Next One Is a Babe

Serena went back to her office after that, whereas Cindy peered around the doorway hesitantly before she returned to her desk to work on her design.

If she were to be introspective about this, she would realize that she was the only one in the entire office who had yet to pick up sewing and stitching, but there was nothing much she could do about that. After all, she was the slowest learner of the bunch, and her qualifications were sub-par compared to the others'.

She sighed and wondered briefly if she should put a sewing machine or something in the apartment so that she could practice the craft in private.

All the hard work she did was only confined within the walls of this office, and she did whatever she liked during after-work hours. She had overheard her colleagues talking about their plans when they got home, and it seemed as if they enjoyed dabbling in sewing and making artistic pieces out of scraps of cloth.

As it turned out, she had convinced herself that she was a hard worker, only to discover that she was falling behind because of that delusion. The thought of this seemed to have become her drive to work even harder and put in more effort, for inspiration no longer evaded her after she had learned to focus on her tasks. Eventually, her sketches started to become better as well.

She wanted to prove herself as an asset to the company, and if she wanted that to happen sooner rather than later, Cindy was going to have to double down on her efforts.

When it was nearly time for lunch, she saw Mary walking in her direction; she was clearly the woman's target. She looked up at Mary and waited until she drew near before asking, "Are you looking for me?"

Serena went back to her office after that, whereas Cindy peered around the doorway hesitantly before she returned to her desk to work on her design.

Mary smiled and nodded. "Yes, that much is obvious because I'm already here. As usual, Mr. Kaufmann wants to see you."

Cindy frowned at this. She didn't like how Otis would ask to meet her in his office so frequently, and he would always regale her with empty conversations that were not the least bit interesting.

This time, however, Mary seemed to know why he wanted to see Cindy. She smiled and added, "You don't have to go up; he said he'd like for you to wait in the lobby and that you'll be joining him for lunch outside."

Cindy parted her lips to say something, but words deserted her. She waited until lunchtime finally rolled around and headed down to the lobby to wait for Otis.

She couldn't quite understand why Otis was always asking her to have lunch with him. She was a nobody in the company, and she had done nothing to deserve such attention from him. She began to wonder if he was entirely oblivious to the fact that she did not want to get too close to him or the other executives at all.

She frowned as she stood in the lobby and watched as her peers brushed past her. Some of them looked as if they knew why she was waiting there, and those who weren't under Serena's apprenticeship shot her envious looks. If only you guys know just how much I wish this was happening to someone else, Cindy thought bitterly.

She hung around the lobby, and when most of the employees had gone out for lunch, the executive elevator arrived with a ding. However, two figures walked out instead of one, and she knew both of them. She had even seen them walking through the lobby while conversing the other day.

Regret filled her; she should have known that Otis wouldn't invite her to lunch unless Gary was around.

She tried to make herself appear as nonchalant as possible, and she even smiled at Otis and Gary when they drew close. "Mr, Kaufmann, Mr. Frye," she greeted courteously.

Gary hummed in response and asked aloud, "Right, where shall we go for lunch?"