Chapter 30 Eric's Decision

Sierra was slightly teased. She hesitated for half an hour before sending a WhatsApp message to Mr. Howard, gently stroking her slender fingers on the phone. "Sorry, Mr. Howard, I fell asleep." On the other side, Eric held a glass of wine and smiled lightly after seeing Sierra's message. Miss Adler's restraint is a bit cute.
He didn't reply but slowly sipped the red wine in his tall glass. Eric didn't appear again for several days but occasionally sent Sierra a WhatsApp message with either a photo or one or two lazy yet mature sentences.
Sierra did not reply every time, but they both knew about their ambiguity between them.
One morning on her way to work, Sierra received a call from Eric. She hesitated for a moment before answering: "Mr. Howard?"
Eric sat in the car with documents on his lap - it was surprisingly George Adler’s case file! He remembered when he got it from Lucas last night; Mr Rodriguez smiled meaningfully and said: "Eric, have you changed your mind because of Miss Adler? I think she looks great and Jason likes her very much..."
At that time, Eric just smiled faintly and asked Lucas not to tell Sierra yet as he needed more time to think about it.
Now he flipped through the document gently while saying to Sierra over the phone: "I'm going away on business for a week! Let's meet up when I come back... there is something I want to talk to you about."
Sierra couldn't guess what it was all about but knew that having good relations with Eric would do no harm so she softly agreed.
Suddenly feeling soft-hearted like talking sweet nothings with his lover over the phone, Eric whispered in low voice: “Why are you so obedient and gentle? Do you know that men will take advantage of this?”
Sierra blushed and couldn't speak for a while. Eric smiled and let her go.
After hanging up the phone, he looked at the document for a long time... making this decision was not just a simple transaction; it was mixed with pity towards Sierra. He thought of it as compensation to her.
On the other side, Sierra put down her phone and guessed what Eric wanted to talk about in a week's time. She daydreamed so much that she almost missed her stop on the way to work.
When she arrived at the music center, colleagues looked at her differently when she clocked in. Not understanding why, one of her closer colleagues quietly told her: "Sierra, Mrs Anderson knows about your part-time job outside of work and will probably talk to you later!"
Sierra froze for a moment. She didn't want to make things difficult for Mrs Anderson who had taken care of her so well all these years nor could she stay without shamelessly asking for more money from them anymore. So Sierra gently took off her work badge and placed it on the table before saying softly: "I'll resign now. Thank you for taking care of me all these years."