074 - Red string: Office politics? From Leyna?

"Big sister Leyna, is it really okay for us to be running late like this?"

Sharon asked with uncertain apprehension as she walked with Leyna out of the human resources department of the Group, their footsteps not slow, but not very fast either.

The black-haired woman held back a chuckle but pursed her lips:

"It is not us running late, but only you who are."

Sharon was first confused, before her eyes widened in astonishment, and she looked at Leyna in shock, a small sinking feeling coming to find itself a home in the pit of her stomach. Office politics? Was she already starting to experience workplace bullying already? And from the seemingly most unexpected source?

"You are not attending the meeting?"

Leyna glanced sideways at the blonde, her lips tracing a soft, amused curve, as she replied:

"Of course not. I have been demoted, remember?"

It was not just a sinking feeling Sharon felt into the pit of her stomach. Her heart itself sank straight down, as her composure slipped away from her face like snow melting under the sun.

Leyna looked entertained as she smiled at the spectacle. The short distance till they arrived at the elevator was spent in that dichotomous state with one side enjoying herself while the other dreaded the consequences of the mistake she had been induced into on her first day in the highly competitive global giant.

Imagining how she would appear before the directors of the board of the Group and the executives, the weight pulling down her heart only grew further. And the worst was that she might become a weak point for Alex who would either have to fire her, or have a reason to do so.

All the consequences that might come from the loss of the job she had swallowed her pride to beg for swirled in her mind. Not only would she lose the platform she had barely managed to get a hold of to stabilize her life, she would also have to give a negative report for the mission that had brought about her first meeting with Alex.

The situation was like a wind that blew a card house, sending it crashing down on her, and suffocating her so much that she did not even have the breathing space to think about a silver lining, about a solution to turn things around, and prop back the crumbled heavenly vault into place.

Her reaction made Leyna raise an eyebrow thoughtfully, before she stopped taking pleasure in the situation:

"Alright, stop looking like the world is ending. I won't tease you anymore."

"Tease me? You were teasing me!?"

The blonde blinked, her mind returning to reality as she looked at Leyna, then her blue eyes went wide, confused, but with a seed of hope at the deeper inside.

Leyna calmly explained with a smile in her eyes:

"You being late is actually doing your superior a service…"

*Ding*

Pointing at the lift as it arrived and its door opened, Leyna didn't elaborate, and changed the subject instead:

"Your ride is here, go on. You know where the conference room is. Remember to hold your head high. Don't let anyone look down on you, and by proxy, on Alex."

Sharon looked dazed. The adrenaline fell inside her, making her mind struggle to catch up. She walked inside the lift and turned around. It is when the door started closing, as she looked into the greyish blue smiling eyes, that her mind rebooted, and she hurriedly pressed onto the button of the floor where the meeting was being held. That was when she recalled the time Alex deliberately wasted earlier after leaving the apartment, as well as the instruction he gave Lance to drive without any hurry after finally leaving the mall.

She raised her head again, but the door had already closed, separating her from Leyna, and making her unable to have one last look at her. But she had already gotten the latter's meaning. As the lift started moving, she let out an exhale. The light in her eyes steadied into a determined resolve, and she straightened her back, like Leyna told her to. Straight back, and head held in assurance, without any weakness.

Back on the floor the lift just left, Leyna looked at the digits shifting on the display above the door, then took out her phone to launch a call with a calm smile.

It rang on the other side for a moment, then a calm voice answered, gentle and steady, with a soft touch of almost instinctive authority:

"Leyna? What is it?"

"Chairman–"

But Grace interrupted her protégée with a calm smile, one Leyna was Still unable to really reproduce the charm of:

"I'm not the chairman anymore."

Leyna paused, her expression tensing up for a moment even as she held back any obvious change:

"You will not be coming back, chairman?"

"…"

The silence on the other side sounded loud, and full of meaning unspoken. Leyna took a moment to process the information, then returned to the reason for her call:

"Then, madam, I'm calling to let you know that Alex has arrived, and he has called a meeting with the board and the executives. He also came with an assistant of his own."

Grace seemed to raise an eyebrow on the other side:

"Oh? I suppose the last sentence is the main point. Is that why he sent you away?"

Leyna's smile came back, a little amused. She turned to walk back to where she came from with Sharon just earlier as she shook her head:

"I don't think so, madam. Still, I will try to find everything I can about her."

Grace approved with a calm tone:

"Hm. Just do that."

"Then, I will be going to the human resources department to take care of my transfer."

"Go, and learn well."

Leyna nodded, even though the gesture could not be seen from the other side:

"Understood, madam. See you soon."

"Hm."

*Beep*

As Grace ended the call, and Leyna made her way to her destination, the door to the conference room floors above was pushed open, again, pulling all the attention within toward the new arrival.