Chapter 14 I Am Not Interested In Lionel

• “Lionel Holloway, you’d better stop right there!” Becky stomped her feet in frustration, extremely displeased with the cold shoulder that she was receiving from Lionel. As she sprained the muscle of her shoulder while she was doing that, she let out a groan in pain.
• Becky thought that she had no hope of catching up with Lionel anymore because of the delay. To her utter surprise, Lionel, who had been ignoring her, suddenly whirled around as he cast a glance at her.
• “What’s the matter?” he asked.
• Becky was first stunned by his question before elation took over her face. “Lionel, are you worried about me? I can’t believe that you actually care about me!”
• Yasmin and Serena, who were waiting for the elevator, couldn’t help but shudder at Becky’s kittenish voice.
• Lionel managed to catch Yasmin’s reaction as he had been watching her from the corner of his eyes.
• “Lionel, my shoulder hurts a lot. It’s all the fault of that hideous lady who punched me at the cafe that night! I’m still feeling the pain up until now. Why don’t you help me soothe the pain by giving me a massage?” Becky’s eyes were laden with affection, and she seemed eager to share some intimate moments with Lionel.
• To her dismay, Lionel carefully maintained a distance from her by taking a step backward. Although Yasmin could not observe their interaction because she was facing them with her back, goosebumps still broke out all over her skin when she heard Becky’s sugar-coated voice.
• Yasmin thought of sneaking a peek at them to see how Lionel flirted with his girl in public. Yet, she immediately aborted the idea as soon as she heard Becky mentioning how she was punched at the cafe. Worrying that Lionel would possibly reveal to Becky that she was the culprit, Yasmin frantically hauled Serena away. “Let’s get going!”
• The elevator arrived at the most opportune time. Yasmin hopped onto it as quickly as she could, frantically pressing the button in an effort to shut the doors.
• “Yasmin, what’s going on with you? Why are you behaving like you’re being chased by a dog?” Serena asked, looking puzzled.
• “Yes, I am truly trying to avoid a mad dog!” Yasmin snorted icily when she thought of Becky’s efforts in trying to seduce Lionel earlier.
• The doors of the elevator slowly began to shut. Just seconds before the doors were fully shut, Yasmin felt someone’s gaze on her as her heart suddenly lurched. Instinctively, she looked up ahead and was immediately greeted by a pair of brooding eyes that belonged to Lionel.
• The manner in which he stared at her was frighteningly intimidating; he looked as though he was about to devour every inch of her any given minute.
• All at once, Yasmin’s pulse began to race furiously.
• Lionel and her locked eyes with one another for a fleeting moment until the elevator doors were fully closed. Even when the elevator had already started its ascent, Yasmin was still bothered by the emotion in Lionel’s eyes.
• “Hey, what’s bugging you?” Taking note of Yasmin’s trance-like state, Serena soon flicked her fingers in front of Yasmin’s eyes.
• “Huh? Oh, nothing!” Yasmin lowered her face to hide her flustered look. Meanwhile, Serena started droning on about her opinion of Lionel.
• “Alas, why would a man as perfect as Mr. Holloway be interested in a slutty girl like Becky? It’s so obvious that Becky’s done numerous procedures on her face. She’s so loud and foul-tempered too! How could a b*tch like her have gotten pregnant with Mr. Holloway’s child? He clearly deserves a girl who is much better than her!”
• Serena paused when she reached that part of her sentence. Looking contemplative with her brows furrowed together, she looked up at Yasmin and pointed out, “Yasmin, for some reason, I still have a feeling that Mr. Holloway is interested in you! What do you...”
• “Oh, please!” Yasmin clapped both hands to her forehead, unable to stand how absurd Serena’s speculation sounded.
• “Just let me finish, will you?” In a serious tone, Serena elaborated, “It isn’t unusual for young, rich, and handsome guys like Mr. Holloway to have more than one girlfriend at one time. So, there’s actually a chance that he is thinking of making you one of his girlfriends!”
