My Darling, My Dearest

Jack glanced at Austin and continued to twirl with the pen in between his fingertips. "What's up?"

From the look on Austin's face, what he was about to say had nothing to do with business. Every time he showed even a flicker of emotion, it meant that what he was going to say was meant for private ears. Now, it had something to do with Jack.

"Miss Duan is in the lobby, and everyone says that you quarreled with her. She looks devastated."

If Austin hadn't gone to the executive department, he wouldn't have heard about it.

The executive department held the largest number of female employees in the company. It was also the place where gossip was known to circulate.

When Austin came over to get some office supplies, he was surprised to see several employees crowding in one spot and talking about a certain someone.

Since he wasn't busy today, he stood aside and listened to what they were talking about. The man stiffened when he heard Celine's name.

"Wait, what's wrong with Celine? What did you say?" Austin took a step forward.

"Austin..."

Suddenly, the crowd dispersed. As if nothing had happened, they all went back to their seats and pretended to look at case files.

Austin decided to ask one of them, "What were you talking about?"

"Nothing." The female employee waved her hand. Who would dare gossip about Jack in front of Austin?

Accustomed to this kind of situation, Austin frowned. "In that case, I can give you the corresponding punishment according to the employee manual."

"Austin, please don't. We won't be able to survive the next month if our salary's deducted," she begged. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she stared up at him. "Just pretend you didn't hear anything." "Speak then."

He took a step back and waited.

Knowing that her own salary was on the line, the female employee whispered, "We just saw Celine sitting in the lobby with red eyes, so we assumed that they had a fight." "That's it?"

Seeing that she nodded, Austin immediately returned to his boss's office with the office supplies that he had collected. After what he had heard, Jack immediately walked down to check it himself. "Why are you here?"

Jack stood in front of Celine. He couldn't help but feel strange at the way she bowed her head so meekly.

Why didn't she come to his office directly?

Celine didn't raise her head immediately. "Jack," she stuttered out as the tears ran down her cheeks.

If they were still together, he would've hugged her tightly and comforted her with all the sweet words he could think of.

But now, her emotions had no effect on him.

He glanced at her indifferently before motioning to the receptionist to send him a box of tissues. "Wipe your tears first," he ordered. "Then come with me to my office."

There was no need to show off her tears in front of the whole company. It was embarrassing.

Once they reached his office, Jack turned to her. "What's wrong?" Celine shook her head, displaying her bloodshot eyes. "Nothing. I just felt sad, so I came here to you."

Her original plan was to pretend to be so pitiful and wait for him to ask her why. Once he did, she would tell him all about what Rachel had done to her.

Unexpectedly, Jack motioned to the door. "In that case, you can sit in the meeting room to calm yourself down."

Holding her breath, Celine's face changed momentarily. She pinched the leather seat so hard that she thought that her manicured nails had broken. She sniffled and sighed as tears ran down her flushed cheeks.

He had already engrossed himself on work that he didn't even notice.

She waited for a long time, but he didn't say a word. Finally, she couldn't help but snap, "Aren't you going to ask me what had happened? Don't you care about me?"

He frowned and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Didn't he just ask her now? Wasn't she the one who refused to tell him?

Trying to suppress the annoyance in his heart, Jack tried again, "Then tell me. What happened?"

Celine lowered her head, hiding the flash of viciousness in her eyes. "I bought a necklace yesterday, but they mixed it with another customer's stuff. So I took the wrong one. Today, when I went to take my necklace back, I didn't expect to be so insulted."

"Well, did you get it back?"

"I did, but it's broken now. She threw it onto the floor."

Celine took out the necklace from her purse and gazed at it. "I liked it very much," she murmured. "How could she say such a thing?"

The necklace looked familiar.

Astonishment flashed in his gaze. "Who took your necklace?"

"I went to the mall yesterday to buy the necklace, and I happened to run into Eric. I heard that he bought something for Rachel.

I didn't know why I took the wrong box after I paid the bill. I just found out about it this morning. When I went to her to take it back, not only didn't she return it to me first, but she threw it on the floor and said..."

She trailed off as she sobbed. Trying to contain herself, she bit her lower lip and continued, "She said that my things were dirty and I set her up on purpose, but I didn't! How could I have expected such a thing?"

Noticing that Jack didn't say anything for a long time, Celine looked up to see his forehead creasing in confusion. A part of her was satisfied of the fact that he actually listened to her.

'He must hate Rachel right now.'

After all, there was absolutely no flaw in her story!

However, what she didn't know was that Jack had been thinking of another problem.

He remembered that Eric had pictured the necklace.

The man had told him that it was the only necklace around the city.

And now, Celine was protesting how it was hers and not Rachel's.

After a moment of silence,

Jack asked, "Why didn't you ask Eric when you found out the mishap? Why did you have to go to Rachel instead?"

He suspected that this entire problem was a play directed and acted by none other than Celine herself.

In that case, then that meant that the woman had spies planted around them. Otherwise, how could she have known that Eric would buy something for Rachel? And the woman just confronted Rachel for the necklace. Everything didn't seem right about it.

Jack smiled bitterly in his heart, but he pretended to listen to all the lame excuses that Celine had made up for herself.

Everything she said just continued to discredit Rachel.

"Enough," Jack said lowly, having enough of her words. "Now that you got it back, there's no need to say anything more."

"But I feel sad. How could she say that my things are dirty? Is she really that clean?" Celine spat. Her original intention was to make herself look as piteous as possible, but now he yelled at her. Jack sneered. "Are you not dirty?"

"What do you mean?" She stood up in disbelief. "Why am I dirty?"

"Think about it when you get back." He motioned to the door and asked her to leave. At this point, he knew for a fact that everything that she had just said was fabricated.

Now, he was more interested in the truth.

Celine left the company in a daze. Everything had been fine in the beginning, right? Yet, Jack insulted her all of a sudden.

Her nails dug into the necklace she was holding. The more Celine thought about it, the more furious she became. With resentment blooming in her gaze, she threw the necklace onto the pavement. "Are you off duty now?"

As soon as Eric turned off the computer, he heard Zoe's voice from behind him. He quickly tidied the things on his table. "It's done. Let's go."

However, just as they were about to leave, he received a call from Jack. "Come to my office."

"I'm already off duty. How about tomorrow?" Eric gazed at Zoe awkwardly. They were planning to see a movie together.

"No. Come here."

Glancing at his phone, the man curled his lips. "Zoe, do you mind waiting for a while. I have to see Mr. Fu."

Zoe's eyes quickly flashed as she broke out into a cold sweat. "Sure. I'll wait for you in the office, okay? But we need to go to the cinema soon."

He hurried to the office. "What's the matter?"

"Did you meet Celine when you went to buy the necklace for Rachel?" Jack asked the moment Eric had opened his office door.

"Yes, I did." He recalled what had happened that day before shaking her head. "It was a coincidence."

"When did you take this photo then?" Jack showed the photo that Eric had sent him.

"That one?"

Eric frowned. "It was probably taken when I went home. I don't remember."

Author's note

G°°se fiSEQ

Translator: Scarlett5555