What If?

Chapter 21 - Sincerity? Or an Agenda?

Launa’s face didn't look particularly fresh this morning, with lingering puffiness from crying all through the night. Yet, she was still deeply grateful that her sister had been treated so quickly at the Valerius Grand Medical Center. What would have happened if she hadn't crossed paths with Glenn last night? A man she had always judged as arrogant and poorly mannered?

God knows, Launa had no idea what else she would have done without him. But even so, she was determined to pay back every single cent. She didn't want to owe anyone a favor, especially not her boss.

After tidying up her still-empty intern cubicle and turning on her computer, Launa stood up. Clutching her tumbler, she headed toward the office pantry to get some water.

However, after only a few steps down the corridor, the faint sound of whispering from a group of female staff members near the printer caught her attention.

"Yeah, seriously. Yesterday afternoon I saw her getting into Mr. Glenn's car with my own eyes."

"That's crazy, right? It was literally her first day interning, and she’s already playing dirty like that."

At first, Launa brushed it off. She didn't realize at all that the person they were gossiping about was her. But as time went on, the atmosphere grew increasingly unsettling. Almost every staff member who passed her threw strange glances her way, complete with mocking, condescending smirks.

The moment she returned to her desk, her mind clouded with confusion, a thick stack of folders was suddenly dropped onto her desk, landing with a soft thud.

THUD!

Launa gasped, looking up to find her division supervisor, Costa, already standing there with her arms crossed, glaring down at her through her glasses with a sarcastic smirk.

"Well, good morning to our rising star," Costa sneered, her tone dripping with sweet venom.

"How was your sleep last night? Cozy? Oh, right, I forgot. Someone with 'fast-track access' to the top boss must sleep like a baby, don't they? No need to stress over job performance."

Launa furrowed her brow deeply, completely at a loss as to what her supervisor meant. "I'm sorry, Ms. Costa? What exactly do you mean by that?"

Costa merely let out a dismissive scoff, tapping the thick stack of folders with her neatly manicured nails. "Don't play innocent with me, Launa. Here, transfer all the hard copy data from last year into the digital system. Input them one by one, manually. I want everything done before lunch."

Launa looked at the massive pile of documents with a sense of resignation. Her head suddenly felt heavy, throbbing with a dull ache. As she reached for the first folder, her mind raced, trying to decipher Ms. Costa's words.

What did she mean by 'rising star'? Did I make some kind of fatal mistake yesterday to get chewed out like this? Launa thought, panicking internally.

She tried desperately to remember if there were any typos in her documents or if she had somehow offended a senior. But she came up completely short, having absolutely no idea that the root of the whole problem was Glenn.

What else could she do? This was a risk she just had to swallow whole in an office environment with such a toxic, high-stakes hierarchy among the female staff.

Launa had barely typed a few lines of data when the phone beside her keyboard suddenly gave a short buzz. A message notification popped up from an unknown number.

[Unknown Number]: Come to my office right now, Head of Internal Audit. Don't make me wait.

Launa froze. Her heart beat faster as she recognized the absolute, demanding tone of the message. This had to be Glenn. For a second, she wondered in confusion how on earth he had gotten her phone number. Jerry. It must have been his assistant who gave it to him.

Launa stared at the message, torn between hesitation and a growing sense of anxiety. On one hand, the work Ms. Costa had dumped on her was piling up, and she was terrified of being labeled lazy. On the other hand, it was impossible to ignore a direct order from the supreme head of her division.

It’ll probably only take a minute. Screw it, Launa thought with a resigned sigh.

She finally stood up from her chair, quickly smoothed down her outfit, and walked briskly toward the elevators to head up to the floor where Glenn’s office was located.

*****

Glenn leaned back in his plush executive chair. Surprisingly, his appearance today was somewhat normal, as he was sporting a formal suit jacket, even if the silk shirt underneath caught the room’s lighting with a subtle, flashy shimmer. Well, what else could you expect? It was just in Glenn’s nature to completely tear up the standard office dress code. Besides, there wasn't a strict policy on mandatory attire anyway.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in!" Glenn called out sharply.

The heavy teak door swung open, revealing Launa as she stepped inside hesitantly. From where he sat, Glenn could clearly see the sullen, weary look on her face, which stood out in stark contrast to the lingering puffiness around her eyes.

"Good morning, Mr. Glenn," Launa greeted him softly, standing politely in front of his desk.

Glenn, who had been leaning back casually, instantly straightened his posture. He rested both hands on the desk, propping his chin on his interlaced fingers, and gave a faint nod. "Sit."

