Chapter 8 You Cannot Afford It

• “I’m really sorry! My mom was doing the laundry, so she washed this shirt too.” I lowered my head nervously. “If only I got back earlier.”
• Roy rummaged his shirt’s pocket angrily and pulled out a piece of wet, torn paper. It was then that I realized the shirt wasn’t what he was looking for; it was the piece of paper in the pocket. Upon seeing that, I scratched my neck in embarrassment, since I wore the shirt he had worn out of courtesy, but I never expected it to contain something important. And to think I thought wearing his new shirt was rude.
• “Is it something important? I-I can make it up to you,” I said nervously.
• “You can’t afford it.” He shot me a nasty glare and hurled his shirt away, then he went back to his car with only that piece of paper in hand before he left.
• I picked his shirt up and trudged back to my home, sighing, but when I was halfway through, I realized something, and it sent a chill down my spine. Sh*t. My nudes are still in that phone, and I didn’t take it back! I turned around to see if he was still there, but Roy’s car was already gone.
• God f*cking d*mn it! What’s wrong with me? I was a brilliant sales supervisor in my company, and my colleagues respected me deeply for my skills, but now I was acting like a bumbling idiot.
• I didn’t have his contact number, nor did I know who he was, so all I could do was pray that he was uninterested in my nudes. Since I had a week off work because of my marriage, I stayed at home most of the time, primarily because I didn’t want to hear the neighborhood gossip about me.
• Also, I didn’t bring the divorce up with Ben anymore, since I got a lawyer to handle the proceedings. My dad was running a maid agency, so he worked long hours every day, and the profit was decent. Since I had nothing to do, I learned how to cook and plant from my mom.
• The off week went by like a breeze, and I went back to work, where I could shine. The moment I came back, my colleagues wanted to know everything about the marriage. In response, I smiled at them. “It ended in a flash. I’ll treat you guys to a meal when I get my own car though.”
• My colleagues looked at each other, then they went back to their stations, seeing as I wasn’t kidding. A moment later, the sales manager came up to me and handed a document over. “The boss wants to work with this client. They just moved their HQ to our city’s financial district. I want you to get the selling rights for their electronics in Woodland.”
• I frowned. “But this is the PR department’s job. I’m a sales supervisor. I can’t deal with partnership negotiations.”
• Howard shrugged. “Boss’ orders. Can’t do anything about it. Maybe he thinks the PR department has been too busy lately, and you’re a beauty, Shelly.”
• I looked at him coldly, which made him quickly change his tune. “But you’re not just that though. You’re a capable woman too. All you have to do is test the waters. They don’t actually want you to succeed on the first try after all.”
• I was still reluctant though, for I had a team of salespeople to take care of, so I didn’t have time to take on more work.
• “Oh, and the client is Roy McGowan. He’s a mysterious man, so good luck.” Howard scurried off quickly, worried I might refuse him again.
• Roy? Is this a very common name in this area? I opened the document to see if it was just someone with the same name, but when I saw the client’s photo, my heart skipped a beat.