Tenant’s Secret Love

Chapter 50: She doesn't deserve me

I finally used the question I just asked to look at Brittany properly and wait for her to give me an answer. This time, she took the initiative to contact me, which really surprised me.

Brittany and I looked at each other, so I finally got a good look at her face. Her face had not changed, and I had an urge to hug her, no matter who she was with or who she was in love with.

But in the end, reason overrode the urge, and I just stared at her.

After a long time, Brittany said to me, “This time I'm going back to China, and I don't plan to go to the United States anymore.”

I nodded, but was silent. Whether she went to the United States or not had nothing to do with me anymore. At most, I could only look at this matter from the perspective of an ordinary friend.

“And you? How have you been these past two years?“ Brittany asked with a smile.

“Very well! I've been living a very free life every day,” I responded with a smile, but I only said half of it. I did live a very free life, free to think about her, free to suffer, free to bury myself in the love of the past and not move, and no one could stop me from doing so. Isn't that enough freedom?

“That's good,” Brittany said, nodding as she looked at me.

“And you? How have you been?”

This question made Brittany think for a while before she said, “Although I'm not as free as you, I'm also doing pretty well.”

I responded bluntly, ‘Haha, that's pretty good too.”

The two of us fell silent again, and this silence seemed to mock our past when we used to talk about everything. I felt a little uncomfortable, but I didn't know what to say.

Brittany seemed to be in the same mood as me. She finally got up and said to me, ’It's quite cold with the wind, I'll go back first.”

“Oh...okay!” I responded, but I didn't get up.

Brittany looked at me, turned around and walked away from the lawn towards the car parked by the riverbank, while I lit a cigarette and sat there, still not understanding why Brittany had sought me out that night. We had gone to so much trouble to meet up but exchanged so few words, making the night seem somewhat insubstantial and meaningless.

To be precise, this meeting with Brittany was not meaningless. When I returned to the old house, Renee locked me out of the door. No matter how hard I knocked, she refused to open it. It made me think that she and Brittany had made a deal: one would invite me out, and the other would lock me out. But that didn't matter. The important thing was that I had nowhere else to go.

I sat alone at the entrance to the building for a long time, thinking. In the end, I decided to go to Robben's place again for the night. By now, he should have returned from the bar, and I hoped that Lily wasn't with him tonight.

...

Back at Robben's loft on the rooftop, I leaned against the door and listened to make sure it was quiet inside before knocking.

Robben opened the door for me a moment later. Robben was wearing pajamas, smoking a cigarette, and looked surprised when he saw me.

“Suffering all day, forget it!“ I sighed and said, today was really bad for me. First, I was locked up in solitary confinement by Renee for a whole day, then I had a stomachache from overeating, and then Brittany inexplicably asked me out. Everything was a suffering, both physically and mentally, and I was tortured all day.

“You don't suffer every day,” Robben sighed, and lay back on the bed, taking a drag on his cigarette and a sip of beer.

I smiled helplessly at Robben's teasing, and didn't say anything else. After a brief wash, I also lay down in bed, lit a cigarette, and the two of them immediately joined forces to fill the not-so-big room with a cloud of smoke.

Robben suddenly asked me, “You didn't come back these past two nights, did you stay with that new girlfriend of yours?”

“No, Violetta can tell that she's not my girlfriend, can't you see?”

Robben asked in surprise, ”What's the situation?”

“She's just pretending. She's not my girlfriend at all.”

Robben nodded and said, “You two don't really seem like you're from the same world.”

“Yeah, she's not good enough for me.”

“You're awesome!” Robben said, giving me a thumbs-up.

I didn't respond, stubbed out my cigarette, pulled the covers up, and as soon as I lay down, sleep came over me like a blanket.

...

The next day, I got up early, didn't bother to eat breakfast, and took a taxi to the office for the first time ever. I ended up paying more than 30 yuan than if I had taken the bus, which was obviously money wasted. If it weren't for the fact that I was locked up by that hateful woman Renee for a whole day yesterday and missed a day's work, I wouldn't wouldn't have to race against the clock like this. I'm afraid I won't be able to avoid working overtime tonight. Thinking about this, my hatred for Renee has increased by another point. So I've made up my mind that I need to find some time to talk to her recently, not about life or ideals, but about why she treated me like this.

Finally, I arrived at the office. I thought I had arrived early enough, but I didn't expect Harlan to be there before me. Before I could greet him, he threw a file at me and said, “This is the meeting file from yesterday. Take half an hour to read it, and then we'll discuss the promotional plan for dealing with Zhuomei...” He added, “Lucas, time is running out, so get to work.”

“No problem,” I said, and sat down to read the meeting file.

From this information, I could see that the exchange meeting yesterday did not come up with a clear promotional idea, and Mark and Harlan also had different opinions on the formulation of the plan.

Mark tends to be conservative. His opinion is that he would rather follow the previous promotional plan and ensure that the task is completed within the specified date, while Harlan hopes that this promotional plan will be a breakthrough from the past, truly showing the changes and momentum of our Baoli Department Store after becoming a top department store, even if it means a slight delay.

After spending 20 minutes going over the meeting materials, Harlan and I each made a cup of coffee and started talking. Naturally, I supported Harlan's thinking. Since the company's strategic focus for the next stage is to strengthen the brand image, then there must be a breakthrough in promotional behavior compared to the past. The competition with Zhuomei is only part of the business, and it is clear that the strategic focus of strengthening the brand image must give way. Of course, if we can make a breakthrough in the promotional plan and complete the task within the specified time, then it would be the best of both worlds.

After discussing it, Harlan and I agreed that we would try our best to come up with a promotional plan that would be a breakthrough from the past, within the time constraints. Of course, the agreement we reached still needed Mark's approval, as he was the head of the planning department and had the power of veto.

Mark didn't show up at the office all morning, and didn't appear until almost noon. He immediately called Harlan and me into his office, looking very excited, which made Harlan and I very puzzled.

When we arrived at the manager's office, Mark told me to close the door. Before I could even have a cup of tea, he said to Harlan and me, “I met with the investment promotion manager of Zhuomei this morning.”

Harlan and I looked at each other, full of confusion and shock. Mark had actually met with the manager of the investment promotion department of Zhuo Mei during working hours. This was a suspicion of collaborating with the enemy!

Mark explained to us with uncontrollable excitement, “The manager of the investment promotion department of Zhuo Mei and I are old classmates. This time, he brought me news that could change the fate of our company and Zhuo Mei...A major storm is brewing within Zhuo Mei, a storm of power struggles, and the target is their new CEO.”

I was shocked. Isn't Renee the new CEO of Jumei? Could it be that she is facing an internal power crisis? Although I was speculating, I remained calm and waited for Mark to continue.