Launa obeyed, taking a seat in the chair across from Glenn with a stiff, formal posture. "Is there something you needed from me, sir?"

Without any small talk or explanation, Glenn immediately slid a luxury-branded paper tote bag across the desk toward her. "This is for you."

Launa’s eyes widened instantly, darting in confusion between the shopping bag and Glenn’s face. "W-what is this, Mr. Glenn?" she asked hesitantly.

"Just open it," Glenn ordered flatly.

With slightly trembling hands, Launa pulled out the contents of the bag. Her breath caught in her throat the exact second she saw the box of a latest-model smartphone, one that undoubtedly cost a fortune. Launa immediately pushed the box back toward Glenn with absolute firmness.

"I’m sorry, sir. I can't accept this," Launa refused without a second thought. "The expenses for Laura’s treatment last night alone have already put me in massive debt to you. There is no way I can accept another luxury item."

Glenn let out a short breath, fixing a sharp gaze on the girl across from him. "Don't mix the two up. You don't need to overthink what happened last night."

Glenn paused for a moment, sharpening his tone to sound strictly professional. "This has nothing to do with your sister. This phone is purely compensation for your own phone that got smashed yesterday afternoon. Besides, I don't want your job performance to suffer just because your phone lags whenever I try to reach you for urgent company matters."

Launa looked down, anxiously wringing her fingers in her lap. Glenn’s professional reasoning was, frustratingly enough, completely bulletproof. However, instead of pressing further about the phone, Launa summoned the courage to look up, staring directly into Glenn’s dark, bottomless eyes.

"Regarding... the partnership offer you mentioned in the car yesterday," Launa squeaked softly, yet firmly. "I thought it over long and hard last night. I accept the offer, sir. I’m willing to help you."

The corner of Glenn’s lips curled up slightly, satisfied. "Good."

"But, under one condition," Launa cut in quickly, causing Glenn’s brow to furrow subtly. Launa took a deep breath to steady her voice. "You don't need to pay me that twenty thousand dollars. I will do this mission for free, as a way to return the favor and clear the debt for my sister’s medical expenses that you covered at Valerius Grand."

Glenn went completely still. His gaze locked onto Launa’s serious face. He narrowed his eyes, searching for any hint of a lie, but all he found was a stubborn, unyielding sincerity.

Glenn thought to himself in utter disbelief. Is this girl for real? Throughout his entire life, Glenn had been surrounded by money-hungry parasites. He rarely, if ever, encountered a specimen like Launa. Turn down luxury? Check. Reject tens of thousands of dollars just to choose hard, unpaid labor for the sake of her pride? Check.

Glenn cleared his throat softly, masking his amazement. He leaned back in his chair again, fixing Launa with a probing stare.

"A bold choice," Glenn said casually, tapping his fingers on the desk. "But before we begin, I need to know something. Have you noticed any anomalies in social friction or narrative distortion currently circulating among the subordinates downstairs regarding... your existence since yesterday afternoon?"

Launa furrowed her brow deeply, staring at Glenn with a look of utter confusion. Her mind suddenly went blank hearing the combination of overly complex words coming out of her boss's mouth.

"Huh? I'm sorry, sir... what exactly do you mean?"

Launa asked innocently, completely clueless that Glenn was actually asking: 'Do you know you're being gossiped about by the entire office just because you got into my car?'

Seeing Launa's blank, utterly dazed expression, Glenn couldn't hold it in anymore. He let out a low chuckle, his rich baritone laughter echoing crisply inside the spacious room.

"Bottom line," Glenn leaned forward, cutting straight to the chase. "Do you have any idea that since this morning, the entire office has been gossiping about you just because you got out of my car yesterday?"

Launa blinked a few times, her mouth dropping open slightly as the pieces of this morning's puzzle suddenly fell into place. Oh... No wonder that group of staff members near the printer had been whispering maliciously when they saw her. No wonder Ms. Costa had sneered at her, calling her a "rising star" with "fast-track access." This was the root of the entire problem.

"Don't sweat it too much. Just assume they don't have enough real work to do," Glenn said casually, as if the gossip were nothing but a passing breeze. He glanced briefly at his luxury watch, then looked back at Launa.

"You don't need to work today. Take the day off and go to the hospital to be with your sister."

Launa’s eyes widened in disbelief. "Huh? But, sir, the assignment from Ms. Costa—"

"I’m the boss here, Launa. I make the rules," Glenn cut her off, his voice absolute and leaving no room for argument.

