Hearts System: 1000 Ways to Tell CEO I Love You-Chapter 5: Take Everything Lying Down

Summer frowned for a bit. She then sat properly, as if in thought. However, she didn’t stay put for seconds. She turned to Luellen again. "You’re lucky you weren’t fired for real! Didn’t I tell you not to go to the fifteenth floor?"

"I... I thought I just shouldn’t be seen..." Luellen fiddled with her thumbs. "It’s a beautiful place. Such a shame if no one comes to see it..."

"Why? What’s on the fifteenth floor?" August stopped at a red light. He turned to his sister. "Why isn’t she allowed there?"

Summer glanced at August. "It’s the greenhouse floor. The fifteenth and sixteenth floors were like a huge path of forest inside the building. Employees are allowed to go there, but only during working hours. However, that’s also where most bosses come to ’relax’ during the day. If your boss’s boss finds you there, you will get in trouble for slacking off. That’s why we tell others not to get tempted."

She then sighed and leaned against the seat. "It gets worse after the day. The CEO goes there a lot if he’s staying the night."

Her own words made her flinch. She looked at Luellen again. "Uhm, why did he transfer you to his office? Did you say something? The last time someone from our floor came there, he sent her away crying."

"CEO Wentworth must have been in a good mood yesterday." Luellen nodded her to accurate memory. "He only asked me to sit if I was staying or leave if I wasn’t."

"That’s weird..." Summer hummed before looking back at the road. "Anyway, Matilda told me to bring you to her first thing. She needed to talk to you."

Luellen was asked to report to the CEO’s office first thing in the morning. However, she figured their former supervisor only needed a few minutes. It was too wishful to think that Matilda would congratulate her. Nonetheless, Luellen would arrive minutes earlier than usual. It wouldn’t hurt to climb to their floor to meet Matilda first. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

...

"Please take a seat."

That was all Matilda said when Luellen entered her office. She didn’t even look up to see the maiden. Luellen didn’t mind it. She just didn’t understand why someone else was in the room with them.

Based on what Luellen remembered, that lady was called Shirley. She was one of the most popular girls in their office. Luellen once walked to her desk for printed materials and coffee. That booth was filled with bouquets and photos from excursions. Her desk also had a few expensive hand creams and perfume. Even that lady’s clothes were enough to wipe out Luellen’s savings.

Shirley sat on a single couch in front of Matilda’s desk. Her legs were even crossed, as if to show off her designer heels. The lady looked up at Luellen with a smile. However, Luellen could feel the sharp gaze on her body.

"Ma’am, Summer told me you wanted to see me." Luellen sat on the other chair, trying not to get Shirley in her view.

"Yeah, it’s about the transfer." Matilda stopped scrolling through her emails. Her eyes even looked so thin through those glasses. "You were only here for a day. You didn’t even exhibit qualities that would qualify you for a promotion, not to mention a transfer to the CEO’s office. I’m afraid I can’t send you up there."

Luellen listened to the monotonous speech. She glanced at the other lady, who shifted in her seat. "But Mr Houston is expecting me to be there today."

Matilda glanced at Luellen. "No, he isn’t. I already told him you declined. Look, Ms Piper. You’re not even here for a week. What made you think you could be in the CEO’s office? You can leave now. Attend the coffee runs. Most of them should be arriving soon."

Blink. Luellen could only blink her eyes. She didn’t know if this was allowed. Then again, whose hand would be on her back if she fought?

"Okay, ma’am..." Luellen slowly got out of her seat. She looked toward the door and hoped to get out first before crying.

"Still, the CEO’s office will be expecting someone new," Matilda said, which stopped Luellen from touching the door. The maiden turned to them, and Matilda stared straight at her with a nonchalant gaze. "I will be sending the most suitable from my office. Don’t worry about whatever workload they promised you."

Shirley’s red lips curled deeply. Her eyes were on Luellen, even as she spoke to their supervisor. "Thank you for the opportunity, Matilda. I will make sure to represent your office’s standard correctly."

Luellen stared at the two women with a blank gaze. Before a tear fell, she had already turned and left the room. The door shut behind her, and Luellen only stared at the wall.

[Disgust detected! You have earned 1 black heart/s!]

"System, please don’t be like this to me..." Luellen took a deep breath and walked off to the main room of their Sales office. She didn’t miss out on how most glanced at her. It was as if they were whispering about her audacity to work in the CEO’s office on her Day 2. It was just that she even caught Summer not knowing where to look.

Luellen held onto her bag strap tighter. She walked out of the office without asking for any coffee runs. Tears drew across her cheeks, and she kept wiping them off with the back of her hand. When she stood in front of the elevator, she reached out to press the ’down’ button. However, her hand stopped before it would touch steel.

A derisive scoff came from Luellen. She looked at her reflection on the shiny steel exterior of their clear elevator. Her finger poked the ’up’ button.

"My dad didn’t raise me to take everything lying down. I already made a mistake from one assumption." Luellen used her handkerchief to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "I won’t go home unless they tell me that I’m not wanted there for real."

She finished calming her eyes when the elevator arrived. Some employees glanced at the newcomer, but Luellen just got on and stood tall. The maiden faced the doors and waited until the elevator reached the highest floor it could.

The CEO’s office could only be reached by elevators on the fifteenth floor. It was also the highest floor for Luellen’s elevator. When the elevator doors closed on the fourteenth floor, Luellen was left with this one old man and his male secretary. The secretary watched her back like a hawk, as if keeping an eye on the strange maiden.

When the doors opened on the fifteenth floor, Luellen alighted with the two others. She only took two steps to the exclusive elevator before the secretary cleared his throat. Luellen only felt like it was meant to take her attention.

"Young lady, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here." The old man smiled, but his narrow eyes looked sharper than Luellen’s knives at home. "Could you be lost?"