Chapter 17 What in the World Are You Thinking?
- Charlotte just continued to wash her clothes. She didn't want to trouble herself with such brain-damaging issues, after all.
- "Charlotte, are you not going to fight back when they're already slandering you like this?"
- "Nah, just leave it be. People will eventually get bored of it over time."
- "You…" Lucia looked at Charlotte with a tilted head. "You don't have something going on with the deputy director, do you?"
- Charlotte looked at her friend in response. "Sure, whatever you say."
- With that, she brought her washed clothes to the balcony to hang them dry.
- Her only worry was if Darius would blame her for this. After all, she was on the 'love' tab.
- After she was done hanging all the clothes, she grabbed her laptop and sat on her bed, working on her valedictorian speech. Lucia wanted to say more, but seeing how tight-lipped Charlotte was, she put the topic down and only reminded, "Don't forget that we still have the physical examination for new staff members tomorrow."
- "Okay," Charlotte replied.
- Having just become the target of criticism, Charlotte didn't look forward to the group physical examination that would be done the following day, for it was stated in the email that all new official staff members would have to gather in the parking lot on Monday morning and board the company's bus to head to NeoEast Private Hospital. If it were in the past, she could just hide, but now, the whole company probably knew who she was.
- Alas, what happened the following day was as Charlotte had expected. Thirty-plus new employees of NeoEast sat on the bus heading to NeoEast Private Hospital. The engine hadn't started, and the bus was still parked in the parking lot.
- Even when she was sitting quietly at the back of the bus, she could still hear people gossiping.
- "Which one's Charlotte Joslin?"
- "Who's the one that actually picked her up?"
- "I heard her family's pretty poor and has no background. She has certainly gotten herself a sugar daddy."
- Many of them even turned their heads around to find Charlotte.
- Just then, someone exclaimed, "Look outside!"
- Everyone reflexively did so. Likewise, Charlotte wanted to see what could possibly have their attention directed away from this gossip.
- It was the low-key Mercedes-Benz from the post. It curved with panache and parked next to the bus. A busybody even pulled their phone out and compared the license plate in the post to this one, seeing if it would match.
- At this point, everyone was holding their breaths, waiting to see who in the world sat in the car. Charlotte could even hear the anticipation.
- At last, the door opened. Darius stepped out, locked the door, put the keys into his pocket, and strode into the building.
- The air in the bus had turned deadly silent.
- "The person you're rumored to be with is President Leynthall?" Lucia turned to Charlotte with surprise.
- "I bumped into him on my way to the hospital, so he gave me a ride." Charlotte wanted to brush the matter off, but Lucia clearly didn't buy her explanation.
- After seeing Darius step out of the Mercedes-Benz, no one said anything anymore, and the post was also deleted at some point. No one dared gossip about the CEO openly.
- Charlotte, on the other hand, didn't know what Darius was trying to do. He could've done it on purpose, or it was just pure coincidence. However, it warmed her heart, and for some reason, she felt that they had gotten a step closer. She really wanted to see him.
- For the very first time, she couldn't wait for Saturday to come.
- After working overtime on Thursday, she got a text from Darius while she was packing up to head back to the dorm. 'Give me your height, weight, and measurements.'
- She entered the elevator while reading the text and couldn't help feeling baffled. Coincidentally, Darius was riding in the same cabin. Anyhow, it saved her from having to text.
- "What's this for, President?" Charlotte asked while waving her phone.
- "It's for the wedding dress for the pre-wedding photos."
- "We're also doing that?" She was taken aback. She had thought they were only registering their marriage and visiting his grandfather.
- She had her hesitations. The whole city would know if they held a wedding, wouldn't it? By then, she'd become the town's famous divorcee when the contract ended!
- "What are your measurements?" Darius pressed on, not caring about Charlotte's emotions.
- "I don't know. I've never measured myself," Charlotte said truthfully. She would just look for a size four whenever she bought clothes, so she never knew her measurements. She had never considered beauty pageants anyway.
- At that, Darius directed his gaze at her and sized her up several times.
- His blazing gaze got Charlotte subconsciously curling up.
- Just then, the elevator stopped and pinged, for it had reached the lobby. With that, Darius stepped out of the cabin without a word, leaving Charlotte momentarily stumped in the lobby. He never wasted any time on her, and he would never answer any questions he didn't want to.
- After arriving at her dorm, she got another message from Darius. 'We're taking wedding photos this Saturday.'
- 'Are we not going to visit Grandpa? Are we holding a wedding?' Charlotte replied eagerly.
- 'What in the world are you thinking?'
- One sentence from him was all it took to wake her up.