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The vice president has already waiting for him at the front door. He looked quite surprised when he saw Sidney bringing an unknown female with him, as he didn’t usually take his ‘friends’ to the office, because his father despised them. He greeted them, and Sidney nodded at him before introducing Azalea.

Every workers bowed deeply muttering ‘good morning’s when they walk past them, but Sidney didn’t seem to enjoy or appreciate it and kept his head up coldly. He hated them all. And soon she’ll see why.

Azalea followed Sidney and would nod at them slightly in acknowledgement. She wondered why he was so cold to them but decided not to ask at that moment.

The vice president took them to the showrooms, taking a look at the new cars that are gonna be sent to the market this month. He also showed the developments of sales, investments, and profits, which Sidney asked him to explain deeper for Azalea, as she would be the one to hold the company in the future. He was quite relaxed, until it’s time to inspect the employees on their workplace. A female employee giggled unnecessarily and tried to hold Sidney’s hand a lot longer than she should until he had to tell her, blatantly, that he was uncomfortable. Some others could be heard gossiping about how Sidney is so unfit to take the role of CEO and how his brother’s supposed to do it and such.

Azalea already had an understanding of what that meant, but was grateful for the deeper explanations. She thought everything was going well and couldn’t see why Sidney hated it so much. But then they met the workers. She could barely contain her anger at the workers and their inconsiderate behavior. She kept on casting her eyes downwards so she would be glaring at the floor instead of them.

Is this how most people act in someplace like this? If so, they need to get better workers with more respect.

After the same scenes happened repeatedly in different rooms, Sidney excused himself, bringing his wife with him.

"Dammit!" He punched the nearest wall when they found a rather private corner. "Don’t you see? They don’t respect me at all! And how am I suppose to lead this company next year??"

She watched him in silence till he was more calm and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Once he calmed down, she spoke. “Then prove them wrong. You’ll have to earn their respect, but that won’t be too hard. One or two will most likely be stubborn and unwilling to respect you, but just do your best and be respectful towards them. My advice would be for you to respect them and listen to them if you’re asking for their input, even if you’re not, listen,” she said. She knew what being treated like you weren’t good enough felt like and this was what she had learned from it.

Sidney blinked. Listening to others. Asking others for advice. Respecting people who have been a total asshole to him. That doesn’t sound like his style. But he should do it if he wanted to be a better person, a better man. He sighed. “Alright. But…will you hug me?” He stared at her with glazed eyes, longing for her affection to give him strength for the rough day.

Azalea smiled at Sidney gently. “Of course,” she said as she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. She hugged him tightly. It surprised her that he asked instead of just hugging her, but she didn’t mind as long as she could.

Sidney closed his eyes, feeling her warmth radiating through his skin. It’s only been two days and he’s already feel like she’s a source of strength and affection.

They stayed at the company until lunch break, and thanked the vice president for his guides. Sidney asked him to keep taking care of the company while his father is still on his trip.

She was so glad to be out of that place, though she knew she’d have to get used to it if she was going to help him. “It’s lunch time and I’m hungry, so do you want to go out to eat someplace?” she asked once they were outside the building.