40 CHAPTER 40: FIRST STEP

Something is wrong with the CEO!

He's abnormally glowing and has been giggling from time to time, and its creeping his employees!

"Did something good happened last night?" Sonny asked the blissful guy as they trekked the hallway to the meeting room. "What's with your delightful face?"

"It has always been delightful!" He even smiled at the furrowed man."What I mean is you are not yourself since you came to work this morning. You've been acting strange… but of course, in a good way."

"Do you want me to be sad or get angry instead?""No! That's not what I mean!" Sonny interjected."Then just be happy that I am oddly in a good mood today. Who knows it may be forever." Marcus chuckled jokingly.

Dang it! Did Marcus joke? That's not him! Sonny suddenly shivered.

"You're clearly not my boss. Bring me back my Marcus!" Sonny held on both cheeks."Sonny, do you really wanna die?" He glared at the exaggerated man.

He grinned playfully as he retracted his hands.

"Now, that's my boss." Sonny sneered as he followed the man inside the meeting room.

The project team along with the marketing team decided to worked together to present their new revised project proposal for the new set of beauty products. With the help of Jade's suggestion, they were able to come up with a good marketing strategy that could be a hit.

"Oh, beauty products in set? That's a great idea!" Marcus complimented his staffs for the very first time as soon as they were done presenting and discussing their proposal. "Yes, I like it. You certainly did well today." He even smiled at them.

The employees and the managers who were present were all astonished as they looked at the man with curiosity. Did the CEO bang his head somewhere?

This is totally the first time they heard him praised their work without criticizing it first. The managers who were present that moment spotted some minor problems on the proposal so they were expecting the boss to flare up in anger due to the team's errors but to their surprise, he didn't even name them.

He is totally not their CEO!

"T-thank you, sir. The truth is, these ideas came from miss Arria. She helped us a lot for the past few days."

"Oh, Jade." He lit up when he remembered what happen to them last night. "That's great. She's truly awesome." He might not have noticed but the people in the room, especially Sonny, was able to see the change on his face when they mentioned Jade's name.

He seemed to be on cloud nine!

Marcus ended the meeting in a short simple encouragement speech before they headed back to his office. When Sonny saw that Jade's desk was empty, he approached the man and asked.

"Mr. Hanes, I saw that miss Arria isn't here yet. Did she notify you about it?'"No.""Oh, then let me call her so------" Sonny was about to bring out his phone but Marcus stopped him."Don't. That's not necessary." He was beaming again. "I already know she won't be able to make it today." He grinned naughtily.

"Is she sick? again?" Sonny was worried but looking at the smirking man, looked like he knew what exactly happened.

"Uhm, something relative to that.""Ohhh… Okay." His eyes were studying the man. "Would you like me to do her job? again?" "No. Not necessary. It might cause unnecessary misunderstanding again in the future." He twitched his lip as he stared at the man reminding him of his slip-up the other day.

"Yeah. I better not. I get it." Sonny hissed and dashed to the door and bid him goodbye. 'Dang it, that was close!' He heaved a sigh of relief before going back to his desk.

As soon as Sonny got out, Marcus picked up his phone and sent Jade a message.

"What? Did he just tell me to be absent today?' Jade exclaimed as soon as she read Marcus message. "But why is that? Doesn't he want to see me after what happen last night?" She was talking to herself.

"No way! I won't let you impose your--- Ahhhhh!" She yelped when she felt the pain in her waist down to her core.

Ah, so much pain! She could feel the ache all over her body when she sat at the edge of ---- Oh, wait, did she slept at Marcus bed? She widened her eyes in disbelief but joy surged within her.

Yes! She suddenly jumped in joy forgetting the physical pain she's been feeling. "And finally, Jade! Wish come true!" She giggled nonstop when she realized that her husband had consummate their marriage after a long time of waiting.

Way to go, Jade! She tapped her chest as she walked slowly to the shower room. Checking her body condition with the hickeys in her neck down to the shoulder gave her the impression that it's totally not good to show up to work today. It's already ten in the morning anyway.

After shower, Jade wore a comfy jogging pants and decided to go to the nearby park for the time being. She wanted to at least take a walk and get some fresh air. She's been thinking a lot of disturbing thoughts just a while ago and she doesn't want to ruin the joy within her.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Jade suddenly came back to her senses when someone bumped into her. "Are you okay, miss?"

A man who seemed to be in his fifties was holding a small pug as he stood in front of her. He kept apologizing for spilling his tea on her shirt.

"Oh, don't worry mister, I'm fine." She smiled sweetly at the man who looked troubled.

"Oh no, I stained your shirt. Let me get you another dress----''"Please no! I'm perfectly fine." She interrupted. "Besides, my house is just a distance away from here.""Are you possibly living at Z subdivision?" The man inquired.

"Uhm, y-yes." She hesitated a little."Perfect! I live in there too. Who knows we might be neighbors." The man chucked jokingly. "By the way, my name is Barry. I just came back from Switzerland the other day so this place is kinda new to me."

"Whoa, Switzerland! I wish I could go their one time too." She replied. "My name is Jade. Well, if you want, I can show you around the place." She offered.

"Aren't you busy?'"Ah, not for today.'' "Then, if that's the case, I shall humbly accept your offer, miss Jade. Thank you." The man kowtowed and smiled sweetly as he followed the woman's lead.

'Gotcha!' The man smirked wickedly.

His first step is to get close to his son and the woman is the fastest way for him to spy on him. Yes, he will definitely use the woman to get to his son without the chairwoman noticing him.