Chapter 729: No!

[Chapter 729: No!]

Burbank, Firefly headquarters.

As the iconic duo, one tall and one short, walked into the office building, passing employees greeted them warmly.

"Caroline, Melanie, good morning."

"Renee, good morning."

"Mr. Weissman, good morning."

"Jean, good morning."

The petite Caroline Wilson politely greeted everyone she brushed past in her distinctive accent. Americans often had complicated feelings toward the British; if someone spoke in a tone reminiscent of a proud British aristocrat, it could lead to strong aversion. However, the petite girl's innate purity and sincerity lightened the mood and inspired no negative feelings. Many younger male employees even made it a point to learn the girls' work schedules just to hear her simple "good morning," looking for opportunities to run into her.

Melanie Gleason, standing next to Caroline with breakfast in hand, pretended to be busy, merely nodding with her eyes while munching away at her sandwich. She shot an exaggerated eye roll towards a guy from the distribution department named Jean. These timid guys just stood around every day, greeting Caroline, but because of rumors involving Caroline and Eric, they didn't dare to engage in deeper conversations.

Having worked in Eric's assistant's office for nearly a year, Melanie had gained a thorough understanding of her boss. The more she knew, the more she felt that there was no possibility of Caroline and Eric being together. In her attempts to divert Caroline's affections away from Eric, she had even tried to set her up with boyfriends, but each effort ended in vain.

Eric's assistant's office was situated on the sixth floor. To finish breakfast before reaching the office, Melanie pulled Caroline to take the stairs, just in time for Melanie to finish her breakfast as they arrived on the sixth floor.

A paper towel was offered to her from the side, and Melanie ungraciously took it, wiped her mouth, and laughed, saying, "You sure know how to take care of me, Caroline."

"If you sleep in again, I won't help you make breakfast," Caroline playfully threatened.

Melanie tossed the napkin into the trash without a second thought, tidied her hair, and cheerfully remarked, "If I hadn't covered for you at the party last night, it would have been you who couldn't get up today."

Caroline retorted, "You practically dragged me there! I didn't even want to go. I hardly knew those people."

"I did it for your own good. You're turning into a little nun, working all day long without a break, daydreaming about someone!"

Caroline felt her cheeks flush from Melanie's last comment but still defended herself, saying, "I think my current lifestyle is just fine."

Being a simple girl, Caroline was content with her life. She had a good-paying job that didn't require her to rely on her family. Plus, she had some caring friends around her. Most importantly, she not only worked for Eric but could occasionally see him too. Though naive, she wasn't foolish; she was even smarter than most people. Deep down, she knew this unrequited love wouldn't lead anywhere, yet she didn't want to force herself to adjust for anyone else. She just thought that when she no longer felt the same way about him, she would leave.

Eric's assistant's office had a unique position within the Firefly Group. Though located in the Firefly headquarters building, it served as a vital communication hub between Eric and all his enterprises.

As per Eric's arrangement, Caroline and Melanie were responsible for matters related to Yahoo, Cisco, and America Online, leading a small six-person team that included both of them. Thanks to her special relationship with Eric and her outstanding work abilities, Caroline had been promoted to team leader by Kelly at the beginning of the year.

Although this caused a potential candidate for the role to leave the company, in the past six months, Caroline had gained everyone's recognition. After all, the most crucial quality for the position was not social skills but exceptional information gathering, organizing, and coordination abilities. With her capability to absorb vast amounts of specialized knowledge effortlessly, no one could claim to be better than her at this.

The two girls entered the office, greeted their fellow colleagues, then Caroline settled at her desk and turned on her computer, ready to start the day's work.

...

Yahoo's annual conference was set to take place from July 10 to July 14, featuring key events like the Yahoo Network Product Launch, Yahoo Advertising Alliance Conference, and Yahoo Technology Alliance Conference. Recently, their team had been receiving daily prep updates from Boston for the conference, compiling the information to send to Eric for review. They even relayed some of Eric's special instructions back to Boston. On top of that, Eric had assigned them additional tasks, making them incredibly busy.

The East Coast was three hours ahead of the West Coast. Caroline opened her email inbox, which was already flooded with twenty unread messages.

After thoroughly reading all the emails, Caroline just opened the sending and receiving interface, intending to forward two important emails to Kelly Haynes when she heard the sound of high heels clicking towards her. Looking up, she saw Kelly walking in her direction.

"Good morning, Ms. Haynes," Caroline stood up from her cubicle.

"Morning, Caroline," Kelly smiled and nodded, handing Caroline a file folder.

Caroline recognized the folder as the schedule for the Yahoo conference that she had just organized yesterday. Feeling a bit anxious, she asked, "Ms. Haynes, is there something wrong?"

"Of course not," Kelly shook her head and said. "I need to head to Playa Vista immediately for an impromptu meeting. Eric will be here at ten to review these documents, so please deliver them to him. Since you organized these materials, if he has any questions, he can ask you directly."

"But, Ms. Haynes..." Caroline began to protest, but Kelly had already grabbed her handbag, saying, "No buts, Caroline. I need to go. I'll see you later."

As soon as Kelly left the office, Melanie leaned over from her cubicle and, seeing Caroline lost in thought while holding a folder, teased, "Caroline, do you want me to report to the boss for you?"

"No," Caroline instinctively rejected that idea but quickly realized Melanie was just joking, which made others in the office chuckle.

Giving Melanie an embarrassed glare, Caroline sat down, hiding in her cubicle. She glanced at the clock; there were still fifteen minutes until ten, so she quickly flipped through the document, intending to review the information she was already familiar with -- just to be safe.

...

At ten o'clock, Eric had just settled into his office when a few minutes later, a small figure was shown in by the secretary.

"Hi, Caroline," Eric looked up upon seeing Caroline enter and was not surprised; the secretary had already informed him that Kelly had to rush to Playa Vista.

"Hi, Eric," Caroline walked over and handed him the file. "This is the schedule for Yahoo's events from the 10th to the 14th."

Eric smiled as he took the document, gesturing for Caroline to sit casually. He then instructed the secretary to bring them two cups of coffee before he began to review the papers.

*****

https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.