Chapter 847 Intentional
Everyone in the company knew that Otto was Erik's right-hand man.
Randall shook his head and refused coldly, "Already ate. Not trying it."
Otto gradually withdrew his enthusiasm. He felt Randall wasn't so good at reading the room—not even giving face to a senior colleague.
"Oh, alright then. Clean up and get to work."
Otto casually reminded him.
Randall replied, "I already cleaned up. Your desk is the only messy one. Didn't you notice?"
After he said that, the atmosphere in the office changed.
Otto's face turned awkward. Randall used to be polite to him, but now that Erik had shown him favor, was he getting too big for his britches?
Otto knew he couldn't offend Randall right now, so he swallowed his anger in front of everyone, sat down at his desk, took a few bites, then threw the sandwich straight into the trash.
Randall knew he was angry but just sat down without saying anything.
Erik woke up from his hangover on the sofa, with his daughter by his side.
"Dad, I don't know who brought you home last night. He said you'd know," Erik's daughter said.
Erik sat up from the sofa. "It was Randall."
"Oh, so that's his name. I asked him but he wouldn't tell me."
Erik's head hurt a bit. He rubbed his forehead and asked his daughter, "Hannah, what did you think of that young man yesterday?"
Hannah Brown understood her father's meaning right away and blushed. "I... I don't even know who he is."
Erik smiled but didn't explain further.
That afternoon at the company, Otto immediately went to find Erik and complained in his office. "Mr. Brown, I think you should reconsider. Randall isn't really that great."
Erik asked, "What happened?"
"He has no respect for his seniors. Ever since you started favoring him, he acts like he owns the place, as if he's decided you're his backer. This morning I kindly offered him a sandwich. Fine if he didn't want it, but then he publicly criticized me. Mr. Brown, I think you should observe Randall for a while longer."
Erik smiled and tried to calm his upset subordinate. "Why are you getting worked up over him? He's in his early twenties, you're in your thirties. Think about it—with his family background, it's totally normal for him to have some attitude. Just try to get along with him, don't get mad at him."
Otto understood. Erik was asking him to take the hit and protect Randall.
"Mr. Brown, you might not want to hear this, but if he's already showing his true colors to me, what about later with you?"
Erik clearly didn't want to hear that. "You can go now."
Otto nodded. He had deliberately said that to make Erik wary and not give Randall an easy time.
After all, this morning in front of so many people, Randall had embarrassed him. He had to get back at him somehow in private.
Randall knew about this behavior—just a common workplace tactic.
But he had actually done it on purpose, letting the man go complain about him.
Erik's attitude wasn't just about promoting him. With so many people in the company, he only took Randall out to eat, looked after him everywhere, and last night in the car told him that career was most important. From a few simple words at the dinner table, he had picked up on it a bit.
Randall didn't want to fall into that trap.
So he deliberately offended Erik's right-hand man that morning, letting him badmouth him and smear his reputation, making Erik reconsider him.
However, Randall was surprised—why would Erik come looking for him?
Could it be that when Molly and Vera came to see him that day, Erik saw them and figured him out?
But that didn't make sense either. The two women were dressed normally with no unusual behavior. Aside from being good-looking, everything else was pretty ordinary. How did Erik figure it out?
Vera sat by the roadside wearing a woven straw sun hat and a black sun-protective jacket, holding a small fan. She ate ice cream with one hand while fanning them with the other. "What am I suffering out here for?"
Teddy turned his head to look around. "Mommy."
"What is it?"
Teddy looked at the ice cream in Vera's hand. Vera reached over to give it to him, and Teddy immediately tilted his head back, opened his little mouth, and licked it, then smiled contentedly.
Vera smiled watching Teddy. "Do you love Mommy?"
Teddy gave a big "Mm-hmm."
Vera was so happy she leaned into Teddy's stroller and kissed him all over his face and forehead.
Teddy thought Vera was giving him food and opened his little mouth, but what came was kisses instead. Disappointing.
Still, his dirty little hands hugged Mommy's neck, grabbed Vera's hair, and tried hard to nibble on Vera's face.
Teddy had been bossy since he was little.
Vera's ice cream was dripping cream. She quickly broke free from Teddy's grip, took a bite of ice cream, and looked somewhere in the distance.
Vera kept fanning Teddy with her hand, but later found it too tiring. There happened to be a small accessory shop nearby, so she pushed Teddy inside and bought a handheld mini fan. Both mother and son loved it. The opening was small so Teddy's fingers couldn't get in, which put Vera's mind at ease about safety. She turned on the little fan—it was fully charged and started spinning right away.
After paying, Vera pushed Teddy along. On the way, Teddy held the little fan and tried to bite it.
With the breeze, Teddy made random noises at the fan opening.
Back at their shaded spot, Vera glanced at a license plate and called Molly. "He seems pretty busy with his social obligations. He went to lunch over two hours ago, went in and hasn't come out since."
Molly asked with concern, "Vera, what about you?"
Vera replied, "Teddy and I are outside."
She had hidden a bunch of little snacks in the back pocket of Teddy's stroller.
Molly heard car horns in the background and frowned at the office. "You're on the street?"
"Teddy and I are just hanging out."
Molly had to go to work in the afternoon. She immediately got up and rushed upstairs, straight to Ellie's desk. "Mom, car keys."
Ellie asked, "What's wrong?"
Molly saw the car keys on the desk, grabbed them right away, and ran off again.
Ellie had no idea what was going on with Molly.
Molly got Vera's location and drove right over. When she arrived, she could see from far away the two people sitting under a big tree by the roadside. Teddy seemed sleepy. Vera held Teddy in one arm while holding the little fan in the other hand to blow air on him, rhythmically patting Teddy's shoulder. Her eyes kept glancing ahead from time to time.
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