Chapter 192 The Bitter-End Ploy
After saying her piece, Miss Ford, with the poise of a queen, left the meeting room with the click of her high heels.
Half an hour later, she submitted her resignation to HR, and soon after packed her belongings and left Solomon.
Driving away from the towering Solomon building, Miss Ford paused at the roadside.
She looked back at the imposing structure one last time.
She had come to Solomon right after university and worked hard there for nearly a decade.
Now it was time for her to embark on her next journey!
Miss Ford started the car and merged smoothly into the traffic.
The small incident had made its way to Fiona's ears by lunchtime.
Ever since Laura's last encounter with Lilian at RH Company, Laura had become more vigilant. She'd found out that Lilian had intentionally arrived at RH Company early that day. This had raised Laura's suspicions, and she watched her even more closely.
The incident that had happened earlier that day during Solomon's morning meeting had about twenty to thirty witnesses. Word of it spread quickly through the entire company.
Laura had heard about it from a manager in the sales department. When Miss Ford was leaving, the entire sales department was in uproar. That manager had also cursed Lilian out over the phone.
"Miss Ford?" Fiona found the name strangely familiar. "The pre-sales champion at Solomon!" Laura replied and swiftly pulled out her phone, swiped a bit, and showed Fiona a photo. Fiona recognized the face immediately, linking it to her memories. It was her.
"They say she's really good, young and she'd already taken the role of the vice president of the sales department at Solomon," Laura mentioned. Fiona nodded in agreement. She remembered that even when Miss Ford was just a staff member, she was already impressive.
Fiona thought it was a good idea to interact with such talent since the news of her leaving Solomon would spread fast, and many companies would be competing for her. Even though Fiona's team didn't need a pre-sales person at the moment, the Rhoads family did.
"Understood!" Laura responded crisply, without even asking Fiona what needed to be done.
After lunch, Fiona's team had a meeting. The overall framework of their plan was ready, and they could now proceed with the finer details. Looking over the plan, Fiona pursed her lips, her eyebrows knit together slightly. It was undoubtedly an excellent plan, but something felt off to her, like a puzzle piece that seemed to fit a gap but wouldn't slot in.
"Let's continue refining it. That's enough for today," Fiona stood up, ending the meeting. As soon as she walked out of the conference room, someone from the front desk approached her.
"Chelsea, there are flowers for you!"
"Flowers for me?" Fiona was slightly puzzled. Who would send her flowers?
"Wow, are these from Chelsea's admirer? I want to see!"
A group of colleagues followed Fiona to the front desk.
"Such a big bouquet of roses!"
"It must be from an admirer!"
Everyone was chattering away. Fiona hadn't been back long, and this was a temporary workspace. Not many people knew about it. Who could have sent the flowers?
Fiona walked over and picked up the card on top.
Upon opening it, Fiona's expression instantly darkened.
In a familiar handwriting, flourishing and vigorous, it read, "Awaiting good news."
"Signed - Darwin."
Before anyone else could peer over to see the card, Fiona crumpled it into a ball.
"Chelsea, who sent this?" someone asked with a gossip-hungry tone.
"Just some random guy," Fiona replied, "Take the roses if you like them, divide them among yourselves."
After that, Fiona returned to her office and calmly gathered her things.
By the time she left, the roses had disappeared.
Fiona just glanced at the spot and then turned to leave.
She tried to remember, "Is this the first time Darwin sent me flowers?"
The irony was, when she wanted them, he was all about cold violence, ignoring her, setting all sorts of rules to create a distance between them.
Now that she didn't want them anymore, he had started to act all attentive.
It was, if nothing else, quite ironic.
Knowing Fiona was still alive, these past few days had been rather schizophrenic for Darwin.
He kept telling himself to hold back, to restrain the desire he had to bring her back to him immediately.
He had to be gentle and patient, to slowly win her back.
But the desire, after reuniting, seemed to have ballooned into a terrifying monster, constantly gnawing at Darwin's heart.
Eventually, he still sent someone to follow Fiona.
When Fiona left the studio, someone snapped her photo and immediately sent it to Darwin.
Seeing her, all businesslike, with just a briefcase in hand, not carrying even a single rose, Darwin's mood plummeted.
Even out of his sight, had she come to despise him to this extent?
At that moment, there was a knock on the door.
Darwin turned around irritably.
"Mr. Solomon! Miss Robbins has fainted and was rushed to the hospital!"
Darwin's brow furrowed instantly, "Why did she faint?"
"We don't know, you should hurry to the hospital!"
Darwin was silent for a moment. Then he headed straight for the door.
Lilian hadn't used self-inflicted strategies much over the years.
Firstly, there was no need, no occasion.
Secondly, she was very clear that if she used them too much, Darwin might become numb to them, even annoyed.
She had to save such tactics for crucial moments.
Now, she lay on the hospital bed, an IV needle in the back of her hand, her complexion weak and pale.
Then, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in..." Lilian replied in a feeble voice.
The hospital room door opened and Darwin walked in from outside.
"What caused you to faint suddenly? What did the doctor say?" he asked.
Lilian looked on the verge of tears.
"It's just low blood sugar, you don't need to worry," she said softly, her tone and expression filled with distress.
Darwin pondered for a moment.
"I heard about the incident during the morning meeting. Your assistant just told me about it."
Upon hearing this, Lilian's tears immediately began to fall, "I never knew that Miss Ford hated me so much because of Fiona."
Darwin's brow furrowed slightly.
"For so many years, no matter how I've tried to explain, everyone had stubbornly assumed we'd already become a couple," Lilian's eyes fell, tears continuously streaming down, "But Darwin, just like Miss Ford, you've always refused to accept me because of Fiona. I just don't understand what I did wrong to deserve these injustices."
This was the first time in years that Lilian had so openly broken down and bared her heart to Darwin.
Darwin's frown deepened.
"Lilian, what's in the past is past, and what's missed is gone forever," Darwin said gravely.
"How do you know it can't be undone if you've never tried?" Lilian asked, "Darwin, do you know what I fear the most right now? I fear that the whole world thinks you're mine, but in the end, you'll marry someone else and I, once the happiest in the world, will become the world's laughing stock!"
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
