Chapter 352
"What? Have you changed your mind?" Leonard grinned. He knew she was acting! She was regretting it before he even left. How shameless!
Layla looked at him, lightly saying with a smile, "You haven't paid the bill yet. Leonard, you're a generous man, so you won't skip out, right?"
A few customers chuckled.
Leonard's face immediately fell. He was getting angry. He roared, "Waiter!"
Glaring fiercely with his bull-like eyes, he said, "Just you wait, I'm sure you'll beg me for mercy one day!"
Layla wasn't going to waste the food. She finished her steak before leaving the restaurant. She never skimped on satisfying her stomach, and if he wanted to show off, why shouldn't she enjoy an expensive steak?
She checked the time as she left. It was only seven o'clock.
Suddenly, she remembered, could Samuel be waiting for her with groceries at the door again? She quickly checked her phone, but there were no missed calls from him.
But what if he was worried about disturbing her overtime and was choosing to wait quietly?
Layla suddenly realized that, at some point, he had become a considerate and tactful man to her. He was no longer as domineering as before.
He had changed a lot for her.
A warmth filled her heart.
Layla hesitated as she passed by a locksmith on the street. She held the key in her hand, pondering for a moment. As she made up her mind to go in, her phone suddenly rang.
It was him.
'Is this telepathy?' she thought.
Layla answered.
"Are you off work yet?"
The noise of the bustling street surrounded her, but his voice was exceptionally clear, lingering in her ears. His voice was so melodious, as rich as a cello.
"Yeah. Where are you?"
"I'm in your heart," Samuel said.
Layla chuckled. 'Is it really okay for a CEO to use such cheesy lines?' she thought.
"I'm in France, on a business trip," Samuel added.
"France?" Layla was surprised. 'Why didn't he tell me he was going to France?' she thought.
"Yeah. It was a sudden trip, so I didn't have time to inform you. I just landed, so I called you. Miss me?"
Layla suddenly felt a bit inexplicably lost.
Although he had explained the reason, he hadn't informed her in advance. The distance between them suddenly felt vast, leaving her somewhat disheartened. What was once warm now felt colder.
"Layla?"
Layla stood on the street in silence, and he understood her thoughts, gently comforting her. "I'll be back in three days. Wait for me, okay?"
When Layla heard his reassurance, her temper flared up a little. She retorted, "I'm not waiting for you. I'm going home, bye."
After hanging up, she felt a bit regretful. After all, he hadn't done anything wrong.
Glancing at the locksmith, Layla put the key back in her bag and hailed a taxi.
Back home, she turned on the lights and paused in the hallway. She suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. It seemed a bit desolate to be alone.
She saw only her silhouette on the floor-to-ceiling window.
In the room, the bed was still messy. He had teased her for a while this morning.
This small home was filled with his presence.
Layla's throat suddenly felt a bit tight.
She really missed him.
She had a restless night.
The next day, Layla arrived at the office early.
"Has the contract been signed?" Cassandra immediately came over to ask.
Layla's gaze shifted away from Cassandra's heavily powdered chubby face. "Not yet."
"You haven't closed the deal yet? Layla, what are you doing? Why are you so slow?"
"You've been chasing deals for three months without closing anything, and you're calling me slow after just one day?" Layla said.
"You..." Cassandra was speechless. Jealously, she thought, 'If I were as beautiful as you, I would have closed the deal long ago.'
She sarcastically said, "You have experience and advantages, right?"
"Exactly. Not everyone relies on their bodies to close deals like you."
"Hasn't Leonard taken a liking to you?" The others joined in with mocking remarks.
"Are you saying your tactics didn't work on Leonard? That's impossible."
"Has Leonard raised his standards?"
"Or did you scare Leonard off with your enthusiasm?"
Laughter filled the room, and Layla joined in lightly.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I laughed at your disgusting thoughts," Layla said.
"Are you calling us disgusting?" The group immediately turned confrontational.
"You're more disgusting than us."
"You're the one with a guilty conscience, that's why you're getting defensive, right?"
"Exactly." They echoed one after another.
Layla calmly shot back, "Who's getting defensive now?"
Her calm demeanor contrasted with their increasingly agitated emotions.
"If you can't close a deal, why are you arguing with your colleagues?" Fanny walked in, dressed in fur and heavy makeup, thinking herself a queen but appearing rather vulgar. "Layla, if you're so capable, why can't you get it done?"
"Fanny."
"Good morning, Fanny."
"Fanny's right. She even can't close a deal, but has the nerve to argue with us."
"Keeping her around is like keeping a troublemaker. We should fire her quickly, right, Fanny?"
Fanny wanted to get rid of her, but she didn't dare disobey Nora's orders, and simply firing her would be too easy.
"Layla, you have three days. If you can't close the deal, it'll prove that you can't do your job as a designer. You'll be my assistant in the future and do as I say. You'll do whatever I ask you to do," Fanny commanded as if she was instructing a dog.
Afterwards, she glared at Levi. "What? Are you feeling heartbroken now?"
Levi's mouth moved, but he ultimately swallowed his words, feeling resentful. He turned and quietly left to do something else.
Fanny looked back at Layla triumphantly. "See that? He's quite a coward. No one's backing you up."
At noon, while Layla was still busy drawing, her female colleagues had already started discussing where to have lunch fifteen minutes early.
Cassandra was adept at forming cliques. Since she was wealthy, she often bought lunch, winning over many colleagues.
"Where should we go for lunch? The new Japanese restaurant is good."
"It's quite expensive. Are you buying, Cassandra?"
"That'll be no problem, but it depends on whether it's worth it. Some people have wolfish hearts. They frown even when someone buys them a meal. It's just like feeding a dog."
"Quite right."
"What a waste of money."
Cassandra's remarks were all aimed at Layla.
Layla was used to it, so she didn't take it to heart. She just thought of their conversation as noises.
Although they were talkative before, they would still get some work done. Now that Fanny was back, all their work had turned into targeting her, and they weren't doing any work at all.
Their gossipy and venomous behavior was extremely disgusting.
"Cassandra, you might be wealthy, but you can't waste your money. You have to get it back."
"Yeah, you can't let her off easy."
"The money we get back can be used to treat us to lunch today."
"Yeah, good idea. Treating us to lunch is much more valuable than treating her."
Cassandra got excited as she was encouraged by the group. She walked up to Layla's desk, tapping it. "Stop pretending to be deaf. Give me back the money I spent treating you before."