Chapter 181 Confidence Shaken
Despite Joshua's silence, the crowd's chatter swelled around him.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the elevator reached the ground floor.
Joshua stepped in, only to be shoved unceremoniously into the corner.
"Hurry up, there's room for one more!"
"Ow! Let me through, I've got an important document to hand in this morning!"
Crowded at the front, Joshua was pressed into the chilly metal wall, his handsome features scrunched uncomfortably.
As the Design Director of a prestigious company, the scion of the wealthy Curtis family had never known such indignity.
“When have I ever tolerated this?” Joshua thought.
The elevator stopped at every floor, picking up and dropping off passengers.
Joshua had been squashed into that same position for over fifteen minutes, and by the time the doors slid open, his neck was stiff with discomfort.
He burst into Luann Weaver's office to meet her displeased gaze.
“Ever heard of knocking before entering?” she chided.
Joshua clenched his teeth. “I’ll remember next time.”
“There won’t be a next time. You'll get it right now,” Luann snapped.
“Go out, knock, and then come back in.”
Reluctantly, Joshua stepped out, following protocol, and knocked three times on the door.
“Where am I supposed to work?” he asked once he reentered.
Luann pointed to a tiny nook beside the floor-to-ceiling windows, furnished with nothing but a shabby desk and chair reminiscent of his old school days.
“Joshua’s eyes widened in disbelief as he pointed to the nook. “Here?!”
“Or you could drag your desk out to the hallway. Your choice.”
“I mean… didn’t you consider getting me an office?” Joshua paused, adding, “Even without an office, at least a decent desk. This one’s so small, I can’t even fit my laptop and files. How am I supposed to help you?”
His frustration echoed around the office as he paced, his face red with anger and his neck muscles tense.
“I do need your help but not with paperwork,” Luann said coolly.
“Oh, you think you can handle everything on your own?” Joshua scoffed, lips curling in disdain.
It wasn’t arrogance; he had spent enough time as a Design Director to know paperwork could turn your hair gray.
As if to illustrate Joshua’s point, someone came up behind him carrying a stack of documents.
“Make way, make way. These need to be processed today.”
Joshua crossed his arms, unmoved, curious to see how Luann would react to the avalanche of bureaucracy.
But Luann remained calm, instructing them to place the papers on the desk. She leafed through them quickly, signing off with brisk strokes as if each only required a glance.
Joshua slammed his hand on the desk in fury.
“You are deliberately sabotaging the Curtis family, aren’t you?” he accused.
“Have you even taken a look at the contracts?”
“Are you signing whatever comes your way?”
“There are plans for the latter half of the year there, some that should be sent back for revisions!”
“Luann Weaver, do you even understand any of this?”
Luann's indifferent expression remained as Joshua’s words seemed to go in one ear and out the other.
She slapped the last page of the report onto the desk with finality.
"Alright, send it off," she said casually.
"Alright? The hell you're talking 'bout alright!"
Joshua's frustration reached a boiling point. He snatched up a report and flipped through it frantically, searching for a mistake to bring to Luann Weaver's attention. To his astonishment, he found that it was all annotated perfectly.
"What the..."
His indignation deflated in an instant.
Disbelieving, he checked another. And another...
Soon, the floor was littered with the folders he'd tossed aside.
Luann, in her cool manner, reminded him, "I've sorted them already, marked which are cleared and which aren't. Since you've mixed them up now, you might as well tidy them up again.”
"How... How is this possible?!" Joshua couldn't articulate his shock.
Had Luann really finished everything while they were chatting?
"Take your time reviewing; I'm gonna play some games," Luann said, powering up her computer.
Joshua transitioned from standing to squatting, and finally to sitting, amidst the chaos. He was desperate to find even a sliver of a mistake in Luann's work but found nothing.
His confidence vanished in an instant.
Sitting among the scattered pages, Joshua began to question his own purpose.
"Are you even human?"
"More like a monster," he muttered, feeling the urge to scream.
What about all that talk of no experience, of being clueless?
What about being raised in the sticks for eighteen years, an illiterate fool?
Where did all those blasted rumors come from?
It was only at this moment that Joshua truly realized that maybe, just maybe, Luann Weaver didn't need his help at all...
He picked himself up, a picture of dejection and disarray, and started to leave.
"Where you going?" Luann called after him.
Joshua just stood there, head bowed, shoulders slumping in a visible sign of defeat.
"I'm just... I'm just redundant here."
"Nonsense, I do need your help."
"What do you need from me?"
"To sort out these files."
Joshua's gaze fell on the mess around him, his mouth twitching in dismay, "Me?"
"Yeah, you wanted to prove yourself, right? Here's your chance," Luann said, looking at him with a profound gaze. "Besides, if you don't want to be my assistant, I'm sure there's a long line of others just waiting to take your place."
"But honestly, if not an assistant, I'm not sure what else you could be..."
"You wouldn't want to be caught living off your folks at home, would you?"
His fists slowly clenched.
Every position in the company was filled.
If he really left now, he might just fulfill Luann Weaver's wishes.
Joshua bent down sharply and snatched up the folder.
"As if I'd fall for such a pathetic attempt at reverse psychology."
Despite his words, Joshua decided to stay and assess the situation.
Luann Weaver was bound to make a mistake at some point.
And when she did, it would be his chance to exploit it.
"With such a huge company, how can there only be a few elevators... With so many employees, it's impossible they're enough."
Each time Joshua found himself getting crushed in the packed elevator, he couldn’t help but grumble to himself.
Someone nearby scoffed, "Oh, Assistant Joshua is just finding out? Remember when I was late with a report and you docked half a month's pay?"
After going up and down scores of times, everyone in the company knew Joshua was back as Luann Weaver's assistant.
Given his history, the reactions he received from people were chilly at best.
