Sebastian Hawthorne finished his lunch and stood up.

Cecilia Croft silently cleaned up her temporary "desk" and went back to burying her head in her work.

Sebastian Hawthorne sat in his office chair, listening to the sound of her rustling through papers, and looked up in her direction.

A screen partition blocked part of his view.

But he could still see Cecilia Croft’s focused expression as she reviewed the documents through the carved openwork of the screen.

"We just had lunch. You can take a break. No need to work so hard. The Hawthorne Group doesn’t have a habit of exploiting its employees."

His deep, rich voice sounded, but Cecilia was so engrossed in her reading that she didn’t hear him.

Sebastian Hawthorne’s expression darkened slightly. He picked up his phone, opened a game, and then sent Cecilia Croft a game invitation.

Cecilia Croft saw her phone screen light up. She put down her work, picked up her phone to look, and froze for a moment when she saw a game invitation from Sebastian Hawthorne.

She looked up toward Sebastian Hawthorne.

He was looking right back at her. Their eyes met, and the man’s voice rang out with a command that brooked no refusal.

"Log on."

Cecilia Croft looked at the mountain of documents in front of her and said quietly.

"Mr. Hawthorne, it’s still work hours. Is this really a good idea?"

Sebastian Hawthorne glanced at Cecilia Croft.

"What company doesn’t have a lunch break? Log on."

Cecilia Croft mumbled an "Oh" and could only tap on Sebastian Hawthorne’s game invitation, entering the game interface.

The moment she was ready, Sebastian Hawthorne instantly started the match.

Cecilia Croft hadn’t played this game in years, so her skills were a bit rusty. But luckily, because it had been so long, her rank was even lower than Sebastian Hawthorne’s.

The teammates they were matched with weren’t very strong, either.

It was probably because their rank was so low, but since Sebastian Hawthorne had a VIP icon next to his name, he was easily targeted by the opposing team.

Cecilia Croft would clear the jungle monsters, then have to run over and help gank for him. But every time she arrived at a fight, the hero Sebastian Hawthorne was playing was already the first to die.

After a while, Cecilia Croft started camping in the bushes, waiting for Sebastian Hawthorne to draw the enemy’s fire before jumping out to help.

After a few small team fights, the other teammates figured out Cecilia Croft’s strategy and started copying her.

By the end of the game, Sebastian Hawthorne had contributed nearly all of their team’s deaths.

Looking at the "VICTORY" sign on the game screen, Sebastian Hawthorne looked up at Cecilia Croft.

"Using me as bait?"

"Huh?" Cecilia Croft feigned ignorance.

Sebastian Hawthorne didn’t press the issue and started a new match.

For five games in a row, they won within just a few minutes.

They had probably won too many times, because the matchmaking system changed, and the opponents they were matched with were clearly much better.

Cecilia Croft was starting to struggle and realized there was probably a high-level player smurfing on the enemy team.

Sebastian Hawthorne was playing the crucial marksman role and was constantly being targeted. This caused their teammates to get frustrated, and after posting a few complaints in the chat, the support player stopped following him completely.

Whenever he went out to clear a lane and farm minions, he was inevitably ganked by the enemy jungler.

The disgruntled teammates kept voting to surrender, but two players always refused.

Cecilia Croft glanced at Sebastian Hawthorne. She saw him frowning, his expression serious and focused on the screen, and she pursed her lips.

’He’s really passionate about this game.’

"Farm my jungle."

Cecilia Croft checked her gold; she wasn’t that far behind the enemy jungler. She gave her jungle to Sebastian Hawthorne and started to counter the enemy jungler.

She snuck into the enemy’s jungle, solo-killed their jungler twice, then switched to the all-chat channel and typed out a taunt.

[That’s it? I have less gold than you and I can still solo kill you.]

[Tsk, your skills are nothing special. Maybe you should just get a factory job.]

The opponent didn’t reply, but they did stop targeting Sebastian Hawthorne.

