36 Christopher’s weird demand

The next morning…

Christopher called his secretary as soon as he arrived at the office.

"Yes, Mr. Sherman." The secretary had her notebook ready in case he asked her to take some notes.

"You are free to leave early today, and there is no need to come from tomorrow onwards," Christopher said flatly, not even looking up at her.

The secretary was taken aback, believing he was dismissing her because of recent mistakes she had made. She became terrified.

"Why, Mr. Sherman? I will work more efficiently. Please accept my apologies. I'm not going to make any mistakes."

Her eyes turned misty.

Christopher dropped the file he had just picked up and glared at her. "Didn't you want to take leaves?"

"Indeed, Mr. Sherman. But it's on..."

"I am extending your leave. Do you not want to spend more time with your family?"

"Uh?" The secretary was taken aback yet again. "Leave? Um…"

She couldn't decide whether she should be happy or worried. What if it was his other way of dismissing her? He could send her the termination letter via email.

"You don't want to take leaves!" Christopher furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you want me to hand you the termination letter right away?"

"No, no… Mr. Sherman… I have already planned to take leaves. I am grateful that you have extended my leave. Since I have come to the office, I will work till the end of the day."

"You can leave now." Christopher waved his hand dismissively.

"Please call me if you need anything. I will come immediately." The secretary said it purposefully, fearing Christopher would be angry with her. His cold stare was enough for her to shut her mouth and rush out of the cabin.

Christopher still glared at the door as he picked up the intercom and pressed number 1.

"I need you here right away," he said before putting the receiver down.

Brad came a few minutes later. "What is the urgency? Say whatever you want to say quickly. I have a meeting in half an hour."

He sagged into the chair across from him. He purposefully rubbed the side of his forehead where the pen had hit him the day before, despite the fact that it was no longer painful. His action was simply to express his dissatisfaction with him.

"My secretary is taking a couple of weeks off," Christopher said. "I need someone temporarily in her place to look after my schedules. You often managed to hire temporary employees whenever needed. Can you arrange one for me?"

He knew where Brad had hired those employees, but he had not mentioned the name of the company.

"No worries. I will contact the Essence Concierge." Brad's response was casual, as he had no idea what Christopher was up to. "I will renew the contract with them."

"Wait…" Christopher stopped him. "Don't renew it now. You can do it when my secretary returns to work in two weeks."

Brad looked at him skeptically. However, he nodded and agreed with him, "Okay. I can wait two weeks. Mr. Clark was impressed with our new technology and wanted to implement it in his company."

Finally, he broke the good news to him.

"Great… The credit goes to you." Christopher, who had not smiled in days, finally gave him a warm smile.

Brad scowled at him. "Certainly… It is because of me that he has shown interest in the project. Otherwise, you have planned to sabotage our meeting with him."

Christopher's thoughts returned to the restaurant scene, where he had seen Abigail with her male companion.

'Jasper Wilkinson.' He subconsciously clenched his fists.

He wouldn't have known his docile wife had been meeting her wealthy, handsome neighbor if he hadn't gone to the luncheon that day.

He was truly grateful to Mr. Clark for expressing his desire to meet him, despite the fact that he had not paid much attention to him at the time.

"I consider myself fortunate to have such a good friend and partner." He grinned.

"I know how talented I am." Brad was pleased to hear his compliments. His displeasure with him had faded by this point. "Okay. I need to get ready for the meeting. I will later discuss with you what Mr. Clark said."

Brad left.

Several minutes later…

Vivian entered his cabin.

Christopher assumed his secretary had come to inform him of something, which is why he said "Come in" when the door knocked. When he saw Vivian, his face became hard.

"I told you not to come to my cabin until I gave you permission," he stated coldly.

"Come on, Christopher. Don't be rude. We used to be friends in the past." Vivian came over and sat down in front of him, her fingers touching the round crystal pendant. "Moreover, you just permitted me to come in."

She smirked.

Christopher didn't like how casually she spoke to him. They were at work, not in a café drinking coffee.

He, however, kept his rage in check and asked, "Is there any problem?"

Vivian pouted slightly and held up a folder. "Brad asked me to prepare the report. When I went to hand it over, I couldn't find him in his cabin. So, I came to you."

She put the folder on the table in front of him.

Christopher glanced at it and said, "Brad is in a meeting. You should have waited for him. Take it away and give it to him."

"But Brad told me I could report you while he was away," Vivian said, acting innocent. She made a depressed expression as if she had been wronged. "I'm only doing what he says."

Christopher finally took the file and assured her, "Okay. I'll look into it. You can leave now."

It was only then that she smiled.

"Oh, thank you so much. I knew it. You will never let me down. You truly care about me. By the way, Brad stated that he had high hopes for the new technology. I'm delighted that Mr. Clark is interested. All the very best."

She flashed a beaming smile at him before leaving.

Christopher was rendered speechless when she mentioned the new technology. He couldn't believe Brad had given such sensitive information to a trainee. He became enraged and considered confronting Brad.

As soon as Vivian stepped out of the cabin, she received a phone call from her father.

"Dad…"

"Collect all the information about the new technology," said a deep voice on the other end. "Do it as soon as possible before Mr. Clark signs the contract with them."

"I am trying," she hissed, sounding irritated.

The other end was silent for a while. Then she heard her father say, "Be careful."

Unlike the commanding tone he had just used to speak to her, his voice was gentle and caring this time.

"I will," Vivian said before hanging up the phone.