Rebecca, Mathew and Jessica were all huddled on the same table in the cafeteria. Anne felt uncomfortable at the way their eyes were fixed onto her and the person sitting across from her. Not only her colleagues, everyone else had their eyes pinned on that particular table.
"What matter did you want to discuss with me?" Anne asked, not bothering to touch the food in front of her.
Naturally, she'd rejected his sudden invitation to have lunch together. Whatever this kid was thinking, she had no time to entertain it; however, he'd insisted, saying he had something to discuss with her.
Anne had no idea that she was the very first person to reject him. Donald never bothered to invite anyone to eat with him before. When she'd said the words,
"No thank you, I'd rather have lunch on my own," Donald had gotten his first taste of rejection.
In a setting where everyone would crawl on their hands and knees to get his attention, someone actually said no to him.
Maybe he was crazy, because he actually liked this feeling of rejection. That made him persist until she finally agreed to go to the cafeteria with him.
In all honesty, he'd never been to any cafeteria within the company. He wanted to take her with him to a restaurant, but she didn't want to go out of the company with him. Choicelessly, he'd come here—in the loud, noisy place where many employees eat.
"My grandfather sent me to you. He wanted me to check if your wound is all healed now. He would have come himself but..." Donald trailed off, not finishing his words.
Truth be told, his grandfather had ordered all three of them to come check on her every single day. It hadn't just been a request but an order they couldn't refuse. Donald initially decided to ignore that order.
Why should he go around following some girl when he could use that time to ascend another level of his game: The Infinity Realms? However, seeing her last night, he suddenly didn't dislike this little task anymore.
When Anne heard his reason for coming to find her, she visibly relaxed. She had thought it had something to do with last night.
"I'm much better now, there's barely any discomfort left, I don't even remember I have a wound sometimes. Please tell Elder Sterling not to worry."
Donald tilted his head, curiosity in his eyes as he stared into her light brown eyes. There was something about the calmness with which she spoke. A sense of maturity to her, like someone who'd been through a very harsh life—they saw the world in a different light.
The more Donald looked at her, the more he became curious about her, and he was never the type to have time for people. But here he was, curious about an employee at their company.
He leaned over the table, a hint of mischief shining in his youthful eyes. This look reminded Anne of her brother. She lowered her head and hid the slight look of sadness in her eyes.
Donald narrowed his eyes; he hadn't missed the look that flashed in her sunset brown eyes. He had seen that in her eyes once before as well—just last night, actually, when he'd escorted her inside the VIP section of Nightscale. She'd looked at him for a single moment with sad eyes, as if he reminded her of someone.
Who could it be? A past lover?
Donald smirked and asked the very question he'd wanted to ask her, which was the purpose of him asking her to have lunch with him.
"If you had the chance to get another job, part-time... would you do it?"
Anne seemed to be in thought for a while.
Why was he suddenly asking her that?
She answered regardless. "Yes, I would." Without questioning why he asked in the first place.
Over the years, she had worked more jobs than she could keep count of. Hard work and struggle were second nature to her. First it was to manage to pay her own tuition, and then after the accident it became working to accumulate enough money for Kristen's surgery, she never once said no to a job.
Donald's smile widened when he heard that confirmation from her. "Great, I have a job for you."
"What job?"
"Last night, you caused a rumor to spread into my friend group. Apparently, Drake can't keep his mouth shut, so we'll have to fix the little rumor you created."
Anne could already guess what he was hinting at since he mentioned a rumor that had to do with last night, but she waited silently for him to say what he had in mind.
"I want you to be my girlfriend, in front of all my friends. Take it as a full-time job."
Anne looked at the youth's serious-looking eyes and massaged her temple. So she was right after all.
"Hey kid, do you know I'm old enough to be your older sister?"
Anne was controlling her rising anger.
He actually brought up this silly matter to her face.
It reminded her of the time Kristen's friends would come to her with flowers and cute little love letters.
"Age doesn't matter at all," one little punk had said to her face once.
She knew this Sterling kid didn't like her like that, but he actually wanted her to pose as his girlfriend?
The kid shamelessly shrugged as if what she just said didn't bother him at all.