Launa could only sigh in resignation to herself. The man in front of her was completely beyond comprehension. Yesterday afternoon he had been incredibly sharp-tongued, last night he saved her sister with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and this morning he was casually telling her to skip work.

BANG!

Before Launa could even reply, the door to Glenn’s office was suddenly thrown open with force, without so much as a knock. A gorgeous girl, decked out in designer brands from head to toe, marched inside with a heavy pout. It was Gwen.

"Glenn! Can you seriously not—" Gwen’s rant cut off mid-sentence. She froze in her tracks the exact second her eyes locked onto Launa sitting across from Glenn.

Gwen’s expression instantly shifted. Her eyes narrowed into a sharp glare, scanning Launa from head to toe with a look of blatant distaste and deep suspicion.

Glenn scoffed in irritation, his jaw tightening at the sight of the uninvited guest. "What the hell are you doing here, Gwen? Is knocking first too much to ask?"

"What are you doing? You aren't replying to my texts, and you aren't picking up my calls either!" Gwen snapped back, though her eyes were still throwing daggers at Launa.

Sensing that the atmosphere in the room had suddenly turned incredibly uncomfortable, Launa hurriedly stood up from her chair. "M-Mr. Glenn, if it’s alright, I’ll take my leave now."

"Relax, there's nothing to be afraid of," Glenn cut her off quickly, his tone breezy as he deliberately ignored Gwen, whose face was already souring. "It's not like I'm doing anything inappropriate to you in here anyway."

Glenn picked up the paper tote bag containing the new smartphone and shoved it back into Launa’s hands. "I’ll reach out to you later on your new number. Go ahead and leave now. Take this with you."

Left with no choice, Launa accepted the bag. She gave Glenn a polite bow. "Understood, sir. Thank you very much."

Before walking away, Launa also made sure to bow respectfully toward Gwen, who was still standing frozen with her arms crossed over her chest. "Excuse me, Ms."

Gwen didn't bother to reply; she merely let out a derisive scoff and averted her gaze as Launa walked briskly past her and out of the room, closing the heavy teak door tightly behind her.

The moment the door clicked shut, Gwen spun around and pointed toward it hysterically. "Glenn! Who on earth was that?!"

Glenn clicked his tongue in annoyance, leaning back in his chair with an irritated glare. "Are you seriously wasting my time just to ask a stupid question like that? You have eyes, don't you? She's a staff member here."

"A regular staff member wouldn't be in the head of audit's office this early in the morning holding a luxury shopping bag, Glenn!" Gwen fired back, her beautiful face flushing red with jealousy. She marched forward, slamming her hands down on Glenn’s desk with dramatic flair. "You're cheating on me, aren't you?! You're fooling around behind my back right here in the office!"

Glenn's jaw dropped. He stared at Gwen in utter disbelief before letting out a sharp, cynical scoff. "Huh? Cheating on you? Since when have you and I ever been in a relationship for me to be cheating on you, Gwen?"

"Glenn, I mean it, you have to be honest with me! Who is that low-class girl, anyway?!" Gwen demanded, completely refusing to back down, remaining stubbornly trapped in her own delusion.

Glenn’s remaining patience snapped instantly. Driven by his stubborn ego that absolutely loathed being controlled, he suddenly bolted up from his chair so violently that its wheels screeched loudly against the floor as it rolled back.

He strode widely around his desk, closing the distance between himself and Gwen. His commanding steps caused Gwen to instinctively take a step back, suddenly feeling intimidated by the man's dominant aura.

Glenn tilted his head down slightly, leaning in close to Gwen’s ear, and whispered in a bone-chilling, absolute tone.

"She's my girlfriend."

After dropping the atomic bomb that utterly shattered Gwen’s ego, Glenn instantly straightened up, snatched his sports car keys off the desk, and casually strolled out of the room without giving Gwen another glance. He was completely checking out of the office for the day.

Inside the room that had suddenly fallen dead silent, Gwen stood frozen dramatically. Her eyes blinked in sheer disbelief, her breath catching in her throat.

"H-huh? Girlfriend?!" Gwen muttered to herself, her voice rising hysterically.

Gwen’s mind raced as she pictured the girl's face. Yes, she had to admit that the intern possessed a natural beauty. But still! How dare Glenn claim that low-life girl as his girlfriend right in front of her!

"Glenn Ellsworth!! Are you kidding me?!" Gwen shrieked in frustration, stamping her foot hard against the floor in sheer rage at being left behind like that.

*****