Chapter 9 Are You Blind?
- After Leaving The Kindergarten,Chandria headed straight to the research institute set up by her professor.
- The moment she stepped into the building, she saw a charming man dressed in a suit approaching her.
- “Welcome back, Chandria. I'm excited to be your colleague again.”
- Colby Galloway stood before her and extended his hand.
- Chandria nodded and shook his hand, quickly retracting it.
- Previously, Colby was abroad. He was also on Harvey's team and involved in many research and development items.
- During that time, Colby had been her assistant. After all, he graduated from a famous school, and Chandria and Harvey acknowledged his capabilities.
- Though Chandria's attitude was impassive, Colby did not mind it. He smiled and offered, “Come on. I'll bring you to the office.”
- With that, he turned around and led the way, introducing the structure of the research institute and the key personnel along the way.
- Upon reaching the office, Colby grinned at Chandria, saying, “I've specially instructed someone to decorate this place. It's based on your preferences in the past. Linda's workplace is right outside.”
- Chandria studied the area and responded with a satisfied nod. “That's really thoughtful of you. Thank you so much.”
- Colby was momentarily stunned. He then put on a gentle smile. Even his voice sounded warm. “It's nothing much. You don't have to be so polite with me.”
- As he said that, he could not conceal his liking for her that poured out from his gaze.
- However, Chandria did not notice the gaze he was giving her.
- After briefly scanning the office, she said to Colby, “My purpose for coming here today is to understand the operations of the research institute. Could you bring me around the facility?”
- “Okay.”
- Chandria nodded slightly and gestured for him to lead the way.
- They arrived at the testing area. Several researchers wearing laboratory coats and masks could be seen busy working at their respective workbenches.
- Chandria did not want to disturb them. Hence, she asked Colby to introduce all the projects and their progress briefly.
- By the afternoon, Chandria had a clear idea of the research institute's situation.
- At the same time, she discovered an important problem.
- When they visited the testing area earlier, there was a foundation work area where no work was being carried out.
- Chandria asked the researchers about it, only to find that the drugs they needed were finished, and they were still waiting for the research institute to distribute them.
- Many other areas were facing the same situation.
- Due to the delay in the distribution of drugs, the research of several projects had no choice but to be put on hold temporarily, leading to an increase in cost and time needed for the projects.
- Gradually, it led to a major loss to the research institute.
- After stepping out of the testing area, Chandria frowned and looked sternly at Colby. “The delay of drug distribution has caused many types of research to be put on hold. What's going on here? Didn't you find a way to solve this?”
- Hearing her words, Colby stopped smiling and answered thoughtfully, “I'm already looking for a solution to this problem.”
- Chandria frowned as she looked at him, waiting for his following sentence.
- “Recently, I've met with a medicinal ingredients supplier and have talked to them about a long-term collaboration. All that's left is to sign the contract. The agreed time to sign the contract would be tomorrow afternoon. Because our research institute is fairly new to the industry, many suppliers intentionally increase their prices. It costs us a lot of time to negotiate for a lower price. That was why things were delayed until now.”
- Colby gave her a summary of what had happened.
- Though it sounded simple, he was just a researcher. Hence, he suffered a lot when he negotiated with the cunning suppliers.
- Even if he did not reveal much detail, Chandria could imagine how difficult things were.
- She encountered some herself when she was abroad.
- After she listened to Colby's explanation, Chandria's expression relaxed. “Things must've been complicated for you.”
- The corners of Colby's lips lifted. “Not really. It's my job, anyway.”
- “What's the name of this medicinal ingredients supplier?” Chandria brought the conversation back to the topic of business again. “If possible, I'd like to go with you to sign the contract. Since I'm going to take over the future matters of the research institute, I think I should go over and have a few conversations with them.”
- Colby simply responded, “Sure. You could come along tomorrow.”
- Chandria nodded.
- After that, both of them returned to Chandria's office. She was perplexed when she saw the person behind her had no intentions of leaving. “Is there anything else?”
- Colby smiled politely. “Actually, I have something to ask you. Are you free tonight? It's your first day at work, and I've arranged a dinner to welcome you. At the same time, you can get to know the people in the institute.”
