Bought For A Baby, Kept For A Lifetime-Chapter 70: Mystery Woman

Cynthia had just pushed open the door to enter the office when she heard something her boss said and her whole body went completely stiff.

"Did I scare you? I was just joking."

He’d spoken with an easygoing tone, a kind she’d never heard from him before. There was even a light chuckle in his voice, like someone who was speaking to a very familiar person.

Her mouth went wide in astonishment.

Did she hear him right or was there something wrong with her ears?

The aura she could perceive in the office wasn’t the normal detached coldness, it was serene and almost... warm.

Cynthia couldn’t bring herself to believe that this was reality, there was a very rare smile on her boss’s face and the way his eyes stayed fixed on the girl in front of him...

What kind of change was this? Just about a week ago he’d punished her severely by making her do a very tasking cleaning job, now he suddenly seemed to radiate a harmless aura around her.

And what did he just say?

He was joking.

He was joking?

Cynthia always thought that before she’d hear this man tell a joke, she’d probably have died first, not in this lifetime and perhaps not even in the next. Not with his constant scowl and the rigidness of his expression. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He was a scary man, the type that absolutely never told jokes nor laughed at one.

Sometimes Cynthia would believe that the people who’d offended him could die at his hands due to his wild temper, so what was this rare situation?

She watched him stare at the girl, his lips curled in a harmless way, he looked ten times more handsome than his usual self, causing Cynthia to fall in a momentary daze.

This moment could never be wasted, she had to document it.

Retrieving her phone, she took a quick snap of the moment, zooming in on the man’s smile.

Even after going back to sit at her desk, she couldn’t stop looking at the picture.

She had never ever seen him smile like this.

Why should she keep this to herself?

With that thought, she went on the company forum online, using her alternate account so it wouldn’t be discovered that she was the original poster. She posted the picture with the caption:

[Super rare moment! The Ice King, Director Andrew Sterling smiling at someone. He looks so handsome!!!]

Not more than a few seconds after posting, comments began to rush in. Cynthia’s phone continued to buzz repeatedly.

[Is this even real or AI-generated? There’s no way Director Sterling is smiling like that.]

[I know AI when I see one. This is a legit picture.]

[OMG it’s true! He looks so handsome with a smile I could melt!]

[Ahhh! I have to save this. Who managed to capture something so rare?]

[Who is that sitting in his office? I see the back of someone’s head.]

[Is that a woman?]

[Of course it’s a woman, her hair is so long.]

[I just can’t believe that the person he’s smiling at like that is a woman. Don’t you know the history of Director Sterling? Women are not his thing. I was even beginning to think he was gay.]

[There’s no way he’s gay. He said that the woman worthy of him does not exist yet. We all know that our Director Sterling is a high and unreachable being, like a handsome immortal no woman can manage to snag.]

[Well, it seems someone is well on her way to doing so.]

[Who could she be? Does she work here? I can’t see anything else other than her hair.]

Reading through the comments rushing in, Cynthia pouted her lips thoughtfully.

A woman who can manage to snag the popular Andrew Sterling?

That girl?

It couldn’t be. Director Sterling always acted as if he were disgusted with women. There was no way he was interested in this one. She’d been punished by him severely the other day. Would one punish someone they like?

Thinking this, Cynthia decided to investigate some more. She stood up and peeked through the cracks in the door. She knew this was called spying but... she couldn’t help it. She would die of curiosity if she didn’t find out.

At this exact moment, Clara was staring intensely at the picture currently blowing up in the company forum.

There was a heavy debate about the woman’s identity in the comments. Many were leaning towards Sara King or Levina Simon, two of the beautiful company executives. According to them, only someone extremely remarkable would manage to catch the eye of Andrew Sterling enough to make him reveal such a rare expression.

Clara, however, knew the person in this picture was none other than an employee whose name no one even knew.

She stared at the picture so intensely, with a mystery in her eyes.

What was the relationship between these two people?

A few scenarios began to piece themselves together in her mind.

Andrew had never come to the PR department in a long time, but he suddenly came requesting for two employees, one a very experienced one, and another one who isn’t so experienced.

With those words, it was obvious she would have chosen a new employee.

So he knew that Clara would include Anne in the project if he specifically mentioned an inexperienced employee.

And he’d even punished her with heavy cleaning of several offices.

Clara knew Andrew couldn’t be bothered to personally deal punishment to people. He must have been irreversibly ticked off. But why would a mere lower employee affect Andrew that much?

And now, this picture...

Clara’s beautiful eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

...

Anne sat stiffly in her seat for a very long time before her lips revealed an awkward smile.

She still hadn’t recovered from him saying he’d been joking with her. However, she didn’t know whether to smile or laugh at him.

He stared at her for a while longer before he continued to type on his computer again, this time talking as he pushed a bunch of files in her direction.

"I need the errors in these fixed and corrected," he instructed succinctly.

Anne couldn’t help but frown.

Wasn’t that job meant for his assistant or his secretary? Why did he have to call her all the way from the PR department just so she could do this for him?

Tsk, annoying. If this was punishment for locking him in an office, he could just say so.

Nevertheless, she stood up, grabbing the hefty pile of paperwork.

"I’ll go get these done as soon as possible," she said.

"Here. You get them done here. No need to go anywhere."

Anne looked at him incredulously.

"I have to do them here? But... this is your office."

He raised his gaze to her, dark cunning eyes settling on her. "Precisely. I want you here until I say you can leave."