What If?

Chapter 29 - The Human Menace

Jerry leaned his heavy head back, propping it up with one hand against the sofa in Glenn’s office. His eyes stared lazily at Gwen, who was still busy touching up her makeup, layering on her bold red lipstick in front of the mirror.

Jerry let out a harsh sigh, his face twisted in a deeply sour expression. "And here I thought Glenn was going to give me a useful assignment today. Turns out I was ordered to babysit a girl who's meaner than a pit bull," Jerry scoffed, making absolutely no effort to hide his irritation.

"What are you looking at?!" Gwen snapped, catching Jerry’s glare in the reflection.

Jerry clicked his tongue in annoyance, rolling his eyes lazily. "Nobody's trying to look at you, so don't flatter yourself. I don't even want to look, it's an eyesore."

Gwen scoffed, slamming her cosmetic case shut with a loud snap. "That new girl has it so damn easy. Selling her body is all it takes for Glenn to drag her around everywhere. Meanwhile, I've clearly known Glenn for ages, and he's never done that for me!"

Jerry choked on his own spit. Instead of being intimidated, he stared at Gwen with an utterly blatant look of disdain. "Where'd you even get that from? Stop talking out of your ass."

"W-well, obviously! I know for a fact that every girl Glenn gets close to is just an outlet for his lust," Gwen accused with a sneer.

Jerry snorted dismissively, his smile dripping with mockery. "Well, you should've done the same then. If you knew Glenn was that easily driven by lust, you should've used your body too a long time ago."

"No! I'm a high-class woman!" Gwen emphasized, puffed up with pride.

"Tch, high-class my foot," Jerry shook his head, looking Gwen up and down with a cynical glare. "You sure you're so high-class? Not too long ago, when you intentionally got Glenn dead drunk at the club, it's a good thing I was there to drag him back. If I hadn't, you probably would've taken advantage of my boss by now," Jerry checkmated her cleanly.

Gwen’s face instantly flushed crimson, completely tongue-tied. Jerry just thought to himself in disgust. Aside from keeping Glenn sane, he really had to stay extra vigilant to shield his boss from obsessive, manipulative girls like Gwen.

Slide!

The heated atmosphere inside the room froze in an instant as Jerry’s eyes locked onto two figures through the glass wall. Simon walked into the office, followed by Luther, his giant-sized bodyguard.

Jerry wet his suddenly dry lips. His heart was pounding hard, but he forced himself to stand up straight immediately, putting on a mask of calm. Oh boy, what now, you old fossil? I need to be smart about making up an excuse, Jerry thought, highly alert.

"Glenn..." Simon called out sternly, his eyes scanning the room sharply for his son.

"Oh, afternoon, Mr. Simon. Mr. Glenn is out of the office at the moment," Jerry answered as politely as possible, masking his panic.

"Out?" Simon glanced at his luxury watch, his brows furrowing deeply. "It’s only two in the afternoon. It’s not even closing time yet, and he’s just wandering around as he pleases?! Who did he go out with?" Simon interrogated.

"With his new assistant, sir," Jerry answered honestly.

"New assistant?!" Simon pressed again, his gaze incredibly intimidating.

"Launa, sir," Jerry replied in a calm, firm tone.

Simon’s face instantly twisted in distaste upon hearing the unfamiliar name. "Oh. The one who's supposedly his field assistant?"

Seeing the situation turn critical, Gwen, who had been quiet for a moment, instantly seized the opportunity to fan the flames. "Uncle Simon! Glenn purposely took that slutty girl out just to hook up! Even though office work is piling up. It's awful, right? You need to give Glenn a severe penalty!" Gwen instigated, a wicked smile spreading across her face.

Jerry shot Gwen a look so sharp it could skin her alive. Can this witch just shut the hell up?! Jerry cursed inwardly. Ignoring Gwen's instigation, Jerry quickly racked his brain to cover for Glenn and Launa as best as he could.

"Excuse me, Mr. Simon, but Ms. Gwen is misunderstanding and talking out of her ass," Jerry interrupted quickly, his tone intentionally made to sound highly convincing to counter Gwen's words. "Mr. Glenn didn't go out for personal matters, but for an emergency meeting with our foreign investor. He had to hand over a draft of the audit report that was requested on short notice, and Launa brought the files directly along just to save time."

Simon narrowed his eyes, staring at Jerry with an intimidating glare, trying to detect any hint of a lie. "Which foreign investor? Why am I not aware of this?"

"The investor from last week, sir. You know how impulsive Mr. Glenn can get when it comes to retaining clients," Jerry answered confidently, hiding the fact that the files he was referring to were actually old documents whose dates he would later manipulate.

Simon fell silent for a few moments, glaring sharply at Jerry before finally letting out a harsh snort. "Tell your boss, if he isn't back at his desk by closing time, he is to see me!" Simon threatened with absolute authority.

The old man turned on his heel and walked out, followed by Luther, who cast one final, warning glance at Jerry.

The moment the glass door closed shut, Jerry immediately collapsed back onto the sofa. He exhaled the brutal breath he had been holding in the entire time, clutching his madly pounding chest. "Damn it, it's a miracle I didn't have a heart attack," Jerry muttered in sheer frustration, quickly reaching into his pocket for his phone to send an emergency message to Glenn.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jerry snapped at Gwen, furious at her for shooting her mouth off like that.

"Whatever, I do what I want!"

*****