- Hearing that, Chandria relaxed her brows. “Thank you. Tonight's dinner is on me, then. We're going to be working closely together in the future. I should show my sincerity as the person in charge.”
- Colby did not haggle over such details because she had agreed to come. He nodded with a smile. “Okay. See you after work, then.”
- She pulled out her phone and dialed Francine's number. “Maddy, are you free tonight? Could you help me pick Blaze and Easton up? I've got something to attend to tonight, and I might be home late.”
- Francine did not question further and gave her a brief reply. “Okay.”
- It was time to get off work.
- “Time goes by really fast...” Chandria muttered, picking up her coat and walking out of the door.
- Colby grinned. “You're very focused when you work. It's normal not to notice time passing by.”
- Both of them continued chatting along the way.
- After exiting the research institute, they entered Colby's car and went straight to the restaurant.
- After around ten minutes, Colby gestured for her to look ahead. “That's the one.”
- Colby parked the car, and they walked toward the entrance of The Meadows.
- Just As They Were About To Enter, a Rolls-Royce stopped slowly by the roadside in the dark.
- Cayden got out of the car and went to open the door to the passenger seat.
- Lucian's slender figure appeared in the dark, and his dark, narrowed eyes were fixed on the restaurant entrance.
- When he was in the car earlier, he had seen a figure resembling Chandria's.
- Lucian furrowed his brows, and annoyance flashed through his eyes.
- ‘Am I seeing things again? I wouldn't bother if it's just once or twice, but this has happened for two days. I've been seeing her figure in different places. But the silhouette only flashes past my eyes without leaving any traces behind.’
- He could not help but snort coldly before retracting his gaze.
- ‘I must be going mad. That's why I'm thinking of her again.’
- Meanwhile, Cayden had been waiting by the side for some time. Seeing Lucian not moving his feet, he asked carefully, “Mr. Farwell, our client has been waiting for a long time. Aren't we going in?”
- Lucian shut his eyes briefly and recollected himself before replying calmly, “Let's go.”
- When Chandria and Colby arrived in the private room, all the research institute employees were already there.
- Colby let her sit in the main seat while he took the one beside her. After getting themselves settled, he introduced her to the crowd, “I'm sure many of you have met Dr. Evans today, but I'd still like to introduce her to all of you.”
- Everyone turned to look at Chandria, who nodded as a greeting.
- “This is Chandria Evans. You may address her as Dr. Evans. Perhaps you might not be familiar with this name, but I'm sure everyone knows the name she used abroad. She's Professor Lamber's greatest student, Janet.”
- Everyone in the room was stunned to hear the name.
- Janet was a name everyone in the medical industry was aware of. It would be safe to say that her name was well known abroad.
- After all, she possessed excellent medical skills from a young age. Rumor had it that she inherited eighty percent of Harvey's skills. She was basically a role model for the younger generation.
- “Are you really Janet? I really admire you. I've read every thesis you wrote when you were abroad. You're really my idol!”
- “It's our honor to be colleagues with you, Janet!”
- The crowd started giving compliments, all of them looking extremely sincere.
- After exchanging glances with everyone, Chandria smiled. “Thank you for the compliments, everyone. Here's to a fruitful collaboration.”
- With that, she raised her glass.
- The others raised theirs and downed their drinks in one go.
- It was a pleasant and cheerful meal.
- Many of them toasted Chandria, and she accepted them all.
- She had a high alcohol tolerance, but some too many people approached her for a toast. Before she knew it, she was already feeling tipsy.
- Seeing that dinner was about to end, Chandria excused herself to the toilet to wash her face and freshen up.
- As she walked out of the restroom and was on the way back to the private room, her phone vibrated.
- Chandria glanced at her phone to find a message from her children, asking her when she was going home.
- Seeing the text put a heartwarming smile on her face. When she was about to stop in her tracks to reply to their text, someone bumped into her shoulder harshly, and her phone almost flew out of her hands.
- Chandria gripped her phone tightly and apologized to the other person. “I'm sorry—”
- Before she could finish, the man angrily questioned, “Are you blind? Damn it!”