What were they to do? Paul himself wanted to know! What if Magnus thought he was behind it and sought revenge? Though he was infatuated with women and despised Genevieve’s vanity, he had no intention of breaking with Magnus. “Stop meddling in this matter, and it’s best to delete all the previous posts.”
“Mr. Montgomery, the matter has already caused a stir online, and it’s too late to delete them now,” Alison said, having spent a considerable amount of money on those posts. Initially, she had hired many people to post online, which cost money, intended to thrust Aurora into the spotlight. She had hoped the situation would escalate, making Aurora a target of public scorn. But she had miscalculated one thing-Aurora was the legitimate heir of the Montgomery family!
“You’re really going to be the death of me. Nevermind, as long as there’s no evidence, it’s somewhat okay. We’d better keep our distance for now to avoid giving anyone leverage against us.” Paul quickly analyzed the current situation and decided he needed to keep his nose clean for a while to avoid giving Magnus any leverage, at least until this blew over.
“Okay, Mr. Montgomery, I understand,” Alison replied, now hoping Aurora would let it go. But recalling what had been said in the restroom earlier made her anxious, feeling that something was bound to happen next.
Those people didn’t finish popping their popcorn until four in the afternoon, each with numerous blisters in their mouths, likely never wanting to pop popcorn again. They stood in Aurora’s office, “Manager, we’ve finished.”
Aurora glanced around the office, “Good, I hope you take this as a lesson. If it happens again, we’ll have to double the popcorn!”
“No, no, manager, we’ve learned our lesson. We’ll focus on our work and not gossip during office hours.” Hearing the threat of double the popcorn, they were nearly in tears!
“Very well, let this matter end here. Now go and write a 10, 000-word reflection paper and hand it to me tomorrow,” Aurora said lazily. They thought that having finished the popcorn was the end of it, but now they had to write a 10, 000-word reflection paper, internally cursing Aurora to death.
“What, is there a problem?” Aurora put down her pen and looked up at them, making them feel like they had thorns in their backs, and they quickly shook their heads. “No, none at all, we’ll write it right now.”
“Good, you can leave now, and don’t forget your trash,” Aurora waved them off. “Yes, Miss Montgomery,” they said, leaving dejectedly.
Just as they left, a man in a black suit briskly entered and knocked on the glass window, “Manager, the chairman wants to see you.” This man was Finnian Vance, her grandfather’s executive secretary, young yet a trusted son of her grandfather’s confidant, working in place of his father.
Aurora had often played with him when she was young; he was a considerate older brother. It was unexpected that their next meeting would be under these circumstances. “Okay, wait a moment.” Aurora looked down to organize the documents she had been working on, then shut down her computer to leave. As they walked out one after the other, the others began to speak, “Hmph, serves her right, she must be in trouble now.”
“Ah, I guess this time she’s really not coming back, the chairman himself summoned her!”
“Tsk tsk, look at her, not very old but so ruthless in her actions. It’s good that she’s gone, saves us from gasping for breath every day.”
“If the manager gets fired, do we still need to write our self-criticism reports?” another person joyfully said.
“Of course not, oh my, my tongue hurts from all the talking, but now it’s all good, this demon will soon be dismissed by the company.”
Everyone seemed to take pleasure in the misfortune of others, much like the ancient royal courts, where men and women alike were fierce in their tactics.
Stepping over the bones of others to climb higher, if someone suffered, those who enjoyed the spectacle were numerous.
“It seems the lesson hasn’t been enough for you; the manager leaves and you start causing problems again.”
A comment or two was tolerable, but the more they spoke, the nastier it got.
Heather could no longer stand it and stood up for Aurora, though others didn’t take her seriously.
“Oh, who is this? Isn’t this the all-capable manager’s little lapdog? We thought you were honest, but it turns out you’re just someone who clings to others for advantage. Once the manager arrived, you clung to her. It’s a good thing she’s not a man, or you’d have climbed into her bed by now.
Sadly for you, she’s about to be fired, maybe you should try shortening your skirt, maybe the next manager will be a man, huh?”
The speaker was Scarlett, a thirty-five-year-old who became even more venomous after her divorce, and led the office gossip group.
Perhaps the divorce hit her hard, for she couldn’t stand seeing others do well. Previously, when Heather dressed plainly and was new, Scarlett often bossed her around.
Lately, Heather had changed her style, and Scarlett’s venom turned on her, saying she must be kept by a man.
Heather could tolerate Scarlett speaking about her, but not Aurora, and this remark made the office women laugh uproariously.
“Do you have anything else in your brain, Miss Thorne, you seem so experienced? Why don’t you teach me how to climb into a man’s bed?
Oh, I forgot, your husband divorced you long ago, with your dignity, I guess you can’t climb into any man’s bed, right?”
Heather was not usually one to speak harshly, she had tolerated their gossip about others, but today she could no longer bear it.
Wow! It was the first time others saw her as such a formidable person with a sharp tongue!
Scarlett, only ten years her senior, normally mild-mannered, turned pale at Heather’s words, and even more so what followed. Scarlett hated when others mentioned her divorce because she felt it demeaned her.
Every word Heather said hit Scarlett’s sore spots, “You, you…” she stammered, her chest heaving with anger.
“Miss Thorne, if you don’t like hearing such things, why do you say them? Is it only you who has dignity?
Think about yourself before you attack others. The manager is not what you describe; I know you are jealous.
Learn to respect, and you will be respected. Don’t throw your dignity away for others to trample.” Heather finished speaking and simply sat down to mind her own work.