novelxo Chapter 6 Taking the Blame
In the early morning, Shirley woke up with a terrible hangover.
Left alone in the room, she felt extremely humiliated.
A note on the desk drew her attention.
"You must have practiced yoga :-)"
Although Jack was long gone, she could still feel the mockery from the note.
She scratched her head restlessly, finding nowhere to vent her anger.
For all the complicated emotions, she felt less frustrated as if she had been forgiven for at least he left a note.
At the same time, she received a phone call from Tommy.
"Shirley, I was so dominant last night. I got 10 MVPS in the game!"
Tommy spoke excitedly while Shirley turned furious.
'He could only think of the shabby game!'
She raged, "Tommy, you're not a child, are you? Have you prepared my bride price? Do you really wanna marry me?"
After getting silent for a few seconds, he immediately comforted her, "Sweet heart, come on. My family has been sparing no effort on it and we only end up like this because of Jack, that useless bastard. I'll marry you only."
'Jack?'
'That man I dated last night was called Jack too!'
She instinctively asked, "Who's Jack? Is he a rich guy?"
"Rich my ass!"
Tommy began complaining, "He's my useless brother-in-law from countryside. Katherine had no choice but to stay with him in an rented apartment. Things would be better in multiple folds if he's rich." Shirley shook her head while thinking that Tommy didn't sound like the one with the bauhinia bank card.
"Shirley, give me a little more time. My parents and Katherine will have enough money soon."
Tommy complained again with anger, "If it is not because of that useless brother-in-law, no, I should say, ex brother-in-law, we will be able to hold our wedding ceremony now."
"What does this have to do with him?" Shirley couldn't understand.
"Since he married Katherine, he had become my brother-in-law. As his younger brother I'm gonna marry. Shouldn't he help me? Instead, he just wasted time and money on his dying mother at the late stage of liver cancer. And he divorced Katherine. What a useless bastard!" Tommy continued.
Shirley awkwardly hesitated when she wanted to continue. She felt a bit uncomfortable.
She replied impatiently, "Fine. I'm gonna sleep. Good night." Then, she hung up the phone.
In the next week, Jack was busy looking after his bed-ridden mother.
After the liver transplant, his mother had been better. As the doctor said, she could soon return home after a few days.
As for the matter concerning Shirley, he didn't waste any time worrying about her at all.
If Tommy hadn't sarcastic and disrespectful to him, he wouldn't have made Shirley embarrassed that night.
Early this morning, after taking care of his mother for the whole night, Jack received a call when he was on his way home.
"Jack, where the hell are you now?" A sharp male voice bombarded his ears when he answered the call.
Jack frowned slightly. That was Ben, his superior as the general manager of DT real estate agency.
"I'm sorry, Ben. My mother has been hospitalized," Jack explained.
"Is she dead? If she's still alive, get your ass back here to work!" Ben screamed, "Damn! When you were on leave, I was the one saving your ass. Get the hell back to the office to do with your shit right now!" Suddenly, the call was cut off.
"Saving my ass? Who saves whose?" Jack chuckled.
He wasn't that useless at all. In fact, he always got good marks at school. If he was not hindered by his family situation, he was fully able to further his studies abroad as a recommended student.
After graduation, he chose to work at a local real estate agency, and within three years he had been promoted as the deputy general manager.
Because of Ben, Jack was stuck at his current position after three years of hard work in the agency.
The reason was that Ben's boss was also his sister's husband.
He was at the general manager position for years even if he was almost capable of nothing but flirting with women and bullying the female staff of the company.
Actually Jack had handled all the important affairs in the agency over these years.
He had solved numerous problems resulting from Ben.
Interestingly, Ben's boss seemed to have absolute faith in his "capabilities".
So Jack was well known as the "blame taker" at the company.
He didn't leave because he needed his salary to cure his mother and support Katherine's family.
But it was nearing his last straw.
He took out the Bauhinia bank card as if he had been cheered up.
He snickered coldly, 'There is one billion yuan in it. Although I hate financial compensations, I can't deny that money really works. It has given me more power and choices in life.' Jack hurriedly headed to Ben at the agency.
Bang!
After a loud slam, Ben sat in his chair and perched his legs on his desk while smoking a cigar with a worried face.
Jack frowned slightly at the smell of tobacco. He never smoked and he disgusted with it.
"If I don't call you, you will probably never come back here. Am I right?" Ben spat out a puff of smoke with a cold smile as he touched his bald head.
"That's not true. I have just been too busy taking care of my mother," Jack replied.
Ben was only a little more than forty years old, yet he seemed to be exhausted for being addicted to having sex. He already had a bald head even though he was still middle-aged. That was why he was nicknamed as the "Old Mr. Hall".
"Ha Ha!"
Ben narrowed his eyes with a sneer, "Jack, let me give you a piece of advice as you are elder here. Your mother is suffering a serious disease. I am well aware of that. Instead of letting her suffer for no reason, you should just let her go off to heaven. That way, you could invest more time and energy in your work as well."
A hostile look flashed across Jack's eyes as he tried to swalllow his anger, "Why are you summoning me here all of a sudden? What happen?"
With a loud slam, Ben slammed down a document on the table.
"My brother-in-law Aiden, my boss at the company, is coming this afternoon to check the renovation contract of the West Shantytowns which you should have negotiated with the contractors. Damn it. I was forced to do that instead since you were on leave. This is your fault!" Ben flared out loud.
"Since you were not here, I signed this contract at an exorbitant cost after they got me drunk."
Jack didn't even bother to glance at the contract because this was not the first time Ben had done something similar.
Ben could have agreed on a contract at a whooping price after a night of drinking and adultery. Jack couldn't felt calmer.
Ben placed his feet on the floor as he sat straight up, "You know what to do, don't you?"
"Do you mean I am the one to blame?" Jack narrowed his eyes coldly.
"What the hell are you talking about? Who is asking you to take the blame? I am just caring for you. Do you think anybody have the chance to do this?
"If I didn't raise you, you couldn't have been what you are today within 3 years after graduation. Do you think you can secure this position by depending on your own?" Ben pounded the table while barking. Jack sneered with anger.
'I really should be grateful. Without you, I would have been the general manager now.'☐☐☐