Chapter 168 Rumor Mill
The girl with short hair heard the girl with long hair mention Mitchell. She immediately shared the juicy gossip she had seen this morning, deliberately lowering her voice as she said, "This morning, I saw Jonah coming out of the hotel next door with a girl, and then they came to the company together. I bet that girl is probably in Jonah's office right now."
"Oh my god! Really? Is she Mitchell's girlfriend?" the girl with the long hair exclaimed.
"I don't know about that, but they were staying together at the hotel, so they must be something..."
The two colleagues were still chattering away when Willow heard them mention Jonah and a girl coming out of the hotel and arriving at the office together…
Rumor Mill Continued
Willow felt stiffness take over her body, and she even knocked over her coffee in shock. A string of questions ran through her mind.
Who was that girl? Did Jonah really stay with her at the hotel last night? Could it be... Marigold?
...
Hearing the sound of the cup spilling, her two female colleagues stopped their discussion and turned to look at her. Seeing Willow looking a bit off, the short-haired girl asked with concern, "Willow, are you okay? You don't look so good. Are you feeling unwell?"
Willow grabbed a cloth to wipe the table and clean up the spill, responding, "I'm fine; I probably just didn't sleep well last night; I wasn't paying attention and accidentally spilled my coffee."
The girl with the long hair continued, "You really do look terrible; if you can't handle it, just take a day off and rest; Luca would definitely understand."
Willow mustered a smile as she faced her colleagues' concern. "Yeah, I'll just rest a bit, and I'll be fine. We've all been so busy lately. I can't afford to fall behind."
Her colleagues knew Willow was a hard worker, almost to the point of exhaustion, so they didn't press further after reminding her to rest, and then the two left. Willow made herself another cup of coffee before stepping out of the pantry.
Returning to her desk, Kieran, the colleague from the next cubicle, slid his chair closer with a mischievously amused grin. "Willow, what happened to you? What kind of trouble were you getting into last night to look so worn out?"
Kieran was a year younger than Willow and was always lively, cheerful, and extroverted. He was a real source of morale in the department. He often lunched with Willow, and they got along well.
Suppressing another yawn, Willow thought that she was really feeling her age now. Gone were the days of staying up late without consequences. A single night of poor sleep would take a full week to recover her energy.
"Don't talk nonsense. I just ate too much before bed, and that's why I slept poorly." She should not have indulged in those extra desserts last night.
Kieran leaned toward Willow and whispered, "What time did you get to the office this morning? I heard people say Jonah brought a girl to the hotel next door and even brought her to the company early today."
Willow was startled by Kieran's bold words. She had only heard that Jonah was seen leaving the hotel with a girl, and now it morphed into gossip that Jonah had taken a girl to a hotel room. It was scary how quickly rumors could grow.
Willow took a big gulp of her coffee, wincing at the bitterness—she had skimped on the sugar.
Then, gloomily, she muttered, "I overslept this morning and almost came in late, so I missed that historic moment."
Kieran, buzzing with excitement, didn't notice Willow's discomfort. She continued to spill the tea without caring whether Willow was interested because the gossip was just too juicy. Jonah, always so serious and hardly ever seen with women, had taken a girl to a hotel!
"They say Jonah went to the rooftop to meet with Matthew and them. That girl is now in Matthew's office. Are we going or not?" Kieran asked.
"Going where?" Willow set down her cup and booted up her computer, ready to start working.
Kieran looked heartbroken, "Of course, to see what that girl looks like! Aren't you curious?"
Willow buried her head in her work, not looking up once. "If you want to go, go ahead. I've got tons of work to finish," she said.
Kieran suddenly remembered the last time she and Willow went out for soup and ran into Jonah dining there with a girl, "Could it be the same girl we saw when we had soup that time? Oh my God, Jonah has a girlfriend, and she's really Jonah's girlfriend!"
Willow kept her eyes on the laptop and focused on a few words on the screen. "Probably."
Only a few higher-ups in the company knew about Willow's identity as the big boss's cousin, and in the project department, only Luca was aware. To Kieran and the rest, Willow was just another regular worker.
"I have got to see for myself," Kieran declared, then dashed upstairs in a hurry.
Willow stared at the project proposal on her screen, unable to absorb a single word.
In no time at all, Kieran bounded back downstairs, bursting into the office, and yelled out with excitement, "It's her. It's really her! Willow, it's the girl from last time, the one who had sour soup fish with Jonah. It so happened that I went up there; just as I reached Jonah's secretary's office to look for Wei for some gossip, the beauty came out looking for a computer charger. I hadn't seen her clearly from a distance before, but I have to say up close her presence is truly unbeatable, a perfect match for Jonah…"
Kieran was still rambling excitedly, so loudly that he caught everyone else's attention in the office. Willow, who was trying to focus on the documents in front of her, could not take in a single word. She immediately submitted a leave request.
If she didn't hear or see anything, it would be better.
Willow went to Luca's office to say hello. Seeing that she looked really unwell, Luca told her to go back for some rest after breakfast or to visit the hospital if necessary. He assured her that he would handle her work.
Willow grabbed her bag and walked out the main entrance of the building, hailing a cab directly back to her apartment. Once home, she collapsed into bed and instantly fell asleep.
*
Marigold had been waiting in Mitchell's office for almost two hours before his meeting finally ended. However, she hadn't been idle—Mitchell had provided her with a computer, and she had managed to get quite a bit of work done.
Mitchell was somewhat surprised When he walked into the office and saw Marigold still working on the couch. After all, he had sent her a message earlier to say they could review the proposal later since the meeting wouldn't end too soon.
"Haven't you left yet?" he asked.
Marigold closed her laptop and walked over to his desk, smiling, "Jonah is so busy, I had to seize the opportunity to finalize the proposal to be at ease."
Mitchell sat down, opened the blue folder Marigold had given him that morning, and glanced through it for a while. Then he looked up at Marigold and said, "The proposal looks like we can collaborate. I'll get someone from the project department to come and go over the details with you."
He then picked up the desk phone and dialed the company's internal line for Luca. "Luca, come up with Willow."
Upon hearing the request, Luca thought to himself how coincidental things were, thinking, 'Of all times for Jonah to ask, Willow just left because she was feeling unwell.' He relayed to Mitchell, "Jonah, Willow isn't feeling well, and she just took leave to go home."
Mitchell, concerned upon hearing Willow was unwell and had taken leave, asked promptly, "What happened? What's wrong? Did she go to the hospital?"
Aware of Willow's previous identity, Luca knew that Jonah treated Willow as if she were his sister. He quickly said, "She mentioned she didn't sleep well last night and went back to rest. Her complexion seemed a bit off; she's probably been working too hard and doing a lot of overtime lately. I told her to go to the hospital if she felt unwell."
Feeling anxious, Mitchell quickly shifted back to a normal tone, "Alright, bring someone up with you; we need to go over some project details."
After hanging up, Mitchell said to Luca, "Luca's on his way up; just have a seat for now."
"Okay."
Marigold had just overheard his conversation. Was that Willow who had fallen ill? It must be the same girl she ran into at the villa before. Mitchell's worried expression confirmed it must be her.
So, she worked under Mitchell.
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