• “Serena Watts, are you finished?” Not interested in more of Serena’s meaningless suppositions, Yasmin blurted out her counterargument, “As you’d put it just now, he is a man with many girlfriends. Seeing as such, why would he even fancy me?”
• “Of course it’s because you’re gorgeous, more so than Becky! If I were a man, I would have already lured you to bed!” Serena quipped with one brow raised.
• Just as Yasmin was about to say something to refute her, the elevator dinged to remind them that they had reached the Human Resource Department at level twenty-two of the building. Although the office was deserted during the lunch hour, they knew better than to carry on their discussion of Lionel, knowing very well that the walls had ears.
• After the lunch break, what Yasmin dreaded the most happened - she was summoned to the manager’s office. A file came flying in her direction as soon as she stepped foot in the office. Fortunately, she managed to avoid it with her agile reflexes. Then, she looked up to see Becky staring coldly at her with her arms crossed in front of her chest behind her desk.
• Yasmin was adamant that Lionel must have told Becky that she was the girl who punched her that fateful day at the cafe. At that juncture, she couldn’t help but curse him as well as his entire family for pulling off such an unscrupulous act on her. Nonetheless, she remained calm and composed on the outside. She decided to steel herself to put up with the criticisms that she would possibly have to receive from Becky because she could not afford to lose the job.
• “Ms. Ingram?” Yasmin had no choice but to speak first to break the long silence.
• “Is your name Yasmin? I had no idea that there were so many incompetent people working for this company! Take a look at this file that you’re in charge of! How could you fail to spot such a blatant mistake? Are you blind?” With a loud smack, Becky thrust the file down on the floor in front of Yasmin and started admonishing her.
• Yasmin took several deep breaths to remind herself not to lose her temper. Then, she picked up the file from the floor and frowned at its content. Is Becky actually aware of what she is doing? The document inside the file was speckled with red circles left by Becky to point out the mistakes. However, Yasmin was always very meticulous in doing her work, so she was very sure that there were no such mistakes at the time that she submitted her work.
• “Ms. Ingram, I think that there’s something wrong with this docu—” Yasmin tried to say something in her defense.
• Yet, Becky was so used to having her opinion undisputed that she could not accept Yasmin’s doubt toward what she had said. Before Yasmin could even finish her sentence, Becky was enraged.
• “Which one of us is the manager here? Yasmin, you’d better listen to me carefully - don’t ever think that you can get away with anything you do just because Mr. Holloway seems to be interested in you. Mind you, there are plenty of women out there who can’t wait to sleep with Mr. Holloway! There’s no way that he will fancy you because he’s only toying with you!” Becky scoffed.
• “So? Is that a valid reason for you to pick on me?” Yasmin confronted Becky with her brows raised, her eyes laden with contempt. Lionel really played a role in Becky’s angry outburst!
• “I’m merely giving you a piece of advice out of my good will. With your mediocre appearance and shabby background, it’s best that you give up any idea of approaching Mr. Holloway as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will end up facing serious repercussions!” Becky shot Yasmin a hard look, her perfectly mascaraed eyes brimming with despise.
• “Ms. Ingram, you’ve really got a point there!” Yasmin nodded her head with composure.
• “I’m glad that you can understand my words well. Seems like you aren’t as dumb as you look huh!” Satisfied with how well Yasmin had received her advice, Becky nodded and waved at Yasmin in dismissal. “You may go now.”
• Yasmin took the file with her as she made her way toward the door. Before she left, she whirled around and made a grimace of disgust at Becky. “Ms. Ingram, please don’t be worried because I’m not in the least bit interested in Mr. Holloway!”
• She deliberately placed emphasis toward the end of her sentence. After that, she spun around and walked out of the room.
• The manager’s office plunged into a state of complete silence for a whole minute. It was the calm before the storm as it was immediately followed by a loud shriek as well as a series of thumping noises when things started tumbling down from the table.
• Meanwhile, everyone in the department buried their heads in work, pretending as if they did not hear the conversation that had taken place in the manager’s office earlier.