris was infuriated by his comment. Showing off was one thing, but belittling others was another.
"If you succeeded, why did she leave you and take the kids? You begged me to have lunch with you in the middle of the day. I'm a family man."
"Did I beg you? I pitied you for eating your wife's terrible cooking every day, worried you'd be malnourished, so I called you out to improve your diet."
"Just admit you're jealous. I know you haven't had sex in four years, right? We're all men here, I understand."
Nathaniel was stumped. How did a simple lunch conversation turn into this? This jerk was showing off his sex life.
He waved for the waiter and ordered a plate of oysters, "You may have sex, but what's the use if you're not up to it? Can you last more than five minutes?"
With that, Nathaniel placed a large oyster on Chris's plate, "Don't be in denial, man. You need to replenish yourself!"
Chris responded with a cold laugh, "I remember you're only a year younger than me. Where's your sense of superiority coming from?"
"We're different. Your complexion shows you're overworked."
Chris, infuriated, swallowed the oyster. If Nathaniel was treating him to a meal, why not eat? That jerk might want to replenish himself, but even if he did, he had nowhere to use that energy.
Aurelia's lunch was a small gathering, considering it was noon and they had to work afterward, so no one drank. Some new colleagues were meeting for the first time, and this meal served as a welcome ceremony for them and an acknowledgment of the old colleagues' hard work.
In the afternoon, close to the end of the workday, the interviewee arrived nearly two hours late.
Aurora, considering the impressive resume and the candidate's experience at a renowned firm, and knowing Aurelia valued talent, invited the person to the meeting room, offered a glass of water, and then reported to the office, "Anna, the interviewee has arrived and is in the small meeting room."
Aurelia put down her work, "I'm on my way."
The moment she opened the meeting room door, both Aurelia and the interviewee were stunned.
"Why is it you?"
"What are you doing here?"
They spoke almost simultaneously.
Aurelia scrutinized the person holding the resume in the meeting room, and memories suddenly flooded back.
During her months in the design department at the Heilbronn Group, this woman had often mocked her. Back then, she didn't care, as her mind was entirely on Nathaniel.
Thinking back now, those workplace antics seemed disgusting.
Amy, after a few seconds of shock, stood up, showing a bit of surprise on her face, "Is this company yours?"
Aurelia mechanically curled her lips, smiling perfunctorily, "The chief designer of the Heilbronn Group's design department resigned. I remember you were one of the veterans left. Why didn't you get promoted and instead left?"
Aurelia's mention of the chief designer sounded plain, but to Amy, it felt sarcastic. At that time, Chelsea was the chief designer at the Heilbronn Group, and everyone in the design department praised her, even treating her like the boss's wife.
Who would have thought that the real boss's wife was the most low-key among them, a design assistant whose salary didn't even reach ten thousand?
And the chief designer they always praised had stolen her entry work from the boss's wife.
Amy knew she had little chance in this interview. She couldn't count how many times she had offended Aurelia. How could she have a chance to become her colleague?
She smiled bitterly and said, "After you left, Mr. Heilbronn cleaned out the design department, firing more than half the people within a week. I was one of them."
Amy lowered her head, fumbling with a disposable cup, and continued, "Anyone who was close to Chelsea, regardless of gender or seniority, was fired. I was the first."
Amy's words surprised Aurelia. The design department was the core of the Heilbronn Group. Even if they wanted new blood, it would take a process. How could the company operate if they fired more than half the people at once?
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