Chapter 120 Jasmine Ascends the Ranks
At lunchtime, Jasmine still hadn't been able to write her report. She wasn't sure what she should be focusing on.
A 3,000-word self-critique had stagnated at a mere hundred words, all echoing the same sentiment: "If the boss says I'm at fault, then I must be, even though I don't know what I did wrong."
"Mr. Douglas, aren't you going to lunch?" Jasmine asked cautiously, gently pushing the office door open to check on Ethan.
Ethan set aside his work, raising an eyebrow.
Daria had somehow managed to submit a 'self-critique' that greatly satisfied him in record time.
Inside the encrypted email was Daria's pledge of allegiance.
Carmen was the one who’d set up an inside person at the company ahead of time.
They were involved in every department.
Ethan knew Daria had a backup plan and hadn't given him the complete list of names, but what he got was enough.
As for the rest, he didn't care.
Seeing how Jasmine had just arrived and brought him a gift, Ethan decided to let it slide this time and take her out to lunch.
However, Jasmine's cell phone rang suddenly. She quickly stood up and hurried to the side to answer the call.
"What do you feel like for lunch?" Henry hadn't left Silverlight City. He planned to head to Hawaii with Jasmine.
Jasmine bit her lip, hesitating, and declined. "Our company has a cafeteria."
"Three minutes downstairs," Henry commanded, leaving no room for refusal.
"I'm not going," Jasmine asserted with newfound courage.
"Are you sure? The doctor mentioned that Justin’s treatment requires my collaboration," Henry said sternly.
Jasmine felt the pressure on her lip intensify, the color draining from it.
He knew just how to manipulate her with Justin.
"You can’t... you can’t do this," Jasmine attempted to reason with Henry.
However, Henry wasn’t a man to be reasoned with.
"Come down. I won’t ask a third time." With that, Henry hung up.
Jasmine turned nervously back to Ethan and stuttered, "Mr. Douglas... may I, can I go out for lunch?"
Ethan stood at the door of his office with a dark expression. The area around him seemed to drop a few degrees.
It was obvious who had called Jasmine.
Henry stayed in Silverlight City instead of heading back to Boston or going to Hawaii just to keep bothering Jasmine.
"Is your self-critique complete?" Ethan asked with a heavy tone.
Jasmine, sensing Ethan's anger, wondered if she'd messed up somehow. "Not... not yet."
"If it isn't finished, you're not leaving the office," Ethan said, walking over to peer at Jasmine's small desk. There were just a few words scrawled on the A4 paper, stubbornly trying to justify her actions: I’m right!
"Only this much in two hours?" Ethan's frown deepened. He was clearly displeased, but something about Jasmine’s handwriting caught his eye.
Her script was elegantly powerful and stunningly beautiful, but Jasmine looked down, nervously fidgeting with her fingers, wondering if she had annoyed Ethan again.
The man's temper was unpredictable and hard to gauge.
"Jasmine, your productivity is way too low!" Liam, who was sitting nearby, quickly stood up to back Ethan's criticism.
"How on earth did you write this in just two hours..."
Liam looked at the paper on the desk, seeing Jasmine's handwritten reflection letter with many words on it. Taking a moment to appreciate it, he admired her beautiful handwriting, which resembled the calligraphy seen in practice books. "Jasmine, your handwriting is really something," he complimented.
"Just... just..." Jasmine was at a loss for words.
"No wonder you were at the top of your class. With handwriting like that, I bet it broke the teachers' hearts to deduct any points," Liam joked, chuckling.
Jasmine paused, her gaze dropping. A pang of pain throbbed near her heart.
She, too, had once been a shining pearl on a high pedestal.
Back when she was incarcerated and expelled from college, her high school homeroom teacher had visited her, uttering the word 'pity' three times.
Jasmine was a rare genius. Had her life not been shattered, she would have reached heights many could only dream of.
Ethan's eyes darkened slightly as he gave Liam a stern look.
'If you don't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut,' his glare seemed to say. "Move her desk inside. I don't keep idlers around!"
Ethan was known for his icy tone, but his actions left Liam's jaw on the floor.
Despite serving as Ethan's assistant for so many years, Liam had never stepped foot inside the CEO’s office.
Now, Jasmine's modest desk was given entrance.
The favoritism was startling.
"What do you want for lunch? Tell Liam what you'd like. He lost a bet and owes you running errands for three months." Ethan quirked an eyebrow and spoke again. "And don't think of leaving on time! You'll stay late and finish that report."
Ethan's presence was intimidating to Liam, and this was outright exploitation.
The report could be written anytime, and besides, Jasmine hadn’t actually done anything wrong. "Mr. Douglas, can’t she write it after hours? I can take her out for a bite."
Liam was clearly overstepping his bounds, daring to contend with Ethan for Jasmine’s company.
"It'll be cold by the time I get back. I’ll take her myself. The chefs in the executive dining area are all five-star material; we'd be graced by your influence," Liam said with a wink to Jasmine, ready to whisk her away from Ethan's clutches.
A hint of anticipation sparked in Jasmine’s eyes as she nodded.
She had heard about the CEO's staff meals prepared by top chefs and how the assistants could occasionally score a lavish lunch.
Ethan's frown deepened, and he took a deep breath.
Seeing the glimmer of hope in Jasmine's eyes was rare, so he didn’t object.
Jasmine picked up her phone and trailed behind Liam, but after a few steps, she turned back, cautious and timid, with a hesitant question. "Mr. Douglas... I have a friend. Can he join us for lunch in the dining area?"
Ethan could hardly suppress his irritation.
"Suit yourself!" He tried not to seem petty. Mr. Douglas slammed his office door with a loud thud.
Scratching his head, Liam remarked, "Poor Mr. Douglas took it rough today. He didn't even have peanuts on his diet, and the doctor had him doing a purge. Surely, he's in a foul mood, but let's just focus on our own meal."
Jasmine whispered cautiously, "Has Mr. Douglas always been so... temperamental?"
She knew she had to dig deeper to grasp more about Ethan through Liam.
"You ain't seen nothing yet. You should see him when he's really ticked off. Despite his usual charm and manners, he's got his breaking point. Trust me, you do not want to be there when that happens. If you do, better keep your head down. He can be vicious," Liam said sotto voce.
Jasmine nodded and followed behind Liam, texting Henry.
Jasmine: [I'm going to grab a bite at the staff cafeteria and pull a late one again. I'm at the company's 2nd-floor dining hall. Do you want to join? I hear it's pretty decent.]
She wasn't going to give Henry the chance for a private meetup.
...
Downstairs, inside the car, Henry was gnashing his teeth in frustration, seeing that his threat had no effect.
‘Fine! Another night of overtime! What's a CEO's personal assistant doing, working all these extra hours?’
This was nothing but Ethan making things difficult for Jasmine.
The idea of him, the CEO of SHC Group, dining in Ethan's employee cafeteria? Over his dead body. That's something he'd surely never do.
"Mr. Patrick, isn't that Daniel? Didn't you hook him up with Otis? Weren't they supposed to have headed to Hawaii by now?" Ben asked with a puzzled look, noticing Daniel entering the company.
Furrowing his brows, Henry exited the car with a grim expression.
"Mr. Patrick, where are you off to?" Ben asked anxiously.
"Off to mooch off Ethan's staff meal!" Henry spat out through clenched teeth.
Daniel's return at this hour suggests he hurried directly from the airport to the company. It indicates something urgent, even more pressing than the Hawaii project collaboration.
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