When There Is Nothing Left But Love

A request for promotion lay among the stack of promotion documents. I opened it and read Stella’s name written boldly on it. Stella wrote in a sincere, flowing manner, carefully detailing her experience at the Fuller Corporation as well as the expectations that had been placed on her. I noticed that Stella had occupied her position for barely more than a year. However, in all her time at Fuller Corporation, she had not produced any particularly outstanding work. After careful consideration, I set Stella’s request aside.

After a while, Ashton turned to me once he’d completed all his tasks on hand. He glanced at the pile of promotion letters with interest, then picked up Stella’s cast aside one and gave it a casual once-over. Ashton then commented, “There’s no need to take this so seriously. We’ve had no lack of remarkable employees. It’s not even in the criteria for promotion anymore.’

I nodded, then looked at him curiously. “Have you been very busy lately?”

Ashton arched an eyebrow and declared, “Yes!”

I sighed, “These matters used to be managed by the respective heads of department. Everything’s on you now, so it’ll be a miracle if you weren’t busy. You should be supervising the work and contributions of a few directors at most, not the entire company.”

“There’s a name list that’s already been vetted. You can take a look,” Ashton advised. I flipped through the stack accordingly and located the document. Scanning through the list, nearly all of its names had been nominated by the respective directors and senior management.

Was my meticulous analysis of each individual completely unnecessary then? I felt slightly ridiculous and laughed sheepishly. “If I told you that I didn’t see it, would you believe me?”

then pulled me up. “Sure. Leave

sneaking suspicion that Ashton had been

Ashton pressed me against the wall. In a

“What kind of reward do

expression, Ashton frowned. His handsome face looked almost petulant at the moment. He flung

on his lips, then teased, “If we don’t manage to do it here, I’ll

man warmed to my proposal instantly and grinned. “Now that’s

inquired curiously, “Ashton, Mom said that she ran into Aunt Sally at

“I’ve been busy lately and haven’t been to see her. She’s getting on in years, and it

greatly troubled by Marcus. All these years, Sally had

doors opened, Ashton hauled me out of it. Streams of employees getting off work flowed ceaselessly through the lobby. Many lingered leisurely around the front counter, chatting

clutching a bouquet