Every one of them looked at each other’s faces, not expecting him to say that. But, he only smiled and continued, “Surely, it couldn’t be that I’m being ostracized, and the memo was intentionally not sent to me.” None of them could say a word in response and fell speechless. Truly, they had a memo system and even a group chat where they talked about all sorts of matters, but they had deliberately not included him because no one wanted to offend Ivan. Clearly, none of them had thought highly of him from the start. Although they suspected that he must know someone important as he was hired through the CEO but could he be as important as Ivan, who was directly related to the CEO? So, they had deliberately ostracized him. In fact, they all knew that the matter of his lateness was Ivan’s doing. One of them had been assigned to inform him at first, but Ivan told the person not to bother that he would do it. But, they all knew he had no intention to do so. They stared at Ivan with
But to their surprise, he merely picked up the tablet and leaned in his chair to look at the tablet indifferently. It was an announcement from a broadcasting station called ‘Sunrise Daily’ and they had announced that they had invited the victims to a live cast show to talk about the scandal. In the announcement, the victim’s father also stated that they would be bringing forth evidence of their claim. Max pursed his lips silently and looked at the time of the announcement. It was only a couple of minutes after the podcast earlier this morning, and it was obvious that it was prepared in advance. The podcast must have been done in order to bring traffic to the livecast they intended to show. But what caught his attention was actually the reporter of the announcement. It was the same person who Noah had hit in the photos that morning. He had initially thought it was just Photoshop, and the person must have just found a bunch of similar photos and aligned them, editing the faces and
"I can't believe that rude little shit!" Ivan grumbled loudly as he stormed into Lawson's office, slamming the door behind him.The latter glanced at him from the laptop in front of him once and returned his attention to what he was reading before asking, "Who pissed you off this time? Why are you so angry?""Is it not that arrogant little shit you brought in as a new manager?" He huffed and strutted over to take a seat opposite his uncle. "Seriously, Uncle, why would you bring someone like that into the company? Am I not good enough to manage the artistes? You even put him in charge of dealing with the scandal."He crossed his legs as he spoke, clearly miffed while Lawson sighed and stopped typing. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "Ivan, didn't I tell you not to argue with him? I told you the other day that he's not someone you should concern yourself with.""But..." Ivan grunted, clearly disgruntled. "Just who is he anyway?"Lawson could not help but sigh seeing how
Apex Villa...In one of the apartments in the villa, the TV was playing an announcement posted by the Sunset Daily broadcasting station. A figure slouched across the long sofa like a depressed soul, matching the black hoodie he wore. The room was quite dark, with only the mild light from the TV, as all the curtains were drawn. It wasn’t until the door opened that a few rays of light managed to enter.“Noah!” Lauren’s voice boomed as she strode directly to the curtains and pulled them apart one by one. She turned to him, placing her hands on her waist. “I told you to stop sitting in the dark like this. Are you trying to make yourself depressed?”“I am depressed,” Noah replied, without looking away from the announcement that had been playing on repeat.Lauren frowned as she approached him. “No, you’re not. You should be strong in times like this so you can fight back.”Noah didn’t respond, which made her sigh. She sat down. “We already knew this was going to happen, didn’t we? It’s like
"Grandpa..." Max exhaled in frustration, rubbing the back of his neck. "Why would you do that?"Grandpa Norman didn't even look up, casually popping another melon seed into his mouth. "Because you're too slow. Do you really think you can win her over by yourself?"Max was left speechless for a moment, clicking his tongue. "I think I can.""Sure, you do." Grandpa snickered, leaning back in his chair. "Anyway, I did my part. The engagement is tomorrow, and Ol' Langley is also expecting you both to come together. If you're not interested, I can call and let her know. But I'm sure you wouldn’t want to embarrass her. And don’t forget, you owe her a thank you for picking you up when you came back. Perfect chance."Max opened his mouth to retort but found himself at a loss. The old man was right—he hadn’t thanked her yet. Alexa had gone out of her way to help him and even bought a bar under his name. "I’m going upstairs to shower," Max muttered, heading toward the staircase. "Don’t bother c
"Hi, it’s Alexa." Her voice came through the phone, hesitant but clear. "I’m not sure if you have my number." "Yeah, I do," Max replied smoothly, his lips curling into a smile that didn’t quite reach his voice. There was a pause on the other end before she spoke again. "I heard you’re going to Erica’s engagement?" "Who’s Erica?" His tone was nonchalant like he hadn’t a clue what she was talking about. "Grandpa Langley’s granddaughter," she clarified, her confusion evident. "We’re supposed to go together. Didn’t Grandpa tell you?" Max blinked, and then the memory clicked. "Oh, right. Got it. I just didn’t know her personally." "Okay," she muttered, her voice dropping. After another pause, she ventured, "So, what’s the plan? Are we meeting at the hotel entrance?" Max could feel the awkwardness building like she was tiptoeing around something. Maybe it was the memory of that night when she'd gotten a little too tipsy. To break the tension, he leaned back in his chair and said, "Sin
Max turned to look at the speaker with confusion, and his eyebrows twitched when he saw who she was and her entourage. Sure enough, once the other party also saw who he was, she instantly sniggered, "Well, well, well," she sneered, "if it isn't the useless bum!" She spun around to her group, waving her hand dramatically. "July, look who we’ve bumped into! Your useless ex-husband. What on earth is he doing here?" Max slid his hands into his pockets, his initial surprise fading. July and Greg stood together while Vivi, the one who’d just snatched a tux from him, led the group. His eyes flicked around the room, quickly sizing up the situation and figuring that they must have just entered yet came to cause trouble. "What’s a loser like you doing in a place like this?" Vivi’s taunting voice rang out again, but Max didn’t even blink in her direction. That was until July took a step forward, crossing her arms with a smug smirk. Her gaze ran over him, dripping with disdain. "Don’t tell
Max stood there quietly as the three others exchanged smug glances. The attendant, growing increasingly impatient, tapped her foot. She had seen his type before—broke guys who wandered in just to take a few pictures for their social media. The store sold luxury clothes that even she couldn’t afford, and yet, Max dared to show up without a penny. Worse, on her shift. She could get penalized if anything went wrong, but thankfully, they seemed to be the only customers in the store for now.“Are you done wasting my time?” she snapped, eyeing Max. “If you’re not buying anything, leave.”Max raised an eyebrow. “You don't even know if I truly came here to steal or intend to pay for the tux. Is this how you treat all your customers? By judging them based on what some people say?”"Who are some people?" Vivi retorted and came forward, pointing at Greg and July. "You recognize them, don't you? They are regular customers. Are you sure you want to offend them by not throwing this penniless thie