The Cherished Wife

"You, really!" Charles just shook his head with a smile, grabbed Noelle's hand, and led her to the couch, gently pushing her down. "If I hadn't put it that way, would you have stayed downstairs?"

"Well, yeah, we had a deal, didn't we? At work, it's strictly boss and employee, but at home, we're husband and wife. You know Janet's around the office. If she caught wind of us..." Noelle trailed off, eyeing Charles to gauge his reaction. Seeing his face flicker with emotions, she went on, "It's not like I'm scared of people knowing-we're married, for crying out loud. I'm over hiding it. However, if Janet gets a whiff, we'll never hear the end of it. And with the project kicking off, I don't want any drama to mess things up!" Charles nodded, giving Noelle's shoulder a reassuring pat. "You don't have to explain. I get it." He settled beside her and opened the coffee table's food box. "Lunchtime anyway. Let's dig in!"

Noelle could not help but laugh, a bit exasperated. "So this is your grand plan? Dragging me up here to eat? I told you, I can fend for myself at lunch."

She had a hunch that Charles was not looking for her over some urgent work matter, just like the last few times. "When did you even put this together?"

Bamboo Grove House," Charles replied, handing

keep doing this, showing up every day at lunch. People will start to notice." She was not exactly worried, but if that kept up, the whole company would soon buzz about her frequent visits to

us to see each other,"

scooped some food into her bowl. "Ronald mentioned the fish soup today is super fresh. Make sure you have

overheard Janet talking about heading to HR for some documents, something about the annual meeting. Is Collosus Group's annual meeting kicking off

he heard Noelle's question. He recalled the instructions he had given Ronald that morning and nodded. "Yeah, that's happening. Why,

She remembered how draining the annual meetings at Frotconn were. "I'm