Chapter 430:
Freya said nothing, just looked at him.
At first, he clung to the belief that she was joking.
But as he ate the rest of his breakfast and got no further explanation, doubt began to gnaw at him.
“You’re being serious?” he asked at last.
“You can ask Toby,” Freya said, glancing at her watch. “He should be getting ready for the office by now.”
Alan scrambled for his phone, finally spotting it on the couch.
Just as he was about to dial, it rang.
It was Toby. “Sir, should I pick you up from Mr. Shaw’s place, or will you be heading to the office on your own?”
Toby’s words hit like a thunderclap, snuffing out the last flicker of denial in Alan’s chest.
“I actually left with Kristian last night?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?” Alan was already spiraling, his mood sinking fast. “You’re my secretary—do you think it’s acceptable to let the partner company’s boss walk off with me?”
“It’s not acceptable,” Toby answered smoothly.
Alan pressed, “Then why let him take me?”
“I tried to bring you home, sir, but you refused. You picked him,” Toby answered plainly. “Both of you told me to leave, so I didn’t have a choice.”
Honestly, he was still trying to figure out why his boss would choose Kristian over him.
Their working relationship had only just begun to grow closer.
gα ℓη σ ν𝒆 𝓁s․com holds great reads
Alan ended the call in one swift motion.
He slumped forward, staring at Freya like a man freshly defeated. “Mina, just put me out of my misery. I can’t live with this.” Utter mortification.
Complete, all-consuming shame.
“Don’t be so quick to surrender,” Freya said, twisting the knife just a little deeper. “You still need to apologize to Kristian and pay for the damages.”
Damages? There were damages involved? Spinning in a storm of emotions, Alan forced himself to ask, “What exactly happened at his place last night?”
“I don’t know the full picture. When you called me, you thought you were a master fighter,” Freya recalled, though her memory was patchy. “You told me not to come because Kristian was plotting to kill me and be the strongest left in the world.”
Alan was left speechless. What kind of nonsense had he been spouting?
“You also said you were going to kick his ass and make him pay,” Freya went on.
Alan stayed quiet.
Freya added, “And one more thing.”
“What now?”
“You believed he poisoned you, so you tried to purge the toxins from your body.” Freya always had a way of delivering the harshest truths with a straight face.
Alan wished the floor would open and swallow him whole. He was mortified beyond belief.
“If you’re too humiliated to apologize, I can do it for you when I go fix his phone,” Freya offered. “I’d also make sure to cover whatever costs are needed.”
“I’ll do it myself,” Alan said, drawing a long breath and steeling himself.
It was just embarrassment. If he acted unfazed, then the awkwardness would land on Kristian instead.
When he went, he would show up and apologize with a straight face. Freya raised an eyebrow, testing him. “You sure?”
.
.
.