14 Play As A Disciplinary Action

Tim had this massive smile when he came out of the office. They assume it made the boss happy, the reason he is grinning now. 

The secretaries were curious about what was in the bag, so they asked him. 

"Tim, what did you bring to the President? You look happy now. Did the boss feel good?"

Tim glanced at the three secretaries peeking at the entrance door of the partition. With a serious face, he replied, "You know the President hates being gossiped about his personal life. How many times do I have to warn you? If you don't want your salary cut in half from this month, you better do your work and stop gossiping about the boss!" 

"We won't ask again!" They said at once, rushing back to their table and busying themselves in front of their computers.

"TSK! They need to threaten first before they stop nosing around." Shaking his head, Tim mumbled. He picks up his phone on the table, taps the Messenger App on the screen, and leaves a message to notify the company executives.

"Peps! Heads up! Free lunch from the boss! Let's work harder! 11:30, we're off..."

"Great!"

Bunch of replies all the way. But Tim didn't read them as he needed to call for a reservation and ordered ahead to prepare the room and have food served the moment they arrived at the restaurant. Afterward, they must return to the office at one o'clock in the afternoon.

Exactly noon, Vince stopped working on the long table. He sat up straight and stretched his back while massaging his neck. He glanced at the blue lunch bag on the coffee table. 

Honestly, he anxiously waited to finish sorting the blueprints of his current projects to check what was in that bag. However, it took him a while to finish sorting his work, to properly turn it over to a team. He had to assign it to others as he had a new project that needed his full attention. Soon, this project will be his most extensive work, so he has to impress this big client to get the project.

Now he could sit for lunch. Vince opens the lunch bag and takes out the five containers inside. One by one, he opened the lid of the boxes, and an enticing aroma of dishes caught his nose.

One food container is a pork steak. One is garlic fried rice and boiled ribs. The other one is a vegetable salad. No. It should have soup in here, thought Vince. 

Vince took out the thermo. Upon checking, he found out it was the ribs soup. If he had known earlier, he had his lunch earlier than usual to enjoy the soup if he had known. 

"Hmm... Is she trying to make a peace offering? So, she thinks I'm mad at her?" A playful smile tore across Vince's handsome face. He uttered, "Silly girl..."

She doesn't know that it helped him instead. Now he could get rid of Zenaida to keep coming to his office. It annoyed him that she always came to see him, even if he had already assigned a director to oversee the management of Lan Enterprise. And if there are problems, Zenaida could report them to the director, who presents his weekly reports.

However, Zenaida insists on reporting to him directly. And when he reminded the woman of their actual setup, she told his mother... boom!  His mother nagged him every single day after that. 

"Women are annoying," he frowned while mumbling these words. "Well, that silly girl thinks I'm still mad at her, huh? Maybe it's a good idea to put it that way." 

Pushing a smirk on the corner of his mouth, Vince rose from the sofa and went out to get a plate. Hailey had already sent him a clean spoon, fork, and chopsticks. Great! He didn't need to use the utensil in his office, which he needed to wash first, and Tim wasn't here to do that for him. Anyway, no other people use the utensils in his office but him. And Tim knew he could not touch them.

Coming back, Vince slowly transferred the fried garlic rice to the plate. He opens the fifth container; the content is a fried noodle with lots of dumplings.

"Hmm..." Vince stuffs his mouth with sliced pork steak, followed by a spoonful of rice. He rolled the lettuce, dipped it into the mayo, savored the food inside his mouth before swallowing them, and then stuffed it with quail eggs. 

'I will let her think I was mad about the issue. So it will play as a disciplinary action against her. If I showed that what she did is a nice job, she might act spoiled from now on.' He mused.

Meanwhile, in a restaurant near the University. Hailey keeps checking her phone to see if Vince has sent her a text. But nothing. She frowned. 'So he doesn't like the lunch I made for him? What else should I do, so he'll forget about that issue? Ugh! Why so hard to coax him?'

Hailey helplessly sighed. She's not good at persuading someone, as her dad and the boys always make an effort.

'And why am I fretting myself to please him? Ah! This isn't right!'

"Hey, what's your problem?"

Hailey returned to her senses when someone knocked her on the head; it was Hazel. Her classmate in Management class.

Hazel is pretty with her beautiful natural tan color. She has long jet-black hair, big round brown eyes, and a proud nose paired with a heart-shaped lip.

Every man in that restaurant can't help glancing at their table. Nadia and Liza; are both beautiful too. And it was a blessing to meet these girls when she moved into the country.

She was still in a trance of her thought when Hazel repeated her question and added… "Is this about the gossip?" 

Hailey nodded. She lowered her head to stuff her mouth with the dumplings she had ordered for lunch.

"Jeez. You just did the right thing! I know the Lan family, and Zenaida is the worst! She's arrogant, and everyone in High Society knows she has a thing for her brother-in-law, your boyfriend. So don't be bothered about what you said, honey." Hazel's litany. 

Hailey almost choked on her food when Hazel mentioned the word 'boyfriend'. Of course, it was what was in the eyes of the people who didn't know about the contract. Besides, according to Liza, Vince's marriage had already dissolved because they had never lived together or acted as a couple in these passing years.

But it left her confused with a question in her head. 'Is this the reason Eva has the guts to cheat on Vince? And yet, she is enjoying Shen's money. She is worse than her sister, Zenaida. And Vince… it could be the same reason he is less concerned about searching for Eva's whereabouts?' Hailey mused. 'No way! I will remain Vince's mistress if they haven't had an official divorce! How could I be free from the contract?! Now, this is a problem!' 

Hailey suddenly, in a great panic that her face didn't hide it. Nadia, who had watched her silently, gathered the courage to ask her. "Are you in a fight with Mr. Shen?" 

'Ah, this smart girl!' Hailey thought. She smiled at Nadia as she replied to the girl, "I wasn't thinking when I made that post." She paused and rolled her eyes like she remembered something. Biting her lower lip, she mouthed, "I didn't think it would drag Vince's name and reputation. I beat his mom in great rage and cursed me a thousand times." 

Her friends froze from their seats and realized that matter. They forgot Vince's mom... 

'The Great Madam Hilda Shen!'