Chapter 23 Truth (2/2)

”You are my major headache.” Leona shook her head and said, ”I can't stop you if you insist on leaving. But according to our company rules, if you resign now, you have to wait a month before going through the procedures. Do you know that?”

”I understand.”

”Well, I accept your resignation. You can go to inform the human resource department.”

Getting out of Leona's office, Ashley noticed the flashing screen of his mobile phone when she went back to her desk. She unlocked her phone and saw the text from Francis.

What Dylan said was right. Francis still had feelings for her, so things would go much easier. Ashley thought for a while and replied, ”Then shall we meet at the Crystal Palace? You name the time.”

Francis was so nervous. He unlocked the phone to check the message. Sweats began to break out in his palms. He was even more nervous than when he courted Ashley.

He sent a message: seven o'clock in the evening.

Ashley replied, ”okay.”.

Holding the mobile phone in his hand, Ashley was sitting on chair to think about the next step: their relationship was already quite bad, and it was not wrong to say their relation was worse than enemy. The only chip in her hand was just a little bit of Francis' attachment to her. So the goal of the next step was to change the relation from an enemy to a common friend.

”Ashley, are you out of mind? You are not paid to sit here in a trance.”

Ashley glanced at Kate and didn't say anything. She didn't want to waste her energy on someone like Kate.

Seeing that Ashley didn't refute her, Kate was quite satisfied and went to inspect other employees.

Carol slid her chair with a document in her hand and said, ”Ashley, I don't understand these. Can you teach me?”

Ashley took a look at the document and didn't find anything wrong. She just came here to have a gossip with her.

”Have you heard about Kate?”

Ashley was not in the mood to deal with the company these days. She looked puzzled and asked, ”what's the matter?”

Carol said with a pressed voice, ”Kate was nurtured as mistress by a leader.”

Ashley was shocked. Although Kate was a little bit silly, she had always put on an air of strong indignation, and Ashley didn't expect an easygoing woman like her would accept to be a mistress.

”That's why we can easily settle Dylan's matter.” Then Ashley finally understood why Kate came back to work so soon. ”But does she have to sacrifice herself for a job?”

Carol reasoned, ”Maybe work is just an opportunity. Perhaps there are other temptations that she could not resist.”

What else except money and vanity? Ashley thought in her heart, and then she asked, ”Where did you get the news?”

”Who else can it be? It's someone in our company. Being a mistress should retrained herself a little bit. You know, our colleague were good at exploiting people's privacy. ” Carol said with a more pressed voice, ”I don't know which staff Kate had offended. It spread quickly as soon as the scandal was revealed.”

Ashley looked at Kate who was not far away. It seemed Kate didn't realize that others were talking about her, or she enjoyed being discussed by others as if she was standing in the center of the world and she was the big shot in it.

Ashley suddenly pitied Kate.

Carol continued, ”If she continues to do that, news will soon come to the leader's wife. Kate will end up with misery.”

After talking with the HR Director, Ashley submitted her resignation letter. And then she stayed in the company all day without going out to squat on the news.

It was sunny the whole day. The wind began to blow at four o'clock in the afternoon. The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and some thinner trees even became crescent under the strong wind.

It might rain at night, thought Ashley. If she wore a dress in such a bad weather, she would be in a mess, so shirt and denim shorts would surely be more suitable for her. But Ashley wanted to leave a good impression on Francis, at least letting him know that she had paid a lot attention on him.

After thinking for a while, Ashley went to the street and bought a red above-the-knee dress. She wore a white Chiffon shirt, with a light make-up, and her long hair hanging over her shoulders. Then she went to the Crystal Palace shortly.

She used to come here with Francis in the morning, because they loved the dumplings hairy crab roe in Crystal Palace. The waitress seemed to have remembered her so they greeted her warmly. Ashley went to the table on the third floor by the lotus pond. She always dined on that table. She believed that Francis could find her.

She sat down and ordered a pot of tea. She looked at the lotus pool at dusk while waiting for him.

At 6:55, Francis arrived. From the reflection of the glass window, Ashley saw him wearing a suit and walking slowly towards her.

After calming herself down, Ashley smoothed her hair and turned around

”Oho, so you've come!”