Sheffield stood close to her, close enough to cross the distance between them in a single step. Evelyn's anger was gone. She handed the box to him and said in a softer voice, "I brought you the Western dessert you used to bring me."
Sheffield took the box from her and looked at it. "Thank you, Miss Huo. But have you ever seen a man who enjoys eating dessert?"
"But you used to buy desserts all the time…" He would also sit down with her and eat them, sometimes.
With a smile on his lips, he continued, "That was then, this is now. Besides, I didn't like desserts back then, either. I was thinking maybe you were too busy with work to eat. That's why I bought them for you. I never liked desserts. Didn't you know that, Miss Huo?"
Evelyn didn't know what to say. Since he often dropped by her office with desserts for her, she figured he liked them. She really didn't know him at all.
"I'm sorry, Miss Huo." He smiled as usual and returned the box to her.
Evelyn lowered her eyes to look at the box in her hand. Bitterness filled her heart. So this was how it felt to be rejected. She controlled her emotions and said, "Can we talk?"
"We're talking right now, aren't we?" He put his hands in his pockets.
She shook her head. "Can we maybe do this over dinner? My treat!"
"Nah, I don't think so. I've been really busy since I took over Theo Group. If you have anything to say, Miss Huo, just come out and say it!"
Evelyn looked him in the eye. "I never married Calvert."
"I know. So what?"
Evelyn didn't respond.
Thinking of a possibility, Sheffield said in a half smile, "How quaint, Miss Huo! You think I still love you, don't you?"
Evelyn had to admit that was exactly what she thought. And that was why she came to see him.
Sheffield laughed out loud. Only he knew how much he was hurting when he did that. "Yes, I used to love you. I loved you more than life itself. I didn't want to live if I had to do it without you. But the past two years made me realize that I didn't need you in my life. Being single is good. I don't need to worry about how you're doing, and I don't have to think about how to make you happy. Nor do I have to rack my brains to please your family. Come to think it, it was exhausting being with you. Now, life is good since I have nothing to worry about."
When he finished, Evelyn didn't speak. The only thing anyone could hear was the sound of their breathing.
Except Evelyn suddenly found it hard to breathe. Her heart broke into pieces.
Her face was downcast, a look of loss crossed her features. "Then for the past two years… you never thought about me?"
"That's impossible. After all, I loved you. How could it be possible to forget so easily? At first, I thought about you every night. I couldn't even fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I'd see you. But then, I remembered you didn't love me at all and even got engaged to another guy. That hurt. A lot. As time went by, it got better. I'm finally over you." He sounded so calm—there was no trace of sadness in his eyes.
"No, that's not…" she tried to explain. 'That's not it. I never stopped loving you…'
"So, Miss Huo, I won't bug you anymore. Date who you want, marry them if you love them. Don't worry about me. I'm all good with it."
She clenched the box in her hand and indignantly stated, "That's not what you said two years ago!"
He once told Calvert he would take her away from him if Calvert didn't treat her right.
"You mean what I said on the day of your engagement, right? I was being dramatic. Don't take it too seriously."
'Don't take it too seriously?' For the past two years, she never forgot those words of his, and guilt had dogged her the whole time!
"I want to start over with you," she said bluntly. She wanted them to be like normal lovers, rediscovering each other, dating and then getting married.
Sheffield's hands balled into fists with excitement. He had been waiting for this moment. "Haven't you been keeping up with the news? I've gone back to being a man-slut. Don't you care?"
"Of course I do," she told him honestly.
"Then we shouldn't be together, I like my new lifestyle. And I'm not giving it up for you." No one was as skilled a liar as Sheffield was.
Evelyn was back to calm. "If that's what you want."
Sheffield was puzzled. 'That didn't go the way I expected.'
"I'll let you get back to work, Mr. Tang. Have a nice day." Evelyn turned to walk towards the door.
Ever since she showed up in his office, she had been as proud as ever. She never apologized or played to his ego.
She stood at the door with the sensor, and it wouldn't respond. She glanced at the wall. There was only one screen.
Sheffield walked over to her and stood behind her, so close that she could even smell the familiar scent wafting from him.
He reached out his hand and put his hand on the screen. The doors of the office slowly opened for her.
Evelyn walked out of his office without looking back. When she walked past a trash can, she dumped the box of desserts on it and walked into the elevator with Felix.
Then, Tobias was shocked to see that their CEO, Mr. Sheffield Tang taking the box from the trash can and returning to his office.
The box was empty by the time he got to Sheffield's office to hand in a document.
Tobias didn't know what happened between Sheffield and Evelyn, and began to wonder about the CEO's preferences. For example, maybe he liked to eat the things he found in the trash can?
The employees of ZL Group were busy building team spirit. In order not to affect their work, one department was divided into two groups to participate in the team building activities in turn.
Today, both the programming department and the finance department were doing their team building exercises, and the two departments had even reserved the same restaurant for dinner.
In order to motivate employees to focus on their work, Carlos also joined in their activities. In addition, he decided to hand out awards to some outstanding employees. The excitement of getting an award fired up the workers.
Each employee could bring someone to the team building activity. It could be a family member or a friend. But children were not allowed, because too many kids might disrupt things. There might be kids who were there to cause problems. And that was not what the night was all about.
On the day when the programming department and the finance department held their activities, Carlos was away on business. He couldn't make it, but he wanted someone in a leadership role to be there, so he called Evelyn. He told her to attend the activities on his behalf. It was just a formality.
Evelyn agreed. That afternoon, she went to a spa, and then that evening she was headed for the building where the party was being held.
When Gillian knew Evelyn would be there, she gnashed her teeth angrily.
Evelyn was now the thorn in her side, stinging her, and yet she couldn't get rid of her.
But then, Gillian got a brilliant idea. She called Lea and rescinded her invitation to the dinner. Then she called Sheffield and said, "Sheffield, our company is holding a dinner tonight, and I heard that the CEO will also be here to give awards to the hard workers. My colleagues all have a plus one. I invited my sister, but she can't make it. I'm embarrassed to be alone. Will you be my plus one?"
