Horace had been thinking about this question all the way home, but still couldn’t get an answer. Therefore, he decided to wait for Clara to come home and see whether he should tell her or not. He waited on the sofa for Clara.
On the other side, Clara and Leilah had arrived at Leilah’s home and they got off the car. It was the first time Clara had visited Leilah’s house. She was surprised to find how poor Leilah’s family really was, even the door was worn out.
But she didn’t say anything about it. There would always be poor people and rich people.
“Clara, sorry about this,” Leilah said. Hearing her words, Clara took a look at her.
“Why? Let’s go in.” Clara followed Leilah into the house and found that the place looked really cozy. She thought of her own house, which was big and fancy. However, right now, a cozy home like this was really what she wanted.
After walking into the house, Clara’s mood got much lighter. Then she saw Leilah’s parents, walked up to them and greeted them. She told them why she was here today.
“Mr. Flores, Mrs. Flores, nice to meet you. I’m Clara, I work with Leilah.”
Leilah’s parents seemed to like her a lot, they kept smiling at her and asked her to sit on the couch. Then, they served her some desserts. Clara hadn’t been used to being treated like a family member yet.
She felt warm in her heart. She hadn’t felt it in a long time.
“Sir, Madam, Leilah looked really upset today at work, so I offered to drive her home and drop by. Could you tell me exactly what happened?”
Clara looked really nice and kind now, which was to the parents’ liking. They told her what was going on. It was exactly what Leilah had told her.
But she didn’t interrupt them and heard them out. Then, she said, “I’ve met her boyfriend before, he’s really handsome and gentle to Leilah. You are just worried that people might gossip about their relationship, right?”
Clara knew what they were worried about, so she pointed it out. Seeing that Leilah’s parents nodded, she continued.
“Well, first of all, Logan really loves Leilah, I’m sure she’ll be happy with him. In that case, why do you care about what others would say? Isn’t Leilah’s happiness more important than anything?” Clara persuaded as she saw that Leilah’s parents were nodding their heads.
She didn’t stop until they said they would give it another thought. She knew that she had to give them time to figure it out on their own.
When she was about to leave, it was already dark outside. Leilah’s parents liked her, and they asked Leilah to see her off. Therefore, Leilah walked out with her.
“Clara, you were so good! Since they have said they would think about it, I’m sure they will agree to me dating Logan,” Leilah knew her parents well. Hearing her words, Clara was relieved.
“That’s great! I will have to leave now.” Clara looked up at the night sky, it was indeed late at night now. However, she was impressed how she could say so many words.
Both Logan and she were talkative. After saying goodbye to Leilah, Clara went home. By the time she got home, Horace had been starving. While Clara had been talking over dinner, she didn’t feel hungry at all.
“C, I’ll be starved to death if you still hadn’t come home.” Horace looked at her with an aggrieved face. Then, he hurried to the dining room, waiting to have dinner with Clara together.
Seeing this, Clara felt a bit awkward. “I’ve had dinner at Leilah’s.”
Then, she told Horace what she did. After hearing her out, Horace looked stunned.
“Why didn’t you inform me?”
“I did. I sent you a message.”
Hearing her words, Horace took his phone, which had been on the table the whole time and checked the message. He looked regretful.
He had been waiting for Clara the whole time that he didn’t check his phone even once.
“Alright. Let’s have dinner together.” After saying that. Clara sat down beside the dining table and had dinner with Horace.
However, she wasn’t really hungry, so she didn’t eat a lot.
After dinner, Horace asked if she had succeeded in persuading Leilah’s parents. Clara answered, “They said they would think it over.”
“You are good at persuading people, maybe you could try talking yourself out of it?” Surely, he was implying something. Then, he found Clara’s face changed slightly.
It seemed it was not the time to tell her the news yet. Horace decided to tell her when he found Neo.
He had made up his mind. Then, they cleaned the table, went upstairs and went to bed.
Clara couldn’t fall sleep. She didn’t understand why Horace would suddenly bring it up. He never talked about it with her and always avoided it. Did he just say those words out of nothing?
She thought for a long time and couldn’t figure it out. She eventually fell sleep.
The second morning, when Clara got to the company, she saw that Leilah looked much happier.
She asked if her parents had agreed to her relationship with Logan, and Leilah nodded. She looked at Clara with gratitude.
“Thank you, Clara, for persuading my parents,” Leilah said. Clara felt a bit shy.
She didn’t think it was a big favor. She just told Leilah’s family her opinion on this.
Back then, she was not even a local and she married Horace. “Nothing could stop two people in love to be together.”
Clara said. Leilah smiled at her and started working.
However, what they had been worried happened eventually. As soon as the chief editor arrived at the company, she called Clara and Leilah into her office without saying why. The atmosphere in the office was silently intense.
Just as Clara was wondering how long the silence would last, the chief editor spoke, “I need a reason why you skipped work yesterday.”
Although Clara had left her a note, telling her they had to get off work early yesterday, she was still mad.
She had been working here for years and it was the first time she saw someone skipping work so aboveboard. Although she knew Clara was Horace’s wife, she couldn’t accept such a thing.
Hearing her question, Clara lowered her head, looked at the chief editor and answered, “Madam, we had something urgent to do yesterday and had to leave early. But we will accept whatever punishment you give us.”
“In that case, I want each of you to write me a self-reflection statement of your mistake of at least 1, 000 words.” After saying that, she drove them out of her office. Leilah still hadn’t recovered from the shock.
“Clara, I’m sorry. It’s all my fau…” When Leilah was going to apologize, Clara interrupted her.
“No. I left early yesterday in my own will.”
Then, Clara started writing the statement while Leilah had to finish her work first.
They weren’t allowed to leave before they finished writing the statements, or the chief editor would deduct their salary this month. In the chief editor’s opinion, no one should skip work without asking for her permission first.
What if they missed out on an important interview?
Therefore, the chief editor always took skipping work as an issue of work attitude, so it was a big deal.