At Sy Building
Jorge and Liam were still going through some documents in Liam's office late in the afternoon when Jorge started sneaking glances at Liam with squinted eyes, then at Lana's room every now and then.
The curiosity, about what happened in Liam's meeting with Gale that morning, was killing him. Lana was pretty occupied with her work and hence busy inside her room as well, so for Jorge it was good timing to subtly ask Liam the details since every room on this floor was soundproof anyway and Lana would not be able to hear their conversation.
Jorge coughed, clearing his throat, but was still contemplating on how he should throw his words at Liam about the taboo topic. He again sneaked a glance at Liam, then scratched his head.
"Nothing interesting happened, Jorge. As I've said many times, Gale is just like some usual random client of ours who is lucky to get my attention and my time to defend her in the courtroom…" Liam nonchalantly commented, sparing him some information for his frustrated curiosity.
It was true that Liam accepted some pro bono cases that caught his attention, cases which were difficult to win and most of the lawyers either denied fighting them or would ask plenty of money, mostly the cases where those people stepped on because they could not defend themselves.
"Did you tell Lana about her?" Jorge finally asked.
"No." Liam plainly answered.
"Why not?" Jorge pondered.
Liam looked at Jorge with a blank face and wryly said, "She thinks that I'm a gay, Jorge, and also said that she will leave even the internship if she found out I'm a straight man."
"Darn!" Jorge burst in shock.
"For real?" he asked, but Liam ignored him and only answered with an irritated sigh that Jorge took as a 'yes'.
"Woah! No wonder she agreed easily with everything despite being known as a notorious man hater." Jorge commented then his eyes widened as excitement rushed in his veins as he asked, "Don't tell me you'll act as a gay to keep her by your side? Oh, that will be hilarious if you do!"
"Of course not!" Liam hissed, feeling infuriated.
"What now? What's your plan?" Jorge asked, giving Liam and Lana's room a look one by one.
Liam was about to answer when Daryl suddenly rushed inside the room.
"Liam I need to have a word with you." Daryl said.
"Good thing you're also here." Daryl commented, seeing Jorge inside. Liam signaled Daryl to sit with Jorge on the couch.
Liam looked at Daryl with knitted brows and asked, "What is it?"
"I think we have a small problem." Daryl informed with an expression of uncertainty. He was not sure if this was a problem at all, because it usually happened when there were new competitors of the same league. But Yao Law Firm was something big, and it was the first time they made such an audacious move against them.
"What?" Jorge asked.
"I overheard some conversations at the rooftop that some of our lawyers were receiving exciting offers from the Yao Law firm. They are trying to poach most of our good and established lawyers in short." Daryl reported. He did not check his email yet, but he too received some unanimous calls that he assumed were from Yao Law firm.
"That's a pretty bold move," Jorge muttered, feeling irritated with how Yao law firm had no ethics in doing such a thing against them.
Liam smirked. "I guess that is the company that Mr. Noah had taken over, and he is already on the move of trying to beat us down. Hmmm… interesting…. Daryl, check all our lawyers who received the said offers from them. I want to know what kind of offers they are willing to bargain with." Liam instructed.
Noah Yu was getting on his nerves from the first moment he saw the man.
'Be the best law firm? Hah! Just try if you can beat me ever!' Liam arrogantly mused. Many had tried, but none had the power to beat his firm.
"If he wants to fight, we must not disappoint the man at all. Show him what we got," he gritted.
'I would never get beaten over again,' he mused full of conviction while he took a quick glance at Lana's room.
Jorge and Daryl exchanged meaningful glances. Usually Liam would only laugh out at anything like that or say something like, "let them do what they want."
'Show him what we got?' That was not Liam's style unless there was some other score to settle there... but was there any?
Both Jorge and Daryl shook their heads. They at first thought that Liam would take this challenge like every other time, but he surprised them with his sudden change in strategy by raging a war against the competitor firm.
Jorge lowered his eyes and gave it a thought. He concluded Liam was definitely feeling threatened at that point, knowing him for years. But his fear could sure not be related with the firm, as he had always been too confident when it came to it. Something else must be the matter behind that attitude of Liam's .
'Why is he glancing towards Lana's room?' Jorge thought, smelling something fishy about Liam over-reacting like that. Soon after, Liam dismissed him and Daryl.
Jorge went out to do some of his pending tasks outside when he stopped into a bakery and saw a newly opened seafood restaurant close by. He had a wide grin as Miley's drooling face popped before his eyes. He knew Miley especially loved seafood.
He quickly picked his mobile phone from his pocket and dialed Miley's number.
"Yes... brother...?" Jorge heard Miley say on the other line.
"What the heck, Miley! Stop calling me brother!" Jorge hissed.
Miley's brows raised as she sarcastically grunted, "What do you want me to call you then? Boyfriend? You only said we're siblings, so it's more appropriate to call you brother than anything else."
"Call me Jorge like you used to…" Jorge mumbled. He was too irritated being called brother by her.
"Whatever! What is it anyway? Why are you calling?" Miley beamed. She decided to ignore Jorge as her last resort. Maybe he would finally get that courage to confess his true feelings to her.
A friend of hers gave this advice to her saying some men usually get used to the woman being around them thus getting too confident about the woman's feelings towards them so they tend not to give importance to it, knowing she was always there.
"There's a newly opened seafood restaurant. Let's try it out. I will pick you up…" Jorge excitedly informed her.
"Oh really? Sorry, but I have a date this evening. Ask bro Liam instead. Bye." Miley answered before ending the call soon.
Jorge was shocked with the way she ended the call and he felt like a bucket of ice had been vigorously splashed on him. His heart sank in an indescribable feeling.
Mass Release 6/11
chapter edited by monikam
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