The third time, Cecilia Croft hid in the bushes by the river. Seeing the enemy jungler and mage also duck into another patch of bushes, a smile touched her lips.

She pinged her teammates, and they all started moving toward her.

Sebastian Hawthorne followed as well.

Cecilia Croft initiated the fight, taking out the enemy mage first. Then, she worked with Sebastian Hawthorne to take down the enemy jungler.

She started her recall animation on top of the enemy jungler’s corpse, not forgetting to add another taunt.

[I just went into some bushes, how did I mysteriously end up with two kills?]

Her words successfully enraged the opponent, who started firing back at her in the chat with nasty insults.

Seeing that she had successfully drawn the enemy’s fire, Cecilia Croft smiled.

"Mr. Hawthorne, you’d better farm up quick and come help me. These guys are going to tear me apart."

Sebastian Hawthorne glanced at her and replied with a single "Okay."

The enemy team started grouping up to gank Cecilia Croft.

Luckily, Cecilia Croft’s character had a lot of mobility skills, so she was always able to escape their grasp.

The enemy sent a message, challenging her.

[Weren’t you acting all tough just now? If you’ve got the guts, stop running.]

Cecilia Croft shot back: [Who’s running? I’m just walking my dogs. Five little puppies, now don’t you bark.]

Sebastian Hawthorne read the text in the chat and the corners of his lips curved up slightly.

This match lasted for half an hour, but they ultimately secured the victory.

Cecilia Croft had been at the hospital with her sister until midnight the previous night while she was on an IV drip. This game must have taken a lot out of her, because she yawned the moment it ended.

After returning to the game lobby, Sebastian Hawthorne didn’t instantly start a new match like before.

Cecilia Croft glanced over and asked.

"No more games, Mr. Hawthorne?"

Sebastian Hawthorne nodded and exited the game.

"No more. I’m going to rest for half an hour. Don’t disturb me."

Cecilia Croft nodded.

Sebastian Hawthorne got up and walked toward the inner room.

Cecilia Croft picked up the documents on her desk again. Just as she was about to resume working, Sebastian Hawthorne stopped at the door of the inner room and said in a deep voice.

"I’m a light sleeper at noon. The sound of you flipping through documents will disturb my rest. You are not to look at any documents until I wake up."

Cecilia Croft stared at him blankly, then nodded slightly. "Okay."

Only then did Sebastian Hawthorne step into the inner room. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Cecilia Croft didn’t put the documents down. She just tried her best to be as quiet as possible.

However, a minute later, Sebastian Hawthorne came out of the inner room and said grimly.

"Are you letting my words go in one ear and out the other?"

Cecilia Croft’s hand paused in the middle of turning a page, a flicker of embarrassment in her eyes.

’I was already being as quiet as possible, trying not to make a single sound. How did he still hear me?’

’His sleep quality must be really terrible.’

"Put the documents down."

Sebastian Hawthorne’s face was grim as he stared at the documents in her hands.

Cecilia Croft quickly obeyed and put them down.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Hawthorne. I didn’t do it on purpose. I..."

She hadn’t realized he was such a light sleeper.

Sebastian Hawthorne’s expression was cold. "If I hear you make another sound, you can get the hell out of the Hawthorne Group."

Cecilia Croft hesitated for a moment before asking quietly, "Can I go read them in the main office area, then?"

Sebastian Hawthorne said coldly, "No!"

"As long as you don’t make any noise, you can lie on the sofa and rest!"

With that, he closed the door to the inner room.

Cecilia Croft quietly glanced at the sofa behind her. It was indeed long enough to accommodate her.

But this was Sebastian Hawthorne’s office, after all. If she really lay down on it, stretched out and resting...

Cecilia Croft couldn’t bear to even imagine the sight.

’It would be far too degrading to the style of this office.’ She immediately shook her head.

In the end, she chose to rest her head on the desk and stay quiet.