Brian was shocked. What a way to respond to a kind invitation!

"Mr. William, is there anything else? If not, I would like to go back to sleep," Diana said coolly.

"Miss Anderson, hold on. Not so fast."

"What do you want to say?"

"The activity is really important for the company. If you come, I'll give you a few extra percent of the profits for the period before we cancel the contract."

Brian was tempting her out. He was sure that if Diana came with him, he could change her mind.

This gave Diana a real pause for thought. A few extra percentage points could mean several million more in profits!

Finally, Diana promised that she would go.

"Great. I will pick you up later," Brian chirped.

The assistant, who stood beside Brian, was not happy about his attitude towards Diana.

"Mr. William, why do you want to renew the contract with the Anderson Group so badly? There are so many companies that want to cooperate with us. And the Anderson's don't have a positive attitude," the assistant said indignantly.

"Fool," Brian scolded. "Don't look at things so superficially. The Anderson Group is a time-honored brand that people trust. It is in our interest to keep working with them."

The assistant was convinced by Brian's argument. But she was still annoyed by his treatment of Diana.

"But Mr. William…"

"Prepare the car. I'm going to pick up Miss Anderson."

Brian drove to his meeting place with Diana. He saw her arriving and marveled at her classy appearance. Wearing a white blouse and light blue jeans, she looked great.

Brian stopped the car beside her and wound down his window.

"Get in, please."

Diana didn't hesitate and jumped in immediately.

Together, they set off to the countryside location where the activity was to be held. The farther away from the city they got, the fresher the air was. Diana felt more and more comfortable as the environment transformed around them.

Her enjoyment rubbed off on Brian, and they were both in a good mood.

"I'm sorry, but how old are you, Miss Anderson?" Brian asked.

Diana thought he was trying to be funny with the question, but still, she replied, "Twenty-eight."

Brian nodded. Her age was about right for him.

"Miss Anderson, do you have a boyfriend?"

Diana was surprised by his question but replied honestly.

"No, not at the moment."

"Since you don't have a boyfriend, how would you feel about going out with me?"

"What?" His question shocked Diana. She even doubted whether she'd heard correctly.

Brian smiled with satisfaction as he saw Diana's astonished expression. From the moment he met her, he had not stopped thinking about her. He had never loved a person before, so he could not let her go. Even if Diana refused, he would chase her anyway.

"No, you can't." Without a second thought, Diana refused him.

"Why?"

"There is no reason," Diana said coldly. In truth, Diana just couldn't face being hurt again.

As she looked so determined, Brian didn't ask anymore. It seemed like it was going to be a tough task.

"Would you mind if I show you around?"

"Let's go," Diana said, deliberately still showing him her annoyance.

Suddenly, a boy rushed over to them with flowers in his hand.

"Sir, buy a bouquet of flowers for this beautiful lady."

As Diana looked so affectionately at the young boy, Brian bought the bouquet of flowers to make her happy.

"Thank you and best wishes to your love," the boy said happily as he skipped away.

Unfortunately, the boy's mention of love reminded Diana of the past, and she swiftly handed the flowers back to Brian, then walked on ahead of him.

Brian smiled, held onto the flowers, and ran over to catch her up.

As they walked side by side, Diana was going out of her mind. It had been two years since the last time they were together like this.

When they inspected the planting area, Diana found the plants were all growing well thanks to the workers' hard graft.

It was Brian who had found this place and asked the people there to take care of the project. The plants grew on the mountainside, and it was the villagers' job to get rid of an intestinal parasite using carefully selected pesticides.

The project had been incredibly useful in solving the problem of unemployment for the young villagers. What's more, they didn't have to go far for work and had more time to spend with their families.

"Let's have a good look at the plants."

***

On their way back, Diana was afraid that Brian would repeat something provocative, so she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Brian knew what she was thinking. But he decided not to speak it out.

At their destination, Brian spoke gently to Diana, who was still pretending to sleep, "Miss Anderson, here we are."

Diana opened her eyes and stepped out of the car. When she was about to get out, Brian suddenly grabbed her arm and put the flowers in her hand.

Diana held onto them until Brian drove out of sight. There was a bin a few yards away, an appropriate place for the flowers, Diana thought. Except, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Finally, she hurried into her house and put them into a vase full of water.

Abby hugged Diana excitedly and shouted, "Mummy, where did you get the flowers?"

Diana skipped her question and asked, "Do you like them?"

"Yeah!" Abby nodded her head, crazily.

"What are you two talking about? It sounds interesting." Chaney walked out and saw Diana and Abby still in a warm embrace. He looked at them and smiled.

"Uncle Chaney! Come see these flowers Mummy brought back with her!" Abby pulled Chaney to the vase and showed him the flowers as if she had found some precious treasure.

Chaney then turned to Diana.