"Who cares, at most you're about a year or two older than I am. Age fades away in love. Be my girl and I'll pay you handsomely. What do you say?"
Anne couldn't take it anymore. He actually tried to tempt her with money?
Looking at this kid, all she could see was Kristen.
She banged her palm upon the table.
"Listen, kid, my time is way more precious to be wasted on a teenaged brat's little fantasy of showing his friends he has a girlfriend."
Donald could choke at the words he'd just heard from her.
Did she call him... a kid, a brat, and a teenager with fantasies?
"I'm not a kid! And what about me looks like a fantasy-driven teenager?" Donald could hardly keep his voice down.
What man wouldn't get offended being called a kid by a beautiful woman?
It wasn't that he couldn't get a girlfriend if he wanted to; it was just that he wasn't interested at all. And he was only hiring her because all his friends were going crazy to see the so-called cute, innocent beauty Drake had rambled to them about.
Anne pointed at his rowdy black hair and his face. "Everything about you makes it obvious that you're a kid." She leaned towards him, threat shining in her brown eyes. She had no idea her proximity had taken the youth aback. When her light feminine fragrance wafted towards him, his ears turned red.
"And make sure you address me with respect when you're speaking to me. It doesn't matter if your family owns the company. I'll smack the disrespect right out of you. Understood?"
Donald swallowed with difficulty.
Why was she talking to him like a little brother?
Even his older brothers never spoke to him this way, and as for everyone else, they either tried to curry favor with him or avoided him completely.
Most people called him broody and quiet, but he was actually the very opposite of that. It was just that he was more interested in his games and social media than anything going on around him—unless something caught his interest.
With the authoritative tone she spoke, Donald found himself actually nodding absentmindedly.
"Good that we're clear," Anne said, pushing her seat back to get up.
Unbeknownst to them both, the whole cafeteria was blowing up.
Because they were seated in the far corner where there were no other seats around, no one could hear their conversation. People merely judged what they might be saying through their body language.
One moment Donald leaned towards her, the next moment she leaned towards him too.
No matter how they looked at it, this situation seemed like flirtation.
"Fuck! She actually knows one of the Sterling sons?" Mathew exclaimed from where they sat.
Rebecca narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Are the Sterlings that easy to approach? Isn't it obvious she was just trying to seduce the youngest Sterling boy? See how she leaned on the table earlier? She obviously did that to show him cleavage. She is such a whore!"
What was special about that girl for her to be acquainted with one of the Sterling sons? Rebecca just couldn't believe it! They had been working at this company for years, but none of the Sterling sons had ever looked at them no matter how beautiful they were. Why would they start with some newbie?
"Becky is right. She deliberately targeted the youngest Sterling son. Donald is still young and can be easily seduced by a pretty face and nice body. She shot her aim well."
Something vicious, driven by jealousy, flashed through Rebecca's eyes.
"Let's teach her a good lesson on behalf of the Sterlings for this. She's scheming against them. She needs to suffer for it. Let's make sure she realizes she's just a low tramp who can never trap a rich guy even in her dreams."
Donald, on the other hand, was lost in a daze as he watched her delicate, slender back walking away. He came back to his senses once she'd disappeared and pulled out his phone, looking at his own reflection through the front camera.
She said he looked like a kid. Was it his hair? It definitely was the damned hair, wasn't it?
Donald pouted his lips thoughtfully as he watched the entrance from where she'd disappeared.
He'd gotten a taste of another rejection.
No one had the guts to say no to him. One was supposed to feel upset in his situation, but Donald actually smiled.
"What if I no longer look like a kid? Would you say yes to me then?" he mused, a silly idea forming in his mind.
The whole company exploded with this news. Donald Sterling had lunch with a female employee, and he seemed to be flirting with her.
This news was so rampant that a certain someone, high up on the fifty-second floor in his magnificent office, actually heard whispers of this news.
Someone had taken pictures of the two having lunch together and posted it onto the company's forum.
Looking at the familiar profile of this woman, Andrew's brows pulled together. His earlier expressionless eyes darkened significantly.
He stared at the picture for a very long time before letting out a low dark scoff.
"Ah, so your next target was my little brother?"