2 Cold and Detached

A lady with short hair and sporting a corporate attire answered her call.

Mona was obviously stunned to see her boss still in her sleeping garbs and a far cry from her normal sharp attires.

But Max started firing order after order once the call connected.

"Yo, remember that IT group trying to sell itself to SRC? What's its name again? Ah nevermind, just buy it right now. Use my own funds, not the company's...

...Then tell them my first job for them. Hunt down every site that released Gabriel Lee's sex video, delete the vid and mess their servers up. Give permission to use any means. Don't worry 'bout the government, they wouldn't mind taking down a few illegal porn sites."

She paused to gulp some water.

Mona was stiff for a few seconds before taking note of the gist of what her boss said.

"I'm sure the clip also spread in social media and forums, find a way to suppress those too. I don't care how as long as I won't see any copy of it by midnight. Got it?"

The secretary dazedly nodded but Max trusted her sharp memory.

In Mona's mind, she was starting to suspect if her boss woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. She was buying a small IT company and using it as her personal weapon.

Can this company even deliver the results she wanted?

Of course, she didn't know that Max knew this start-up company was a house of gems and would boom in the next three years. They had an abundance of brains but lacked the funds to power up their plans in the beginning. It was her regret not taking their offer when she could.

"Also, tap our satellite crisis management agency then send them to Pyra Entertainment. Tell Viola, I will double the amount for this sudden call. The board will make a fuss if I use our in-house crisis team. Then tell Pyra, I'm sending charcoal during the winter*, something like that."

Viola was the Managing Director of the public relations firm that had a long-time partnership with Max's company, San Raphael Corp.

"Did you take it all down? I've no time, girl."

"Yes! Got it, boss! Don't worry. But..."

"What?"

"The event director of your high school batch reunion called three times already. I'm just waiting for your go signal to decline as always."

Max's mind which was running a thousand miles per hour, thinking of ways to find that person, suddenly stilled.

"Reunion?"

"Yeah, you forgot about it? Yearly, SRC's the major sponsor of this event but you never attended so I guess I'll just reject like usua-"

"Guestlist! Does it include Gabriel Lee?"

Mona blinked. She knew it!

"Yes. There's a Gabriel Lee there."

Max ran her fingers through her hair and unconsciously licked her dry lips.

"When did it start?"

"Reception began an hour ago."

"Okay... I'll be there in thirty."

She didn't even bother hanging up and went straight to the bathroom.

Seeing her running back, Mona shook her head.

Her gossiping side was rearing its head. To deploy such significant resources, just who was this Gabriel Lee to her boss?

Although this much didn't amount to anything against SRC's net worth, one must know that Max told her to use her own funds.

Her boss was never one to indulge in celeb issues but what was the meaning of this?

Who would know that in her last life, Max worked hard to be a cold detached CEO until she became a leftover woman?

Not that she complained but it got a little too lonely for her sometimes.

On her 45th birthday, she drank to her heart's content and drove at 90.

Of course, it resulted in a car crash. It was a miracle that both parties were alive.

The car she collided with was unexpectedly driven by a former high school classmate and was also drunk like her.

Max ended up crippled and forever stuck in a wheelchair while classmate Gabriel was bedridden for two months.

Being the gentleman that she was, Max paid for all expenses and had both of them placed in a large private ward.

They spent many days talking about life like they were still drunk and never really sobered up since the night of the accident.

Max formed a camaraderie with classmate Gabriel.

This was also the time she learned that he drank a lot that night because he learned that he was HIV positive and he got it from his long-term boyfriend.

It ought to be said that classmate Gabriel was a superstar in his younger days.

But his career ended when a video scandal spread online of him and said boyfriend.

He faded in the shadows because of that but he didn't mind it and chose to cultivate real feelings with the jerk.

Serving him and pleasing him in any way that he could.

Classmate Gabriel cried buckets of tears in front of cold, detached CEO Max who also secretly cried with him.

After getting discharged from the hospital, Max offered to let him stay at her private out-of-town villa and also pay for his annual treatment.

Classmate Gabriel also came from a fairly well-off family but he was ashamed of admitting his illness on top of the scandals he brought to their name before.

He wanted to decline Max's offer but she told him that he could pay her back by being her personal assistant.

She was the crippled CEO Max after all.

They lived harmoniously in the villa for two years with Max's nurse who mostly kept to herself.

Max got along with Gabriel very well despite having different views on gender, morality, and life in general.

Classmate Gabriel was obviously gay and to Max's surprise, he was as pure as an angel.

He liked little animals and was even afraid to kill roaches and mice. He also loved cute children as he always watched reality programs featuring kids while ranting that he wanted a child.

Max was the opposite of him.

She was apathetic to everything. Needless to say, her morals were close to nonexistent.

She didn't like small cute things as she could easily crush them accidentally.

However, maybe it was time or maybe because of their situation, cold and detached CEO Max slowly learned to dry someone else's tears, be patient with his antics and be tolerant of his small pets.

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*Sending charcoal in the snowy weather is a chinese idiom.