"I have to attend a banquet in a few day's time. I was wondering if you would go with me?"

"Me?"

"Yes. They told me that I should bring a lady to accompany me," answered Chaney. He looked at Diana innocently.

Thinking of what Chaney had done for Abby and her, Diana nodded. Plus, he was only recently back, it must be difficult for him to find another girl; otherwise, he wouldn't have asked her, Diana reasoned.

****

He was not the only one, either. The other staff was listening closely too.

"Who does she think she is? Taking herself so seriously," someone whispered.

"Miss William worked alongside us," murmured another.

Jessica looked as unhappy as Calvin sounded.

"Where's Miss Anderson's office?" she asked.

"She works next door to me," Brian answered frankly.

"I also want to work there," Jessica demanded.

Jessica's hands had clenched into fists of determination.

Despite her confident request, Brian was clearly unhappy. He didn't want his and Diana's world to be disturbed.

Seeing Brian didn't look too pleased, Jessica chuckled.

"I'm just kidding. How could I disturb you and Miss Anderson?"

"Thank you for your consideration, Miss Reagan. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, thank you. If anything comes up, I'll let you know," Jessica said sweetly.

"Well, see you later," said Brian.

As soon as Brian left, Jessica's innocent smile disappeared.

She looked at the designer in front of her with a malicious smile.

"Do you guys have any opinions on me?" She stared at them intensely.

"Who do you think you are?" One of the girls grumbled.

Sybil had been kind and easy to approach, while Jessica was plainly the opposite, which made the other designers immediately resentful.

On hearing that, Jessica squinted her eyes. Without any word, she walked up to the girl and slapped her in the face.

The girl burst into tears at once. No one had ever treated her this way before, how could it be?

Jessica glanced around and gave them all a warning look.

"Now, I am the new chief designer. Everyone in this department must comply with my demands."

No one dared say a word.

Jessica was satisfied with the silent fear she'd created. She returned to her seat with her head held high.

"Diana, I will steal Brian from you one day," she swore silently to herself.

When Brian returned to the office, his assistant was already waiting there for him.

The assistant walked forward and whispered something to him. What she said made Brian frown.

"Is this real?"

The assistant nodded affirmatively.

"Okay. I'll handle it."

After the assistant left, Brian's face turned a deathly pale.

Diana had finished the pharmacy's inventory and was on her way back to her office when she ran into Fannie. She was clearly upset, her eyes red and puffy as if she'd been crying.

"What's wrong, Fannie?" Diana asked concernedly.

On seeing Diana, Fannie was brought to tears again. She started to complain, "Miss Anderson, it's Jessica, she is the devil! She has already made several designers cry from her scolding. What's worse, she even slapped a girl!"

"What? You mean she actually, physically hit her?" Diana was amazed by what Fannie was saying.

Fannie nodded angrily.

"And she asked me to buy coffee for her. I went to the coffee shop three times already, but she is still unsatisfied with what I bought, even though she won't tell me what she likes. I think she is purposely difficult for me."

Fannie felt like weeping but had no tears left to cry.

As Diana was comforting her, Fannie cried out after checking the time, "I have to go! The She-Devil only gave me half an hour to buy the coffee. See you later, Miss Anderson."

"Stay safe," Diana shouted as Fannie fled back to the design department.

After a second's thought, Diana decided to tell Brian about Jessica.

"Brian…" Diana's words were on the tip of her tongue when she arrived at the doorway of Brian's office, but she found Brian was on the phone.

Brian heard the noise and made a shushing gesture to Diana.

Thus Diana retreated silently from the room.

After the call was finished, Brian came rushing out of his office, straight past Diana. She would have to wait to talk with him later.

In the IT department, Brian gave a USB to the department manager.

"How long will it take to recover the files?"

"About half an hour," the manager estimated.

"Okay, I will wait here," said Brian.

Afraid of wasting the boss' time, the department manager started to repair the USB immediately.

Brian thought loathingly about the news he'd just received. His assistant had informed him that they found the ID of the person who sent confidential information to M-Color. But whoever it was had been very cautious. They only used the ID once.

Brian's mind was fixed on Kyle. He was sure that this matter must have something to do with him.

So, when Kyle left his office for lunch earlier, Brian had taken the chance to search his office. Luckily, his search turned up a USB, discarded in the trash can. It looked damaged, so Brian had brought it to the IT department to repair it.

It didn't take the IT guys long to finish their work.

"Boss, I've managed to recover the information on the USB."

"Well done!" Brian came up to him and patted him on the back.

The department manager showed Brian the file on the USB. It was all the design drawings for this quarter.

Brian gritted his teeth. As expected, it was Kyle who had been sabotaging the company.

Brian stood up, then headed directly for Kyle's office. It was time to confront that bastard.