Chapter 9
Jack said calmly, “It’s a colleague’s. I’m borrowing it for a bit and will return it tomorrow.”
“Oh, it seems like your job makes decent money. It’s a shame you got fired,” Olivia sighed. As she spoke, she remembered something else. “Does your website recruit girlfriends?”
He hesitated for a moment, his gaze falling on her excited face. He thought, “Was she thinking of making money by being someone else’s girlfriend?”
Without hesitation, he uttered, “Nope.”
She felt a bit disappointed and did not pursue the topic further.
As they neared her home, she suddenly remembered something and said, “By the way, when we get inside, please don’t mention that I owe you money. Just say you’re my colleague if Granny asks you.”
He asked teasingly, “Am I meeting your parents already?”
Her face flushed instantly, and she glared at him. “What! Nonsense! We’re colleagues!”
“Okay.” He chuckled and asked, “Are your parents also here?”
Upon hearing the word “parents,” a tinge of sadness appeared on her face. She took out her keys to open the door and pretended to casually say, “I’m an orphan, so I don’t have parents.”
The smile at the corner of his mouth faded slightly as he stared at her retreating figure. As she tried hard to conceal her dismay, she appeared particularly lonely.
The smile returned to her face as she entered her home. She called out loudly, “Granny, I’m back.”
Soon, an elderly woman with gray hair toward them, her face filled with benevolence and warmth. “Olivia, you’re back so early.”
Olivia hurriedly approached and held Barbara’s arm. “Yes, the manager has signed a big contract, so he’s giving me a few days off.”
The old lady chuckled, “Is that so? Your manager is a good person. You have to work hard. Do not disappoint him, ey?”
“Don’t worry, Granny. I’ll be promoted soon, and my salary will increase by two thousand dollars,” Olivia said.
“Really? Oh my, you have become so capable now. I’m so delighted.”
Barbara beamed, and her contagious laughter also brought smiles to Olivia’s face. However, Jack clearly saw that the young woman’s eyes carried an indescribable bitterness.
When Olivia turned and saw him standing at the door, she hesitated momentarily before saying, “By the way, Granny, we have a new colleague at our company who doesn’t have a place to stay temporarily. He wants to stay with us for a while.”
“A new colleague?” Barbara’s hollow gaze turned toward the direction of the door, and she smiled. “That’s a good thing. You know, you’ll have a companion at work. Is it a male or a female?”
As Olivia figured out how to introduce him, he stepped forward and spoke, “Granny, I’m a male. No one else in the company was willing to take me in, but Olivia was kind enough to bring me here. Granny, you won’t kick me out, will you?”
The old lady paused for a moment and then smiled. “How can we possibly do that? The problem is we don’t have a place for him to sleep, Olivia.”
“He can sleep on the couch.”
“That won’t do. How can we let a guest sleep on the couch?” Barbara added, “Why don’t you let him sleep in your room? You can sleep with Granny.”
“No need to trouble you, Granny. I can sleep on the couch. I often work late and might not stay every night,” he said.
Although he said he wanted to be taken in, he never considered staying here for a long while.
“Well…”
Before Barbara could finish her sentence, there was a sudden knock on the door. Olivia then ended the conversation, saying, “I’ll go and open the door.”
She hurried over to open the door and found two people in uniforms standing outside.
“Are you Olivia Greenwood?”
She froze momentarily, suddenly remembering what Mike had said, and became nervous. “Yes, it’s me. May I ask… what’s the matter?”
The man in charge said, “Someone reported that you committed violence and publicly assaulted someone. We need you to come with us.”
Her face changed, and she instantly felt like she had fallen into an icy abyss.
